Famous Proverbs

1] Unless the vessel is clean, what you pour in to it turns sour.

2] His bark is worse than his bite

3] Thrift is a great revenue

4] All our pomp the earth covers

5] God gave us the seed of every plant, but we must sow it.

6] Every may be has a may not be

7] The dog that is idle barks at his fleas, but he that is hunting feels them not.

8] To take revenge is often to sacrifice oneself

9] He who would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom

10] An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

11] Hope is the poor man’s bread

12] Man cannot live by bread alone

13] A fool at forty is a fool indeed

14] Throw out a sprat to catch a mackerel

15] Stolen pleasures are sweetest

16] Better to wear out than rust out

17] Without luck, it is better not to be born

18] Train the child in the way he should go.

19] Do not cut down the tree that gives you shade

20] Diligence is the mother of good luck

21] Blood is thicker than water

22] Great alms-giving lessens no man’s living

23] What can you expect from a hog but a grunt?

24] A burthen of one’s own choice is not felt

25] Boys will be boys

26] There is many a fair thing full false

27] Bind the sack before it be full

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

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

30] Don’t take a bull in to a china shop.

31] Ill gotten, ill spent

32] Like will to like

33] Better a louse in the pot than no flesh at all

34] A single rose does not mean spring

35] What’s the good of thatching someone else’s roof?

36] One is never too old to learn

37] It’s dogged that does it

38] In the land of hope there is never any winter

39] Gold will not buy everything

40] Give and spend, and God will send

41] There is plenty of sound in an empty barrel

42] One can’t go to bed when a visit or stays late

43] Never too late to learn

44] Joy and sorrow are next door neighbours.

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

46] Noting is impossible to a willing heart

47] Real friendship does not freeze in winter

48] Destroy the lion while he is yet but a whelp

49] Good counsel never comes amiss

50] Some people will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon.

51] A hungry man is angry man

52] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

53] Words and feathers the wind carries away

54] Naughty boys sometimes make good men.

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

56] Many would be cowards, if they had courage enough

57] Every man has the defects of his own virtues (or qualities)

58] Every light has its shadow

59] Weeds need no sowing

60] Rust wastes more than use

61] Hunger is sharper than the sword

62] Everything tempts the man who fears temptation. If you can’t be good, be careful.

63] Nature is the true law

64] Stolen goods never thrive

65] Plain dealing is a jewel, but they that use it die beggars

66] Prove your friend ere you have need

67] Wash your dirty linen at home

68] The best wine comes from an old vessel

69] Wise men are caught in wiles

70] One hand washes the other

71] A good wife and health is a man’s best wealth

72] One sword keeps another in the sheath

73] He who cannot bear misfortune is truly unfortunate.

74] A wise man changes his mind, a fool never.

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

76] True gold is not transformed by fire

77] The absent saint gets no candle

78] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

79] Example, is better than precept

80] Great gain makes easy work

81] Men strain at gnats and swallow camels

82] Laugh before breakfast, you’ll cry before supper

83] Files are easier caught with honey than with vinegar

84] Exchange (or Fair exchange) is no robbery

85] All meat pleases not all mouths

86] Time and tide wait for no man

87] You cannot put an old head on young shoulders.

88] Sweet are the uses of adversity

89] You cannot have your cake and eat it

90] What is a workman without his tools?

91] Every man has his faults

92] A jest breaks no bones

93] The fowler’s pipe sounds sweet till the bird is caught.

94] He that never ate flesh, thinks a pudding is a dainty

95] From word to deed is a great space

96] Change brings life

97] Morning dreams come true

98] Quietness is a great treasure

99] Silence gives (or means) consent

100] Desperate diseases need desperate cures