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The Proverbs are arranged by geographical/national locations.
Select the first character of the geographical location/nation that you want to look at:
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| French Proverb - A
A bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit.A bad heart and a good stomach.A bad workman never finds a good tool.A beggar is never out of his road.A bellyful is a bellyful.A big nose never spoiled a handsome face.A blind hen can sometimes find her corn.A brain is worth little without a tongue.A cake and a bad custom ought to be broken.A churl knows not the work of spurs (i.e., honour).A churl never liked a gentleman.A clear conscience is a good pillow.A clown enriched knows neither relation nor friend.A colt is good for nothing if it does not break its halter.A courtier should be without feeling and without honour.A covetous woman deserves a swindling gallant.A cow does not know what her tail is worth until she has lost it.A cow from afar gives plenty of milk.A coward often deals a mortal blow to the brave.A crooked log makes a good fire.A dead man has neither relations nor friends.A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple.A dealer in onions is a good judge of scallions.A dog may look at a bishop.A door must either be open or shut.A drowning man clings to a blade of grass.A fair promise binds a fool.A father is a banker provided by nature.A fault denied is twice committed.A fine cage won't feed the bird.A fine girl and a tattered gown always find something to hook the them.A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.A fool is always beginning.A fool's head never whitens.A foolish judge passes brief sentence.A foolish woman is known by her finery.A friend is known in time of need.A friend to my table and wine, is no good neighbour.A friend's meat is soon ready.A full belly counsels well.A full belly sets a man jigging.A galled horse does not care to be curried.A gaunt brute bites sore.A gentlemen of Beauce who stays in bed till his breeches are mended.A gilt bridle for an old mule.A girl unemployed is thinking of mischief.A glaring sunny morning, a woman that talks Latin, and a child reared on wine, never come to a good end.A good advice is as good as an eye in the hand.A good beast heats with eating.A good bone does not always come to a good dog.A good cause needs help.A good dog hunts by instinct.A good dog never barks at fault.A good dog never gets a good bone.A good driver turns in a small space.A good fox does not eat his neighbour's fowls.A good gaper makes two gapers.A good hater,a good lover.A good head does not want for hats.A good man is a man of goods.A good meal ought to begin with hunger.A good name is better than a girdle of gold.A good repast ought to begin with hunger.A good swimmer is not safe against drowning.A good swordsman is never quarrelsome.A great estate is not gotten in a few hours.A great talker is a great liar.A guest and a fish after three days are poison.A handful of good life is better than seven barrels of learning.A handsome shoe often pinches the feet.A hawk's marriage: the hen is the better bird.A healthy man is a successful man.A honeyed tongue with a heart of gall.A house ready made and a wife to make.A hundred years a banner, a hundred years a barrow. [Signifying the changeful fortunes of great feudal families.]A hundred years is not much, but never is a long while.A hundred years of fretting will not pay a halfpenny of debt.A hungry clown is half mad.A hungry dog is not afraid of a cudgelling.A jackfish does more than a letter of recommendation.A kick from a mare never hurt a horse.A lame man won't walk with one who is lamer.A landmark is very well placed between the fields of two brothers.A litigious man, a liar.A little absence does much good.A little dinner, long expected and cold, is by no means given, but dearly sold.A little gall spoils a great deal of honey.A little help does a great deal.A little leaven leavens a great mass.A little man fells a great oak.A little man sometimes casts a long shadow.A little pack serves a little pedlar.A little rain stills a great wind.A little sheep always seems young.A little spark shines in the dark.A little thing often helps.A lord of straw devours a vassal of steel.A mad dog cannot live long.A man assailed is half overcome.A man is valued according to his own estimate of himself.A man may threaten yet be afraid.A man of straw is worth a woman of gold.A man takes his own wherever he finds it.A man travels as far in a day as a snail in a hundred years.A man well mounted is always proud.A man who has but one eye must take good care of it.A man who wants bread is ready for anything.A man who wants to drown his dog says he is mad.A mansion pulled down is half built up again.A merry life forgets father and mother.A miserly father makes a prodigal man.A mistake is no reckoning.A Montgomery division: all on one side, nothing on the other.A muffled cat never caught a mouse.A noble prince or king never has a coin to bless himself.A peg for every hole.A person is unlucky who falls on his back and breaks his nose.A pig's life, short and sweet.A pleasant companion on a journey is as good as a postchaise.A restive morsel needs a spur of wine.A rich man is never ugly in the eyes of a girl.A Rowland for an Oliver.A sack is best tied before it is full.A short mass and a long dinner.A short sword for a brave man.A silver hammer breaks an iron door.A sin concealed is half pardoned (meaning when care is taken to conceal the scandal).A small pack becomes a small pedlar.A sow is always dreaming of bran.A sow prefers bran to roses.A sparrow in the hand is better than a crane on the wing.A sparrow in the hand is better than a pigeon on the wing.A stick is a peacemaker.A stingy man is always poor.A Sunday's child never dies of the plague.A table friend is changeable.A thing too much seen is little prized.A thorn comes into the world point foremost.A vicious dog must be tied short.A wicked dog must be tied short.A wise man may learn of a fool.A woman and a melon are hard to choose.A woman conceals only what she does not know.A woman laughs when she can, and weeps when she pleases.A woman who accepts, sells herself; a woman who gives, surrenders.A woman who looks much in the glass spins but little.A woman's tongue is her sword, and she does not let it rust.A word once out flies everywhere.A young angel, an old devil.According to the arm be the bleeding.Adversity makes a man wise.Advisers are not the payers.After a feast a man scratches his head.After me the deluge.After mischance every one is wise.After one loss come many.After rain fine weather.After the act wishing is in vain.After the daughter is married, then come sons-in-law in plenty.All cats are alike grey at night.All cats are not to be set down for witches.All heads are not sense-boxes.All is luck or ill luck in this world.All is not lost that is delayed.All is well that ends well.All passes, all breaks, all wearies.
[Fr., Tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse.]All state, and nothing on the plate.All the treasures of earth cannot bring back one lost moment.All truths are not good to be uttered.Always in love, never married.Always say no, and you will never be married.Always talk big and you will never be forgotten.An apothecary ought not to be long a cuckold.An art requires a whole man.An ass does not stumble twice over the same stone.An easy shepherd makes the wolf void wool.An eel escapes from a good fisherman.An enemy does not sleep.An old ape never made a pretty grimace.An old oven is easier to heat than a new one.An old rat is a brave rat.An old soldier, an old fool.An ounce of favour goes further, or is worth more, than a pound of justice.An ounce of luck is worth a pound of wisdom.Anger is a bad counsellor.Anoint a villain and he will prick you, prick a villain and he will anoint you.Another's misfortune is only a dream.Any water puts out fire.Appetite comes with eating.Are there not spots on the sun?Arrange your cloak as the wind blows.As soon dies the calf as the cow.As the man is worth his land is worth.As the wind so the sail.Ask my comrade, who is as great a liar as myself.Asses must not be tied up with horses.At a bridge, a plank, a river, the servant foremost, the master behind.At a little fountain one drinks at one's ease.At borrowing cousin german, at repaying son of a whore.At Rome do as Rome does.At Shrove-tide every one had need of his frying-pan.At the king's court every one for himself.At the wars as they do at the wars.Avarice bursts the bag. |
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