Google
|
|
The Proverbs are arranged by geographical/national locations.
Select the first character of the geographical location/nation that you want to look at:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
|
| Proverb - I
I am in a place where three ways meet.I am very wheamow said the old woman, when she stepped into the milk-bowl.I cannot be you friend and your flatterer too.I don't want the cheese; I just want out of the trap.I had rather have your room than your company.I know him not though I should meet him in my dish.I know no more that the man in the moon about it.I know no more that the Pope of Rome about it.I know on which side my bread is buttered.I like not fair terms and a villain's mind.I live, and lords do no more.I love thee like pudding, if thou wert pie I'd eat thee.I may see him need, but I'll not see him bleed.I never saw an oft-removed tree,
Nor yet an oft-removed family,
That throve so well as one that settled be.I perfectly feel even at my fingers end.I say little but I think the more.I stout and thou stout, who shall bear the ashes out?I taught you to swim, and now you'd drown me.I was not born yesterday.I wept when I was born, and every day shows why.I will either grind or find.I will not change a cottage in possession for a kingdom in reversion.I will not keep a dog and bark myself.I will not make a toil of pleasure.I will not make my dish-clout my tablecloth.I will not pull the thorn out of your foot and put it into my own.I will trust him no further than I can fling him.I wot well how the world wags,
He is most loved that hath most bags.I would not call the king my cousin.I would not touch him with a pair of tongs.I'm at my wits end.I've reach'd the harbour, Hope and Chance adieu!
You've play'd with me, now play with others too.Idle brains are the devil's workshop.Idle folks have the least leisure.Idle folks have the most labour.Idle men are dead all their life long.Idle men are the devil's playfellows.Idle people have the least leisure.Idle people take the most pains.Idleness is the key of beggary.Idleness is the parent of all vice.Idleness is the sepulchre of a living man.Idleness makes the wit rust.Idleness must thank itself if it go barefoot.If a man deceive me once, shame on him; if he deceive me twice, shame on me.If a man once fall, all will tread on him.If a rich man ate a snake, they would say it was because of his wisdom.If a string has one end, then it has another end.If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well.If all fools wore white caps we should seem a flock of geese.If all men say that thou art an ass, then bray.If an ass goes a-traveling, he'll not come home a horse.If anything stay, let work stay.If better were within, better would come out.If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
If on Candlemas day it be shower and rain,
Winter is gone and will come not again.If Candlemas day be sunny and bright, winter will have another flight; if Candlemas day be cloudy with rain, winter is gone and won't come again.If death be terrible, the fault is not in death, but thee.If ever you should need my life, come and take it.If every man mend one, all shall be amended.If every man would sweep his own door-step the city would soon be clean.If everyone swept his own doorstep, then the whole wide world would be clean.If he won't carry the sack, give him a whack.If his legs fail him, he fights on his knees.If hope were not, heart would break.If I canna do't by might, I'll do't by sleight.If I cannot move the powers above, Acheron itself shall be appealed to. [If fair means cannot, foul shall.]If I had not lifted up the stone, you had not found the jewel.If ifs and ands were pots and pans there'd be no work for tinkers.If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there'd be no work for tinkers' hands.If Ifs and Ans were pots and pans
There'd be no trade for tinkers.If in February there be no rain, 'tis neither good for hay nor grain.If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.If it were not for hope, the heart would break.If it were not for the belly the back might wear gold.If it were not for the belly, the back might wear gold.If it's not one thing, it's another.If Janiveer's calends be summerly gay,
'Twill be winterly weather till the calends of May.If love be the music of life, then play on.If love be the music of life, then play on.If money be not thy servant, it will be thy master.If one, two and three say you are an ass, put on the ears.If only I were a bird! Ah, but eating caterpillars?If people lead, the leaders will follow.If physic do not work, prepare for the kirk.If Saint Paul's day be fair and clear, it will betide a happy year.If St. Paul's be fine and clear
It doth betide a happy year.If St. Vitus day be rainy weather
It will rain for thirty days together.If strokes are good to give, they are good to receive.If the adder could hear and the blindworm could see.
Neither man nor beast would ever go free.If the ball does not stick to the wall, yet 'twill leave some mark.If the bed could tell all it knows, it would put many to the blush.If the best man's faults were written on his forehead, it would make him pull his hat over his eyes.If the brain sows not corn, it plants thistles.If the cap fits, wear it.If the cock goes crowing to bed,
He's sure to rise with a watery head.If the counsel be good, no matter who gave it.If the devil catch a man idle he'll set him at work.If the devil find a man idle, he'll set him to work.If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; but if he kills, the earth hides it.If the dog bark, go in; if the bitch bark, go out.If the eye do not admire, the heart will not desire.If the fish had not opened its mouth, it would not have been caught.If the grass grow in Janiveer,
It grows the worse for't all the year.If the hours are long enough and the pay is short enough, someone will say it's women's work.If the ice will bear a maman before Christmas, it will not bear a goose after.If the laird slight a lady, so will all the kitchen boys.If the mother had never been in the oven, she would not have looked for her daughter there.If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain.If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, let Mahomet go to the mountain.If the oak's before the ash,
Then you'll only get a splash;
If the ash precedes the oak,
Then you may expect a soak.If the pills were pleasant, they would not want gilding.If the shoe fits, wear it.If the sky falls we shall catch larks.If the staff be crooked, the shadow cannot be straight.If the sun in red should set,
The next day surely will be wet;
If the sun should set in grey,
The next will be a rainy day.If the twenty-fourth of August be fair and clear,
Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year.If there were no knaves or fools, all the world would be alike.If there were no receivers, there would be no thieves.If they say you are good, ask you self if it be true.If thou dealest with a fox, think of his tricks.If thou hast not a capon, feed on an onion.If thy heart fail thee, why then climb at all?If to-day will not, to-morrow may.If two ride on a horse, one must ride behind.If we are bound to forgive an enemy, we are not bound to trust him.If we did not flatter ourselves, nobody else could.If wind blows on you through a hole,
Make your will and take care of your soul.If wise men play the fool, they do it with a vengeance.If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.If ye do wrang, mak amends.If ye would know a knave, give him a staff.If you always say No, you'll never be married.If you are fortunate, you will not know yourself; if you are too unfortunate, nobody will know you.If you are kind to the cruel, you will be cruel to the kind.If you are ready to believe, you are easy to deceive.If you beat spice it will smell the sweeter.If you can kiss the mistress, never kiss the maid.If you can't be good, be careful.If you can't beat em, join em.If you can't beat them, join them.If you can't ride two horses at once, you shouldn't be in the circus.If you cannot bite, never show your teeth.If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.If you don't have time to do it right you must have time to do it over.If you don't like it, you may lump it.If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen.If you don't make mistakes you don't make anything.If you don't speculate, you can't accumulate.If you don't work you shan't eat.If you drink in your pottage, you'll cough in your grave.If you gently touch a nettle it'll sting you for your pains; grasp it like a lad of mettle, an' as soft as silk remains.If you hand be bad, mend it with good play.If you have done no ill the six days, you may play the seventh.If you have no enemies it is a sign fortune has forgot you.If you have to swallow a frog, try not to think about it. If you have to swallow two frogs, don't swallow the smaller one first.If you kill one flea in March you kill a hundred.If you laugh to-day, you will cry to-morrow.If you leap into a well, Providence is not bound to fetch you out.If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas.If you lie upon roses when young, you will lie upon thorns when old.If you make a jest, you must take a jest.If you pay not a servant his wages, he will pay himself.If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.If you play with fire you get burnt.If you put nothing into your purse, you can take nothing out.If you sing before breakfast, you'll cry before night.If you snooze, you loose.If you squeeze a cork, you will get but little juice.If you touch pot you must touch penny.If you truly want honesty, don't ask questions you don't really want the answer to.If you trust before you try,
You will repent before you die.If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.If you want a thing done, go; if not, send.If you want peace, you must prepare for war.If you want to know what a man is really like, notice how he acts when he loses money.If you want to live and thrive, let the spider run alive.If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.If you will not hear reason, she will surely rap your knuckles.If you wish a thing done, go; if not, send.If you wish to live and thrive
Let the spider run alive.If you would be happy for a week take a wife; if you would be happy for a month kill a pig; but if you would be happy all your life plant a garden.If you would be well served, serve yourself.If you would fruit have,
You must bring the leaf to the grave.If you would know secrets, look for them in grief or pleasure.If you would know the value of money, try to borrow some.If you would live well for a week, kill a hog; if you would live well for a month, marry; if you would live well all your life, turn priest.If you would wish the dog to follow you, feed him.If you wrestle with a collier you will get a blotch.If you're born to be hanged then you'll never be drowned.If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.If your ear burns, someone is talking about you.If youth knew what age would crave,
It would both get and save.Ignorance is the mother of devotion.Ignorance is the mother of impudence.Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it.Ill beef ne'er made gude broo.Ill comes in ells and goes out by inches.Ill comes upon waur's back.Ill doers are ill deemers.Ill gotten goods never thrive.Ill gotten goods seldom prosper.Ill luck is good for something.Ill natures never want a tutor.Ill vessels seldom miscarry.Ill weed grows fast.Ill will never said well.Ill words are bellows to a slackening fire.Ill-doers, ill-deemers.Ill-gotten gains seldom prosper.Ill-gotten goods thrive not to the third heir.Ill-yoked.Imagination gallops, judgment merely walks.Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.Impatience does not diminish but augments the evil.In a fiddler's house, all are dancers.In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love.In all games it is good to leave off a winner.In an ermine spots are soon discovered.In April, come he will;
In May, he sings all day;
In June he alters his tune;
In July he prepares to fly;
In August, go he must;
If he stay till September,
'Tis as much as the oldest man can ever remember.In Blindman's land your one-eyed man's a god.In calm water every ship has a good captain.In choosing a wife and buying a sword we ought not to trust another.In courtship a man pursues a woman until she catches him.In dock, out nettle.In every country the sun rises in the morning.In fair weather prepare for foul.In giving and taking it is easy mistaking.In love is no lack.In love's wars, he who flieth is conqueror.In March, the birds begin to search;
In April, the corn begins to fill;
In May, the birds begin to lay.In my own city my name, in a strange city my clothes procure me respect.In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard will be a church; by a Frenchman, a fort; by a Dutchman, a warehouse; and by an Englishman, an alehouse.In shallow holes moles make fools of dragons.In space comes grace.In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.In the ant's house, the dew is a flood.In the coldest flint there is hot fire.In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.In the deepest water is the best fishing.In the end things will mend.In the forehead and the eye
The lecture of the mind doth lie.In the grave, dust and bones jostle not for the wall.In the old of the moon, a cloudy morning bodes a fair afternoon.In time of prosperity, friends will be plenty,
In time of adversity, not one amongst twenty.In trust is treason.In vain he craves advice that will not follow it.In vain the net is spread in the sight of the bird.Indecision is the key to flexibility.Indulgencies to Rome.Industry is fortune's right hand, and frugality her left.Injuries don't use to be written on ice.Injury is to be measured by malice.Innocence itself sometimes hath need of a mask.Innocence plays in the backyard of ignorance.Interest will not lie.Into every life a little rain must fall.Into the mouth of a bad dog falls many a good bone.Into the mouth of a bad dog often falls a good bone.It chances in an hour, that happens not in seven years.It early pricks that will he a thorn.It is a bad action that success cannot justify.It is a bad bargain, where both are losers.It is a bad cloth that will take no color.It is a bad sack that will abide no clouting.It is a bad thing to be poor, and seem poor.It is a base thing to tear a dead lion's beard off.It is a blessing in disguise.It is a bold mouse that breeds in the cat's ear.It is a dear collop that is cut out of thine own flesh.It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf his confessor.It is a foul bird that fills his own nest.It is a good horse that never stumbles,
And a good wife that never grumbles.It is a good tongue that says no ill, and a better heart that thinks none.It is a hard winter when one wolf eats another.It is a hard-fought field where none escapes.It is a long lane that has no turning.It is a no good hen, that cackles in your house and lays in another's.It is a pain both to pay and pray.It is a poor dog that's not worth whistling for.It is a poor heart that never rejoices.It is a poor stake that cannot stand one year in the ground.It is a proud horse that will not bear his own provender.It is a rank courtesy when a man is forced to give thanks for his own.It is a sad burden to carry a dead man's child.It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock.It is a sair dung bairn that dare not greet.It is a silly bargain where nobody gets.It is a silly goose that come to the fox's sermon.It is a sin to belie the devil.It is a sin to steal a pin.It is always term time in the court of conscience.It is an ill battle where the devil carries the colours.It is an ill counsel that hath no escape.It is an ill procession where the devil bears the cross.It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.It is as cheap sitting as standing.It is as hard to please a knave as a knight.It is as much intemperance to weep too much, as to laugh too much.It is best to be off with the old love before you are on with the new.It is best to be on the safe side.It is best to trust to two anchors. [Have two strings to your bow.]It is better to be born lucky than rich.It is better to give than to receive.It is better to hear the lark sing than the mouse squeak.It is better to marry a shrew than a sheep.It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.It is comparison that makes men miserable.It is day still while the sun shines.It is easier to build two chimneys that to maintain one.It is easier to descend than ascend.It is easier to fall than rise.It is easier to prevent ill habits than to break them.It is easier to raise the Devil than to lay him.It is easier to run from virtue to vice, than from vice to
virtue.It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it.It is easy to be generous with another man's money.It is easy to be generous with another man's money.It is easy to be wise after the event.It is easy to bowl down hill.It is easy to rob an orchard when noon keeps it.It is good beating proud folks, for they will not complain.It is good sheltering under an old hedge.It is good sleeping in a whole skin.It is good to be near of kin to an estate.It is good to fear the worst, the best will be the welcomer.It is good to have a hatch before the door.It is good to make a bridge of gold to a flying enemy.It is Greek to me.It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.It is hard to be wretched, but worse to be known so.It is hard to halt before a cripple.It is hard to laugh and cry both with a breath.It is hard to live in Rome and strive against the Pope.It is hard to please all.It is hard to sit in Rome and strive against the Pope.It is hard to wive and thrive both in a year.It is human to err, but diabolical to persevere.It is idle to swallow the cow and choke on the tail.It is ill healing of an old sore.It is ill jesting with edged tools.It is ill putting a naked sword in a madman's hand.It is ill sitting at Rome and striving with the Pope.It is ill speaking between a full man and a fasting.It is ill striving against the stream.It is ill takin' the breeks off a highlandman.It is ill taking the breeks off a Hielandman.It is madness for a sheep to talk of peace with a wolf.It is merry in hall when beards wag all.It is merry when gossips meet.It is merry when knaves meet.It is more easy to praise poverty than to bear it.It is more painful to do nothing than something.It is never too late to ask what time it is.It is never too late to learn.It is never too late to mend.It is no advantage for a man in fever to change his bed.It is no more pity to see a woman weep than to see a goose go barefoot.It is no play where one greets and another laughs.It is no sin to sell dear, but a sin to give ill measure.It is no time to stoop when the head is off.It is no use crying over spilt milk.It is not a sin to sell dear, but it is to make ill measure.it is not all butter that the cow yields.It is not as thy mother says, but as thy neighbours say.It is not easy to straighten in the oak the crook that grew in the sapling.It is not good to want and to have.It is not how long we live but how.It is not how long, but how well we live.It is not lost that a friend gets.It is not lost that comes at last.It is not necessary to fall into a well to know its depth.It is not spring until you can plant your foot upon twelve daisies.It is not the burden but the over-burden that kills the beast.It is not the suffering, but the cause, that makes a martyr.It is not want but abundance that makes avarice.It is not What she is, but What has she.It is not with saying, "Honey," "Honey," that sweetness will come into the mouth.It is not work that kills, but worry.It is not worth a button.It is possible for a ram to kill a butcher.It is safe taking a shive of a cut loaf.It is the first step that is difficult.It is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.It is the nature of the beast.It is the pace that kills.It is the unforeseen that always happens.It is thinking about the load that makes one tired.It is thou must honour the place, not the place thee.It is too late to grieve when the chance is past.It is too late to spare when the bottom is bare.It is unlucky to marry in May.It is unlucky to marry in May.It is wit to pick a lock and steal a horse, but wisdom to let them alone.It matters not what religion an ill man is of.It may be said that noisy barrels are easier to carry.It must be true that all men say.It never rains but it pours.It never troubles a wolf how many the sheep be.It rolled like water off a duck's back.It signifies nothing to play well if you lose.It takes all sorts to make a world.It takes one to know one.It takes three generation to make a gentleman.It takes two to make a bargain.It takes two to make a quarrel.It takes two to tango.It was the piece of straw that broke the camel's back.It will be all the same a hundred years hence.It will not out of the flesh that is bred in the bone.It would make a man scratch where it doth not itch,
To see a man live poor to die rich.It's a free country.It's a poor heart that never rejoices.It's a sin to steal a pin.It's all grist to the mill.It's an ill wind that blows no one any good.It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good.It's dogged as does it.It's enough to make a parson swear, or a quaker kick his mother.It's good to be off wi' the old love
Before ye be on wi' the new.It's ill speaking between a full man and a fasting.It's ill waiting for dead men's shoes.It's never too late.It's no crime to steal from a thief.It's no use locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.It's not improbable that a man may receive more solid satisfaction from pudding while he is alive than from praise after he is dead.It's not the gay coat that makes the gentleman.It's not the heat, it's the humidity.It's not worth crying over spilt milk.It's the empty can that makes the most noise.It's the little things in life that count.It's too late to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted. |
|
|