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German Proverbs (001-100)

The wood has ears, the field has eyes.

When the word is out, it belongs to another.

Poor people's words go many to a sackful.

It is harder work getting to hell than to heaven.

Every woman would rather be handsome than good.

The fewer the words, the better the prayer.

Wait is a hard word to the hungry.

Many go out for wool and come home shorn.

He who is his own teacher has a fool for his pupil.

Blind zeal only does harm.

Put the light out, and all women are alike.

Words are good, when works follow.

More is done with words than with hands.

Of big words and feathers, many go to the pound.

Words are good, but fowls lay eggs.

Where a woman rules the house, the devil is serving man.

He that picks up all sorts of wood soon gets an armful.

A good trade will carry farther than a thousand florins.

Where there are too many workmen, there is little work.

Fair words don't fatten the cabbage.

God's sake No woman marries an old man for God's sake.

Workmen are easier found than masters.

Other towns, other lasses.

Fair words don't fill the pocket.

Women are never at a loss for words.

Crooked wood burns just as well as straight.

Words often do more than blows.

Don't fly till your wings are feathered.

Wit is better than cunning.

Who loves his work and knows to spare
may live and flourish anywhere.

Take the world as it is, not as it ought to be.

If the wolf would cease his running,
the people would cease their shouting.

Who herds with wolves must howl with wolves.

Too much wisdom is folly.

A hundred years of regret pay not a farthing of debt.

He is a bad workman who cannot talk of work.

Good wine ruins the purse, and bad wine the stomach.

Good wine sells itself.

Sweet wine makes sour vinegar.

It is not always good to be wise.

Where the best wine grows, the worst is drunk.

Yielding stops all war.

A hundred years of wrong do not make an hour of right.

Where wine goes in, modesty goes out.

Who loves not wine, women,
and song remains a fool his whole life long.

Wine and women make fools of everybody.

A woman keeps secret only what she does not know.

For love the wolf eats the sheep.

Old wounds easily bleed.

War is pleasant to those who have not tried it.

Wit and beauty seldom come together.

First weigh, then venture.

The will is the soul of the work.

The work praises the workman.

To the spectator no work is too hard.

The will gives the work its name.

Good wine is milk for the aged.

Windmills are not driven by bellows.

Necessity unites hearts.

Necessity teaches arts.

Do not hang all on one nail.

Nature draws stronger than seven oxen.

Nature requires little, fancy much.

Must is a hard nut.

When the need is greatest, help is nearest.

Half the world laughs at the other half.

Women are as fickle as April weather.

Mules make a great fuss about their
ancestors having been horses.

The morning hour has gold in its mouth.

Necessity teaches even the lame to dance.

A good name is a rich inheritance.

Love your neighbor, but don't pull down the fence.

If we pay for the music we will take part in the dance.

He who heeds not the lost shoenail will soon lose the horse.

Mouth and heart are wide apart.

There's no making apples of plums.

He who has once burnt his mouth, always blows his soup.

More are drowned in the mug than in the sea.

Anger hears no counsel.

He that says A, must also say B.

The anvil is not afraid of the hammer.

Practice not your art, and it will soon depart.

Bear and bull catch no fox.

If you have no arrows in your quiver, go not with archers.

Whoever has bitten a sour apple will enjoy a sweet one all the more.

It is bad baking without flour and water.

If you are an anvil, be patient; if you are a hammer, strike hard.

He who won't be advised, can't be helped.

He who conquers his anger has conquered an enemy.

On poor people's beards the young barber learns his trade.

One kisses the child for the mother's sake,
and the mother for the child's sake.

When misfortune comes in at the door,
love flies out of the window.

No one is wise enough to advise himself.

Advice should precede the act.

Better give nothing than stolen alms.

Words are good, but fowls lay eggs.

Of big words and feathers, many go to the pound.

When the word is out, it belongs to another.

Begun is half done.

Fair words don't fill the pocket.

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