Proverbi inglesi

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A B C D E F G H I L M
N O P Q R S T U V W X Z

A

  • A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
  • A bad corn promise is better than a good lawsuit.
  • A bad workman quarrels with his tools.
  • A bargain is a bargain.
  • A beggar can never be bankrupt.
  • A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
  • A bird may be known by its song.
  • A black hen lays a white egg.
  • A blind leader of the blind.
  • A blind man would be glad to see.
  • A broken friendship may be soldered, but will never be sound.
  • A burden of one's own choice is not felt.
  • A burnt child dreads the fire.
  • A cat in gloves catches no mice.
  • A city that parleys is half gotten.
  • A civil denial is better than a rude grant.
  • A clean fast is better than a dirty breakfast.
  • A clean hand wants no washing..
  • A clear conscience laughs at false accusations.
  • A close mouth catches no flies.
  • A cock is valiant on his own dunghill.
  • A cracked bell can never sound well.
  • A creaking door hangs long on its hinges.
  • A cursed cow has short horns.
  • A danger foreseen is half avoided.
  • A drop in the bucket.
  • A drowning man will catch at a straw.
  • A fair face may hide a foul heart.
  • A fault confessed is half redressed.
  • A fly in the ointment.
  • A fool always rushes to the fore.
  • A fool and his money are soon parted.
  • A fool at forty is a fool indeed.
  • A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can
  • answer in seven years.
  • A fool may throw a stone into a well which a hundred wise men cannot pull out.
  • A fool's tongue runs before his wit.
  • A forced kindness deserves no thanks.
  • A foul morn may turn to a fair day.
  • A fox is not taken twice in the same snare.
  • A friend in need is a friend indeed.
  • A friend is never known till needed.
  • A friend to all is a friend to none.
  • A friend's frown is better than a foe's smile..
  • A good anvil does not fear the hammer.
  • A good beginning is half the battle.
  • A good beginning makes a good ending.
  • A good deed is never lost.
  • A good dog deserves a good bone.
  • A good example is the best sermon.
  • A good face is a letter of recommendation.
  • A good Jack makes a good Jill.
  • A good marksman may miss.
  • A good name is better than riches.
  • A good name is sooner lost than won.
  • A good name keeps its luster in the dark.
  • A good wife makes a good husband.
  • A great dowry is a bed full of brambles.
  • A great fortune is a great slavery.
  • A great ship asks deep waters.
  • A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
  • . A hard nut to crack.
  • A heavy purse makes a light heart.
  • A hedge between keeps friendship green.
  • A honey tongue, a heart of gall.
  • A hungry belly has no ears.
  • A hungry man is an angry man.
  • A Jack of all trades is master of none.
  • A Joke never gains an enemy but often loses a friend.
  • A lawyer never goes to law himself.
  • A lazy sheep thinks its wool heavy.
  • A liar is not believed when he speaks the truth.
  • A lie begets a lie.
  • A light purse is a heavy curse.
  • A light purse makes a heavy heart.
  • A little body often harbors a great soul.
  • A little fire is quickly trodden out.
  • A man can die but once.
  • A man can do no more than he can.
  • A man is known by the company he keeps.
  • A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds.
  • A miserly father makes a prodigal son.
  • A miss is as good as a mile.
  • A new broom sweeps clean.
  • A nod from a lord is a breakfast for a fool.
  • A penny saved is a penny gained.
  • A penny soul never came to twopence.
  • A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.
  • A rolling stone gathers no moss.
  • A round peg in a square hole.
  • A shy cat makes a proud mouse.
  • A silent fool is counted wise.
  • A small leak will sink a great ship.
  • A soft answer turns away wrath.
  • A sound mind in a sound body.
  • A stitch in time saves nine.
  • A storm in a teacup.
  • A tattler is worse than a thief.
  • A thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf.
  • A thief passes for a gentleman when stealing has made him rich.
  • A threatened blow is seldom given.
  • A tree is known by its fruit.
  • A wager is a fool's argument.
  • A watched pot never boils.
  • A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
  • A wolf in sheep's clothing.
  • wonder lasts but nine days.
  • A word is enough to the wise.
  • A word spoken is past recalling.
  • Actions speak louder than words.
  • Adversity is a great schoolmaster.
  • Adversity makes strange bedfellows.
  • After a storm comes a calm.
  • After dinner comes the reckoning.
  • After dinner sit (sleep) a while, after supper walk a mile.
  • After rain comes fair weather.
  • After us the deluge.
  • Agnes come on horseback, but go away on foot.
  • All are good lasses, but whence come the bad wives?
  • All are not friends that speak us fair.
  • All are not hunters that blow the horn.
  • All are not merry that dance lightly.
  • All are not saints that go to church.
  • All asses wag their ears.
  • All bread is not baked in one oven.
  • All cats are grey in the dark (in the night).
  • All covet, all lose.
  • All doors open to courtesy.
  • All is fish that comes to his net.
  • All is not lost that is in peril.
  • All is well that ends well.
  • All lay load on the willing horse.
  • All men can't be first.
  • All men can't be masters.
  • All promises are either broken or kept.
  • All roads lead to Rome .
  • All sugar and honey.
  • All that glitters is not gold.
  • All things are difficult before they are easy.
  • All truths are not to be told.
  • All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
  • "Almost" never killed a fly (was never hanged).
  • Among the blind the one-eyed man is king.
  • An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
  • An hole in a lion's skin.
  • An hole is but an hole, though laden with gold.
  • An hole loaded with gold climbs to the top of the castle.
  • An empty hand is no lure for a hawk.
  • An empty sack cannot stand upright.
  • An empty vessel gives a greater sound than a full barrel.
  • An evil chance seldom comes alone.
  • An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told.
  • An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening.
  • An idle brain is the devil's workshop.
  • An ill wound is cured, not an ill name.
  • An oak is not felled at one stroke.
  • An old dog barks not in vain.
  • An open door may tempt a saint.
  • An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of learning.
  • An ox is taken by the horns, and a man by the tongue.
  • An unfortunate man would be drowned in a teacup.
  • Anger and haste hinder good counsel.
  • Any port in a storm.
  • Appearances are deceitful.
  • Appetite comes with eating.
  • As drunk as a lord.
  • As innocent as a babe unborn.
  • As like as an apple to an oyster.
  • As like as two peas.
  • As old as the hills.
  • As plain as the nose on a man's face.
  • As plain as two and two make four.
  • As snug as a bug in a rug .
  • As sure as eggs is eggs.
  • As the call, so the echo.
  • As the fool thinks, so the bell clinks.
  • As the old cock crows, so does the young.
  • As the tree falls, so shall it lie.
  • As the tree, so the fruit.
  • As welcome as flowers in May.
  • As welcome as water in one's shoes.
  • As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.
  • As you brew, so must you drink.
  • As you make your bed, so must you lie on it.
  • As you sow, so shall you reap.
  • Ask no questions and you will be told no lies.
  • At the ends of the earth.
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B

  • Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune .
  • Bad news has wings.
  • Barking does seldom bite.
  • Be slow to promise and quick to perform.
  • Be swift to hear, slow to speak.
  • Beauty is but skin-deep.
  • Beauty lies in lover's eyes.
  • Before one can say Jack Robinson.
  • Before you make a friend eat a bushel of salt with him.
  • Beggars cannot be choosers.
  • Believe not all that you see nor half what you hear.
  • Best defense is offense.
  • Better a glorious death than a shameful life.
  • Better a lean peace than a fat victory.
  • Better a little fire to warm us, than a great one to burn us.
  • Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
  • Better an open enemy than a false friend.
  • Better be alone than in bad company.
  • Better be born lucky than rich.
  • Better be envied than pitied.
  • Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion.
  • Better deny at once than promise long.
  • Better die standing than live kneeling.
  • Better early than late.
  • Better give a shilling than lend a half-crown.
  • Better go to bed supperless than rise in debt.
  • Better late than never.
  • Better lose a jest than a friend.
  • Better one-eyed than stone-blind.
  • Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
  • Better the foot slip than the tongue.
  • Better to do well than to say well.
  • Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.
  • Better unborn than untaught.
  • Better untaught than ill-taught.
  • Between the cup and the lip a morsel may slip.
  • Between the devil and the deep (blue) sea.
  • Between two evils 'tis not worth choosing.
  • Between two stools one goes (falls) to the ground.
  • Between the upper and nether millstone.
  • Betwixt and between.
  • Beware of a silent dog and still water.
  • Bind the sack before it be full.
  • Birds of a feather flock together.
  • Blind men can judge no colours.
  • Blood is thicker than water.
  • Borrowed garments never fit well.
  • Bevity is the soul of wit.
  • Burn not your house to rid it of the mouse.
  • Business before pleasure.


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C

  • Clamity is man's true touchstone.
  • Care killed the cat.
  • Catch the bear before you sell his skin.
  • Caution is the parent of safety.
  • Charity begins at home.
  • Ceapest is the dearest.
  • Ceek brings success.
  • Cildren and fools must not play with edged tools.
  • Children are poor men's riches.
  • Choose an author as you choose a friend.
  • Cristmas comes but once a year, (but when it comes it brings good cheer).
  • Circumstances alter cases.
  • Claw me, and I will claw thee.
  • Cleanliness is next to godliness.
  • Company in distress makes trouble less.
  • Confession is the first step to repentance.
  • Cunsel is no command..
  • Ceditors have better memories than debtors.
  • Cross the stream where it is shallowest.
  • Crows do not pick crow's eyes.
  • Criosity killed a cat.
  • Curses like chickens come home to roost.
  • Custom is a second nature.
  • Custom is the plague of wise men and the idol of fools.
  • Cut your coat according to your cloth.


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D

  • Debt is the worst poverty.
  • Deeds, not words.
  • Delays are dangerous.
  • Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.
  • Diligence is the mother of success (good luck).
  • Diseases are the interests of pleasures.
  • Divide and rule.
  • Do as you would be done by.
  • Dog does not eat dog.
  • Dog eats dog.
  • Dogs that put up many hares kill none.
  • Doing is better than saying.
  • Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
  • Don't cross the bridges before you come to them.
  • Don't have thy cloak to make when it begins to rain.
  • Don't keep a dog and bark yourself.
  • Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
  • Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
  • Don't sell the bear's skin before you've caught it.
  • Don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you.
  • Don't whistle (halloo) until you are out of the wood.
  • Dot your i's and cross your t's.
  • Draw not your bow till your arrow is fixed.
  • Drive the nail that will go.
  • Drunken days have all their tomorrow.
  • Drunkenness reveals what soberness conceals.
  • Dumb dogs are dangerous.
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E

  • Each bird loves to hear himself sing.
  • Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and
  • Easier said than done.
  • East or West ? home is best.
  • Easy come, easy go.
  • Eat at pleasure, drink with measure.
  • Empty vessels make the greatest (the most) sound.
  • Enough is as good as a feast.
  • Envy shoots at others and wounds herself.
  • Even reckoning makes long friends.
  • Every hole loves to hear himself bray.
  • Every barber knows that.
  • Every bean has its black.
  • Every bird likes its own nest.
  • Every bullet has its billet.
  • Every country has its customs.
  • Every dark cloud has a silver lining.
  • Every day is not Sunday.
  • Every dog has his day.
  • Every dog is a lion at home.
  • Every dog is valiant at his own door.
  • Every Jack has his Jill.
  • Every man has a fool in his sleeve.
  • Every man has his faults.
  • Every man has his hobby-horse.
  • Every man is the architect of his own fortunes.
  • Every man to his taste.
  • Every miller draws water to his own mill.
  • Every mother thinks her own gosling a swan.
  • Every one's faults are not written in their foreheads.
  • Every tub must stand on its own bottom..
  • Every white has its black, and every sweet its sour.
  • Every why has a wherefore.
  • Everybody's business is nobody's business.
  • Everything comes to him who waits.
  • Everything is good in its season.
  • Evil communications corrupt good manners.
  • Experience is the mother of wisdom.
  • Experience keeps a dear school, but fools learn in no other.
  • Experience keeps no school, she teaches her pupils singly.
  • Extremes meet.


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F

  • Facts are stubborn things..
  • Faint heart never won fair lady.
  • Fair without, foul (false) within.
  • Fair words break no bones.
  • False friends are worse than open enemies.
  • Familiarity breeds contempt.
  • Far from eye, far from heart.
  • Fasting comes after feasting.
  • Faults are thick where love is thin.
  • Fast today and fast tomorrow.
  • Fine feathers make fine birds.
  • Fine words butter no parsnips.
  • irst catch your hare.
  • First come, first served.
  • First deserve and then desire.
  • First think, then speak.
  • Fish and company stink in three days.
  • Fish begins to stink at the head.
  • Follow the river and you'll get to the sea.
  • Fool's haste is no speed.
  • Fols and madmen speak the truth.
  • Fols grow without watering.
  • Fools may sometimes speak to the purpose.
  • Fools never know when they are well.
  • Fols rush in where angels fear to tread.
  • For the love of the game.
  • Forbearance is no acquittance.
  • Forbidden fruit is sweet.
  • Forewarned is forearmed.
  • Fortune favors the brave (the bold).
  • Fortune is easily found, but hard to be kept.
  • Fur eyes see more (better) than two.
  • Friends are thieves of time.
  • From bad to worse.
  • Fom pillar to post.
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G

  • entility without ability is worse than plain beggary.
  • Get a name to rise early, and you may lie all day.
  • Gifts from enemies are dangerous.
  • Give a fool rope enough, and he will hang himself.
  • Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
  • Give him an inch and he'll take an ell.
  • Give never the wolf the weather to keep.
  • Gluttony kills more men than the sword.
  • Go to bed with the lamb and rise with the lark.
  • Good clothes open all doors.
  • Good counsel does no harm.
  • Good health is above wealth.
  • Good masters make good servants.
  • Good words and no deeds.
  • Good words without deeds are rushes and reeds.
  • Gossiping and lying go hand in hand.
  • Grasp all, lose all.
  • Great barkers are no biters.
  • Great boast, small roast.
  • Great cry and little wool.
  • Great spenders are bad lenders.
  • Great talkers are great liars.
  • Great talkers are little doers.
  • Greedy folk have long arms.

H

  • Habit cures habit.
  • Half a loaf is better than no bread.
  • "Hamlet" without the Prince of Denmark .
  • Handsome is that handsome does.
  • Happiness takes no account of time.
  • Happy is he that is happy in his children.
  • Hard words break no bones.
  • Hares may pull dead lions by the beard.
  • Harm watch, harm catch.
  • Haste makes waste.
  • Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
  • Hate not at the first harm.
  • Hatred is blind, as well as love.
  • Hawks will not pick hawks' eyes.
  • He begins to die that quits his desires.
  • He cannot speak well that cannot hold his tongue.
  • He carries fire in one hand and water in the other.
  • He dances well to whom fortune pipes.
  • He gives twice who gives in a trice.
  • He goes long barefoot that waits for dead man's shoes.
  • He is a fool that forgets himself.
  • He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs.
  • He is happy that thinks himself so.
  • He is lifeless that is faultless.
  • He is not fit to command others that cannot command himself.
  • He is not laughed at that laughs at himself first.
  • He is not poor that has little, but he that desires much.
  • He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
  • He knows best what good is that has endured evil.
  • He knows how many beans make five.
  • He knows much who knows how to hold his tongue.
  • He laughs best who laughs last.
  • He lives long that lives well.
  • He must needs swim that is held up by the chin.
  • He should have a long spoon that sups with the devil.
  • He smells best that smells of nothing.
  • He that comes first to the hill may sit where he will.
  • He that commits a fault thinks everyone speaks of it.
  • He that does you an i!i turn will never forgive you.
  • He that fears every bush must never go a-birding.
  • He that fears you present wiil hate you absent.
  • He that goes a borrowing, goes a sorrowing.
  • He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns.
  • He that has a full purse never wanted a friend.
  • He that has a great nose thinks everybody is speaking of it.
  • He that has an ill name is half hanged.
  • He that has no children knows not what love is.
  • He that has He head needs no hat.
  • He that has no money needs no purse.
  • He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.
  • He that is full of himself is very empty.
  • He that is ill to himself will be good to nobody.
  • He that is warm thinks all so.
  • He that knows nothing doubts nothing.
  • He that lies down with dogs must rise up with fleas.
  • He that lives with cripples learns to limp.
  • He that mischief hatches, mischief catches.
  • He that never climbed never fell.
  • He that once deceives is ever suspected.
  • He that promises too much means nothing.
  • He that respects not is not respected.
  • He that seeks trouble never misses.
  • He that serves everybody is paid by nobody.
  • He that serves God for money will serve the devil for better wages.
  • He that spares the bad injures the good.
  • He that talks much errs much.
  • He that talks much lies much.
  • He that will eat the kernel must crack the nut.
  • He that will not when he may, when he will he shall have nay.
  • He that will steal an egg will steal an ox.
  • He that will thrive, must rise at five.
  • He that would eat the fruit must climb the tree.
  • He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens.
  • He who is born a fool is never cured.
  • He who hesitates is lost.
  • He who likes borrowing dislikes paying.
  • He who makes no mistakes, makes nothing.
  • He who pleased everybody died before he was born.
  • He who says what he likes, shall hear what he doesn't like.
  • He who would catch fish must not mind getting wet.
  • He who would eat the nut must first crack the shell.
  • He who would search for pearls must dive below.
  • He will never set the Thames on fire.
  • He works best who knows his trade.
  • Head cook and bottle-washer.
  • Health is not valued till sickness comes.
  • His money burns a hole in his pocket.
  • Honesty is the best policy.
  • Honey is not for the hole's mouth.
  • Honey is sweet, but the bee stings.
  • Honour and profit lie not in one sack.
  • Honours change manners..
  • Hope is a good breakfast, but a bad supper.
  • Hope is the poor man's bread.
  • Hunger breaks stone walls.
  • Hunger finds no fault with cookery.
  • Hunger is the best sauce.
  • Hungry bellies have no ears.


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I

  • Idle folks lack no excuses.
  • Idleness is the mother of all evil.
  • Idleness rusts the mind.
  • If an hole (donkey) bray at you, don't bray at him.
  • If ifs and ans were pots and pans...
  • If my aunt had been a man, she'd have been my uncle.
  • If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch..
  • If the sky falls, we shall catch larks.
  • If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun.
  • If things were to be done twice all would be wise.
  • If we can't as we would, we must do as we can.
  • If wishes were horses, beggars might ride.
  • If you agree to carry the calf, they'll make you carry the cow.
  • If you cannot bite, never show your teeth.
  • If you cannot have the best, make the best of what you have.
  • If you dance you must pay the fiddler.
  • If you laugh before breakfast you'll cry before supper.
  • If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.
  • If you sell the cow, you sell her milk too.
  • If you throw mud enough, some of it will stick.
  • If you try to please all you will please none.
  • If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.
  • Ill-gotten gains never prosper.
  • Ill-gotten, ill-spent.
  • In every beginning think of the end.
  • In for a penny, in for a pound.
  • In the country of the blind one-eyed man is a king.
  • In the end things will mend.
  • In the evening one may praise the day.
  • Iron hand (fist) in a velvet glove.
  • It is a good horse that never stumbles.
  • It is a long lane that has no turning.
  • It is a poor mouse that has only one hole.
  • It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.
  • It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.
  • It is a silly fish, that is caught twice with the same bait.
  • It is easy to swim if another holds up your chin (head).
  • It is enough to make a cat laugh.
  • It is good fishing in troubled waters.
  • It is never too late to learn.
  • It is no use crying over spilt milk.
  • It is the first step that costs.
  • It never rains but it pours.
  • It's as broad as it's long.
  • It's no use pumping a dry well.
  • It's one thing to flourish and another to fight.


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L

  • Last, but not least.
  • Laws catch flies, but let hornets go free.
  • Learn to creep before you leap.
  • Learn to say before you sing.
  • Learn wisdom by the follies of others.
  • Least said, soonest mended. 553.. Leaves without figs.
  • Let bygones be bygones.
  • Let every man praise the bridge he goes over.
  • Let sleeping dogs lie.
  • Let well (enough) alone.
  • Liars need good memories.
  • Lies have short legs.
  • Life is but a span.
  • Life is not a bed of roses.
  • Life is not all cakes and ale (beer and skittles).
  • Like a cat on hot bricks.
  • Like a needle in a haystack.
  • Like begets like.
  • Like cures like.
  • Like father, like son.
  • Like draws to like.
  • Like master, like man.
  • ke mother, like daughter.
  • Like parents, like children.
  • Like priest, like people.
  • Like teacher, like pupil.
  • Little chips light great fires.
  • Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
  • Little pigeons can carry great messages.
  • Little pitchers have long ears.
  • Little strokes fell great oaks.
  • Little thieves are hanged, but great ones escape.
  • Little things amuse little minds.
  • Live and learn.
  • Live and let live.
  • Live not to eat, but eat to live.
  • Long absent, soon forgotten.
  • Look before you leap.
  • Look before you leap, but having leapt never look back.
  • Lookers-on see more than players.
  • Lord (God, Heaven) helps those (them) who help themselves.
  • Lost time is never found again.
  • Love cannot be forced.
  • Love in a cottage.
  • Love is blind, as well as hatred.
  • Love me, love my dog.
  • Love will creep where it may not go.


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M

  • Make haste slowly.
  • Make hay while the sun shines.
  • Make or mar.
  • Man proposes but God disposes.
  • Many a fine dish has nothing on it.
  • Many a good cow has a bad calf.
  • Many a good father has but a bad son.
  • Many a little makes a mickle.
  • Many a true word is spoken in jest.
  • Many hands make light work.
  • Many men, many minds.
  • Many words hurt more than swords.
  • Many words will not fill a bushel.
  • Marriages are made in heaven.
  • Measure for measure.
  • Measure thrice and cut once.
  • Men may meet but mountains never.
  • Mend or end (end or mend).
  • Might goes before right.
  • Misfortunes never come alone (singly).
  • Misfortunes tell us what fortune is.
  • Money has no smell.
  • Money is a good servant but a bad master.
  • Money often unmakes the men who make it.
  • Money spent on the brain is never spent in vain.
  • More haste, less speed.
  • Much ado about nothing.
  • Much will have more.
  • Muck and money go together.
  • Murder will out.
  • My house is my castle.
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N

  • Name not a rope in his house that was hanged. 628. Necessity is the mother of invention.
  • Necessity knows no law. 630. Neck or nothing.
  • Need makes the old wife trot.
  • Needs must when the devil drives. 633. Neither fish nor flesh.
  • Neither here nor there.
  • Neither rhyme nor reason.
  • Never cackle till your egg is laid.
  • Never cast dirt into that fountain of which you have sometime k.
  • Never do things by halves.
  • Never fry a fish till it's caught.
  • Never offer to teach fish to swim.
  • Never put off till tomorrow what you can do (can be done) today.
  • Never quit certainty for e.
  • Never too much of a good thing.
  • Never try to prove what nobody doubts.
  • Never write what you dare not sign.
  • New brooms sweep clean.
  • New lords, new laws.
  • Nightingales will not sing in a cage.
  • No flying from fate.
  • No garden without its weeds.
  • No great loss without some small gain.
  • No herb will cure love.
  • No joy without alloy.
  • No living man all things can.
  • No longer pipe, no longer dance.
  • No man is wise at all times.
  • No man loves his fetters, be they made of gold.
  • No news (is) good news.
  • No pains, no gains.
  • No song, no supper.
  • No sweet without (some) sweat.
  • No wisdom like silence.
  • None but the brave deserve the fair.
  • None so blind as those who won't see..
  • None so deaf as those that won't hear
  • Nothing comes out of the sack but what was in it.
  • Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
  • Nothing must be done hastily but killing of fleas.
  • Nothing so bad, as not to be good for Nothing
  • Nothing succeeds like success
  • Nothing venture, nothing have
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O

  • Oaks may fall when reeds stand the storm.
  • Of two evils choose the least.
  • Old birds are not caught with chaff. 675. Old friends and old wine are best.
  • On Shank's mare.
  • nce bitten, twice shy. 678. Once is no rule (custom).
  • ne beats the bush, and another catches the bird.
  • One chick keeps a hen busy.
  • One drop of poison infects the whole tun of wine.
  • One fire drives out another.
  • One good turn deserves another.
  • One law for the rich, and another for the poor.
  • One lie makes many.
  • One link broken, the whole chain is broken.
  • One man, no man.
  • One man's meat is another man's poison.
  • One scabby sheep will mar a whole flock.
  • One
  • low does not make a summer.
  • One today is worth two tomorrow.
  • Open not your door when the devil knocks.
  • Opinions differ.
  • Opportunity makes the thief.
  • Out of sight, out of mind.
  • Out of the frying-pan into the fire.
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P

  • Packed like herrings.
  • Patience is a plaster for all sores.
  • Penny-wise and pound-foolish.
  • Pleasure has a sting in its tail.
  • Plenty is no plague.
  • Politeness costs little (nothing), but yields much.
  • Poverty is no sin.
  • Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it is.
  • Practice what you preach.
  • Praise is not pudding.
  • Pride goes before a fall.
  • Procrastination is the thief of time.
  • Promise is debt.
  • Promise little, but do much.
  • Prosperity makes friends, and adversity tries them.
  • Put not your hand between the bark and the tree.
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R

  • Rain at seven, fine at eleven.
  • Rats desert a sinking ship.
  • Repentance is good, but innocence is better.
  • Respect yourself, or no one else will
  • Rect you
  • Roll my log and I will roll yours.
  • Rome was not built in a day.
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S

  • Salt water and absence wash away love.
  • Saying and doing are two things.
  • Score twice before you cut once.
  • Scornful dogs will eat dirty puddings.
  • Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
  • Self done is soon done.
  • Self done is well done.
  • Self is a bad counselor.
  • Self-praise is no recommendation.
  • Set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil.
  • Set a thief to catch a thief.
  • Shallow streams make most din.
  • Short debts (accounts) make long friends.
  • Silence gives consent.
  • Since Adam was a boy.
  • Sink or swim!
  • Six of one and half a dozen of the other.
  • Slow and steady wins the race.
  • Slow but sure.
  • Small rain lays great dust.
  • So many countries, so many customs.
  • So many men, so many minds.
  • Soft fire makes sweet malt.
  • Something is rotten in the state of Denmark
  • Soon learnt, soon forgotten.
  • Soon ripe, soon rotten.
  • Speak (talk) of the devil and he will appear (is sure to appear).
  • Speech is silver but
  • nce is gold.
  • Standers-by see more than gamesters.
  • Still waters run deep.
  • Stolen pleasures are sweetest.
  • Stretch your arm no further than your sleeve will reach.
  • Stretch your legs according to the coverlet.
  • Strike while the iron is hot.
  • Stuff today and starve tomorrow.
  • Success is never blamed.
  • Such carpenters, such chips.
  • Sweep before your own door.


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T

  • Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves.
  • Take us as you find
  • Tarred with the same brush.
  • Tastes differ.
  • Tell that to the marines.
  • That cock won't fight.
  • That which one least anticipates soonest comes to pass.
  • That's a horse of another colour.
  • That's where the shoe pinches!
  • The beggar may sing before the thief (before a footpad).
  • The best fish smell when they
  • three days old.
  • The best fish swim near the bottom.
  • The best is oftentimes the enemy of the good.
  • The busiest man finds the most leisure.
  • The camel going to seek horns lost his ears.
  • The cap fits.
  • The cask savours of the first fill.
  • The cat shuts its eyes when stealing cream.
  • The cat would eat fish and would not wet her paws.
  • The chain is no stronger than its
  • est link.
  • The cobbler should stick to his last.
  • The cobbler's wife is the worst shod.
  • The darkest hour is that before the dawn.
  • The darkest place is under the candlestick.
  • The devil is not so black as he is painted.
  • The devil knows many things because he is old.
  • The devil lurks behind the cross.
  • The devil rebuking sin.
  • The dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.
  • The Dutch have taken Holland !
  • The early bird catches the worm.
  • The end crowns the work.
  • The end justifies the means.
  • The evils we bring on ourselves are hardest to bear.
  • The exception proves the rule.
  • The face is the index of the mind.
  • The falling out of lovers is the renewing of love.
  • The fat is in the fire.
  • The first blow is half the battle.
  • The furthest way about is the nearest way home.
  • The game is not worth the candle..
  • The heart that once truly loves never forgets.
  • The higher the ape goes, the more he shows his tail.
  • The last drop makes the cup run
  • he last straw breaks the camel's back.
  • he leopard cannot change its spots.
  • The longest day has an end.
  • The mill cannot grind with the water that is past.
  • The moon does not heed the barking of dogs.
  • The more haste, the less speed.
  • The more the merrier.
  • The morning sun never lasts a day.
  • The mountain has brought forth a mouse.
  • The nearer the bone, the sweeter the flesh.
  • The pitcher goes often to the well but is broken at last.
  • The pot calls the kettle black.
  • The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
  • The receiver is as bad as the thief.
  • The remedy is worse than the disease.
  • The rotten apple injures its neighbours.
  • The scalded dog fears cold water.
  • ù
  • The tailor makes the man.
  • The tongue of idle persons is never idle.
  • The voice of one man is the voice of no one.
  • The way (the road) to hell is paved with good intentions.
  • The wind cannot be caught in a
  • The work shows the workman.
  • There are lees to every wine.
  • There are more ways to the wood than one.
  • Teere is a place for everything, and everything in its place.
  • There is more than one way
  • Thill a cat.
  • There is no fire without smoke.
  • There is no place like home.
  • Tere is no rose without a thorn.
  • There is no rule without an exception.
  • There is no smoke without fire.
  • There's many a slip 'tween (== between) the cup and the lip.
  • There's no use crying over
  • They are hand and glove.
  • They must hunger in winter that will not work in summer.
  • Things past cannot be recalled.
  • Think today and speak tomorrow.
  • Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
  • Time and tide wait for no man.
  • Time cures all things.
  • Time is money.
  • Time is the great healer.
  • Time works wonders.
  • Tadd fuel (oil) to the fire (flames).
  • Tangle with a silver hook.
  • To be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth.
  • To be head over ears in debt.
  • To be in one's birthday suit.
  • To be up to the ears in love.
  • o be wise behind the hand.
  • To beat about the bush.
  • To beat the air.
  • o bring grist to somebody's mill.
  • o build a fire under oneself.
  • buy a pig in a poke.
  • To call a spade a spade.
  • To call off the dogs.
  • To carry coals to Newcastle.
  • To cast pearls before swine.
  • To cast prudence to the
  • To come away none the wiser.
  • To come off cheap.
  • To come off with a whole skin.
  • To come off with flying colours
  • To come out dry.
  • To come out with clean hands.
  • To cook a hare before catching him.
  • To cry with one eye and laugh with the other.
  • To cut one's throat with a feather.
  • To draw (pull) in one's horns.
  • To drop a bucket into an empty well.
  • To draw water in a sieve.
  • To eat the calf in the cow's belly.
  • To err is human.
  • To fiddle while Rome is burning.
  • To fight with one's own shadow.
  • To find a mare's nest.
  • To fish in troubled waters.
  • To fit like a glove.
  • To flog a dead horse.
  • To get out of bed on the wrong side.
  • To give a lark to catch a kite.
  • To go for wool and come home shorn.
  • To go through fire and water (through thick and thin).
  • To have a finger in the pie.
  • To have rats in the attic.
  • To hit the nail on the head.
  • To kick against the pricks.
  • To kill two birds with one stone.
  • To know everything is to know nothing.
  • To know on which side one's bread is buttered.
  • To know what's what.
  • To lay by for a rainy day.
  • To live from hand to mouth.
  • To lock the stable-door after the horse is stolen.
  • To look for a needle in a haystack.
  • To love somebody (something) as the devil loves holy water.
  • To make a mountain out of a
  • Thill.
  • To make both ends meet.
  • To make the cup run over. 902. To make (to turn) the air blue.
  • To measure another man's foot by one's own last.
  • To measure other people's corn by one's own bushel. 905. To pay one back in one's own coin.
  • To plough the sand.
  • To pour water into a sieve.
  • To pull the chestnuts out of the fire for somebody. 909. To pull the devil by the tail.
  • To put a spoke in somebody's wheel. 911. To put off till Doomsday.
  • To put (set) the cart before the horse.
  • To rob one's belly to cover one's back. 914. To roll in money.
  • To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
  • To save one's bacon.
  • To send (carry) owls to Athens . 918. To set the wolf to keep the sheep.
  • To stick to somebody like a leech.
  • To strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. 921. To take counsel of one's pillow.
  • To take the bull by the horns. 923. To teach the dog to bark. 924. To tell tales out of chool.
  • Throw a stone in one's own garden. 926. To throw dust in somebody's eyes.
  • To throw ws against the wind.
  • To treat somebody with a dose of his own medicine.
  • To use a steam-hammer to crack nuts. 930. To wash one's dirty linen in public. 931. To wear
  • This heart upon one's sleeve. 932. To weep over an onion.
  • To work with the left hand.
  • Tomorrow come never.
  • To many cooks spoil the broth.
  • To much knowledge makes the head bald.
  • To much of a good thing is good for nothing. 938. Too much water drowned the miller .
  • Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
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V

  • Velvet paws hide sharp claws.
  • Virtue is its own reward.
  • Wait for the cat to jump.
  • Walls have ears.


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W

  • Wash your dirty linen at home.
  • Waste not, want not.
  • We know not what is good until we have lost it.
  • We never know the value of water till the well is dry.
  • We shall see what we shall see.
  • We soon believe what we desire.
  • Wealth is nothing without health. 959. Well begun is half done.
  • What can't be cured, must be endured.
  • What is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh. 962. What is done by night appears by
  • What is done cannot be undone.
  • What is got over the devil's back is spent under his belly. 965. What is lost is lost.
  • What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
  • worth doing at alt is worth doing well.
  • What must be, must be.
  • What the heart thinks the tongue speaks.
  • What we do willingly is easy. 971. When angry, count a hundred.
  • When at Rome, do as the Romans do.
  • When children stand quiet, they have done some harm.
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