English Proverbs

A blind man will not thank you for a looking-glass. 

A full cup must be carried steadily.

A joy that's shared is a joy made double.

A joyful evening may follow a sorrowful morning.
 
A man is as old as he feels himself to be.

A proverb is the child of experience.
 
A small family is soon provided for.
 
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.

A stumble may prevent a fall.
 
Absence sharpens love; presence strengthens it.
 
Accusing the times is but excusing ourselves.
 
Action is the proper fruit of knowledge.
 
Actions speak louder than words.
 
Adventures are to the adventurous.
 
Adversity flatters no man.
 
Advice is least heeded when most needed.
 
Advice to all, security for none. 

Age and wedlock tame man and beast.
 
Ale in, wit out.
 
All be the same in a hundred years.
 
All happiness is in the mind.
 
All temptations are found either in hope or fear.

Alms never make poor.
 
An abundance of money ruins youth.
 
An idle mind is the devil's workshop.

An illiterate king is a crowned ass.

Anger dies quickly with a good man.
 
Anger is often more hurtful than the injury that caused it.
   
Better wear out shoes than sheets.
 
Beware of a man of one book.

Big boast, small roast.

Big thunder, little rain.
 
Blind is the bookless man.
 
Cats hide their claws.
 
Children are poor men's riches.
 
Children suck the mother when they are young and the father when they are old.
 
Confession is the first step to repentance.
      
Danger is next neighbor to security.
   
Deeds are fruits, words are leaves.
 
Despair gives courage to a coward.
 
Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.
 
Discretion in speech is more important than eloquence.

Discretion is the better part of valor.
 
Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.

Do not triumph before the victory.

Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork.
 
Don't fall before you're pushed.

Elbow grease is the best polish.
 
Every ass loves to hear himself bray.

Every bean hath its black.
 
Every dog has his day.
 
Every path has its puddle.

Everyone must row with the oars he has.

Fame is a magnifying glass.
 
Familiarity breeds contempt.

Fancy passes beauty.

Far fowls have fair feathers.
 
First deserve, and then desire.

First impressions are the most lasting.
 
Fools build houses, and wise men buy them.

Foul water will quench fire.
 
Give neither advice nor salt, until you are asked for it.
 
Give the devil his due.

Gray hairs are death's blossoms.
 
He declares himself guilty who justifies himself before accusation.
 
He is lifeless that is faultless.
    
He that does amiss may do well.
 
He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns.

He that seeks trouble always finds it.
 
He that serves at the altar ought to live by the altar.
 
He that will steal an egg will steal an ox.
 
He that will thrive must first ask his wife.
  
He that would the daughter win Must with the mother first begin.
 
He who says what he likes will hear what he does not like.
 
If thou canst not see the bottom, wade not.
 
In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.

In for a penny, in for a pound.
 
In the morning be first up, and in the evening last to go to bed, for they that sleep catch no fish.
 
In times of prosperity friends will be plenty, In times of adversity, not one in twenty.

Innocent actions carry their warrant with them.

It is an equal failing to trust everybody and to trust nobody.
 
Keep counsel of thyself first. 
 
Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.

Kill not the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Kisses that are easily obtained are easily forgotten.
 
Learning makes people fit company for themselves.
 
Least said is soonest mended.
 
Lend your money and lose your friend.
 
Let every man praise the bridge he goes over.
 
Let him make use of instinct who cannot make use of reason.
 
Many a true word is spoken in jest.
 
Many things are lost for want of asking.

Much ado and little help.
 
Never fall out with your bread and butter.
 
Never love with all your heart, it only ends in breaking.
 
None can guess the jewel by the casket.
 
Peace makes plenty.
 
Plenty know good ale, but don't know much after that.
 
Proportion your expenses to what you have, not what you expect.

Prosperity discovers vices, and adversity virtue.
 
Proverbs are the children of experience.
 
Rain before seven; clear before eleven.
 
Raw leather will stretch.
 
Revenge is a dish that should be eaten cold.
 
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
 
Self-praise is no praise at all.
 
Short acquaintance brings repentance.
 
Some men go through a forest and see no firewood.
 
Some men have only one book in them, others a library.

Spread the table and contention will cease.

Spring has come when you can put your foot on three daisies.
 
Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush.
 
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.
 
Still he fisheth that catcheth one.
 
Sweep in front of your own door.
 
Take a hair of the dog that has bitten you.

Take care of your pennies and your pounds will take care of your heirs and barristers.
 
The bait hides the hook.
   
The darkest hour is that before the dawn.

The eyes are the window of the soul.
 
The face is no index to the heart.

The golden age never was the present age.
 
The greater the sinner, the greater the saint.
 
The greater the truth, the greater the libel.
  
The nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat.
 
The noisiest drum has nothing in it but air.
 
The noisy fowler catches no birds.

The north wind has no corn and a poor man no friend.
 
The old ox plows a straight furrow.
 
The pitcher will go to the well once too often.

The tongue ever turns to the aching tooth.
 
The worse the passage the more welcome the port.
 
There's many a good cock come out of a tattered bag.
 
There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle.
 
Think of ease, but work on.

Too far East is West.
 
Too hot to last.
 
Two wrongs do not make a right.

Use soft words and hard arguments.
 
Venture not to defend what your judgment doubts of.

Vows made in storms are forgotten in calms.

We are all Adam's children, but silk makes the difference.
 
We are usually the best men when in the worst health.

When a proud man hears another praised, he feels himself injured.

When two agree in their desire, One sparke will set them both on fire.

Where old age is evil, youth can learn no good.
 
Who goes a beast to Rome, a beast returns.

Write down the advice of him who love you, though you like it not at present.

You can't get blood out of a stone.
 
You never miss a slice from a cut loaf.
 
You never miss the water till the well runs dry.

Young men may die, old men must.
 
Young people don't know what age is, and old people forget what youth was.
 
Zeal without knowledge is like fire without light.
 
Zeal without knowledge is the sister of folly.

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