English proverbs
Traditional saying. The library holds 3417 of them. Here are the 60 most quoted; search the library in the maker for the rest.
Often about: wisdom, nature, money, time, love, faith
The 60 best known
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Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
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Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
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An ounce of mother-wit is worth a pound of clergy.
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Half a loaf is better than no bread.
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A man’s best fortune or his worst is his wife.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
In a calm sea every man is a pilot.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
No one knows the weight of another’s burden.
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Give a man luck and throw him into the sea.
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Marry above your match and you get a master.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Every ass thinks himself worthy to stand with the king’s horses.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
He that will not be ruled by the rudder must be ruled by the rock.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Put a snake in your bosom, and when it is warm it will sting you.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock.
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Fair and softly as lawyers go to heaven.
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I’ll not change a cottage in possession for a kingdom in reversion.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
The charitable give out at the door, and God puts in at the window.
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Daub yourself with honey, and you’ll be covered with flies.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; if he kills, the earth hides it.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
A good surgeon must have an eagle’s eye, a lion’s heart, and a lady’s hand.
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Knavery may serve for a turn, but honesty is best in the long run.
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When the child is christened you may have godfathers enough.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
One man may better steal a horse than another look over the hedge.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
All are not thieves that dogs bark at.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Hunger will break through stone walls.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Industry is fortune’s right hand and frugality her left.
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A bad custom is like a good cake—better broken than kept.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Three may keep counsel if two be away.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Law-makers should not be law-breakers.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
One hour’s sleep before midnight is worth two hours after.
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The horse thinks one thing, and he that rides him another.
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In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
What’s bred in the bone will never be out of the flesh.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
In for a penny in for a pound.
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Experience is the mistress of fools.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
A friend at court is better than a penny in the purse.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
A child may have too much of its mother’s blessing.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Don’t reckon your chickens before they are hatched.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
’Tis a good horse that never stumbles, and a good wife that never grumbles.
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When children stand quiet they have done some harm.
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The greatest scholars are not always the wisest men.
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Send a wise man on an errand and say nothing to him.
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A place for everything, and everything in its place.
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Wedding and ill wintering tame both man and beast.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
The greatest talkers are always the least doers.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
In the husband wisdom, in the wife gentleness.
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If it were not for hope, the heart would break.
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Steal the goose, and give the giblets in alms.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
The evil wound is cured, but not the evil name.
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Let your trouble tarry till its own day comes.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
It is more painful to do nothing than something.
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Sit in your place, and none can make you rise.
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A peck of March dust is worth a king’s ransom.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Give a thief rope enough and he’ll hang himself.
translated by Walter K. Kelly -
Keeping from falling is better than helping up.
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An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit.