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English Proverbs (1701-1800)

He runs far back that means to leap a great way.

Send a fool to the market and a fool he'll return.

The dead, and only they, should do nothing.

Soon ripe, soon rotten.

Oft craving makes soon forgetting.

Two good things are better than one.

Fine feathers make fine birds.

When the well is full it will run over.

Fools refuse favors.

The dish wears its own cover.

The more you drive a man, the less he will do.

He that eats till he is sick must fast till he is well.

Hear twice before you speak once.

The bigger they come, the harder they fall.

A stone in a well is not lost.

He that has a wife and children wants not business.

Odds will beat anybody.

Fear gives wings.

The first breath is the beginning of death.

Women in mischief are wiser than men.

A man that does what no other man
does is wondered at by all.

No barber shaves so close but another finds work.

Content is worth a crown.

Respect is the younger brother to love.

After a storm comes a calm.

When a man is going down, everybody lends him a kick.

A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his own throat.

Learn to say before you sing.

It may rhyme, but it accords not.

The house goes mad when women gad.

Women and hens by too much gadding are lost.

If youth knew what age would crave,
it would both get and save.

The smell of gain is sweet.

Lightly gained quickly lost.

Sparing is the first gaining.

A merchant that gains not loses.

All the speed is in the spurs.

Set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the gallows.

Once a liar, always a liar.

At the game's end we shall see who gains.

It is the bridle and spur that make a good horse.

As is the gardener, so is the garden.

They are poor whom God hates.

One flower makes no garland.

Garlic makes a man wink, drink, and stink.

Borrowed garments never sit well.

The devil is not always at one door.

When distrust enters in at the foregate,
love goes out at the postern.

Scatter with one hand, gather with two.

A bad Jack may have as bad a Jill.

A bargain is a bargain.

A fool will not be foiled.

A cunning lawyer beats the devil.

Wise fear begets care.

The best fish swim near the bottom.

A black plum is as sweet as a white.

The afterthought is good for nought,
except it be to catch blind horses with.

Bought wit is dear.

Counsel breaks not the head.

Beggars breed and rich men feed.

A bad custom is like a good cake, better broken than kept.

Better buy than borrow.

An ox is taken by the horns, and a man by the tongue.

All men can't be masters.

Mocking is catching.

He that is angry without a cause
must be pleased without amends.

He will never have a good thing cheap
that is afraid to ask the price.

Cool words scald not the tongue.

Vice should not correct sin.

Marriage leaps up upon the saddle,
and repentance upon the crupper.

You can't swim long against the current
without cutting your throat as a pig does.

Women and their wills are dangerous ills.

The darkest hour is before the dawn.

This day there is no trust, but come tomorrow.

Honesty may be dear bought,
but can never be a dear pennyworth.

The wise man is deceived but once, the fool twice.

God deliver me from a man of one book.

Desperate diseases must have desperate cures.

Set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil.

Prosperity gets followers, but adversity distinguishes them.

Who marries does well, who marries not does better.

A true friend is known in a doubtful matter.

A drunken general is a bad commander.

Itch and ease can no man please.

An apple may happen to be better given than eaten.

A master of straw eats a servant of steel.

A rugged stone grows smooth from hand to hand.

First learn, then discern.

He is idle that might be better employed.

Evil beginning has evil end.

He that endures is not overcome.

Be just before you are generous.

A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread.

An envious heart frets itself.

A tale never loses in the telling.

Dogs gnaw bones because they cannot swallow them.

He who once hits will ever be shooting.

A stranger's eye sees clearest.

None but fools lay wagers.

The hand that gives gathers.

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