Famous Proverbs

1] Blessings brighten as they take their flight

2] We must not look for a golden life in an iron age

3] No man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself

4] Fire is a good servant a bad master

5] Lend only that which you can afford to lose

6] If you wish good advice, consult an old man

7] Poverty does not hurt him who has not been rich before

8] Fling dirt enough, and some will stick

9] Books and friends should be few but good

10] Dead dogs bark not

11] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

12] Better ask the way than go astray

13] When in doubt, do nothing

14] First creep, then walk

15] He that will not have peace, God gives him war

16] Mercy to the criminal may be cruelty to the people

17] God tempers that wind to the shorn lamb

18] No garden without its weeds.

19] God (or Providence) is always on the side of big battalions

20] When I lent, I was a friend; and when I asked, I was unkind

21] He who says what he likes shall hear what he does not like

22] He that travels far knows much

23] What’s done cannot be undone

24] What cannot gold do?

25] One must be a servant before one can be a master

26] Let sleeping dogs lie

27] An old ox makes a straight furrow

28] Mischief comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce

29] He that is in poverty is still in suspicion

30] He that touches pitch shall be defiled

31] A horse that will not carry a saddle must have no oats.

32] More have repented speech than silence

33] Punishment is a cripple, but it arrives

34] Beware of him who makes thee presents

35] Art improves Nature

36] Rats desert (or forsake) a sinking ship

37] A useful trade is a mine of gold

38] He is an ill husband who is not missed

39] He that brings good news, knocks hard

40] Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables.

41] One thief will not rob another

42] Forewarned is forearmed

43] Death and life are in the power of the tongue

44] Save a thief from the gallows and he’ll cut your throat

45] Three helping one another, bear the burthen of six

46] An old cart well used may outlast a new one abused

47] There’s no great loss without some gain

48] Misfortunes never come singly

49] Calamity is man’s true touchstone

50] Blood cannot be washed out with blood

51] Extreme justice is extreme injustice.

52] Mischief comes by the pound and goes away by the ounce

53] Follow love and it will flee thee; flee love and it will follow thee

54] No like is the same.

55] A fair face may hide a foul heart.

56] Two midwives will twist the baby’s head

57] It is good sheltering under an old hedge

58] Fool’s haste is no speed

59] See a pin and let it lie, you’ll want a pin before you die

60] A secret fire is discovered by the smoke

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

62] Nothing stake, nothing draw.

63] If you run after two hares, you will catch neither

64] It is a great victory that comes without blood

65] The leopard cannot change its spots

66] A piece of churchyard fits every body

67] We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.

68] One cannot love and be wise

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

70] A curse will not strike out an eye unless a fist goes with it

71] Men leap over where the hedge is lowest

72] He who sows, trusts in God

73] The lion had need of the mouse

74] Beauty opens locked doors

75] Neither praise nor dispraise thyself; thy actions serve the turn

76] No tie can oblige the perfidious

77] Many irons in the fire, some must cool

78] The game is not worth the candle

79] Many dishes make many diseases

80] Charity begins at home.

81] Dumb dogs are dangerous

82] Nature abhors a vacuum

83] Example is the greatest of all seducers

84] Necessity turns a lion into a fox

85] Custom makes all things easy

86] It is too late to grieve when the chance is past

87] Drunkards and fools cannot lie.

88] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

89] Poverty is the mother of crime

90] Be careful to whom you give

91] A discontented man knows not where to sit easy

92] Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad

93] There is no redemption from hell

94] Liars should have good memories

95] Between two stools you fall to the ground

96] At the game’s end we shall see who gains

97] So many men, so many opinions

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

99] First catch your hare

100] It is as natural to die as to be born