Famous Proverbs

1] No man is content with his lot

2] The little cannot be great unless he devours many

3] Some people will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon.

4] Even if you wash a crow with rose- water, its feathers won’t become white.

5] Work expands so as to fill the time available

6] Worry is the interest we pay on trouble before it is due

7] He that sings on Friday, will weep on Sunday

8] Does sound come from an unstruck drum?

9] Diligence is the mother of good luck

10] Wrong has no warrant

11] Leave well alone

12] Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

13] Patience under old injuries invites new ones

14] The end makes all equal

15] Even the lion must defend itself against flies

16] Big fish eat little fish

17] A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

18] Make yourself all honey and the flies will devour you

19] Go to bed with the lamb, and rise with the lark

20] He that lends, gives

21] Friendship should not be all on one side

22] Set a beggar on horse back and he’ll ride to the devil

23] If you can’t ride two horses at once, you shouldn’t be in the circus

24] There is plenty of sound in an empty barrel

25] There’s a black sheep in every flock

26] A joke never gains over an enemy, but often loses a friend

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

28] Anger managers everything badly.

29] All are not thieves that dogs bark at

30] When someone gives up a peach, return him a plum

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

32] The darkest hour is that before the dawn

33] The first day a guest, the second day a guest, the third day a calamity

34] Never judge from appearances

35] Don’t go near the water until you learn how to swim

36] Care is no cure

37] Parents are patterns

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

39] God comes with leaden feet, but strikes with iron hands

40] Like will to like

41] Creditors have better memories than debtors

42] Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.

43] Money isn’t everything

44] Better sit still than rise and fall

45] Misfortune arrives on horseback but departs on foot

46] The buyer needs a hundred eyes, the seller but one

47] Harsh words cut wounds that fester like cankerous sores

48] A great city, a great solitude

49] Long absent, soon forgotten

50] Union (or Unity) is strength

51] Wash your dirty linen at home

52] Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.

53] Courtesy is the inseparable companion of virtue

54] All meat pleases not all mouths

55] He who carries the burden knows the weight of it.

56] Hasty climbers have sudden falls

57] Covetousness brings nothing home

58] The rich man thinks of the future, the poor man thinks of today

59] Names are debts

60] A little learning is dangerous thing

61] Cross the stream where it is shallowest

62] A guilty conscience feels continual fear

63] Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone

64] A thief knows a thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf

65] When all men say you are an ass, it is time to bray

66] Real friendship does not freeze in winter

67] Good clothes open all doors

68] Greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth.

69] It is late to cover the well when the child is drowned.

70] Let people laugh, as long as I am warm

71] It is too late to husband when all is spent

72] Nothing seek, nothing find

73] Wise men do not argue with idiots

74] Patience is a plaster for all sores

75] What’s in a name?

76] He that ventures not fails not.

77] Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance

78] It is ill striving (or swimming) against the stream (or tide)

79] The cobbler’s children are always the worst shod

80] Harp not for ever on the same string

81] Arms bend inwards – not outwards.

82] Money has no smell

83] You cannot sell the cow and sup the milk

84] Silence and thinking can no man offend

85] Punishment is a cripple, but it arrives

86] Better late than never, but better never late

87] Grasp all, lose all

88] When we have gold, we are in fear; when we have none we are in danger

89] You must grin and bear it

90] It is ill striving against the stream

91] Years know more than books

92] Had I fish’ was never good with garlic

93] Either mend or end

94] Poor men go to heaven as soon as rich

95] Extremes are dangerous

96] In all the weeding cake, hope is the sweetest plum.

97] Better a lean peace than a fat victory

98] A miss is as good as a mile

99] He that once deceives, is ever suspected

100] A spear you can see can easily be avoided; a hidden arrows is difficult to guard against.