Famous Proverbs

1] The noblest vengeance is to forgive

2] It is never too late to mend

3] You cannot put a quart into a pint pot

4] A true friend is forever a friend

5] Marry in haste, repent at leisure

6] In indecision itself, grief is present.

7] Don’t put the cart before the horse

8] What is told in the ear of a man is often heard a hundred miles away

9] A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his home

10] Virtue has all things in itself

11] One learns to know oneself best behind one’s back

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

13] Pardon one offence and you encourage many

14] Men strain at gnats and swallow camels

15] Anger and haste hinder good counsel

16] The best go first

17] Diamond cuts diamond

18] For a web begun, God sends the thread

19] Adversity is the touchstone of friendship

20] Bad luck often brings good luck

21] Grasp all, lose all

22] As long as the old horse lives, his habits will not change

23] Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm

24] Don’t make yourself a mouse, or the cat will eat you

25] Well begun is half done.

26] A fool says what he knows, and a wise man knows what he says.

27] Choose neither women nor linen by candlelight.

28] Charity begins at home.

29] You must grin and bear it

30] The orange that is too hard squeezed yields a bitter juice

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

32] Nearest the heart comes out first

33] Fair play’s a jewel

34] He who can wait obtains what he wishes.

35] He is lifeless that is faultless

36] Of a new prince, new bondage

37] A bribe will enter without knocking

38] Patch by patch is good housewifery, but patch upon patch is plain beggary

39] Advise none to marry or to go to war

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

41] The tongue breaks bone, and herself has none

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

43] A bully is always a coward

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

45] Change of pasture makes fat calves

46] Had I fish’ was never good with garlic

47] Don’t teach your grandmother how to suck eggs

48] A burdened conscience will never need a hangman

49] The bee sucks honey out of the bitterest flowers

50] The borrower is servant to the lender

51] Though a man lives for less than a hundred years, he burdens himself with the anxieties of a thousand years

52] Not even Hercules could contend against two

53] Poor folk fare the best

54] Better children weep than old men

55] Repentance comes too late

56] The good intention excuses the bad action

57] He that lends, gives

58] A good name is better than a golden girdle

59] A good heart cannot lie.

60] Grin and bear it

61] Nature is conquered by obeying her

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

63] He who envies admits his inferiority

64] Don’t change horses in mid-stream

65] Other times, other manners

66] Woes unite foes

67] Promises may make friends, but it is performances that keep them

68] Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

69] The early man ever borrows from the late man

70] Good goods are not cheap; cheap goods are not good

71] Speech is silver, silence is golden

72] It is the lot of a king to do well but to be ill-spoken of

73] Hungry bellies have no ears

74] Have two strings to your bow

75] Do it now

76] The longest (or farthest) way round is the nearest (or shortest) way home.

77] It is easier to pull down than to build

78] A man in debt is caught in a net

79] Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

80] You can’t win them all

81] To speak as the common people, to think as the wise

82] Debt is an evil conscience

83] A good marksman may miss

84] A thief passes for a gentle man when stealing has made him rich

85] The more you get, the more you want

86] He that repairs not a part, builds all

87] There is nothing like being on the safe side

88] Little wealth, little care

89] Idleness is the root of all evil

90] It is all in the day’s work

91] Everything in moderation.

92] Keep conscience clear, then never fear

93] Weeds need no sowing

94] It is not gay coat that makes the gentleman

95] If one sheep leaps o’er the dyke, all the rest will follow

96] It chances in an hour, that appears not in seven years

97] The ass that brays most eats

98] You may force a man to shut his eyes but you can’t make him sleep

99] Fortune favours fools

100] Much would have more