Famous Proverbs

1] Pardoning the bad is injuring the good

2] If you wish good advice, consult an old man

3] Do as I say, not as I do

4] Desperate diseases need desperate cures

5] The poor sit on the front benches in Paradise

6] Love delights in praise

7] If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

8] The sun shines upon all alike.

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

10] Blood is thicker than water

11] Too much cunning undoes

12] The camel never sees its own hump, but that of its brother is always before its eyes

13] Happy is the country (or nation) that has no history

14] The best remedy against an ill man, is much ground between

15] The proud will sooner lose than ask the way

16] Slender cannot make a good man bad; when the water recedes, the stone is still there.

17] Love will go through stone walls

18] He that serves well need not be afraid to ask his wages

19] Many irons in the fire, some must cool

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

21] Burn not your house to fright the mouse away

22] Saving one man’s life is better than building a seven- storied temple.

23] Young colts will canter.

24] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

25] Sometimes the best gain is to lose

26] It is well to live that one may learn

27] It is a good horse that never stumbles, and a good wife that never grumbles

28] By his deeds we know a man

29] He that eats well should do his duty well

30] Double charge will rive a cannon

31] Though the left hand conquers the right, no advantage is gained

32] Wake not a sleeping lion

33] A man turned pig no longer fears filth

34] A mouse may help a lion

35] Ill comes often on the back worse

36] Fine words dress ill deeds

37] Health is better than wealth

38] The death of the wolves is the safety of the sheep

39] A man of many trades, begs his bread on Sunday

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

41] Whatsoever was the father of a disease, an ill diet was the mother.

42] You cannot get ivory from a dog’s mouth

43] The wisest of the wise may err.

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

45] There is no royal road to learning

46] He that is in poverty is still in suspicion

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

48] Jack would be a gentleman if he could speak French

49] Either mend or end

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

51] Better be a fool than a knave

52] Know your own faults before blaming others for theirs.

53] When you are an anvil, hold still; when you are an anvil, hold still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill.

54] Friendship should not be all on one

55] Corruption of the best becomes the worst

56] Work won’t kill but worry will.

57] He that comes of a hen, must scrape

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

59] The proof of the pudding lies in the eating

60] Riches rather enlarge than satisfy appetites

61] Those who are used to the signs of the dumb, understand them

62] He that forecasts all perils will never sail the sea

63] A fair face may hide a foul heart.

64] Will iron become fine gold, however often refined?

65] What is money to a cat?

66] Heaven helps those who help themselves

67] Never buy a pig in a poke

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

69] Gold brings gold; lack of gold, a headache

70] Don’t bite the hand that feeds you

71] The crow laughs at the pig for being black

72] A lion may come to be beholden to a mouse

73] He that has lost his credit, is dead to the world

74] All things are easy, that are done willingly

75] Leave well alone

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

77] Through hardship to the stars

78] A banana tree won’t bear fruit twice.

79] Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to know the man

80] Do unto others as they should do unto you

81] Too long burden makes weary bones

82] The hasty leaps over his opportunities

83] There is honour among thieves

84] Don’t meet trouble half-way

85] He that does most at once, does least

86] The tongue talks at the heads cost

87] Be careful to whom you give

88] Better are small fish than an empty dish

89] When meat is in anger is out

90] Great gain makes easy work

91] Forewarned is forearmed

92] He that can stay. Obtains

93] Virtue is the only true nobility

94] Vice is often clothed in virtue’s habit

95] It is easier to commend poverty than endure it.

96] If wishes were horses, beggars would ride (or might ride)

97] Better belly burst than good meat lost

98] A good Jack makes a good Jill.

99] A man apt to promise, is apt to forget

100] None so busy as those who do nothing.