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English Proverbs (901-1000)

Young cocks love no coops.

The fire that does not warm me shall never scorch me.

Plough deep while others sleep
and you shall have corn to sell and keep.

If the brain sows not corn, it plants thistles.

The miller grinds more men's corn than one.

A broken friendship may be soldered, but will never be sound.

Too light winning makes the prize light.

There's nothing but is good for something.

The harder you fall the higher you bounce.

A solitary man is either a brute or an angel.

Truth seeks no corners.

Good words are worth much and cost little.

Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.

Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces.

Love lives in cottages as well as in courts.

Silence is counsel.

An enemy may chance to give good counsel.

The wolf eats counted sheep.

Every scale has its counterpoise.

So many countries, so many customs.

In every country dogs bite.

Despair gives courage to a coward.

A man of courage never wants weapons.

The more wit, the less courage.

The tide keeps its course.

A friend in court is better than a penny in purse.

In hell one should pay court to the devil.

Proud looks lose hearts, but courteous words win them.

All doors are open to courtesy.

We are usually the best men when in the worst health.

Such cup, such cover.

We cannot come to honor under coverlet.

An honest look covers many faults.

A covetous man does nothing well till he dies.

The older the more covetous.

Lechery and covetousness go together.

A valiant man's look is more than a coward's sword.

A courageous foe is better than a cowardly friend.

A cook is known by his knife.

An old fox need learn no craft.

No man is his craft's master the first day.

A crafty fellow never has any peace.

Scratch me and I'll scratch thee.

To a crazy ship all winds are contrary.

A creaking cart goes along.

He that will increase in riches
must not hoe corn in silk breeches.

Friends are like fiddlestrings,
they must not be screwed too tight.

My belly cries cupboard.

Barbers are correctors of capital crimes.

Soon crooks the tree that good gambrel would be.

A good tale ill told is marred in the telling.

If you don’t like my apples, don’t shake my tree.

The tale runs as it pleases the teller.

Those who in quarrels interpose,
must often wipe a bloody nose.

The tiger crouches before he leaps upon his prey.

The evening crowns the day.

One mule scrubs another.

Good words without deeds are rushes and reeds.

One foot is better than two crutches.

Use your wit as a buckler, not a sword.

A dog will not cry if you beat him with a bone.

Better to cry over your goods than after them.

He that serves everybody is paid by nobody.

A friend is not so soon gotten as lost.

Better spent than spared.

The common people look at the steeple.

Fair words cost nothing.

Today a man, tomorrow a cuckold.

A man that will fight may find a cudgel in every hedge.

Two cunning knaves need no broker.

In a bushel of winning is not a handful of cunning.

There's many a slip between cup and lip.

Love locks no cupboards.

Prevention is better than cure.

Search not too curiously lest you find trouble.

There is no short cut of a way without some ill way.

Score twice before you cut once.

The same knife cuts bread and fingers.

Old fish, old oil, and an old friend are the best.

All is well with him who is beloved of his neighbors.

He who lies down with dogs will rise with fleas.

With without wisdom is but little worth.

The early bird catches the worm.

The worst dog that is will wag his tail.

Youth will have his swing.

An ape is never so like an ape,
as when he wears a doctor's cap.

Good stomachs make good savor.

Better lost than found.

Where there is peace, God is.

A mad parish must have a mad priest.

What is learned young is hard to lose.

When the need is highest, the help is nighest.

Care never paid a pound of debt.

He that is heady is ruled by a fool.

A dollar saved is as good as a dollar earned.

Every tub must stand on its own bottom.

A duck will not always dabble in the same gutter.

Answer a fool according to his folly.

Bragging saves advertising.

Evil to him that evil seeks.

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