Famous Proverbs

1] Appetite comes with eating

2] Do not triumph before the victory

3] A secret fire is discovered by the smoke

4] Diligence is the mother of good fortune

5] Plain dealing is best. Plain dealing is a jewel

6] Quickly come, quickly go

7] No man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself

8] A good lawyer must be a great liar

9] A man must plough with such oxen as he has

10] Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad

11] Better be a fool than a knave

12] An ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory

13] Don’t cast your pearls before swine

14] If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.

15] It is good to follow the old fox

16] Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him

17] God arms the harmless

18] Children should be seen and not heard

19] Comfort is not known if poverty does not come before it

20] Sparrows who emulate peacocks are likely to break a thigh

21] Good merchandise finds a ready buyer

22] Whatever is made by the hand of man, by the hand of man by overturned

23] He that dare not venture must not complain of ill luck

24] A cat may look at a king

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

26] We do as we can, since we can’t do as we would

27] Beware of no man more than himself

28] There are more men threatened than stricken

29] The more you get, the more you want

30] An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest

31] It is easier to get a favour from fortune than to keep it

32] A burthen of one’s own choice is not felt

33] Nothing is certain but the unforeseen

34] There is truth in wine

35] Laugh and grow fat

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

37] A barber learns to shave by shaving fools

38] It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor

39] Gifts blind the eyes.

40] Out of debt, out of danger

41] The bait hides the hook

42] When a dwarf ascends a staircase, he gets higher every step

43] An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.

44] Everything would fain live

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

46] Health is not value till sickness comes

47] Change of pasture makes fat calves

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

49] The longest day must have an end

50] Soon learnt, soon forgotten

51] Remember, you are but a man

52] Soft fire makes sweet malt

53] T’ is safest making peace with sword in hand

54] Misfortune arrives on horseback but departs on foot

55] Ill – gotten goods never prosper

56] Never refuse a good offer

57] He who aims at the moon may hit the top of a tree; he who aims at the top of a tree is unlikely to get off the ground

58] Paddle your own canoe

59] A thousand cranes in the air are not worth one sparrow in the fist.

60] Wake not a sleeping lion

61] Look before you leap

62] The eye sees only what it has the power of seeing

63] All is vanity.

64] A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his home

65] The coward threatens only when he is safe

66] Virtue joints man to god

67] Where bad’s the best, bad must be the choice

68] Death is the grand leveler

69] Striving to better, often we mar what’s well.

70] Unpaid debts are unforgiven sins

71] No one ought to judge in his own cause

72] All are not thieves that dogs bark at

73] Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down

74] It is ill striving against the stream

75] Life is short and time is swift

76] The devil finds work for idle hands to do

77] Manners and money make a gentleman

78] The ass loaded with gold still eats thistles

79] He that dare not venture must not complain of ill luck

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

81] Goodness is better than beauty

82] Never was a cat or dog drowned, that could but see the shore

83] An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes.

84] Wise men do not argue with idiots

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

86] Forethought is easy, repentance hard

87] When bees area old, they yield n honey

88] Keep not ill men company, lest you increase the number

89] Plain dealing is a jewel, but they that use it die beggars

90] Better to be safe than sorry.

91] It is a silly fish that is caught twice with the same bait.

92] What’s in a name?

93] Truth has a good face but bad clothes

94] You are never too old to learn

95] He who teaches learns

96] A fair face may hide a foul heart.

97] Who is more busy than he that has least to do?

98] Make haste slowly

99] New things are fair

100] New lords, new laws