Famous Proverbs

1] Pardon one offence and you encourage many

2] The tongue is not steel, yet it cuts

3] Let every pedlar carry his own burden

4] To be discontented is to be like a snake trying to swallow an elephant

5] Good wine needs no bush

6] Death is the grand leveler

7] All things that great men do are well done

8] Suffering does not manifest itself

9] Even water has its ebb and flow

10] Money has no smell

11] Beauty is in the face; grace is all over.

12] All’s fish that comes to the net

13] Mount Fuji itself is not So beautiful to one who is cold and hungry

14] Truthfulness becomes the gentleman

15] What the king wills, that the law wills

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

17] A learned man has always riches in himself

18] Love knows no limit

19] A man has choice to begin love, but not to end it.

20] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

21] Sour, sweet, bitter and pungent flavours must all be tasted

22] Man may have a thousand plans, but god’s plan is best

23] Make not your sauce, before you have caught the fish.

24] If the fingers of one hand quarrel, they cannot pick up food

25] You are never too old to learn

26] See which way the cat jumps

27] Welcome is the best dish in the kitchen

28] A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.

29] We do as we can, since we can’t do as we would

30] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

31] God’s lambs will play.

32] A blind man who sees is better than a seeing man who is blind

33] Who receives a gift, sells his liberty

34] Sparrows who emulate peacocks are likely to break a thigh

35] We shall beat our swords into ploughshares

36] Young colts will canter.

37] Necessity turns a lion into a fox

38] He who waits for another man’s platter has a cold meal

39] It is easier to raise the devil than to lay him

40] Pinch the right thigh and the left will feel the pain too.

41] Will iron become fine gold, however often refined?

42] Reputation is often got without merit, and lost without crime

43] What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

44] Gold is tried in the fire

45] Haste is of (or from) the devil

46] Lose a leg rather than a life

47] Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today

48] Rats desert (or forsake) a sinking ship

49] Love is a disease, and the loved on is the only medicine

50] If you do not enter a tiger’s den, you cannot get its cubs

51] Virtue joints man to god

52] Easter so longed for is gone in a day

53] Don’t bargain for fish which are still in the water

54] Tune the harp strings to be neither too loose nor too taut

55] If today will not, tomorrow may

56] He who sows, trusts in God

57] Many a little makes a mickle

58] The love of money is the root of all evil

59] Health is great riches

60] He who gives fair words feds you with and empty spoon

61] He that may not do as he would, must do as he may

62] He that will not endure to itch must endure to smart

63] They that dance must pay the fiddler

64] Have patience with a friend rather than lost him forever.

65] Punishment is a cripple, but it arrives

66] He who carries the burden knows the weight of it.

67] Cleanliness is next to godliness

68] Liars should have good memories

69] Homo is a common name to all men.

70] Don’t quarrel with your bread and buffer

71] Keep your mouth shut and your ears open

72] You cannot get ivory from a dog’s mouth

73] The eye sees only what it has the power of seeing

74] We have all been once in our life

75] Fair without, false within

76] It is more pain to do nothing than something

77] Weeds need no sowing

78] He that mischief hatches mischief catches.

79] Wise men are caught in wiles

80] No man is a hero to his valet

81] Like mistress, like maid

82] Little birds that can sing and won’t sing should be made to sing

83] Never too late to learn

84] Call a spade a spade

85] The hero appears only when the tiger is dead

86] There is truth in wine

87] Affection blinds reason

88] One thief will not rob another

89] Confess and be hanged

90] The greatest talkers are the least doers

91] No, thank you’ has lost you many a good butter-cake

92] It is as well to know which way the wind blows

93] Six feet of earth make all men equal

94] Silence never makes mistakes

95] In indecision itself, grief is present.

96] If he ball does not stick to the wall, it will at least leave a mark

97] Pleasure is due only when all duty’s done.

98] He freezes who does not burn

99] A fool and his money are soon parted

100] Do not limp before the lame