Famous Proverbs

1] An army marches on its stomach

2] It is easy to move rivers and mountains, but difficult to change a person’s basic nature

3] Crust is better than no bread

4] Laugh and grow fat

5] Even dust, when piled up, may form a hill

6] Bind the sack before it be full

7] Cruelty is more cruel, if we defer the pain

8] Exceptional bravery is often hidden under a cloak of timidity

9] It is too late to lock the stable when the horse has been stolen

10] Care killed the cat

11] Better bend than break

12] Children speak only words they have heard.

13] Where the dam leaps over, the kid follows

14] Enquire not what boils in another’s pot. ¶ Listeners seldom hear good of themselves

15] Anger restrained is wisdom gained

16] Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay.

17] Health is better than wealth

18] He that has good money, gives few alms

19] Sailors get their money like horses, and spend it like asses

20] Good clothes open all doors

21] Quickly come, quickly go

22] A change is as good as rest

23] Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today

24] Look after your money and don’t make your neighbour a thief

25] Nearest the heart comes out first

26] Good wine needs no bush

27] Have but few friends, though many acquaintances

28] Absence diminished little passions and increases great ones

29] How forceful are right words

30] It is profound ignorance that inspires the dogmatic tone

31] Though the left hand conquers the right, no advantage is gained

32] You cannot put a quart into a pint pot

33] Laughter makes good blood

34] A pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt.

35] Do as I say, not as I do

36] The sun is never the worse for shining on a dunghill

37] You can’t win them all

38] When a fool is sent to market, the storekeepers rejoice

39] A learned man has always riches in himself

40] Double charge will rive a cannon

41] Good horses always get ridden; good men get imposed upon.

42] Success makes a fool seem wise.

43] Union is strength.

44] When a tiger dies, it leaves a skin; when a man dies, he leaves a name

45] The pitcher goes so often to me well that it is broken at last

46] Exchange (or Fair exchange) is no robbery

47] No honest man ever repented his honesty

48] All our pomp the earth covers

49] Hope is the poor man’s bread

50] They are rich who have true friends

51] It is the first step that is troublesome

52] Beauty draws more than oxen

53] Money is the only monarch

54] Work expands so as to fill the time available

55] Easier said than done

56] Rip not up old sores

57] What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts

58] He who handles a nettle tenderly is soonest stung

59] The worth of a thing is what it will bring

60] Marry in haste, repent at leisure

61] Truthfulness becomes the gentleman

62] That which proves too much proves nothing

63] Conscience does make cowards of us all

64] No one is rich enough to do without his neighbours

65] One sword keeps another in the sheath

66] It is too late to husband when all is spent

67] Look before you leap

68] A good reaper deserves a good sickle.

69] A great calligrapher isn’t choosy about his brushes.

70] A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his home

71] The resolved mind has no cares

72] Homer sometimes nods

73] One lie makes many

74] Think not on what you lack as much as what you have

75] Worse things happen at sea

76] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

77] Accidents will happen in the best regulated families

78] Youth and age will never agree

79] One kindness is the price of another

80] Stolen sweets are sweeter

81] He that tells his wife news, is but newly wed

82] A word to the wise is enough

83] Hope often deludes the foolish man

84] He who comes late must eat what is left

85] Fish and guests smell in three days

86] The longer you look at it, the less you will like it

87] Noting is impossible to a willing heart

88] Every man for himself, and God for us all.

89] Zeal without prudence is frenzy

90] At a good bargain thinks twice

91] When a man grows angry, his reason rides out.

92] Too many cooks spoil the broth

93] The unexpected always happens.

94] The wish is father to the thought

95] Kindness is the noblest weapon to conquer with.

96] He knows on which side his bread is buttered

97] A rich miser is poorer than a poor man

98] If wishes were horses, beggars would ride (or might ride)

99] He who teaches learns

100] A man of many trades, begs his bread on Sunday