Famous Proverbs

1] Ill gotten, ill spent

2] Eat a clove of garlic and you smell of garlic; eat two cloves and you smell the same.

3] He is a fool that kisses the maid when he may kiss the mistress

4] Do it now

5] He travels the fastest who travels alone

6] Books and friends should be few but good

7] When the butcher has already killed your pig, it is useless to discuss with him the price

8] A great city, a great solitude

9] Past cure, past care

10] Work expands so as to fill the time available

11] Haste is of (or from) the devil

12] Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher

13] The last straw breaks the camel’s back

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

15] Nothing seek, nothing find

16] Marry in haste, repent at leisure

17] He that makes himself a sheep, shall be eaten by the wolf

18] Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains.

19] All men are mortal

20] The proud will sooner lose than ask the way

21] Reputation is often got without merit, and lost without crime

22] What is brought by the wind will be carried away by the wind

23] Where there is peace, there is blessing

24] Good merchandise finds a ready buyer

25] He that loveth danger shall perish therein

26] Mustard is a good sauce, but mirth is better

27] Men do more things through habit than reason

28] Who greases his way travels easily

29] There is a black sheep in every flock

30] Like mistress, like maid

31] Wine uncloaks the words of the heart

32] Thatch your roof before the rain begins

33] Do leaves sprout on rootless trees?

34] Past cure, past care

35] The righteous man sins before an open chest

36] Every lot is to be overcome by endurance

37] It is better to conceal one’s knowledge than to reveal one’s ignorance

38] It is no use spoiling the ship for a half penny worth of tar

39] Facts are stubborn things

40] The pitcher goes often to the well that it is broken at last

41] God is always on the side of the big battalions

42] Courtesy is the inseparable companion of virtue

43] Money refused loses its brightness

44] No man can serve two masters

45] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

46] Ill news comes often on the back of worse

47] The more a man dreams, the less he believes

48] First thrive then wive

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

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

51] Desires are nourished by delays

52] There is nothing lost by civility

53] Morning dreams come true

54] So many countries, so many customs

55] Judge not, that ye be not judged

56] Those that make the best use of their time, have none to spare

57] Fortune favours those who use their judgement

58] The heart soon forgets what the eye sees not

59] A light purse makes a heavy heart

60] Liars should have good memories

61] Think on the end before you begin

62] He that will thrive, must rise at five; he that has thriven, may lie till seven; but he that will never thrive may lie till eleven

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

64] Blessed is he who excepts nothing, for he shall never be disappointed

65] Lend never that thing you needed most

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

67] The mill cannot grind with water that is past

68] It is misery enough to have once been happy

69] God never sends mouths but he sent meat

70] A man can die but once

71] A man may bear till his back breaks

72] Fear the Greeks (or Beware of Greeks) bearing gifts

73] A good horse cannot wear two saddles

74] God rejoices when one beggar scratches another

75] Charity begins at home.

76] Adam’s ale is the best brew

77] The little cannot be great unless he devours many

78] An occasion lost cannot be redeemed

79] Curiosity killed the cat.

80] Friendship should not be all on one side

81] When the horse has reached the brink of the precipice, it is too late to pull the reins.

82] You cannot make bricks without straw

83] Open a book and you profit by what you read

84] Everybody’s business is nobody’s business

85] Fear the Greeks (or Beware of Greeks) bearing gifts

86] The cord breaks t last by the weakest pull

87] Cross the stream where it is shallowest

88] One is never too old to learn

89] Every groom is a king at home

90] Blood is thicker than water

91] Cheats never prosper

92] Desert and reward seldom keep company

93] What has been, may be

94] Like father, like son

95] Better late than never, but better never late

96] Adam’s ale is the best brew

97] Needs must when the evil drives

98] Though the food is plain, stomach may be filled; though the cloth is coarse, one may be clad to a ripe old age

99] If it were not for hope, the heart would break

100] A good dog deserves a good bone