Famous Proverbs

1] Make the best of a bad job

2] Extremity of right is wrong

3] Cheap is dear in the long run.

4] Borrowed garments never fit well

5] They that dance must pay the fiddler

6] Love knows no limit

7] Every flow must have its ebb

8] The bigger they are, the harder they fall

9] Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter

10] Give him (or knaves) an inch and he (they) will take a yard (or mile)

11] True gold is not transformed by fire

12] He who hesitates is lost

13] Misery loves company.

14] If you have no honey in your pot, have some in your mouth.

15] A burdened conscience will never need a hangman

16] No honest man ever repented his honesty

17] Sow thin and mow thin

18] If you cannot bite never show your teeth

19] A old poacher makes the best gamekeeper

20] Whatever man has done, man can do

21] He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most

22] It is a foolish bird that soils (or defiles ) its own nest

23] A still tongue makes a wise head

24] Content is the philosopher’s stone that turns all it touches in to gold

25] A bully never grows up.

26] Frugality is the mother of virtue

27] An ill payer (or paymaster) never wants an excuse

28] Life means strife

29] Rain water leaks through the roof-top

30] After a dream of a wedding, comes a corpse

31] Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood

32] Great talkers are never great doers

33] Pride dines on vanity, sups on contempt

34] He that sows virtue reaps fame

35] When the boat reaches the middle of the river, it is too late to repair the leak

36] God provides for him that trusts

37] The best things in life are free

38] Abundance, like want, ruins many

39] He that promises too much means nothing

40] Man cannot live by bread alone

41] Virtue is the only true nobility

42] His bark is worse than his bite

43] The devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil

44] Opportunity seldom knocks twice

45] If you would be well served, serve yourself

46] Money talks

47] While there is life, there is hope

48] Patience surpasses learning

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

50] If you pay not a servant his wages, he will pay himself

51] Choose thy company before thy drink

52] Dream of a funeral and you hear of a marriage

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

54] Death does not recognize strength

55] Kind hearts are soonest wronged

56] The last drop makes the cup run over

57] What everybody says must be true

58] You never miss the water till the well runs dry

59] Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all

60] Hoist your sail when the wind is fair

61] The truest jests sound worst in guilty ears

62] An army marches on its stomach

63] Medical plants from one’s own back-yard are no valued.

64] If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun

65] Pride is the mask of one’s own faults

66] Burn not your house to rid it of the mouse.

67] The first time, a novice the second time, an adept

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

69] Every may be has a may not be

70] Curses, like chickens, come home to roost

71] Never judge from appearances

72] Put not the bucket too often in the well

73] The wolf knows what the ill beast thinks

74] A lion may be beholden to a mouse

75] It’s either not to begin or not to stop once you’ve begun

76] The best go first

77] The hand that gives, gathers

78] A man may lose more in an hour than he can get in seven

79] There is nothing like being on the safe side

80] Shrimps get broken backs when whales fight

81] Little things are great to little men

82] Why does one man’s yawning make another yawn?

83] If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite

84] He loses his thanks who promises and delays

85] The best remedy against an ill man, is much ground between

86] Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still

87] All meat pleases not all mouths

88] It is no use spoiling the ship for a half penny worth of tar

89] A man turned pig no longer fears filth

90] Praises fill not the belly

91] Marry in haste, repent at leisure

92] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

93] Even Homer sometimes nods

94] An ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept

95] If you pay not a servant his wages, he will pay himself

96] He that asks faintly begs a denial.

97] Men are not to be measured in inches

98] If you can’t bite, never show your teeth.

99] He that stumbles twice over one stone, deserves to break his shin

100] Charity begins at home.