ENGLISH PROVERBS

A bad penny always turns up.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
A blind man will not thank you for a looking-glass
A burnt child dreads the fire.
A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years
A friend in need is a friend indeed
A full cup must be carried steadily
A goose quill is more dangerous than a lion's claw
A green Christmas makes a fat churchyard
A hero is a man who is afraid to run away.
A man is as old as he feels himself to be
A man is known by the company he keeps.
A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without sugar
A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of his own heart, his next to escape the censures of the world
A proverb is the child of experience.
A puff of wind and popular praise weigh alike
A small family is soon provided for.
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner
A young doctor makes a humpy graveyard
A young man idle, an old man needy.
Advice is least heeded when most needed
Affectation is a greater enemy to the face than smallpox
Age is a bad traveling companion
All be the same in a hundred years
All good things must come to an end.
All happiness is in the mind
All temptations are found either in hope or fear
All wealth begins in mind.
All's well that ends well.
An Englishman's home is his castle
An idle mind is the devil's workshop
An illiterate king is a crowned ass
Anger is often more hurtful than the injury that caused it
April showers brings May flowers.
Ask God for what man can give, and you may get it.
Be not deceived with the first appearance of things, for show is not substance.
Better a little fire that warms than a big one that burns
Better a snotty child than his nose wiped off.
Better die with honor than live with shame.
Character is easier kept than recovered
Cheat me in the price, but not in the goods.
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.
Constant dropping wears away a stone. -mid 13th; earlier in Greek
Craftiness must have clothes, but truth loves to go naked
Crime does not pay.
Curiosity killed the cat.
Death always comes too early or too late.
Death is a great leveler.
Death is a shadow that always follows the body.
Death keeps no calendar
Deeds are fruits, words are leaves
Discretion in speech is more important than eloquence
Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.
Do when ye may, or suffer ye the nay, in love 'tis the way
Don't cross the bridge until you get to it
Don't dig your grave with your knife and fork.
Don't drown the man who taught you to swim.
Don't fall before you're pushed
Don't halt before you are lame.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Early to bed and early to rise, make a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him.
Elbow grease is the best polish
Envy shoots at others and wounds itself
Every ass loves to hear himself bray
Every cock will crow upon his own dunghill. -mid 13th; 1st century AD in Latin
Every dog has its day.
Everyone must row with the oars he has
Fame is a magnifying glass
First come, first served.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Foul water will quench fire.
Gray hairs are death's blossoms.
Hasty climbers have sudden falls
He is lifeless that is faultless
He laughs best who laughs last.
He opens the door with an ax
He that buyeth magistracy will seek justice
He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns
He that hath many irons in the fire, some of them will cool
He that seeks trouble never misses.
He that will not stoop for a pin will never be worth a pound
He that would the daughter win, Must with the mother first begin
He who is shipwrecked the second time cannot lay the blame on Neptune
He who plants trees loves others beside himself
Home is home, though it be homely
Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst
If thou canst not see the bottom, wade not
If you dam a river it stagnates. Running water is beautiful water. So be a channel.
If you want a thing done, go. If not, send. The shortest answer is doing.
If you want to be happy for a year, plant a garden; If you want to be happy for life, plant a tree.
In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats
In the morning be first up, and in the evening last to go to bed, for they that sleep catch no fish
In time of prosperity friends will be plenty; In time of adversity not one in twenty
It is no use crying over spilt milk.
It takes all sorts to make a world
It’s an ill bird that fouls its own nest. -mid 13th
Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.
Kill not the goose that lays the golden eggs
Kisses that are easily obtained are easily forgotten
Learning makes a man fit company for himself as well as for others.
Learning makes people fit company for themselves
Let every man praise the bridge that carries him over
Let him make use of instinct who cannot make use of reason
Love sees no faults.
Love thy neighbor, yet pull not down thy hedge
Love your neighbor, yet pull not down your hedge.
Make hay while the sun shines.
Make not the sauce till you have caught the fish.
Many a true word is spoken in jest
May as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. English Proverb
Might is right.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Never love with all your heart, it only ends in breaking. English Proverb
Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today. English Proverb
Never step over one duty to perform another.
No barber shaves so close but another finds his work.
No man can serve two masters.
No pains, no gains
No time like the present. English Proverb
Old habits die hard.
One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters. English Proverb (17th century)
One of these day is none of these days. English Proverb
Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches English Proverb
Opportunity makes a thief. -early 13th
Poor men seek meat for their stomach, rich men stomach for their meat. English Proverb
Practice makes perfect. English Proverb
Proportion your expenses to what you have, not what you expect.
Raw cucumber makes the churchyards prosperous
Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
Seeking happiness is a straight way to misery.
Sell not virtue to purchase wealth.
Show me your horse and I will tell you what you are.
Six hours for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.
Some are wise and some are otherwise
Some men go through a forest and see no firewood
Sometimes you must be cruel to be kind.
Sorrow for a husband is like a pain in the elbow, sharp and short.
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me
Still waters run deep.
Take heed you do not find what you do not seek.
The absent are always in the wrong
The best throw of the dice is to throw them away.
The cat would eat fish, but would not wet her feet. -early 13th
The devil is in the dice
The Devil makes his Christmas pie of lawyers' tongues
The difference is wide that sheets will not decide.
The first step is the hardest.
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
The greater the sinner, the greater the saint
The last straw breaks the camel's back.
The noisiest drum has nothing in it but air
The old ox plows a straight furrow
The only way to be sure of not losing a child is not having any
The ship that will not obey the helm will have to obey the rocks.
The sting of a reproach is the truth of it
The unwise man and the forweaned (spoiled) child have but one law
There is but an hour a day between a good housewife and a bad one.
There's a black sheep in every flock.
There's no fool like an old fool.
Things are not always what they seem.
Time is the soul of business.
To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming.
True love never grows old.
Try your skill in gilt first, then in gold
Two is company, three is a crowd.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
Use soft words and hard arguments.
Vengeance is a dish best eaten cold
Venture a small fish to catch a great one
Venture not to defend what your judgment doubts of
Waste makes want
We are usually the best men when in the worst health.
What can be done at any time is never done at all
When the cat's away, the mice play.
When the sword of rebellion is drawn, the sheath should be thrown away.
When we have gold we are in fear, when we have none we are in danger
Where there is no trust there is no love.
While the doctors consult, the patient dies.
Who is so deaf or so blind as he that willfully will neither hear nor see?
Whom we love best, to them we can say least
You can't tell a book by its cover.
You may poke a man's fire after you've known him for seven years.
You must not expect old heads upon young shoulders.