English proverbs. You may find definitions on our sister project, Wiktionary, the free multilingual dictionary.
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A
- A bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit.
- A coin of gold is delighting in a bag of silver coins
- Meaning: English people make modest company.
- Alternative meaning: One who is unique is often praised or receives more pleasure.
- A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
- Laozi, Tao Te Ching, Ch. 64, line 12. 千里之行，始于足下
- A bad penny always turns up.
- Meaning: Your mistakes will come back to haunt you. Or Bad people will always return.
- A bean in liberty is better than a comfit in prison.
- A bellyful is one of meat, drink, or sorrow.
- A bellyful of food is a good one.
- A good enemy is a better person than a false friend.
- A big tree attracts the woodsman's axe.
- Meaning: Great people will attract great criticism.
- Possible interpretation: The rich make good targets for thieves and burglars.
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
- Originated in the 1900s as a marketing slogan dreamed up by American growers concerned that the temperance movement would cut into sales of apple cider. (Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire, Random House, 2001, ISBN 0375501290, p. 22, cf. p. 9 & 50)
- A bad workman blames his tools.
- George Herbert reports early English variants in Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, Etc. (1640):
- Never had an ill workman good tools.
- An ill labourer quarrels with his tools.
- The Works of George Herbert in Prose and Verse; 1881, New York: John Wurtele Lovell, Pub.; pp. 440 & 454
- Compare the older French proverb:
- Outil: ... Merchant ouvrier ne trouvera ja bons outils: Prov. A bungler cannot find (or fit himselfe with) with good tooles.
- Outil: ... Merchant ouvrier ne trouvera ja bons outils: Prov. A bungler cannot find (or fit himselfe with) with good tooles.
- Galen explains clearly, if less succinctly, in De Causis Procatarcticis (2nd c. A.D.), VI. 63–65:
- They blame their tools: why did the carpenter make the bed so badly, if he was any good? He will reply: "Because I used a poor axe and a thick gimlet, because I did not have a rule, I lost my hammer, and the hatchet was blunt", and other things of this kind. And the scribe, asked why he wrote so badly, will say that the paper was rough, the ink too fluid, the pen blunt, that he did not have a smoother, so that he could not write any better. Once again, this man holds his material responsible, and blames his tools as well, in mentioning the pen and smoother. And who does not know that artisans make themselves responsible for the deficiencies in their work too, when they cannot pin the blame on material and tools?
- Galen On Antecedent Causes, Tr. R. J. Hankinson, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0521622506, p. 90–93
- They blame their tools: why did the carpenter make the bed so badly, if he was any good? He will reply: "Because I used a poor axe and a thick gimlet, because I did not have a rule, I lost my hammer, and the hatchet was blunt", and other things of this kind. And the scribe, asked why he wrote so badly, will say that the paper was rough, the ink too fluid, the pen blunt, that he did not have a smoother, so that he could not write any better. Once again, this man holds his material responsible, and blames his tools as well, in mentioning the pen and smoother. And who does not know that artisans make themselves responsible for the deficiencies in their work too, when they cannot pin the blame on material and tools?
- George Herbert reports early English variants in Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, Etc. (1640):
- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
- John Bunyan cites this traditional proverb in The Pilgrim's Progress, (1678):
- So are the men of this world: They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good. That proverb, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," is of more authority with them than are all the divine testimonies of the good of the world to come.
- John Bunyan cites this traditional proverb in The Pilgrim's Progress, (1678):
- A burnt child dreads the fire.
- Chinese Version: One bitten by a snake for a snap dreads a rope for a decade.一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳
- Indian Version: The one burnt by hot milk drinks even cold buttermilk with precaution. Transliteration: Doodh ka jala chaanchko bhi phook phook ke peeta hai.
- Meaning: Similar to "Once bitten, twice shy"
- This Proverb intimates, That it is natural for all living Creatures, whether rational or irrational,
to consult their own Security, and Self-Preservation; and whether they act by Instinct or Reason, it still
tends to some care of avoiding those things that have already done them an Injury. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [1]
- A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
- Attributed to Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi
- A little pot is easily hot.
- A new broom sweeps clean.
- A cat may look at a king.
- Meaning: If a cat may look at the king - then I have a right to look where I please.
- A camel is a horse designed by committee.
- Meaning: a vision is more perfect from the individual rather than a group of people where it becomes anodyne.
- A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.
- Meaning: The strength of any group depends on the individual strength of each of its members.
- A closed mouth catches no flies.
- Meaning: You cannot say a bad thing if you don't speak at all.
- A constant guest is never welcome.
- A coward dies a thousand times before his death. The valiant never taste of death but once.
- From William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar[1]
- Meaning: The valiant (the brave) take no account of possible danger, whereas cowards are constantly fearing the worst. [2]
- A drop of knowledge is greater than an ocean of strength.
- A fool and his money are soon parted.
- A fox smells its own lair first. Or: A fox smells its own stink first.
- Meaning: One knows where they belong, and knows when they make a mistake.
- A friend in need is a friend indeed.
- Meaning: A genuine friend is with you even in times of trouble.
- A good beginning makes (for) a good ending.
- Chinese Version: A good beginning is half a succession-好的开始是成功的一半
- Meaning: Planning is the key to success.
- A good man in an evil society seems the greatest villain of all.
- A good surgeon has an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's hand.
- A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
- A half truth is a whole lie.
- A jack of all trades is master of none.
- A kingdom is lost for want of a shoe.
- See: "For want of a nail the shoe is lost, ..."
- A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on.
- Charles Spurgeon. A great lie may be widely accepted before the truth comes to light.
- A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
- A little Learning is a dangerous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again. ~ Alexander Pope
- A little Learning is a dangerous Thing;
- A loaded wagon makes no noise.
- People with real wealth don't talk about it.
- A man is known by the company he keeps.
- A miss by an inch is a miss by a mile.
- Meaning: A miss is a miss regardless the distance
- A man's home is his castle.
- William Blackstone refers to this traditional proverb in Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), Book 4, Chapter 16:
- And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?
- Translation: What more sacred, what more strongly guarded by every holy feeling, than a man's own home?
- And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?
- William Blackstone refers to this traditional proverb in Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), Book 4, Chapter 16:
- A night with Venus and a life with mercury.
- Anti-promiscuity adage, alluding to a 18th-century mercury-based folk treatment for syphilis
- Cited in Bartz, Diane, "Har, me hearties! Excavating Blackbeard's ship", Reuters (via Yahoo! News), 30 October 2006. URL accessed on 2006-11-01.
- A paragraph should be like a lady's skirt: long enough to cover the essentials but short enough to keep it interesting.
- A Pasoly in the eye is worth several in the shins.
- A good shot is worth many bad ones
- A penny saved is a penny earned.
- Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
- A penny spent is a penny earned.
- In contrast to spending on the poor people.
- Interpretation: capitalist alteration of Ben Franklin's original saying ["A penny saved is a penny earned"]. The concentration on spending rather than saving promotes the contemporary capitalist economic theory of putting money back into the economy (rather than hording it) to create more wealth.
- A penny earned is a penny lost; a penny shared is a penny well-spent.
- "A person who laughs may not be happy, but he's hide the sadness in his heart". (Al Sagheer, Suhail)
- A picture is worth a thousand words.
- An instant sight may save a thousand words.
- A snap of sight may describe much more than a thousand words.
- A pint of plain is yer only man.
- Meaning: You need to make the initial step if you are ever to complete a task.
- A rising tide lifts all boats
- This traditional proverb is sometimes attributed to John F. Kennedy because he repeated it several times, but he disclaimed originality in his address in the Assembly Hall at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, West Germany, 25 June 1963:
- As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all the boats.
- This traditional proverb is sometimes attributed to John F. Kennedy because he repeated it several times, but he disclaimed originality in his address in the Assembly Hall at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, West Germany, 25 June 1963:
- A rolling stone gathers no moss.
- A Turkish Proverb
- Interpretation: A person who is active will not grow stale.
- Alternative interpretation: A person who does not stay in one place very long will not develop roots or meaningful connections with others.
- Philip K. Dick in We Can Build You (1972) conceives a world where the latter interpretation has become the norm and the former indicative of a mental disorder.
- A son is a son 'till he gets him a wife; a daughter's a daughter all her life.
- Interpretation: the relationship between a daughter and her parents is enduring; the relationship with a son is attenuated after he marries.
- A still tongue makes a wise head.
- From Lewis the (Black) Barber; Lake Charles, LA; who always told people, "Never let the right hand know what the left hand is doing; a still tongue makes a wise head; still water runs deep."
- A stitch in time saves nine.
- Fix the small problem now before it becomes larger and harder to fix.
- A thief thinks everyone steals.
- A watched pot never boils.
- Main interpretation: Time seems to pass quicker when you aren't consciously waiting for something
- Possible interpretation: Worrying over something can make the task seem to take longer than it should.
- A woman's work is never done.
- From a folk rhyme - A man may work from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done, meaning that a man's traditional role as breadwinner may keep him occupied from sun-up to sundown, but the traditional roles of a woman demand even longer hours of work.
- A word spoken is past recalling.
- Alternative: What's done is done (so think before doing).
- Interpretation: Once you say something hurtful, provocative, etc., you can't take it back.
- A woman is like a cup of tea; you'll never know how strong she is until she boils
- Meaning: Never underestimate people; they could be stronger than you think
- Possible interpretation: Don't pester your wife too often, unless you want her to never cook for you again.
- Ability can take you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
- From Isle of Beauty by Thomas Haynes Bayly
- Interpretation: We miss people when we are separated from them.
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder but makes the mind forget.
- Act today only, tomorrow is too late
- Action is the proper fruit of knowledge.
- Actions speak louder than words.
- meaning: What you do is more important that what you say
- Advice most needed is least heeded.
- After dinner sit a while, after supper walk a mile.
- All cats love fish but hate to get their paws wet.
- sometimes you have to do bad things to get good ones
- All the world is your country, to do good is your religion.
- All flowers are not in one garden.
- All frills and no knickers.
- Possible interpretation: All style and no substance.
- All fur coat and no knickers.
- Meaning: Very concerned with outward appearance and material things, but with no modesty.
- All good things must come to an end.
- All hat and no cattle.
- Possible interpretation: All talk and appearance and little or no substance.
- All roads lead to Rome.
- Possible interpretation: However you try to go about things all will lead to the same conclusions
- Possible interpretation: Power draws all things to itself.
- Interpretation: The heartland/metropolis (for better or worse) yields considerable power.
- Meaning: The first roads were built by the Romans and at the time of the Roman empire, all roads led to Rome.
- All's fair in love and war.
- Interpretation: Love and War are arenas of complete passion that often obfuscate reason.
- All for one and one for all.
- Alexandre Dumas, The Three Musketeers
- All's well that ends well.
- A play by William Shakespeare
- Variant: All is well that ends well. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [2]
- All sizzle and no steak.
- Possible interpretation: All style and no substance
- All that glisters is not gold.
- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act II, scene 7.
- Often corrupted to: All that glitters is not gold.
- Possible interpretation: Not everything is what it appears to be.
- All things come to those who wait.
- All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy.
- Always care about your flowers and your friends. Otherwise they'll fade, and soon your house will be empty.
- An early bird catches worms.
- ... but the second mouse gets the cheese.
- An Englishman's home is his castle.
- Variant of "A man's home is his castle."
- An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
- Translaton: If you kill a neighbor's ox you must buy him a new one. (In biblical times.)
- Possible interpretation: retribution should be equitable, proportionate and "fit the crime". Biblical reference, modern usage often connotes support for capital punishment.
- A common response, often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, is "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind," is often used as a criticism for this concept, implying that "an eye for an eye" will only perpetuate a potentially endless cycle of violence.
- An empty vessel makes the most noise
- Those with the least understanding often complain about things the most.
- An old dog will learn no tricks. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [3]
- An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
- Possible interpretation: Similar to that of A stitch in time saves nine. Preventing something in advance is better than fixing it later on.
- An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit.
- Meaning: it is better to be careful and discrete than to be clever.
- April showers bring May flowers.
- Meaning: Something seeming bad or boring now brings good things in the future.
- As fit as a fiddle.
- Meaning: very fit and well
- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another
- As soon as a man is born, he begins to die.
- As you make your bed, so you must lie in it.
- Similar to "You reap what you sow"
- Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.
- Interpretation: There are some things I'd rather not say, so don't ask me!
- Aught for naught, and a penny change.
- Interpretation: you can't get something for nothing -- you might as well expect to get paid to take it.
B
- Bad news travels fast.
- Barking dogs seldom bite.
- Meaning: People who are busy complaining rarely take more concrete hostile action.
- Alternate meaning: Those who cast threats will seldom follow through with them
- Barking up the wrong tree.
- Be careful before every step.
- Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
- Before criticizing a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
- Meaning: One should not criticize a person without understanding their situation.
- Beginning is half done.
- Quoted by Dr. Robert Schuller, West Coast clergyman.
- Beggars can't be choosers.
- Meaning: Those who are in need of help can't afford to be too demanding.
- Better is the enemy of good.
- Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
- Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
- Variant: Better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. (often attributed to Abraham Lincoln but taken from Solomon's Proverbs)
- Better late than never.
- Meaning: It's better to make an effort to keep an appointment than to give up altogether when you discover you will be late.
- Better safe than sorry.
- Meaning: It is better to take precautions when it's possible that something can go amiss than to regret doing nothing later if something should indeed go wrong.
- Better the devil you know (than the one you don't).
- Beware of the Bear when he tucks in his shirt.
- Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, and inwardly are ravening wolves. (Matthew; bible quote)
- Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
- A reference to the Trojan Horse
- Birds of a feather flock together.
- Variant: Birds of the same feather flock together.
- Meaning: People who are similar to one another tend to stay together.
- Variant: Birds of the same feather flock together.
- Bitter pills may have blessed effects.
- Meaning: Things that seem hard to take or handle at first may have positive and beneficial outcomes.
- Blood is thicker than water.
- Meaning: Bonds between family members are stronger than other relationships.
- Blood will out.
- Meaning: A person's ancestry or upbringing will eventually show.
- Bloom where you are planted.
- Meaning: Excel and flourish where you grow up, or where you fit in; be good at what you do.
- A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword.
- Robert Burton cites this traditional proverb in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621):
- It is an old saying, "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword:" and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever.
- Part I, Section II, Member IV, Subsection IV
- It is an old saying, "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword:" and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever.
- Compare: "The pen is mightier than the sword."
- Contrast: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."
- Robert Burton cites this traditional proverb in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621):
- Born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth.
- Meaning: Born in a rich family.
- Boys will be boys.
- Meaning: Boys are traditionally expected to misbehave, while girls are not.
- Brag is a good Dog, but Holdfast is a better
- This Proverb is a Taunt upon Braggadoccio's, who talk big, boast, and rattle:
It is also a Memento for such who make plentiful promises to do well for the
future but are suspected to want Constancy and Resolution to make
them good. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [4]
- This Proverb is a Taunt upon Braggadoccio's, who talk big, boast, and rattle:
- Brain is better than brawn.
- Bread is the stuff of life.
- Break the Law as the Law should be beaten.
- Buy the best and you only cry once.
C
- Cometh the hour cometh the man.
- (Some information about the phrase and about its use by a 1940's cricketer)
- Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar (play)[3]
- Meaning: The valiant (the brave) take no account of possible danger, whereas cowards are constantly fearing the worst. [4]
D
- A dull pencil is greater than the sharpest memory.
- Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
- Lorenzo Dow (d. 1834).[5]
- Meaning: Refers to a situation where both possibilities will lead to harm or blame.
- Desperate times call for desperate measures.
- Different strokes for different folks.
- Meaning: Someone prefers one thing; others, something different.
- Discretion is the better part of valour.
- Derived from "The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life." Falstaff in Shakespere's Henry IV Part One.
- Meaning: Caution is preferable to rash bravery.
- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- Based on the Bible (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).[6]; a statement of the ethic of reciprocity
- Do it today, tomorrow it may be against the law.
- Doctors make the worst patients.
- Don't ask God to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet.
- Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
- Meaning: Behave respectfully or deferentially to those who provide for you.
- Don't burn your bridges.
- Meaning: Do not act in such a way as to leave yourself no alternative or no opportunity to "retreat."
- Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
- Don't bite off more than you can chew.
- Meaning: Do not take on more responsibility than you can handle at any one time.
- Don't cry over spilt milk.
- Meaning: Don't worry about things that have already happened.
- Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
- Interpretation: Do not act to spite someone else if it is damaging to yourself.
- Don't fall before you're pushed.
- Don't judge a man by the size of his hat, but by the angle of his tilt.
- Don't have too many irons in the fire.
- Possible interpretation: Do not take on more responsibility than you can handle.
- Don't judge a book by its cover.
- Meaning: Do not judge by appearances.
- Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
- Possible interpretation: Do not look for faults in a gift.
- Don't make a mountain out of a molehill.
- Don't exaggerate small things / Don't make a big deal out of something minor.
- Don't mend what ain't broken.
- Alternatively, If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
- Alternatively, Leave well enough alone.
- Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
- Meaning: Do not rest all your hopes on one eventuality; plan for several cases.
- Don't put the cart before the horse.
- Meaning: Do things in the correct order.
- Cf. Dan Michael of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340): "Many religious folk set the plough before the oxen." (Middle English: "Moche uolk of religion зetteþ þe зuolз be-uore þe oksen.")
- Don't raise more Demons than you can lay down.
- Don't shut the barn door after the horse is gone.
- Possible interpretation: Prepare for things to go wrong rather than worrying about them after the fact.
- Don't spit into the wind.
- Or, Don't piss into the wind.
- Meaning, don't take actions which you know will harm yourself or be futile.
- Don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar.
- Meaning: Don't jeopardize a project - especially a large one - by being miserly or cutting corners.
- A ha'p'orth (pronounced haypeth) is a halfpenny-worth, i.e. a very small amount.
- Meaning: Don't jeopardize a project - especially a large one - by being miserly or cutting corners.
- Don't take life too seriously; you'll never get out of it alive.
- Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- Possible interpretation: Do not, in an attempt to remove something undesirable, lose things that are valuable.
- Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It doesn't work, and you'll annoy the pig.
- Meaning: Don't go into a relationship expecting to change your partner, it doesn't work.
- Don't cross a bridge before you come to it.
- Meaning: Don't fret unnecessarily about future problems.
- Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom.
- Don't bring a knife to a gun fight.
- Don't let procrastination eat your own clock.
- Meaning: Don't procrastinate most of the time as your chances and opportunities are wasted away.
- Dreams are not the ones which come when you sleep, but they are the ones which will not let you sleep.
- Meaning: Dreams in your sleep are different from the dreams of your future.
- Distance makes the heart grow fonder.
- Don't bark if you can't bite.
- Meaning: Dreams in your sleep are different from the dreams of your future.
meaning - Don't complain if you can't enforce your point of view.
- Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork.
meaning - Don't do something yourself which causes your own downfall.
E
- Chacun à son goût
- French for "Each to his own taste"
- Alternatively: à chacun son goût - "To each his own".
- Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. (attibuted to Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac)
- The early bird catches the worm. But the second mouse gets the cheese.
- The ends justify the means.
- Enjoy what you don't know.
- Even a dog can distinguish between being stumbled over and being kicked.
- Even a dog can make it to the top when there's a flood.
- Even an old dog likes to be patted on the head and told, "Good boy!" -Justice Holmes
- Even angels have teeth.
- Nathaniel Wenger "Poetry to Grow a Tree"
- Every dog has its day.
- Variation on a quote from Hamlet: "...whatever Hercules says, the cat will mew and dog will have its day."
- Every cloud has a silver lining.
- Everyday living is life lessons. by Allen Zimama.
- Meaning: Every negative thing has positive aspects.
- Everything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.
- Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.
- Empty vessels make most noise/sound.
- Meaning: Those who lack intelligence speak the most/loudest.
- Even a broken/stopped clock is right twice a day.
- Even the best perfumes of the world lose their fragrance when you are not around me.
- Education is a progressive discovering of our own ignorance. <W. Durrant>
- Education makes machines which act like men and produces men who act like machines
- Every rose has its thorn.
- Meaning: Every good thing has its downside
- Everything can be justified until it happens to you.
- Everything with time
- Everything in its own time.
- Everything changes; everything stays the same.
- Effort is important, but knowing where to make an effort makes all the difference!
F
- Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.
- Meaning: Not speaking up or taking action to achieve things (in this case, fall in love) will never get you anywhere (or, help you fall in love).
- Failure is the stepping stone for success.
- Failing will make you more determined to succeed the next time you try, or make you put in more effort to get something right with successive attempts.
- Falling down does not signify failure but staying there does.
- Letting failing/falling is not failure in itself, but letting it get you down or stop trying is.
- Familiarity breeds contempt.
- Long experience of someone or something can make one so aware of the faults as to be scornful.
- Fifty percent of something is better than one hundred percent of nothing.
- Fine feathers make fine birds.
- Fine words butter no parsnips.
- Alternative: Actions speak louder than words.
- Fingers were invented before knives and forks.
- First come, first served.
- First deserve, then desire.
- First things first.
- Meaning: Do more important things before other things.
- Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
- Meaning: To make the same mistake over again is your own fault.
- Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
- Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Criticism"
- For want of a nail the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost.
- Proverb reported by George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651), #495
- Forewarned is forearmed.
- If one is told about an event beforehand, they can (adequately) prepare.
- Forgive, but don't forget.
- Let things/issues go or pass, but don't forget what they were, why they happened, other consequences, etc. Can lead to knowledge about not repeating the same mistake.
- Fortune favours the brave.
- Fretting cares make grey hairs.
- From those to whom much is given, much is expected.
- Biblical quote Luke 12:48
- There are no facts; only interpretations of facts.
- Failure is the first step to success.
- Failure is not falling down, you fail when you don't get back up.
- Fall down seven times, stand up eight.
- Definition: Fail seven times, and succeed the eighth. (Keep trying and you will succeed.)
- Translation of the Japanese proverb "Nana korobi ya oki", often associated with Daruma figurines.
G
- Get four Episcopalians together and a fifth will always appear. (Humor intended!)
- Go with the flow.
- Garbage in, Garbage out.
- Sometimes abbreviated GIGO.
- Give and take is fair play.
- Give a dog a bad name and hang him.
- Give a dog a bad name and he'll live up to it. (or repay you for it)
- Implying that people live up to stereotypes given to them or that individuals are corrupted by the illtreatment that goes with being given a bad name
- Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
- Knowledge is the best charity.
- To learn a lesson is a far better reward than to receive a gift.
- It is better to know how to help yourself than to beg from others.
- Give credit where credit is due.
- Variant: Give the Devil his due.
- Give, and ye shall receive.
- Give him an inch and he'll take a yard.
- meaning: Once concessions have been made to someone they will demand a great deal more
- Variant: Give the Camel and inch and it will take an ell.
- Variant: Give him an inch and he'll take a mile.
- Give people a common enemy and hopefully they will work together
- God takes care of drunks.
- God cures and the physician takes the fee.
- God don't like ugly and he ain't stuck on pretty.
- Good eating deserves good drinking.
- Good fences make good neighbors.
- Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"
- Good men are hard to find.
- Good wine needs no bush.
- Meaning: Something desirable of quality and substance need not be embellished. It was customary since early times to hang a grapevine, ivy or other greenery over the door of a tavern or way stop to advertise the availability of drink within, once something establishes a good reputation for quality the advertisement is rendered superfluous.
- Great cry little wool.
- Great events cast their shadows before them.
- Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ.
- Great minds think alike, as do lesser ones.
- Great oaks from little acorns grow.
- meaning: Wonderful things come from tiny things.
- Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
- Green leaves and brown leaves fall from the same tree.
- Many possible interpretations- Things change over time- If you are good at one aspect of a skill, you should be skilled at the other aspects, such as a painter who says he can't draw, yet both painting and drawing are aspects of art.- No matter of the outside, we are all the same inside.
- Grow where you are planted.
- Give respect, take respect.
[edit] H
- Health is wealth
- Home is where the heart is
- Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
- Hindsight is always twenty-twenty
- He laughs best who laughs last
- He doesn't boast who does the most
[edit] I
- I complained I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.
- It takes both rain and sunshine to make rainbows
- It takes good and bad to make good things in the future, or make them stand out.
- I think, therefore I am
- Descartes' most famous statement (Cogito Ergo Sum in Latin)
- I came, I saw, I conquered
- Said by Julius Caesar, spoken as Veni, Vidi, Vici during a message to the Roman senate
- It is better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees.
- I have the whole world against me, I show my back and the whole world is following me.
- Idle hands are the devil's playthings. 'Alt.' The devil makes work for idle hands.
- If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well.
- If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing badly.
- If all else fails, try the obvious.
- If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
- If in doubt go left.
- If in doubt, pick "C"
- If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
- Variation: If it isn't broken, don't fix it.
- If it can't be cured, it must be endured.
- From Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
- If it's too good to be true, then it probably is.
- If it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing.
- If God had wanted man to fly, he would have given him wings.
- If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
- If something can go wrong, it will.
- If the shoe fits, wear it.
- If the mountain won't come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain.
- If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
- If you buy quality, you only cry once.
- If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly.
- Alternatively: You get what you pay for
- If you can't beat them, join them.
- If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
- If you can't be good, be good at it.
- If you can't be good, be careful.
- If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
- If you cross your bridges before you come to them, you will have to pay the toll twice.
- If you don't buy a ticket, you can't win the raffle.
- If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all
- If you don't know where you're going, any train will get you there.
- If you fake it, you can't make it.
- If you keep your mouth shut, you won't put your foot in it.
- If you snooze you lose
- If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [5]
- If you want a thing done right, do it yourself.
- If you want breakfast in bed, sleep in the kitchen.
- If you want to judge a man's character, give him power.
- If you were born to be shot, you'll never be hanged.
- If you're in a hole, stop digging.
- If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
- Ignorance is bliss.
- Common mal-shortening of "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.
- Thomas Gray, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" [[6]]
- In for a penny, in for a pound.
- Alternate version: In for a dime, in for a dollar.
- In order to get where you want to go, you first have to leave where you are.
- From Sandy Elsberg's Bread Winner, Bread Baker; Upline Press, Charlottesville, VA; 1977, p. 80
- In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
- In the law there are no small cases, only small lawyers.
- Ben Harlow
- In the middle of difficulties lie opportunities -
- In the mind of thieves the moon is always shining.
- Marathi proverb, meaning: dishonest persons have to be always on the alert to avoid getting caught.
- In the end, a man's motives are second to his accomplishments.
- In one ear and out the other.
- Infatuations are a plenty. Love is rare. - Pashi
- Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
- Alternatively "Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results"
- Is the Pope a Catholic?
- Do bears shit in the woods?
- Used in response to what is considered to be a question with an extremely obvious answer.
- It's always darkest before the dawn
- It's better to want something you can't have than have something you don't want.
- It's cheaper to keep her.
- It's not over till it's over.
- It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
- Variation: Church ain't over until the fat lady sings.
- Attributed as an old Southern saying in Smith & Smith, Southern Words and Sayings (1976), according to Quinion, Michael (21 August 1999). "It Ain't Over Till the Fat Lady Sings". World Wide Words. Retrieved on 2007-01-23.
- Often attributed to sportscaster Dan Cook (1978)
- It is not so much the gift that is given but the way in which the gift is driven.
- It never rains, but it pours.
- Alternatively: When it rains, it pours.
- It pays to pay attention.
- Rewards come to those who are attentive, or wary of events in the past/present/future.
- It takes all sorts to make a world.
- Alternatively: It takes all sorts to make the world go round.
- Alternatively: It takes all kinds to make the world go round.
- It takes two to make a quarrel.
- Alternatively: It takes two to tango.
- It takes two to tango.
- It takes two to lie — one to lie and one to listen.
- It's a cracked pitcher that goes longest to the well.
- It's a good horse that never stumbles.
- It's a long lane that has no turning.
- It's an ill wind that blows no good.
- It's a poor job that can't stand at least one supervisor.
- It's a blessing in disguise.
- It's better to be safe than sorry.
- It's better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt.
- 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 easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
- Attributed to Grace Hopper
- It's easy to be wise after the event.
- It's never too late to mend.
- It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean.
- It's no use crying over spilt milk.
- It's often a person's mouth broke their nose.
- Meaning: People talk themselves into trouble.
- It's the early bird that gets the worm.
- It's the empty can that makes the most noise.
- It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.
- I wants, don't gets.
- An alternative used in the black British community is: "Ask it, Ask it don't get... Get it, get it don't want."
- "If you're prepared to be confused, be prepared for a sore bum"
- He is the most Unfortunate who's today is not better than yesterday.
- Attributed to Muhammed
- If you fall off a cliff, you might as well try to fly. After all, you got nothing to lose.
- If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were.
- If you believe that dreams can come true be prepared for the occasional nightmare.
- It is through the small things we do that we learn, not the big things
- Impossible itself says I'm Possible
- I was born on a Friday, but not last Friday.
- Alternative: I wasn't born yesterday.
[edit] J
- Justice pleaseth few in their own house.
- Joan is as good as my lady in the dark. (17th Century)
- Jack of all trades and master of none. (18th Century)
- Literal meaning: Anyone who's good at everything is not a master of anything.
- Justice delayed is justice denied.(Legal Proverb, India)
[edit] K
- Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open. (18th Century)
- Knaves and fools divide the world.
- Knowledge is power. (17th Century)
- Kindness, like grain, increase by sowing.
- Keep some till more come.
- Interpretation: Save something until the next stock comes.
- Knowledge creates mysteries.
[edit] L
- Laugh and the world laughs with you .. Cry and you will find no one with tears.
- Laugh when you're happy, cry when you're sad, and do both when you're the happiest you've ever been.
- Laughter is the best medicine for them who do not know how to laugh.
- Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
- Law is the solemn expression of legislative will.
- Lead to Success, Follow to Failure
- Learn to walk before you run.
- Possible interpretation: Do not rush into what you do not know.
- Alt. interpretation: Learn the basics before you start using more complex tools or methods
- Least said sooner mended.
- meaning: those who speak less get more done
- Alt. Interpretation: dwelling on the problem/blame makes it worse and delays the ability to get on and fix things
- Leave it alone and it will grow on its own.
- Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
- Let sleeping dogs lie.
- Let the cobbler stick to his last.
- Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
- meaning: When you get revenge, you will be punished in some way or other
- Life begins at forty.
- Life does not come with any guarantees
- Life imitates art
- Life is a perception of your own reality.
- Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get
- Life is too short to drink bad wine.
- Life is just a bowl of cherries.
- Life is what you do while you're waiting to die.
- Quote from song sung by Zorba from the musical 'Zorba' by Kander and Ebb
- Life is what you make of it.
- meaning: Nothing's going to change unless you do something about it
- Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
- Attributed to John Lennon
- Let us go hand in hand,not one before another.
- Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
- Like cures like.
- Meaning: A person can better help another if they have something in common.
- Like father, like son.
- Like water off a duck's back.
- Little bean comes around his little salary
- Little by little and bit by bit.
- Meaning: Do things slowly and carefully
- Little enemies and little wounds must not be despised.
- Live and let live.
- Alternative: Live simply to let others simply live.
- Give a man a match, he shall be warm for a moment. Light a man on fire and he shall be warm for the rest of his life.
- Long absent, soon forgotten.
- Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.
- Possible interpretation: Take care of the details. (12 pence to the shilling, 20 shillings to the pound.)
- Alt. interpretation: Save every penny you can and it will build up into a significant amount of money.
- Look before you leap.
- Look on the sunny side of life.
- Loose lips sink ships.
- World Wartime mantra encouraging people to avoid talking about things which could have been overheard by spies
- Love is a bridge between two hearts.
- Love is anger disappointed.
- Love is blind.
- Love is not finding someone to live with; it's finding someone whom you can't live without.
- Love laughs at locksmiths.
- Love is like war, Easy to start, Hard to end, Impossible to forget.
- Life's battle don't always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the one who thinks he can.
- Love is blind,… but marriage is the real eye-opener.
- Luck is a mirror of hard work - Beslin
[edit] M
- Make hay while the sun shines.
- Make a Friend when you don't need One (from Urim)
- Possible interpretations: Do the task while it is possible. Don't wait until you need help to ask for it.
- Making a rod for your own back.
- Creating the thing with which you will be beaten.
- Man is truly himself when he's alone.
- Man wasn't born to suffer but to carry on.
- Manners maketh the man.
- From 'Manners makyth man' - the motto of William of Wykeham(1320 - 1404)
- Many a true word is spoken in jest
- Many hands make light work
- Many things are lost for want of asking.
- Many words will not fill a bushel.
- This Proverb is a severe Taunt upon much Talking. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [7]
- Marriage equals hell and bankruptcy.
- Meaning of life is not meaningful -- Allen Zimama
- Meaner than a junk-yard dog.
- Measure twice, cut once.
- Mind your P's and Q's.
- British: Mind your manners (origin theories)
- Mirrors do everything we do, but they cannot think for themselves.
- Misery loves company.
- Missing the wood for the trees.
- Overlooking the more important issue.
- Money cannot buy happiness.
- Money for old rope.
- In the days of wooden-hulled sailing ships, ropes that were worn could be sold for use as caulking (pressed between the planks and often covered with tar to prevent seepage), or as filling for fenders, and so the ship's owner was paid even for old rope.
- Money makes the mare go.
- Money makes the world go around.
- Money talks.
- Variant: Money talks, bullshit walks.
- Related: Talk is cheap.
- Related: Actions speak louder than words.
- meaning: It's easy to say you believe something, but people are more likely to risk cash or possessions on something they truly believe.
- meaning: its time to stop living in the fantasy world, and live in the real world.
- (love of)Money is the root of all evil.
- Morals are for others to follow.
- More money only causes more problems
- Money can't buy everything, but everything needs money
- Money talks; mine always says, "Good-bye!"
- Monkey see, monkey do.
- More haste, less speed.
- More haste at a task will lead to the task being completed less speedily. As with many English proverbs, it describes consequences rather than giving an order.
[edit] N
- Nature never did betray the heart. that loved her.
- Nature, time, and patience are three great physicians.
- Necessity is the mother of all invention.
- Ne'er cast a clout till May be out. (Not known if 'May' relates to the month of May or may blossom).
- Don't remove winter vests (undergarments) until summer arrives.
- Never change, for the sake of others. There will be no one like you if you change. (GPL)
- Never judge the book by its cover.
- Never put off till (until) tomorrow what you can do today.
- Never let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
- Possible interpretation: Do not boast in giving to the poor- anonymous is best.
- Possible interpretation: Secrecy insures security
- Never leave a woman to do a man's work.
- alternate version, Never let a monkey to do a man's job, Never send a woman to do a man's job
- Meaning: Leaving\employing someone less qualified to do your work will produce undesired results.
- Never let a man do a woman's job.
- Feminist phrase; Men are poorer than women, skill-wise.
- Never lie to your doctor.
- Never lie to your lawyer.
- Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
- Never say die.
- interpretation: Never give up.
- Never say never.
- Never smash a glass over a brick donkey.
- Never trouble trouble 'til trouble troubles you.
- Noblesse oblige.
- French expression: To be a member of the nobility carries obligations to care for the lower classes.
- No man can serve two masters.
- Christian New Testament
- No man is content with his lot.
- No man is an island
- interpretation: Everybody needs other people.
- No money, no justice.
- No news is good news.
- No need to cry over spilled milk.
- No pain, no gain.
- No time like the present.
- Nobody leaves us, we only leave others.
- Not enough room to swing a cat
- Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
- Variant: Nothing ventured, nothing have. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [8]
- Nothing exceeds like excess.
- Nothing to be feared in life, but understood.
- Now the shit has really hit the fan.
- Now we have doors so we can hide.
[edit] O
- Once bitten, twice shy
- William Caxton, the first English printer, gave the earliest version of this saying in 'Aesope' (1484), his translation of Aesop's fables: 'He that hath ben ones begyled by somme other ought to kepe hym wel fro(m) the same.' Centuries later, the English novelist Robert Surtees referred to the saying in 'Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour' (1853) with '(He) had been bit once, and he was not going to give Mr. Sponge a second chance.' The exact wording of the saying was recorded later that century in 'Folk Phrases of Four Counties' (1894) by G.G. Northall and was repeated by, among others, the English novelist Joseph Conrad (1920, 'The Rescue'), the novelist Aldous Huxley (1928, 'Point Counter Point'), and the novelist Wyndham Lewis (1930, 'The Apes of God'). 'Once bitten, twice shy' has been a familiar saying in the twentieth century. From Wise Words and Wives' Tales by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).
- A variation, once burned, twice shy, is also traced back to Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour. Once burned was First attested in the United States in 'Dead Sure' (1949) by S. Sterling. The meaning of the saying is One who had an unpleasant experience is especially cautious. From the Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).
- Old is Gold
- Once in a lifetime comes often, so be prepared.
- One good turn deserves another. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [9]
- Meaning: You should return a favour done to you.
- One hand washes the other. From the Latin MANUS MANAM LAVAT, meaning "Hand washes hand," or "One hand washes the other"; or impliedly, "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours."
- One man's junk is another man's treasure.
- One man's meat is another man's poison.
- Meaning: What is liked by one person is disliked by another.
- One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. - Ronald Reagan
- One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. - English, 17th century
- One murder makes a villain, millions a hero.
- One rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel.
- Meaning: Corruption must be rooted out or else it will spread.
- Cf. Dan Michael of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340): "A rotten apple will spoil a great many sound ones." (Middle English: "A roted eppel amang þe holen: makeþ rotie þe yzounde.")
- One scabbed sheep mars the whole flock.
- This Proverb is apply'd to such Persons who being vicious themselves,
labour to debauch those with whom they converse. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [10]
- This Proverb is apply'd to such Persons who being vicious themselves,
- One swallow doesn't make a summer.
- Only a coward will write an anonymous letter. -President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Only bad drivers cut corners.
- Only losers say "Winning isn't everything."
- Only the good die young
- Opinions are like assholes: everyone has them and they usually stink.
- Opportunity is waiting you need but to open the door.
- Opportunity knocks only once.
- Meaning: Do not waste time while grabbing opportunities.
- Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
- Confucius
- Our costliest expenditure is time. <Theophrastus>
- Out of sight... Out of mind
- Out of small acorns grow mighty oaks.
- Owt for Nowt
- Northern English, Anything for nothing...
On your feet loose your seat.
[edit] P
- Paddle your own canoe.
- Pain is only weakness leaving the body.
- U.S. Marines proverb
- Patience is a virtue.
- Penny wise, pound foolish.
- (The) pen is mightier than the sword.
- People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
- Variation: Whose house is of glasse, must not throw stones at another.
- George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640; cited in "Proverbs 120". The Yale Book of Quotations. 2006. pp. p. 613. ISBN 0-300-10798-6. *** George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 1651, number 196
- Meaning: Don't criticize other people when you yourself have faults and weaknesses.
- Variation: Whose house is of glasse, must not throw stones at another.
- Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. (a.k.a The six P's)
- POETIS MENTIRI LICET. - Latin for "Poets are allowed to lie." Has to do with rhetoric (hyperbole) and poetic and/or litarary license.
- Persistance becomes Reality.
- Politics makes strange bedfellows.
- Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
- Attributed to Lord Acton
- Practice before you preach.
- Meaning: Before asking others to do something, make sure you are following it yourself.
- Practice makes perfect.
- Practice may make perfect, but nobody's perfect so why practice
- Practice doesn’t make a man perfect, but a perfect practice makes a man perfect
- Pride comes before a fall
- Prior preparation prevents poor performance.
- Put it in song, put it in drink; but never, ever put it in ink!
- Reportedly said by Earl K. Long, Governor of Louisiana
- Put a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil.
- Put a beggar on horseback and he'll ride it to death.
- Put a cat amongst the pigeons.
- Prevention is better than cure.
- Variation: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
- Procrastination is the thief of time.
- Proverbs are long life experiences, told in one short sentence.
- Proverbs run in pairs.
- Meaning: Every proverb seems to be contradicted by another proverb with an opposed message, such as "too many cooks spoil the broth" and "many hands make light work."
- Politeness cost nothing and gains everything. <M.W. Montagu>
- Peace Sells, but who's Buying? <Megadeth>
[edit] R
- REPETITIO MATER MEMORIAE - Latin for "Repetition is the mother of memory."
- Revenge is a dish best served cold.
- Rules were meant to be broken.
- Rome wasn't built in a day
- Rolling stones gather no moss
- Robbing Peter to pay Paul
- Rather be a dog in peace, than to be a man in chaos.-Chinese Origin-宁为太平犬，莫为乱世人
- Rather be a dog in a peaceful land, instead of being a man in a land of war.
[edit] S
- Seek water in the sea.
- Someone who gossips to you will gossip about you.
- Same meat, different gravy.
- Variation on the above.
- Same trouble, different day.
- Same shit, with different flies on it.
- Seek and ye shall find.
- Christian New Testament
- Say something nice or say nothing at all.
- Self trust is the first secret of success.
- Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity.
- Set a thief to catch a thief.
- Shallow graves for shallow people.
- Ships happen. -Navy saying.
- Shit or get off the pot
- silence is golden
- Meaning: sometimes it is better not to say anything.
- Simple minds think alike. (William Truong)
- Simple things please/amuse simple minds.
- Alternative: Simple minds, simple pleasures.
- Six of one, and half a dozen the other.
- Meaning: Describes two actions with the same result, or two things that are essentially the same.
- Slow and steady wins the race.
- Variant: Slow but sure.
- Smile, and the world smiles with you; cry, and you cry alone.
- Something worth doing is worth doing well.
- So close, yet so far.
- S tart small; T hink tall; R each over the wall; I nvest your all; V isualize the mall; E xpect you may fall; but, if you fall, that's not all; get up and STRIVE again.
- Dr. Robert Schuller
- Stolen fruit is the sweetest.
- Possible interpretation: forbidden things are the most tempting
- The Bible
- Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
- Contrast: "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword."
- Still waters run deep.
- Possible interpretation: Looks can be deceiving, quiet people are often the most deep.
- Strike while the iron is hot.
- Possible interpretation: Seize the moment. Take the opportunity now; don't waste it.
- Success is a journey not a destination.
- Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
- Some days you get the bear, other days the bear gets you.
- Spare the rod, spoil the child.
- Meaning: Lack of deserved discipline develops undesired behavior in a child.
- Success grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties.
- Straightn not the dog's tail even in the bamboo hollow.
[edit] T
- You can talk easily without waiting for something or someone
- Talk of the devil and he's sure to appear.
- Talk the hind legs off a donkey.
- The rotten apple injures its neighbors.
- Possible interpretation: Someone who never shuts up - often used in reference to London cab drivers
- Talking a mile a minute.
- Talking nineteen to the dozen.
- Take an old dirty, hungry, mangy, sick and wet dog and feed him and wash him and nurse him back to health, and he will never turn on you and bite you. This is how man and dog differ.
- (Possibly Lord Byron)
- Taking care of business.
- Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.
- Take it with a grain of salt.
- Meaning: Regard it with a copious measure scepticism.
- (See Wikipedia article.)
- That which does not kill you, makes you stronger.
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1888)
- The acorn (apple) never falls far from the tree.
- Meaning: People are similar to their parents/their roots.
- The ball is in your court.
- Meaning: It's up to you to decide.
- The belly has no ears.
- This Proverb intimates, that there is no arguing the Matter with Hunger,
the Mother of Impatience and Anger. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [11] - I don't argue with the body Jerry. It's an argument you can't win. - Kramer
- This Proverb intimates, that there is no arguing the Matter with Hunger,
- The best is yet to come.
- The best of friends need not speak face to face.
- The best things come in small packages.
- The best things in life are free.
- The calm (comes) before the storm.
- The child is father to the man.
- Meaning: What is true of a child will still be true when it grows up; or, early experiences shape future character.
- the child is father of the man
- The coat makes the man.
- The cure is worse than the disease.
- The money is burning a hole in my pocket.
- The customer is always right.
- The difference between a man and a cat or a dog is that only a man can write the names of the cat and the dog.
- The early bird gets (or catches) the worm.
- The end justifies the means.
- The English are a nation of shopkeepers
- (Attributed to Napoleon)
- The exception proves the rule.
- Often mistakenly referred to as a misquote. In reality, the Latin probate may mean either to probe or to prove. The key is that prove in this case carries the older meaning of to test, as in the phrases proving (testing) ground or the proof (test) of the pudding is in the eating.
- The first step to health is to know that we are sick.
- The grass is always greener on the other side...
- Meaning: You will always want what you don't (or can't) have.
- The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
- The greatest thing that could happen in my lifetime is for all my ideas to be stolen.
- The head and feet keep warm, the rest will take no harm.
- The key to all action lies in belief.
- The law is a jealous mistress.
- - Professor Ferdinand Fairfax Stone, Tulane Law School, early and mid 1960s.
- The longest mile is the last mile home.
- The more you know, the more you know you don't know.
- The more things change, the more they stay the same.
- From the French: Plus ça change, c'est la même chose.
- The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.
- The only free cheese is in the mouse trap.
- Russian saying.
- The only stupid question is the one that is not asked.
- The only thing you get from picking bottoms (ie. of the stock market) is a smelly finger.
- The pain o the little finger is felt by the entire body.
- The pen is mightier than the sword.
- The pitcher which goes too often to the well gets broken.
- The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
- The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
- The world is your oyster.
- Possible interpretation: A man loves a woman who can cook (well).
- Also jocularly from above: The way to a man's heart is through the ribcage.
- - Feminist phrase; Men aren't worth a woman's time.
- The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
- Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi
- The whole is greater than its parts.
- Sometimes, jocularly from above: The proof of the eating is in the size of the pudding.
- There are no endings: only new beginnings.
- There are no small parts, only small actors.
- There are so many things to say that are better left unsaid.
- There are three types of lies - lies, damned lies, and statistics.
- There is no god except God.
- There is no point of knowledge or wisdom if not dotted.
- There is only eight years between success and failure in politics.
- Jim Brown, Louisiana statesman
- There is something rotten in the state of Denmark.
- or There's something rotten in Denmark.
- Expresses strong suspicion.
- Shakespeare's Hamlet (Marcellus in act 1, scene 4).
- There's always a calm before a storm.
- or The calm before the storm.
- There's a method in his madness.
- There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip.
- This comes from a Greek legend, as follows: One of the Argonauts returned from his voyage, and went home to his winery. He called for the local soothsayer, who had predicted before his voyage that he would die before he tasted another drop of his wine, from his vinery. As he finished saying this, he raised a cup filled with wine to his lips, in toast to the soothsayer, who said something in reply. Just then, he was called away to hunt a wild boar that was approaching, and died in his attempt to kill it. The phrase that the soothsayer said is translated best as, There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.
- There's money in muck.
- or Where there's muck there's brass.
- There's more than one way to skin a cat.
- There's no accounting for taste.
- From the Latin: De gustibus non est disputandum.
- There's no arguing with the barrel of a gun.
- There's no peace for the wicked
- There's no place like home.
- There's no such thing as a free lunch.
- There's no time like the present.
- There's no point in washing clean things.
- Meaning: Don't fix things that are fine, just the bad things!
- The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
- Earlier variants of this proverb are recorded as Hell is paved with good intentions. recorded as early as 1670, and an even earlier variant by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Hell is full of good intentions or desires.
- Similar from Latin: "The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way" — Virgil, the Aeneid Book VI line 126
- The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
- Gospel of Matthew 26:41
- The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
- or The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
- If you speak up, you will go farther in life.
- Those who complain, will attract more attention (for good or ill) than those who are content.
- The start of a journey should never be mistaken for success.
- The straw that broke the camel's back.
- The last of a number of little things which led to something major.
- The teacher has not taught, until the student has learned.
- The truth is in the wine.
- Possible interpretation: A person will more freely divulge a secret when plied with alcohol.
- A drunken man's words are a sober man's thoughts.
- The truth shall set you free, or The truth will set you free.
- In the Bible, John 8:32.
- The value is determined by the agreement of two people.
- The wish is father to the thought.
- The worst good day is always better than the best bad day.
- The younger brother the better gentleman.
- Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [12]
- Think before you speak.
- Thinking the worst always prepares you for the worst.
- Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
- Those who run with pigs, smell like pigs.
- Time flies.
- Latin: Tempus fugit!
- Time and tide wait for none.
- Time is gold.
- Tit for Tat.
- This, too, shall pass.
- To burn the candle at both ends.
- To put something in a new jacket.
- To each, his own.
- To have the fulfilled life, you must question the unanswerable and learn nothing.
- Meaning: you must build your own opinions, but life is too short to waste trying to understand life
- To err is human; to forgive, divine. (Pope, Essay on Criticism)
- To know the road ahead ask those coming back.
- Tomorrow is another day.
- Too much of one thing, good for nothing.
- Meaning: Don't overspecialize
- Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians.
- Too many cooks spoil the broth.
- Trapped between a rock and a hard place.
- Tread on a worm and it will turn.
- This Proverb is generally used by Persons who have received gross insults and
Injuries from others (which they have for some time bore with Patience) to excuse their
being at last transported to some Warmth of Resentment and Passion. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [13]
- This Proverb is generally used by Persons who have received gross insults and
- Trouble shared is trouble halved.
- Truth is stranger than fiction.
- Truth will out.
- Meaning: The truth will eventually come out, no matter how well it is hidden.
- Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.
- Try try but don't cry.
- Meaning: Never give up in life.
- Try and try until you suceed
- Two's company; three's a crowd.
- Two heads are better than one.
- Two things prolong your life: A quiet heart and a loving wife.
- Two wrongs don't make a right.
- Also jocularly formed from above: Two wrongs don't make a right - but three rights make a left.
- The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do..
- The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can't have them.
- The more you study, the more you know. The more you know, the more you forget. The more you forget, the less you know. The less you know the more you study.
- The whole dignity of man lies in the power of thought.
- - B. Pascal
- There is a thin line between love and hate
- The dog is nude though the clothing cost a penny.
- Something is better than nothing.
- The Sam Allans of the world are what makes the world dizzy with love
[edit] U
- Unprepare to prepare, be prepared to be unprepared
- supposedly said by W.B.Govo in 1916
- Use it or lose it
[edit] V
- Variety is the spice of life.
- An early version is found in William Cowper, The Task (1785), Book II, "The Timepiece", lines 606–7:
- Variety's the very spice of life,
That gives it all its flavour.
- Variety's the very spice of life,
- An early version is found in William Cowper, The Task (1785), Book II, "The Timepiece", lines 606–7:
- Virtue which parleys is near a surrender. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [14]
- Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. (Japanese proverb)
- Vengeance is mine, thus sayeth the Lord.
[edit] W
- Walk the walk and talk the talk.
- Walk softly, carry a big stick.
- Variant of an African proverb that was made famous in the U.S. by Teddy Roosevelt, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far".
- When a thing is done advice comes too late.
- When you lie on roses while young, you'll lie on thorns while you're old.
- Waste not, want not.
- When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
- We are all on this earth, we can't get off so get on.
- We can't always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
- We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
- We must take the bad with the good.
- Variant: We must take the bitter with the sweet.
- Well begun is half done.
- Variant: Well begun is half ended. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [15]
- "Well done" is better than "well said".
- We tend to be perfect. That’s why when we make mistakes we are hard on ourselves.
- We've qualified for the World Cup, Go and compete.
- What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. (A lie will always spawn a bigger lie.)
- What goes around comes around.
- You will eventually have to face the consequences of your actions towards others as people tend to behave towards you as you have behaved towards others.
- What goes up must come down.
- What you see is what you get.
- What you sow is what you reap.
- What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
- When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
- When one door closes, another door opens.
- When the cat is away, the mice will play.
- Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. [[16]]
- Thomas Gray, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"
- Where there's a will, there's a way.
- Where vice goes before, vengeance follows after. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [17]
- Willful waste makes woeful want.
- Winning isn't everything... It's the only thing.
- Winning is earning. Losing is learning.
- We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean,but the ocean would be less without that drop.
- Words uttered only causes confusion. Words written only causes history.
- Working hard or hardly working?
- Worship the Creator not His creation.
- Write injuries in the sand, kindnesses in marble.
- Whom thy care to tamper pots in an abandoned house
[edit] Y
You reap what you sow.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
- ↑ The original is spoken by Caesar (Act II scene 2). The actual words as written were: 'Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.' Complete text at http://www.william-shakespeare.info/act2-script-text-julius-caesar.htm
- ↑ The meaning is clear from the original text. Caesar is conversing with Calpurnia, who warns him to be careful, as there are portents of his death; but he resolves to go about his business as normal, explaining with this phrase.
- ↑ Spoken by Caesar (Act II scene 2). Complete text at http://www.william-shakespeare.info/act2-script-text-julius-caesar.htm
- ↑ The meaning is clear from the original text. Caesar is conversing with Calpurnia, who warns him to be careful, as there are portents of his death; but he resolves to go about his business as normal, explaining with this phrase.
- ↑ From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997): Dow "coined these words while condemning other preachers who 'make the Bible clash and contradict itself, by preaching somewhat like this: 'You can and you can't - You shall and you shan't - You will and you won't - And you will be damned if you do - And you will be damned if you don't.'"
- ↑ "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" in the King James version; "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." in the New International Version
[edit] External links
- Proverbs Collection
- Subhashita Manjari A collection of Sanskrit Proverbs with English Translation
- proverbs & idioms
- English proverbs
- English proverbs
- EnglishProverbs.org
- Famous English proverbs
- Funny English proverbs
- English and Irish sayings - Largest collection of English sayings and proverbs
- Special Dictionary Proverbs more than 1500 English Proverbs
- Calum.org - Humourous alternatives to the teach a man to fish proverb.
- Golden Proverbs
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