Famous Proverbs

1] Walls have ears

2] A hundred pounds of sorrow pays not one ounce of debt

3] He has to do what is foul, never comes away clean

4] Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them

5] He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune

6] He that tells his wife news, is but newly wed

7] Everyone leaps over the dyke where it is lowest

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

9] Marriage halves our griefs, doubles our joys and quadruples our expenses

10] Waste makes wants

11] Everybody’s business is nobody’s business

12] The devil sometimes speaks the truth

13] A thing you don’t want is dear at any price.

14] Nature will have her course

15] One needs a full stomach to keep the precepts

16] Tempt not a desperate man

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

18] White there’s life there’s hope

19] A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder

20] Sickness shows us what we are

21] There are more men threatened than stricken

22] A gift much expected is paid, not given

23] Burn not your house to rid it of the mouse.

24] Better to ask the way than go astray.

25] Truth may walk through the world unarmed

26] A good servant should never be in the way and never out of the way

27] Set a thief to catch a thief

28] Cruelty is more cruel, if we defer the pain

29] Example is better than precept

30] A rich man can do nothing wrong

31] It at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again

32] Don’t make a mountain out of molehill

33] What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

34] It’s either not to begin or not to stop once you’ve begun

35] It is better to have done something great than to have never been successful

36] He who cannot put up with extreme hardship cannot be the best among men

37] A bully never grows up.

38] A mill cannot grind with water that is past

39] Nothing stake, nothing draw.

40] She’s her father’s (or mother’s) daughter

41] Riches along make no men happy

42] Stolen pleasures are sweetest

43] One swallow does not make a summer

44] The devil’s children have the devil’s luck

45] Acorns were good till bread was found

46] All covet all lose.

47] Hoist your sail when the wind is fair

48] Fortune is blind

49] Many dishes make many diseases

50] Fine words dress ill deeds

51] The hunchback does not see his own hump, but his companion’s

52] Look on the bright side

53] Everything new is fine

54] It is well to live that one may learn

55] Every deed is to be judges by the doer’s intention.

56] Wine is the best broom for trouble

57] An open door may tempt a saint

58] He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved

59] Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion

60] The little cannot be great unless he devours many

61] He that knows little often repeats it

62] It is an ill bargain where no man wins

63] The surest way to remain poor is to be an honest man

64] The highest branch is not the safest roost

65] It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

66] There’s no fence against ill fortune.

67] A knave and a fool never take thought

68] He that will thrive must rise at five

69] One volunteer is worth two pressed men

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

71] The balance distinguishes not between gold and lead

72] There are two sides to every question

73] A man with no hands is given a ring.

74] A guilty conscience feels continual fear

75] Though the fox runs, the chicken has wings

76] Every Jack must have his Jill

77] There grows no herb t heal a coward heart

78] A man whose conscience is clear, of a knock at midnight has no fear

79] Discontent is the first step in progress

80] Now is now, and then was then

81] An old man’s sayings are seldom untrue

82] A fox should not be of the jury at a goose’s trial

83] The anvil lasts longer than the hammer

84] Success makes a fool seem wise.

85] Great consolation may grow out of the smallest saying

86] Necessity breaks iron

87] If he ball does not stick to the wall, it will at least leave a mark

88] Things past cannot be recalled

89] Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all

90] Diligence is the mother of good fortune

91] Young saint, old devil.

92] It is ill striving against the stream

93] The road to hell is paved with good action

94] He who works before dawn will soon his own master

95] You must grin and bear it

96] A beggar pays a benefit with a louse

97] You may know by a handful the whole sack

98] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

99] A pot that belongs to many is ill stirred and worse boiled

100] The king can make a knight, but not a gentleman