Famous Proverbs

1] Necessity turns a lion into a fox

2] The hero appears only when the tiger is dead

3] Love is blind

4] Never too late to repent

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

6] An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory

7] Where there are reeds, there is water

8] You cannot catch old birds with chaff

9] The rain of tears is necessary to the harvest of learning

10] A good name is sooner lost than won

11] A jug that has been mended lasts two hundred years

12] There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it

13] Punishment is a cripple, but it arrives

14] Let sleeping dogs lie

15] Don’t empty (or throw) the baby out with the bath water

16] Desperate diseases need (or must have) desperate cures

17] The tongue breaks bone, and herself has none

18] Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist

19] The poor sit on the front benches in Paradise

20] Dogs bite twice those who wear ragged clothes.

21] When a dwarf ascends a staircase, he gets higher every step

22] All is fair in love and war

23] Calamity is man’s true touchstone

24] Forethought is easy, repentance hard

25] Example, is better than precept

26] When the weather is cold, there is not such thing as dirty clothing

27] The last suitor wins the maid

28] Wine uncloaks the words of the heart

29] Honesty is ill to thrive by

30] Misfortune arrives on horseback but departs on foot

31] He that is afraid of the devil does not grow rich

32] Law makers should not be law breakers

33] A good wife makes a good husband

34] All doors open to courtesy

35] The noblest vengeance is to forgive

36] Put too much lemon-grass into the curry and you’ll spoil the flavour

37] The mean is the best

38] Don’t wear out (or outstay) your welcome

39] No man knows what good is than he who has endured evil

40] He laughs ill that laughs himself to death

41] God tempers that wind to the shorn lamb

42] He that does most at once, does least

43] Wisdom is neither inheritance nor legacy

44] He that is born a fool is never cured

45] I may not have tasted their flesh but I’ve seen enough to know how pigs walk

46] The best horse needs breaking, and the aptest child needs teaching

47] The ass that brays most eats

48] A joke never gains over an enemy, but often loses a friend

49] Sooner begun, sooner done

50] Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny

51] No choice amongst stinking fish

52] Those who are used to the signs of the dumb, understand them

53] All’s well that ends well

54] If you would know the value of a ducat, try to borrow one

55] An old fox is not easily snared

56] In indecision itself, grief is present.

57] You cannot have your cake and eat it

58] Desperate diseases need desperate cures

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

60] What’s in a name?

61] Nothing so bad in which there is not something of good

62] All that glitters is not gold

63] You may know by a handful the whole sack

64] A man apt to promise, is apt to forget

65] Wise men learn by other men’s harms (or mistakes), fools, by their own

66] The rich knows not who is his friend

67] Plain dealing is best

68] Conscience is a thousand witnesses

69] Even fools sometimes speak to the purpose

70] That which proves too much proves nothing

71] Nature abhors a vacuum

72] Be not too bold with your biggers or betters

73] Kind hearts are more than coronets

74] Grasp all, lose all

75] Of a new prince, new bondage

76] A hungry man is angry man

77] A good horse cannot wear two saddles

78] When bitterness reaches its extreme, sweetness will follow

79] Conscience is a thousand witnesses

80] Silence is a woman’s best garment

81] The tongue is more to be feared than the sword

82] Confession of our fault is the next thing to innocence

83] He that demands misses not, unless his demands be foolish

84] Whatever man has done, man can do

85] He that pities another remembers himself

86] A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple

87] Behind the smile, a dagger may be hidden

88] Ill luck is good for something

89] Great fortune brings with it great misfortune

90] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

91] A wicked man is his own hell

92] Far fowls have fair feather

93] He who depends on another, dines ill and sups worse

94] Praise is always pleasant

95] The longest night will have an end

96] Revenge never repairs an injury

97] Misfortune tells us what fortune is

98] Take things as you find them

99] Heaven helps those who help themselves

100] A good servant must have good wages