Famous Proverbs

1] Judge not of men and things at first sight

2] If you don’t have good weapons, it is better for you to submit

3] The peacock has fair features, but foul feet.

4] If you put noting into your purse, you can take nothing out

5] Do as you would be done by

6] Heaven takes care of children, sailor and drunken men

7] It’s a long lane that has no turning

8] Like mother, like daughter

9] Don’t judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.

10] Everyone puts his fault on the times.

11] If you pile up enough sand, you make a pagoda

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

13] Desperate diseases need desperate cures

14] A little help is worth a deal of pity

15] The worse luck now, the better another time

16] He that eats least eats most

17] Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

18] He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs

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

20] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

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

22] Gluttony kills more than the sword

23] Of the ten fingers, some are long and some are short.

24] A miss is as good as a mile

25] Empty vessels make the most noise

26] God gives the grain, but we must make the furrow

27] There is a black sheep in every flock

28] Where your will is ready, your feet are light

29] The road to hell is paved with good action

30] Do leaves sprout on rootless trees?

31] Courtesy on one side never lasts long

32] Hunger finds no fault with the cookery

33] Submitting to one wrong brings on another.

34] Lend, and lose the loan or gain an enemy

35] Needs must when the evil drives

36] No naked man is sought after to be rifled

37] They brag most who can do least

38] When the cat is away, the mice will play

39] One is not smelt where all stink

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

41] Fortune is blind

42] One today is worth two tomorrows

43] Where there is a question, there must be an answer

44] Easy come, easy go

45] Spit to the heavens, and spittle falls on your own nose

46] If the devil finds a man idle, he’ll set him to work

47] Precepts may lead but examples draw

48] Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces

49] If each would sweep before his own door, we should have a clean city

50] Give and take is fair play

51] Custom makes all things easy

52] Through hardship to the stars

53] They bow to you when borrowing; you bow to them when collecting

54] A guilty conscience needs no accuser

55] When wrath speaks, wisdom veils her face.

56] The garment worn determines how one is served

57] A single filament of silk does not make a thread; a single tree does not make a forest

58] The devil is not as black as he is painted

59] Look at the bright side

60] His bark is worse than his bite

61] Let a fool hold his tongue and he will pass for a sage

62] Even though one’s aunt sells the cakes, one will not buy unless they are cheap.

63] Lose a leg rather than a life

64] It is easier to pour away water than to gather it.

65] Little things are pretty

66] The longest night will have an end

67] Fine words dress ill deeds

68] Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard

69] War, hunting and love are as full of trouble as pleasure

70] Good clothes open all doors

71] Nothing is given so freely as advice

72] Marriage makes or mars a man

73] When misfortune sleeps, let no one wake her

74] The good intention excuses the bad action

75] Anything will fit a naked man.

76] A man turned pig no longer fears filth

77] Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves

78] Boys will be boys

79] As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamp

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

81] The best things come in small packages

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

83] A wise man cares not for what he cannot have

84] Where god will help, nothing does harm

85] A mill cannot grind with water that is past

86] Not good is it to harp on the on the frayed string

87] Children and chickens must be always picking

88] Love will go through stone walls

89] Grasp all, lose all

90] Things are only worth one makes them worth

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

92] Out of debt, out of danger

93] He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs

94] Nothing is as good as it seems before hand

95] Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent

96] The heart soon forgets what the eye sees not

97] While there is life, there is hope

98] It is a sorry flock where the ewe bears the bell

99] Don’t cut the bough you are standing on

100] The longer you look at it, the less you will like it