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English Proverbs (1001-1100)

Never venture out of your depth till you can swim.

A man of many trades begs his bread on Sundays.

We soon believe what we desire.

An old thief desires a new halter.

He that knows himself best, esteems himself least.

Sorrow and an evil life makes soon an old wife.

Ignorance is the mother of devotion.

Speech is the index of the mind.

He that will play with cats must expect to be scratched.

The fairer the hostess, the fouler the reckoning.

Into the mouth of a bad dog
often falls a good bone.

He that has patience has fat thrushes for a farthing.

The feather makes not the bird.

Many kinsfolk and a few friends.

An empty purse fills the face with wrinkles.

A good action always finds its recompense.

He who is born a fool is never cured.

Some folks are born to be lucky.

Follow the river and you'll get to the sea.

Where two fools meet, the bargain goes off.

He may freely receive courtesies,
that knows how to require them.

Feasting makes no friendship.

Malice is mindful.

An empty purse causes a full heart.

Where the hedge is lowest men may soonest go over.

Do good and then do it again.

Today a good cheer, tomorrow on the bier.

That's not good language that all understand not.

Graft good fruit all, or graft not at all.

Great promise, small performance.

Many things grow in the garden which were never sowed.

The truest jests sound worst in guilty ears.

They say is half a lie.

Catching is before hanging.

A hard beginning has a good ending.

It's hard to wive and thrive both in a year.

Set hard heart against hard lap.

Better a cock for a day than a hen for a year.

Too much cordial will destroy.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

Gold makes an honest man an ill man.

The bait hides the hook.

A pebble and a diamond are alike to a blind man.

Chance is a dicer.

The wolf must die in his own skin.

Cowards die often.

More die by food than famine.

They love too much that die for love.

Young men may die, old men must.

He who was never sick dies the first fit.

Old praise dies unless you feed it.

Doctors differ.

Different sores must have different salves.

The first step is the only difficulty.

A man has often more trouble to digest meat than to get it.

Care and diligence bring luck.

He that speaks ill of his wife, dishonors himself.

He who depends on another dines ill and sups worse.

The best ground is the dirtiest.

He that has little is the less dirty.

Drink washes off the daub and discovers the man.

Offices may well be given, but not discretion.

A man can disgrace only himself.

Faint praise is disparagement.

A fog cannot be dispelled with a fan.

A man would rather hurt his body than displease his palate.

Of a little thing, a little displeases.

In too much dispute truth is lost.

A foe is better than a dissembling friend.

Good husbandry is good divinity.

Show me the man, and I will show you the law.

The cow knows not what her tail is worth till she has lost it.

He that knows nothing doubts nothing.

Better leave than lack.

Love laughs at locksmiths.

A low hedge is easily leapt over.

Nothing kindles sooner than fire.

Like fault like punishment.

Say little but think the more.

Lovers live by love as larks live by leeks.

It is a long lane that has no turning.

Kings have long arms.

Words have long tails.

Better a loss at sea than a bad debt at land.

A woman that loves to be at the window
is like a bunch of grapes on the highway.

More rain, more rest.

Much learning, much sorrow.

Wealth is not his who has it, but his who enjoys it.

After cheese comes nothing.

Respect a man, he will do the more.

He deserves no pity that chooses to do amiss twice.

It is more painful to do nothing than something.

Better pay the butcher than the doctor.

Good words make amends for misdeeds.

Silence seldom does harm.

He does much that does a thing well.

All are not thieves that dogs bark at.

Dogs show their teeth when they dare not bite.

Knowledge is no burden.

The shortest answer is doing.

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