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French Proverbs (101-200)

Saint cannot if God will not.

Money is lost only for want of money.

Leave the minster where it is.

Misfortune upon misfortune is not wholesome.

He that has not money in his purse
should have honey in his mouth.

The saint who works no cures has few pilgrims to his shrine.

From tomorrow till tomorrow
time goes a long journey.

Shear the sheep but don't flay them.

Shoemakers are always the worst shod.

He who loses his temper is in the wrong.

Two men may meet, but never two mountains.

Ready money works great cures.

Many a one is good because he can do no mischief.

Where misfortune befalls injuries follow.

He who pays is fairly entitled to speak his mind.

A mistake is no reckoning.

A foolish woman is known by her finery.

There never was a mirror that told a woman she was ugly.

The monk responds as the abbot chants.

Smoke, rain, and a troublesome wife are
enough to drive a man out of his house.

Two sparrows on the same ear of corn are not long friends.

The monk that begs for God's sake begs for two.

To the jaundice all things seem yellow.

The threatener sometimes gets a beating.

Nothing is impossible to a willing mind.

Money borrowed is soon sorrowed.

What a monk thinks he dares to do.

Might knows no right.

He who can give has many a good neighbor.

A restive morsel needs a spur of wine.

A tender-hearted mother makes a scabby daughter.

The skin is nearer than the shirt.

Too much scratching smarts; too much talking harms.

What is worth receiving is worth returning.

The mule long keeps a kick in reserve for its master.

He who rides the mule shoes it.

Fair things are soon snatched away.

Think much, say little, write less.

He who hears but one bell hears but one sound.

One cannot ring the bells and walk in the procession.

It would be a very big book that contained
all the maybes uttered in a day.

The blade wears out the sheath.

Absent, none without blame; present, none without excuse.

Borrowers must not be choosers.

The early riser is healthy, cheerful, and industrious.

Bring up a raven and he will peck out your eyes.

Bees do not become hornets.

Bells call to church but do not enter.

A full belly sets a man dancing.

A hungry belly has no ears.

Things promised are things due.

He who dispraises a thing wants to buy it.

Too late the bird cries out when it is caught.

For the last-comer the bones.

Do not strip before bedtime.

It is not the greatest beauties that
inspire the most profound passion.

Old reckonings breed new disputes.

A sparrow in the hand is better than a pigeon on the wing.

To scare a bird is not the way to catch it.

What is bad for one is good for another.

The bird ought not to soil its own nest.

Long absence changes friends.

Great boaster, little doer.

Handsomely asked, handsomely refused.

He who sows thistles reaps thorns.

Thrift is better than an annuity.

A goaded ass must trot.

It is too late for the bird to scream when it is caught.

A sparrow in the hand is better than
a crane on the wing.

Good repute is better than a golden belt.

Patience is the virtue of asses.

Asses must not be tied up with horses.

A young angel, an old devil.

A good beast heats with eating.

The higher the ape climbs the more he shows his rump.

The absent are always in the wrong.

It is only the bashful that lose.

The first blow is as good as two.

He who threatens is afraid.

A thorn comes into the world point foremost.

Repentance costs very dear.

Three removals are as bad as a fire.

The belly overrules the head.

The mountaineer's ass carries wine and drinks water.

A little absence does much good.

You cannot make an ass drink if he is not thirsty.

Paris was not built in a day.

An old ape never made a pretty grimace.

The arguments of the strongest have always the most weight.

Fine birds are commonly plucked.

Never sell the bearskin till you have killed the bear.

It is only good bargains that ruin.

He had need rise early who would please everybody.

He slumbers enough who does nothing.

Where the thread is weakest it breaks.

When the tree is down everybody runs to the branches.

Advisers are not the payers.

Take a woman's first advice and not her second.

One must be either anvil or hammer.

A good advice is as good as an eye in the hand.

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