Famous Proverbs

1] Think not on what you lack as much as what you have

2] When two tigers fight, one is sure to be hurt

3] Good to begin well, better to end well.

4] Necessity is a powerful weapon

5] Sooner begun, sooner done

6] Good fame is better than a good face

7] Make haste slowly

8] Every beggar is descended from some king, and every king is descended from some beggar.

9] Valour delights in the test

10] It is safer to hear and take counsel, than give it.

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

12] He who begins many things, finishes but few

13] Few words are best

14] In fair weather prepare for foul

15] To beat a tiger, one must have a brother’s help.

16] What is the mother of industry

17] He is a fool who makes his physician his heir

18] It is ill sitting at Rome and striving against the pope

19] There is no accounting for tastes

20] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

21] Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory

22] The ant had wings to her hurt

23] He who never was sick dies the first fit

24] He laughs ill that laughs himself to death

25] Who greases his way travels easily

26] There is no royal road to learning

27] The noblest vengeance is to forgive

28] Asking costs little

29] Death devours lambs as well as sheep

30] The devil looks after his own

31] Luck for fools and chance for the ugly

32] Give yourself a pinch, and you will know how a pinch must hurt others

33] Do as say, not as I do

34] A new broom sweeps clean, but the old brush knows all the corners

35] The wolf may lose his teeth, but never his nature

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

37] He that boasts of his own knowledge proclaims his ignorance

38] You cannot sell the cow and sup (or drink) the milk

39] Home is home though it be never so homely

40] A hungry man smells meat afar off

41] An open door may tempt a saint

42] They also serve who only stand and wait

43] Ninety per cent of inspiration is perspiration

44] He may find fault that cannot mend

45] It is ill waiting for dead men’s shoes

46] Once bitten, twice shy.

47] The hole calls the thief

48] Findings are keepings

49] There is a great difference between words and deeds

50] True doctrines require no miracles

51] There is truth in wine

52] A watched pot never boils

53] He who does nothing but sits and eats, will wear away a mountain of wealth

54] Every man has his faults

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

56] God arms the harmless

57] When the word is out it belongs to another

58] Harp not for ever on the same string

59] Go not to hell for company

60] A merry companion is a wagon on the way

61] He’s his father’s (or mother’s) son

62] It is not the burden but the overburden that kills the beast

63] A whip for a fool, and a rod for a school, is always in good seasons

64] A good name is sooner lost than won

65] Fear of death is worse than death itself

66] Too much hope deceives

67] Mercy surpasses justice

68] The tailor makes the man

69] He that comes first to the hill, may sit where he will.

70] A bad shearer never had a good sickle

71] The courteous one learns his courtesy from the discourteous.

72] The tongue breaks bone, and herself has none

73] Experience is not always the kindest of teachers, but it is surely the best

74] For a web begun, God sends the thread

75] Children pick up words as pigeons peas, and utter than again as god shall please

76] High places have their precipices

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

78] First catch your hare

79] Conscience does make cowards of us all

80] Confide in an aunt and the world will know

81] First come, first served

82] Better learn late than never

83] It is the bridle and spur that makes a good horse

84] Corruption of the best becomes the worst

85] A word before is worth two behind

86] Don’t build the sty before the litter comes

87] Hard words break no bones

88] No pot so ugly as not to find a cover

89] A traveller may lie with authority

90] Pitchers have ears

91] Will without reason is blind, and against reason, is mad

92] Poor men go to heaven as soon as rich

93] Pleasant hours fly past

94] Little and often fills the purse

95] What is worse than ill luck?

96] Don’t tell tales out of school

97] It is not easy to steal when the landlord is a thief

98] It’s a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.

99] Don’t change horses in mid-stream

100] One beats the bush, and another catches the birds