1000 Proverbs In English With Meaning

November 13, 2023

1000 proverbs in English with meaning

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 curst 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 lustre 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 harbours 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
A 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
Agues 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 ass in a lion’s skin
An ass is but an ass, though laden with gold
An ass 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
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 defence is offence
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
Brevity is the soul of wit
Burn not your house to rid it of the mouse
Business before pleasure
By doing nothing we learn to do ill
By hook or by crook
By the street of ‘by-and-bye’ one arrives at the house of ‘Never’
Calamity 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
Cheapest is the dearest
Cheek brings success
Children and fools must not play with edged tools
Children are poor men’s riches
Choose an author as you choose a friend
Christmas 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
Counsel is no command
Creditors have better memories than debtors
Cross the stream where it is shallowest
Crows do not pick crow’s eyes
Curiosity 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
Death is the grand leveller
Death pays all debts
Death when it comes will have no denial
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
Each bird loves to hear himself sing
Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise
Easier said than done
East or West ï¿½ 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 ass 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
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
Feast today and fast tomorrow
Fine feathers make fine birds
Fine words butter no parsnips
First 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
Fools and madmen speak the truth
Fools grow without watering
Fools may sometimes speak to the purpose
Fools never know when they are well
Fools 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 favours the brave (the bold)
Fortune is easily found, but hard to be kept
Four eyes see more (better) than two
Friends are thieves of time
From bad to worse
From pillar to post
Gentility 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 wether 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
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 ass’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
Idle folks lack no excuses
Idleness is the mother of all evil
Idleness rusts the mind
If an ass (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 hoids 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
It takes all sorts to make a world
Jackdaw in peacock’s feathers
Jest with an ass and he will flap you in the face with his tail
Judge not of men and things at first sight
Just as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined
Keep a thing seven years and you will find a use for it
Keep your mouth shut and your ears open
Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open
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
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
Like 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
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 begets money
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
Name not a rope in his house that was hanged
Necessity is the mother of invention
Necessity knows no law
Neck or nothing
Need makes the old wife trot
Needs must when the devil drives
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 drunk
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 hope
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 something
Nothing succeeds like success
Nothing venture, nothing have
Oaks may fall when reeds stand the storm
Of two evils choose the least
Old birds are not caught with chaff
Old friends and old wine are best
On Shank’s mare
Once bitten, twice shy
Once is no rule (custom)
One 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 swallow 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
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
Practise 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
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 respect you
Roll my log and I will roll yours
Rome was not built in a day
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 counsellor
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 silence 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
Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves
Take us as you find us
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 are 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 weakest 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 over
The last straw breaks the camel’s back
The 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
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 net
The work shows the workman
There are lees to every wine
There are more ways to the wood than one
There is a place for everything, and everything in its place
There is more than one way to kill a cat
There is no fire without smoke
There is no place like home
There 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 spilt milk
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
To add fuel (oil) to the fire (flames)
To angle 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
To be wise behind the hand
To beat about the bush
To beat the air
To bring grist to somebody’s mill
To build a fire under oneself
To 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 winds
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 molehill
To make both ends meet
To make the cup run over
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
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
To pull the devil by the tail
To put a spoke in somebody’s wheel
To put off till Doomsday
To put (set) the cart before the horse
To rob one’s belly to cover one’s back
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
To set the wolf to keep the sheep
To stick to somebody like a leech
To strain at a gnat and swallow a camel
To take counsel of one’s pillow
To take the bull by the horns
To teach the dog to bark
To tell tales out of school
To throw a stone in one’s own garden
To throw dust in somebody’s eyes
To throw straws against the wind
To treat somebody with a dose of his own medicine
To use a steam-hammer to crack nuts
To wash one’s dirty linen in public
To wear one’s heart upon one’s sleeve
To weep over an onion
To work with the left hand
Tomorrow come never
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Too much knowledge makes the head bald
Too much of a good thing is good for nothing
Too much water drowned the miller
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow
True blue will never stain
True coral needs no painter’s brush
Truth comes out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
Truth is stranger than fiction
Truth lies at the bottom of a well
Two blacks do not make a white
Two heads are better than one
Two is company, but three is none
Velvet paws hide sharp claws
Virtue is its own reward
Wait for the cat to jump
Walls have ears
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
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
What is done by night appears by day
What is done cannot be undone
What is got over the devil’s back is spent under his belly
What is lost is lost
What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
What is 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
When angry, count a hundred
When at Rome, do as the Romans do
When children stand quiet, they have done some harm
When flatterers meet, the devil goes to dinner
When guns speak it is too late to argue
When pigs fly
When Queen Anne was alive
When the cat is away, the mice will play
When the devil is blind
When the fox preaches, take care of your geese
When the pinch comes, you remember the old shoe
When three know it, alt know it
When wine is in wit is out
Where there’s a will, there’s a way
While the grass grows the horse starves
While there is life there is hope
Who breaks, pays
Who has never tasted bitter, knows not what is sweet
Who keeps company with the wolf, will learn to howl
Wise after the event
With time and patience, the leaf of the mulberry becomes satin
Words pay no debts
You can take a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink
You cannot eat your cake and have it
You cannot flay the same ox twice
You cannot judge a tree by its bark
You cannot teach old dogs new tricks
You cannot wash charcoal white
You made your bed, now lie in it
Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse

November 13, 2023

1000 proverbs in English with meaning

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