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French Proverbs (501-600)

Where the goat is tied she must browse.

He goes safely who has nothing.

God gives the cold according to the cloth.

One cannot be and have been.

A full belly counsels well.

Nothing so good as forbidden fruit.

The fox thinks everybody eats poultry like himself.

Better to have a friend on the road
than gold or silver in your purse.

He is called clever who cheats and plunders his friend.

By telling our woes we often assuage them.

A covetous woman deserves a swindling gallant.

One never goes so far as when one
doesn't know where one is going.

At a little fountain one drinks at one's ease.

When the fox can’t reach the mulberries,
he says they were no good at all.

The false friend is like the shadow of a sundial.

No one will get a bargain he does not ask for.

Who is born of a cat will run after mice.

To give tardily is to refuse.

A friend is known in time of need.

God alone understands fools.

One may go a long way after one is tired.

No one is so liberal as he who has nothing to give.

God knows who is a good pilgrim.

Talk of the wolf and you see his tail.

Upon a slight pretext the wolf takes the sheep.

God helps three sorts of people: f
ools, children, and drunkards.

A girl unemployed is thinking of mischief.

Beauty and folly are often companions.

When the cage is ready the bird is flown.

For a web begun God sends thread.

God saves the moon from the wolves.

God save you from a man who has but one business.

It is better to have to do with God than with his saints.

God puts a good root in the little pig's way.

Trust not to God but upon good security.

He is not escaped who drags his chain.

Let every one mind his own business,
and the cows will be well tended.

Wine will not keep in a foul vessel.

What the she-wolf does pleases the he-wolf.

It is not enough to have cabbage,
one must have something to grease it.

Adversity makes a man wise.

A scalded cat dreads cold water.

Empty casks make the most noise.

Wake not a sleeping cat.

The gown does not make the monk.

Good comes to better, and better to bad.

No grass grows on a beaten road.

He who grasps too much holds not firmly.

He who holds the handle of the frying pan
turns it as he pleases.

There's no guarding against the privy thief.

A guest and a fish after three days are poison.

He has a good pledge of the cat who has her skin.

The bud becomes a rose and the rose a hip.

He who kennels with wolves must howl.

Those are very hard times in the wood
when the wolves eat each other.

Dress slowly when you are in a hurry.

He that would keep his house clean
must not let priest or pigeon into it.

A foolish judge passes brief sentence.

He who stops at every stone never gets to his journey's end.

Iron may be rubbed so long that it gets heated.

To make a happy couple, the husband
must be deaf and the wife blind.

The worst jests are those that are true.

Hunger looks in at the industrious man's
door but dares not enter.

A word once out flies everywhere.

Who goes and returns makes a good journey.

No one is bound to do impossibilities.

The tongue wounds more than a lance.

The hunchback does not see his own hump,
but he sees his brother's.

True jokes never please.

Men's ignorance makes the pot boil for priests.

A fat kitchen makes a lean will.

Laws have wax noses.

He who begins and does not finish loses his labor.

A little leaven leavens a great mass.

He'll laugh well that laughs longest.

A kick from a mare never hurt a horse.

God's work is soon done.

He does a good day's work who rids himself of a fool.

Desperate ills require desperate remedies.

Don't rely on the label of the bag.

Turn your tongue seven times before speaking.

He who cannot speak well of his trade does not understand it.

For sake of the knight the lady kisses the squire.

Who knows most says least.

One must step back to make the better leap.

A landmark is very well placed between the fields of two brothers.

One learns by failing.

The law says what the king pleases.

He knows enough who knows how to live
and keep his own counsel.

A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple.

Where there is nothing the king loses his rights.

A landmark is very well placed between
the fields of two brothers.

Nothing grows old sooner than kindness.

There are toys for all ages.

There are no foolish trades, there are only foolish people.

Love, a cough, smoke, and money cannot long be hid.

Always in love, never married.

He who loses sins.

Love, a cough, and smoke will not remain secret.

Light is bad for sore eyes.

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