8.26.2010

Best Collection of English Proverbs

• A cat may look at a king
• A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
• A change is as good as a rest
• A drowning man will clutch at a straw
• A fish always rots from the head down
• A fool and his money are soon parted
• A friend in need is a friend indeed
• A golden key can open any door
• A good beginning makes a good ending
• A good man is hard to find
• A house divided against itself cannot stand
• A house is not a home
• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
• A leopard cannot change its spots
• A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
• A little of what you fancy does you good
• A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client
• A miss is as good as a mile
• A new broom sweeps clean
• A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse
• A penny saved is a penny earned
• A person is known by the company he keeps
• A picture paints a thousand words
• A place for everything and everything in its place
• A poor workman always blames his tools
• A problem shared is a problem halved
• A prophet is not recognized in his own land
• A rising tide lifts all boats
• A rolling stone gathers no moss
• A soft answer turneth away wrath
• A stitch in time saves nine
• A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly
• A thing of beauty is a joy forever
• A trouble shared is a trouble halved
• A volunteer is worth twenty pressed men
• A watched pot never boils
• A woman's place is in the home
• A woman's work is never done
• A word to the wise is enough
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder
• Absolute power corrupts absolutely
• Accidents will happen (in the best-regulated families).
• Actions speak louder than words
• Adversity makes strange bedfellows
• After a storm comes a calm
• All good things come to he who waits
• All good things must come to an end
• All is grist that comes to the mill
• All publicity is good publicity
• All roads lead to Rome
• All that glisters is not gold
• All the world loves a lover
• All things come to those who wait
• All things must pass
• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
• All you need is love
• All's fair in love and war
• All's for the best in the best of all possible worlds
• All's well that ends well
• A miss is as good as a mile
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away
• An army marches on its stomach
• An Englishman's home is his castle
• An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
• Another day, another dollar
• Any port in a storm
• April showers bring forth May flowers
• As you make your bed, so you must lie upon it
• As you sow so shall you reap
• Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer
• Ask no questions and hear no lies
• Attack is the best form of defence
• Bad money drives out good
• Bad news travels fast
• Barking dogs seldom bite
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
• Beauty is only skin deep
• Beggars should not be choosers
• Behind every great man there's a great woman
• Better late than never
• Better safe than sorry
• Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't
• Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
• Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
• Better to remain silent and be thought a fool that to speak and remove all doubt
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
• Big fish eat little fish
• Birds of a feather flock together
• Blood is thicker than water
• Boys will be boys
• Brevity is the soul of wit
• Business before pleasure
• Caesar's wife must be above suspicion
• Carpe diem (Seize the day)
• Charity begins at home
• Cheats never prosper
• Children should be seen and not heard
• Cleanliness is next to godliness
• Clothes make the man
• Cold hands, warm heart
• Comparisons are odious
• Count your blessings
• Cowards may die many times before their death
• Crime doesn't pay
• Cut your coat to suit your cloth
• Dead men tell no tales
• Devil take the hindmost
• Discretion is the better part of valour
• Distance lends enchantment to the view
• Do as I say, not as I do
• Do as you would be done by
• Do unto others as you would have them do to you
• Don't bite the hand that feeds you
• Don't burn your bridges behind you
• Don't cast your pearls before swine
• Don't change horses in midstream
• Don't count your chickens before they are hatched
• Don't cross the bridge till you come to it
• Don't cut off your nose to spite your face
• Don't keep a dog and bark yourself
• Don't let the bastards grind you down
• Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
• Don't meet troubles half-way
• Don't put all your eggs in one basket
• Don't put the cart before the horse
• Don't put new wine into old bottles
• Don't rock the boat
• Don't spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar
• Don't throw pearls to swine
• Don't teach your Grandma to suck eggs
• Don't throw the baby out with the bath water
• Don't try to walk before you can crawl
• Don't upset the apple-cart
• Don't wash your dirty linen in public
• Doubt is the beginning not the end of wisdom
• Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise
• East is east, and west is west
• East, west, home's best
• Easy come, easy go
• Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die
• Empty vessels make the most noise
• Enough is as good as a feast
• Enough is enough
• Even a worm will turn
• Every cloud has a silver lining
• Every dog has his day
• Every Jack has his Jill
• Every little helps
• Every man for himself, and the Devil take the hindmost
• Every man has his price
• Every picture tells a story
• Every stick has two ends
• Everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die
• Everything comes to him who waits
• Failing to plan is planning to fail
• Faint heart never won fair lady
• Fair exchange is no robbery
• Faith will move mountains
• Familiarity breeds contempt
• Feed a cold and starve a fever
• Fight fire with fire
• Finders keepers, losers weepers
• Fine words butter no parsnips
• First come, first served
• First impressions are the most lasting
• First things first
• Fish always stink from the head down
• Fish and guests smell after three days
• Flattery will get you nowhere
• Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
• For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the man was lost
• Forewarned is forearmed
• Forgive and forget
• Fortune favours the brave
• From the sublime to the ridiculous is only one step
• Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains
• Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration
• Give a dog a bad name and hang him
• Give a man rope enough and he will hang himself
• Give credit where credit is due
• God helps those who help themselves
• Good fences make good neighbours
• Good talk saves the food
• Good things come to those who wait
• Great minds think alike
• Half a loaf is better than no bread
• Handsome is as handsome does
• Hard cases make bad law
• Hard work never did anyone any harm
• Haste makes waste
• He that goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing
• He who can does, he who cannot, teaches
• He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day
• He who hesitates is lost
• He who laughs last laughs longest
• He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword
• He who pays the piper calls the tune
• He who sups with the Devil should have a long spoon
• Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
• Hindsight is always twenty-twenty
• History repeats itself
• Home is where the heart is
• Honesty is the best policy
• Hope springs eternal
• Horses for courses
• If anything can go wrong, it will
• If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well
• If at first you don't succeed try, try and try again
• If God had meant us to fly he'd have given us wings
• If ifs and ands were pots and pans there'd be no work for tinkers
• If life deals you lemons, make lemonade
• If the cap fits, wear it
• If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain
• If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
• If you can't be good, be careful
• If you can't beat em, join em
• If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen
• If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas
• If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
• If you want a thing done well, do it yourself
• Ignorance is bliss
• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
• In for a penny, in for a pound
• In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king
• In the midst of life we are in death
• Into every life a little rain must fall
• It ain't over till the fat lady sings
• It goes without saying
• It is best to be on the safe side
• It is better to give than to receive
• It is easy to be wise after the event
• It never rains but it pours
• It takes a thief to catch a thief
• It takes all sorts to make a world
• It takes one to know one
• It takes two to tango
• It's all grist to the mill
• It's an ill wind that blows no one any good
• It's better to give than to receive
• It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
• It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness
• It's better to travel hopefully than to arrive
• It's never too late
• It's no use crying over spilt milk
• It's no use locking the stable door after the horse has bolted
• It's the early bird that catches the worm
• It's the empty can that makes the most noise
• It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease
• Jack of all trades, master of none
• Judge not, that ye be not judged
• Keep your chin up
• Keep your powder dry
• Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone
• Laughter is the best medicine
• Least said, soonest mended
• Less is more
• Let bygones be bygones
• Let not the sun go down on your wrath
• Let sleeping dogs lie
• Let the buyer beware
• Let the dead bury the dead
• Let the punishment fit the crime
• Let well alone
• Life begins at forty
• Life is just a bowl of cherries
• Life is what you make it
• Life's not all beer and skittles
• Lightning never strikes twice in the same place
• Like father, like son
• Little pitchers have big ears
• Little strokes fell great oaks
• Little things please little minds
• Live for today for tomorrow never comes
• Look before you leap
• Love is blind
• Love makes the world go round
• Love thy neighbour as thyself
• Love will find a way
• Make hay while the sun shines
• Make love not war
• Man does not live by bread alone
• Manners maketh man
• Many a little makes a mickle
• Many a mickle makes a muckle
• Many a true word is spoken in jest
• Many hands make light work
• March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb
• March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers
• Marriages are made in heaven
• Marry in haste, repent at leisure
• Might is right
• Mighty oaks from little acorns grow
• Misery loves company
• Moderation in all things
• Monday's child is fair of face,
• Tuesday's child is full of grace,
• Wednesday's child is full of woe,
• Thursday's child has far to go,
• Friday's child is loving and giving,
• Saturday's child works hard for its living,
• And a child that's born on the Sabbath day
• Is fair and wise and good and gay.
• Money doesn't grow on trees
• Money is the root of all evil
• Money isn't everything
• Money makes the world go round
• Money talks
• More haste, less speed
• Music has charms to soothe the savage breast
• Nature abhors a vacuum
• Necessity is the mother of invention
• Needs must when the devil drives
• Ne'er cast a clout till May be out
• Never give a sucker an even break
• Never go to bed on an argument
• Never judge a book by its cover
• Never let the sun go down on your anger
• Never look a gift horse in the mouth
• Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today
• Never speak ill of the dead
• Never tell tales out of school
• Nine tailors make a man
• No man can serve two masters
• No man is an island
• No names, no pack-drill
• No news is good news
• No one can make you feel inferior without your consent
• No pain, no gain
• No rest for the wicked
• Nothing is certain but death and taxes
• Nothing succeeds like success
• Nothing venture, nothing gain
• Oil and water don't mix
• Old soldiers never die, they just fade away
• Once a thief, always a thief
• Once bitten, twice shy
• One good turn deserves another
• One half of the world does not know how the other half lives
• One hand washes the other
• One man's meat is another man's poison
• One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb
• One law for the rich and another for the poor
• One swallow does not make a summer
• One volunteer is worth ten pressed men
• One year's seeding makes seven years weeding
• Only fools and horses work
• Opportunity never knocks twice at any man's door
• Out of sight, out of mind
• Parsley seed goes nine times to the Devil
• Patience is a virtue
• Pearls of wisdom
• Penny wise and pound foolish
• People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
• Physician, heal thyself
• Possession is nine points of the law
• Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely
• Practice makes perfect
• Practice what you preach
• Prevention is better than cure
• Pride goes before a fall
• Procrastination is the thief of time
• Put your best foot forward
• Rain before seven, fine before eleven
• Red sky at night shepherd's delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning
• Revenge is a dish best served cold
• Revenge is sweet
• Rob Peter to pay Paul
• Rome wasn't built in a day
• See a pin and pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck; see a pin and let it lie, bad luck you'll have all day
• See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil
• Seeing is believing
• Seek and ye shall find
• Set a thief to catch a thief
• Share and share alike
• Shrouds have no pockets
• Silence is golden
• Slow but sure
• Softly, softly, catchee monkey
• Spare the rod and spoil the child
• Speak as you find
• Speak softly and carry a big stick
• Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me
• Still waters run deep
• Strike while the iron is hot
• Stupid is as stupid does
• Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan
• Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves
• Talk is cheap
• Talk of the Devil, and he is bound to appear
• Tell the truth and shame the Devil
• That which does not kill us makes us stronger
• The age of miracles is past
• The apple never falls far from the tree
• The best defence is a good offence
• The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley
• The best things in life are free
• The bigger they are, the harder they fall
• The bottom line is the bottom line
• The boy is father to the man
• The bread always falls buttered side down
• The child is the father of the man
• The cobbler always wears the worst shoes
• The course of true love never did run smooth
• The customer is always right
• The darkest hour is just before the dawn
• The devil finds work for idle hands to do
• The devil looks after his own
• The early bird catches the worm
• The end justifies the means
• The exception which proves the rule
• The female of the species is more deadly than the male
• The fruit does not fall far from the tree
• The good die young
• The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
• The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
• The husband is always the last to know
• The labourer is worthy of his hire
• The leopard does not change his spots
• The longest journey starts with a single step
• The more the merrier
• The more things change, the more they stay the same
• The only good Indian is a dead Indian
• The opera ain't over till the fat lady sings
• The pen is mightier than sword
• The price of liberty is eternal vigilance
• The proof of the pudding is in the eating
• The road to hell is paved with good intentions
• The shoemaker's son always goes barefoot
• The squeaking wheel gets the grease
• The truth will out
• The way to a man's heart is through his stomach
• There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream
• There are none so blind as those, that will not see
• There are two sides to every question
• There but for the grace of God, go I
• There's a time and a place for everything
• There's an exception to every rule
• There's always more fish in the sea
• There's honour among thieves
• There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle
• There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip
• There's more than one way to skin a cat
• There's no accounting for tastes
• There's no fool like an old fool
• There's no place like home
• There's no smoke without fire
• There's no such thing as a free lunch
• There's no such thing as bad publicity
• There's no time like the present
• There's none so blind as those who will not see
• There's none so deaf as those who will not hear
• There's nowt so queer as folk
• There's one born every minute
• There's safety in numbers
• They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind
• Third time lucky
• Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it
• Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
• Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas
• Time and tide wait for no man
• Time flies
• Time is a great healer
• Time is money
• Time will tell
• 'tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all
• To err is human; to forgive divine
• To the victor go the spoils
• To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive
• Tomorrow is another day
• Tomorrow never comes
• Too many cooks spoil the broth
• Truth is stranger than fiction
• Truth will out
• Two blacks don't make a white
• Two heads are better than one
• Two is company, but three's a crowd
• Two wrongs don't make a right
• Variety is the spice of life
• Virtue is its own reward
• Walls have ears
• Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs
• Waste not want not
• What can't be cured must be endured
• What goes up must come down
• What you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts
• What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
• When in Rome, do as the Romans do
• When the cat's away the mice will play
• When the going gets tough, the tough get going
• When the oak is before the ash, then you will only get a splash; when the ash is before the oak, then you may expect a soak
• What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over
• Where there's a will there's a way
• Where there's muck there's brass
• While there's life there's hope
• Whom the Gods love die young
• Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
• Women and children first
• Wonders will never cease
• Work expands so as to fill the time available
• Worrying never did anyone any good
• You are never too old to learn
• You are what you eat
• You can have too much of a good thing
• You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
• You can't have your cake and eat it
• You can't get blood out of a stone
• You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear
• You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
• You can't make bricks without straw
• You can't run with the hare and hunt with the hounds
• You can't teach an old dog new tricks
• You can't tell a book by looking at its cover
• You can't win them all
• You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
• You pays your money and you takes your choice
• Youth is wasted on the young

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