Proverbs

1 Bad habits grow unconsciously

2 Nature is the best physician.
3 Pigs might fly
4 Jack of all trades, master of none.
5 Save the penny, pounds will save
themselves.
6 You can’t pump the ocean dry.
7 Any port in the storm.
8 The pot calling the kettle black.
9 Everyone has their price.
10 The early bird catches the worm.
11 People who live in glass houses shouldn’t
throw stones.
12 Borrowed garment, never fit well.
13 Pride comes / goes before a fall.
14 We should profit by experience.
15 The proof of pudding is in the eating.
16 All reads lead to Rome.
17 Misfortunes never come alone.
18 When it rains, it pours.
19 Opportunity never comes twice
20 Seeing is believing
21 Actions speak louder than words
22 Absence makes the heart grow fonder
23 There is no accounting for taste
24 It will be all right on the night
25 If you can’t beat them, join them
26 Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
27 Beauty is only skin-deep
28 You’ve made your bed, and you must lie on
it.
29 Baggers can’t be choosers.
30 Birds of a feather flocks together.
31 Like father like son
32 Blood is thicker than water.
33 Boy will be boy
34 When the cat is away, the mice will play.
35 Cut you coat according to your cloth
36 The die is cat
37 Too many cooks spoil the broth.
38 The streets are proved will gold
39 The evil makes work for idle hands
40 The sea has many thousand sands
41 A guilty conscience needs no excuse
42 The beautiful rainbow soon traded away
43 No man can serve two masters
44 A sick room should be well cured.
45 The dewdrops glitter in the sunshine.
46 I shot an arrow in the air
47 The pen is mightier than the sword
49 Wisdom is better than strength.
50 Still water run deep
51 Barking dogs seldom bite
52 New brooms sweep clean
53 A friend in deed is a friend indeed
54 Charity begins at home
55 Don’t count your chickens hatched
56 Curiosity kills the cat.
57 Better the devil you know than the devil you
don’t.
58 Discretion is the better part of valour
59 No news is good news
60 A live ass is strange than a dead lion
61 Honesty is written on his peace
62 Honesty is the best policy
63 It must be done not at any price
64 Whatever you do, do well
65 Don’t do things by halves
66 They always talk who never think
67 Heaven helps those who help themselves
68 We must eat to live, but we shouldn’t live to
eat
69 Govern your passions or they will govern
your
70 At Rome, do as a Raman does
71 Easier said than done
72 Hanger is the best sauce
73 His simple word is as good as an oath
74 Open rebuke is better than secret love
75 Prevention is better than cure
76 He would sooner die than tell a lie
77 Some people have more money than brain
78 A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend
79 No smoke without a fire
80 Right or wrong, my country
81 One step forward, two steps backward.
82 Time is money
83 Every dog has his/its day
84 Give a dog a bad name
85 Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
86 Easy come, Easy go
87 A man’s home is his castle
88 Enough is enough
89 An eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth
90 All is fair in love and war
91 It is easier to preach than to practice
92 The more they get the more they want
93 A little knowledge is a dangerous things
94 Few men are free from faults
95 The darkest cloud has a silver lining
96 A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
97 Man is moral
98 While there is life, there is hope
99 Do not look a gift horse in the mouth
10 An umbrella is no avail against the thunder
0 storm
10 To err is human
1
10 He who hesitates is lost
2
10 Time makes the worst enemies friends
3
10 He that is content is rich
4
10 Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
5
10 There is many a slip twixt cup and lip
6
10 Necessary is mother of invention
7
10 He that is slow to anger is better than the
8 mighty
10 All is not gold that glitters
9
11 What is one man’s meat is another man’s
0 poison
11 Quick come, quick go
1
11 Two wrings don’t make a right
2
11 A stich in time saver nine
3
11 Never say die.
4
11 What goes around, comes around
5
11 One good turn deserves another
6
11 What you gain on the swings, you lose on
7 the roundabouts
11 Fools rush in where angles tear to tread
8
11 Out of the trying pan into the fire
9
12 The grass is always greener on the other side
0 of the fence
12 Better envy than pity
1
12 He who has a tongue may go to Rome i.e.
2 may go anywhere
12 Small people are so fond of talking of what
3 great people do
12 Princes have long hands and many ears
4
12 The goat must browse where it is tethered
5
12 The hearts has no secret which our conduct
6 does not reveal
12 Opportunity is the cream of time
7
12 One foe is too many, a hundreds friends are
8 too few.
12 Erring is not cheating
9
13 The right is with the strongest
0
13 In the mirror, we see the face, in wine, the
1 heart
13 Every truth is not good to be told
2
13 Good blood disdains to die
3
13 The apple doesn’t/ never fall(s) far from the
4 tree
13 Success is befriended by many people
5
13 Think much, speak little, write less
6
13 The more the well is used, the more water
7 gives
13 If the eyes do not admire, the heart will not
8 desire
13 Stretch your legs according to your coverlet
9
14 Two’s company, there’s a crowd.
0
14 The end justifies the means
1
14 What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t
2 grieve over.
14 Some people are more equal than others
3
14 Familiarity breeds contempt
4
14 Famous last words
5
14 So far, so good
6
14 First come, first served
7
14 It’s not over until the fat lady sings
8
14 Love me, love my dog
9
15 If you’ve got it, flaunt it.
0
15 A fool and his money are soon parted
1
15 There is no fool like an old fool.
2
15 Foreowned is forearmed
3
15 Two can play at that game (tit of tat)
4
15 When the going gets tough, (the tough get
5 going)
15 It / Money doesn’t grow on trees.
6
15 Half a loaf is better than no bread.
7
15 All hands on deck / all hands to the pump
8
15 Many hands make light word
9
16 More haste, less speed
0
16 Make hay while the sun shines
1
16 There is no time like present
2
16 Home is where the heart it
3
16 Two hands are better than one
4
16 Hope springs eternal
5
16 You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t
6 make it drink
16 Ignorance is bliss (if you don’t see sth, you
7 can’t worry about it)
16 It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
8
16 Give somebody an inch and they will take a
9 yard / mile
17 Don’t judge a book by its cover.
0
17 Kill the goose, that lays the golden eggs
1
17 Better late than never
2
17 He who laughs last laughs best
3
17 Look before you leap.
5
17 A leopard cannot change its spots
6
17 The lights are on, but nobody’s home.
7
17 Lighting never strikes in the same place
8 twice.
17 Live and let live
9
18 Money talks
0
18 Live to fight to another day
1
18 Love is blind
2
18 Everyman for himself
3
18 You can’t keep a good man down
4
18 Marry in haste, repent at leisure
5
18 The more, the merrier
6
18 A miss is as good as a mile
7
18 Out of the mouths of Baber and suckling
8
18 Where there is muck, there’s brass
9
19 Time alone will tell
0
19 It does exactly work it says on the tin
1
19 Touch wood (B.E) Knock on wood (A.E)
2
19 A trouble shared a trouble halved
3
19 True is stranger than fiction
4
19 The true will out
5
19 Never the twain shall meet
6
19 Variety is the spice of life
7
19 Nothing ventured, nothing gained
8
19 Virtue is own reward
9
20 Walls have ears
0
20 Waste not, want not.
1
20 A watched pot never boils
2
20 There are no two ways about it
3
20 There’s more than one way to skin a cat
4
20 You might / may at well be hanged / hung
5 for a sheep or for a lamb.
20 Where there’s a will there’s a way.
6
20 All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
7
20 The worm will turn
8
20 People who pay their debts are trusted
9
21 After the storm comes the calm
0
21 Survival of the fittest
1
21 You reap what you sow. (As you sow, so
2 you shall reap)
21 The reap is to hell is paved good intentions
3
21 Rob Peter to pay Poul.
4
21 A rolling stone gathers no mass.
5
21 Rome wasn’t built in a day
6
21 A rose by any other name would smell as
7 sweet
21 Better safe than sorry
8
21 There’s safety in numbers
9
22 Least said, soonest mended
0
22 What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the
1 grander
22 You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours
2
22 Share and share alike
3
22 Out of right, out of mind
4
22 Silence is golden
5
22 It’s six of one and half a dozen of the other
6
22 Let sleeping dogs lie
7
22 Let by ones be bygones (Let it as it as)
8
22 It’s a small world
9
23 A word to the wise is sufficient
0
23 Wisdom is the gift of heaven
1
23 They never fait who die in a great cause
2
23 Men are too often led astray by prejudice
3
23 Man can’t live by bread alone
4
23 The man who is honest is trusted
5
23 Great oaks are fallen by little strokes
6
23 One can’t gather grapes from thistles
7
23 All desire wealth and some acquire it
8
23 Fortune favors the brave.
9
24 Show in steady wins the race
0
24 Early to bed and early to rise. / Makes a man
1 healthy, wealthy and wise.
24 To find fault is easy.
2
24 Men must work and women must weep
3
24 Music has (hath) charms to soothe the
4 savage breast
24 To retreat was difficult; to advantage was
5 impossible
24 Can you hope to count the star?
6
24 To toil is the lot of mankind
7
24 Time misspent is time lost
8
24 He played a losing game
9
25 A burnt child dreats fire
0
25 Asking questions is easier than answering
1 them
25 What is bred in the bone will not wear out of
2 flesh
25 Nothing will come of nothing
3
25 He killed two birds with one shot
4
25 A man who always concise at the fault of his
5 children is their worst enemy.
25 People who are averse to hard work
6 generally do not succeed in life
25 Death is preferable to disgrace
7
25 Generally, the rich are more covetous at
8 money than the poor
25 Do not confide your secrets to everyone
9
26 Early rising is beneficial to health
0
26 Hard work and perseverance are
1 indispensable to success in life
26 Many aspire to greatness but few attain it
2
26 Whoever acts contrary to nature does not go
3 unpunished
26 One is sure of what one see
4
26 He is indifferent alike to praise and blame
5
26 We are accountable to God for our action
6
26 Contentment is requisite to happiness
7
26 The flood and ebb tides alternate with each
8 other
26 A drowning man catches a straw
9
27 God made the country and man made the
0 town
27 Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great
1
27 She must weep, or she will die
2
27 Two and two make four
3
27 His bark is worse than his bite
4
27 Catch me if you can
5
27 Man proposes but God disposes
6
27 Be just and fear not
7
27 Take heed lest you fall
8
27 Though I grant his honestly, I suspect his
9 memory
28 Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty
0
28 I would do before I lied
1
28 We all know that sin and sorrow go together
2
28 While this is true of some, it is not true of all
3
28 Giving up wrong pleasure is not self-
4 sacrifice, but self-culture.
28 We judge ourselves by what we feel capable
5 of doing, while others judge us by what we
already done.
28 Trust the man who hesitates in his speech
6 and is quick and steady in his action, but
because of long arguments and long beards
28 A man’s real character will always be more
7 visible in his household than anywhere else
28 He that is slow to anger is better than the
8 mighty
28 The ravine was full of sound, now but it had
9 once been full of water
29 The harvest truly is plenteous, but the
0 laborers are few
29 A vessel that once gets a crack, though it
1 may be cunningly mended, will never stand
such through usage as a whole one.