English proverbs

See also English mnemonics.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y

A

B

  • "Barking dogs seldom bite."
  • "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
  • "Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes straight to the bone."
  • "Beauty may open doors but only virtue enters."
  • "Beer before liquor, you'll never be sicker, but liquor before beer and you're in the clear."
  • "Beggars can't be choosers."
  • "Better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
  • "Better late than never."
  • "Better safe than sorry."
  • "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't."
  • "Birds of a feather flock together."
  • "Bitter pills may have blessed effects."
  • "Blood is thicker than water."
  • "Blood will out."
    • This has a parallel in Chaucer, Murder will out.
  • "Boys will be boys."
    • Already a Latin proverb: Sunt pueri pueri, pueri puerilia tractant. "Boys will be boys and play boyish games."
  • "Brain is better than brawn."
  • "Bread is the staff of life."
  • "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper."
  • "Butter is gold in the morning, silver at noon, lead at night."

C

  • "Chance favors the prepared mind."
  • "Cider on beer, never fear; beer upon cider, makes a bad rider."
  • "Close but no cigar."
  • "Clothes don't make the man."
    • The affirmative form also exists, "Clothes make the man."
  • "Common sense ain't common."
  • "Cowards die many times, but a brave man only dies once."
  • "Cross the stream where it is the shallowest."
  • "Curiosity killed the cat."
  • "Cut your coat according to your cloth."

D

  • "Desperate diseases must have desperate cures."
    • Similar to "Desperate times call for desparate measures."
  • "Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies."
  • "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
  • "Different sores must have different salves."
  • "Different strokes for different folks."
  • "Diseases come on horseback, but steal away on foot."
    • Alternative: "Diseases come on horseback, but go away on foot."
  • "Do as you would be done by."
  • "Do unto others as you would have done to you."
    • The Golden Rule, from the Gospel of Matthew.
  • "Doctors make the worst patients."
  • "Don't burn your bridges before they're crossed."
  • "Don't burn your bridges behind you."
  • "Don't change horses in midstream."
  • "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched."
  • "Don't cross a bridge until you come to it."
    • Alternative: "Don't cross the bridge till you come to it."
  • "Don't cry over spilt milk."
  • "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face."
  • "Don't have too many irons in the fire."
  • "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill."
  • "Don't mend what ain't broken."
  • "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
  • "Don't put the cart before the horse."
  • "Don't shut the barn door after the horse is gone."
  • "Don't shut the gate after the horse has bolted."
  • "Don't spit into the wind."
  • "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater."
  • "Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom."

E

F

  • "Faith will move mountains."
  • "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady."
  • "Familiarity breeds contempt."
  • "Fine feathers make fine birds."
  • "Fine words butter no parsnips."
  • "First come, first served."
  • "First deserve than desire."
  • "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
  • "Fools rush in ."
  • "Forbidden fruit is the sweetest."
    • Possibly based on the biblical story of Adam and Eve
  • "Forewarned is forearmed."
  • "Fresh pork and new wine kill a man before his time."
  • "Fretting cares make grey hairs."
  • "Friend to all is a friend to none."
  • "Friend in need is a friend indeed

G

H

I

  • "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."
  • "If at first you don't succeed, redefine success"
  • "If at first you don't succeed, give up skydiving"
  • "If at first you don't succeed, well, you're about average"
  • "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing well."
  • "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."
  • "If the cap fits, wear it."
  • "If the shoe fits, wear it."
  • "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."
  • "If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly."
  • "If you can't beat them, join them."
  • "If you can't be good, be careful."
  • "If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen."
  • "If you keep your mouth shut, you won't put your foot in it."
  • "If you want a thing done well, do it yourself."
  • "If you're in a hole, stop digging."
  • "In for a penny, in for a pound."
    • Alternate version: "In for a dime, in for a dollar."
  • "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."
  • "In the end, a man's motives are second to his accomplishments."
  • "It's a good horse that never stumbles."
  • "It never rains, but it pours."
  • "It's a long lane that has no turning."
  • "It's an ill wind that blows no good."
  • "It's better to give than to receive."
  • "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
  • "It's easy to be wise after the event."
  • "It's never too late to mend."
  • "It's not over till it's over."
    • or, "It ain't over till it's over."
  • "It's no use crying over spilt milk."
  • "It's often a person's mouth broke their nose."
  • "It's the early bird that gets the worm."
  • "It's the empty can that makes the most noise."
  • "It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease."
  • "It pays to pay attention."
  • "It takes all sorts to make a world."
  • "It takes two to make a quarrel."
  • "It takes two to tango."
  • "It takes two to lie, one to lie and one to listen."

J

  • "Jack is as good as his master."
  • "Jack of all trades, master of none."
  • "Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today."
  • "Jove but laughs at lover's perjury."
  • "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

K

  • "Keep a thing seven years and you will always find a use for it."
  • "Keep no more cats that catch mice."
  • "Kill two birds with one stone."
    • Possible Interpretation: Refers to doing two things at once, or multi-tasking.
    • Possible Interpretation: Accomplishing two things with a single action.
  • "Knock and the door will be opened unto you."

L

M

  • "Make hay while the sun shines."
  • "Make love not war."
  • "Man with four balls can't walk."
    • Reference to baseball and its anatomical incorrectness.
  • "Many hands make light work."
  • "Misery loves company."
  • "Money for old rope."
    • In the days of wooden-hulled sailing ships, ropes that were worn could be sold for use as calking (pressed between the planks and often covered with tar to prevent seepage), or as filling for fenders, and so the ship's owner was paid even for old rope. These days, we also call this a freebie.
  • "Money makes the mare go."
  • "Money makes the world go around."
  • "Money talks."
    • Possible Interpretation: Here "talks" means "carries weight," in the sense that it is influential.
  • "Money talks, bullshit walks."
  • "More haste, less speed."

N

O

  • "Once bitten, twice shy."
  • "One doctor makes work for another."
  • "One good turn deserves another."
  • "Out of sight, out of mind."

P

  • "Paddle your own canoe."
  • "Pain is only weakness leaving the body."
  • "Patience is a virtue."
  • "Penny wise, pound foolish."
  • "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
  • "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."
  • "Practice makes perfect."
  • "Pray to God, but row towards the shore."
  • "Prevention is better than cure."
  • "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."
    • Proverbs 16:17-19
  • "Penny saved is a penny earned."
  • "Pudding before praise."
  • " is the thief of time."
  • "Put your faith in God, but keep your powder dry."
    • Refers to gunpowder; in the early days of firearms, powder was loaded into the gun before each shot. Wet powder won't fire.

R

  • "Rats desert a sinking ship."
  • "Red sky at night: shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning: shepherd's warning."
    • Alternative: "Red sky at night: sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning: sailor take warning."
  • "Rome wasn't built in a day."
  • "Rules are made to be broken."

S

  • "Seek and ye shall find."
  • "Sex is like war, both are exciting but neither informative."
  • "Smile, and the world smiles with you. Cry, and you cry alone."
  • "Starve a fever, feed a cold."
  • "Still waters are the deepest."
    • Possible Interpretation: Quiet people are often thoughtful.
  • "Still waters run deep."
  • "Strike while the iron is hot."
    • Seize the moment. Take the opportunity now; don't waste it.

T

U

  • "Up a creek without a paddle."
    • Alternative version: "Up shit creek without a paddle."

V

  • "Variety is the spice of life."

W

  • "Waste not, want not."
  • "We all make mistakes."
  • "We are all in this together."
  • "We must take the bad with the good."
  • "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."
  • "What goes around comes around."
    • You will eventually have to face the consequences of your actions towards others as people tend to behave toward you as you have behaved toward others.
  • "What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander."
    • Possible Interpretation: If something is good for one person, it is good for everyone;
    • Alternative: "What's good for the goose is good for the gander."
  • "When in Rome do as the Romans do."
  • "When the cat's away, the mice will play."
  • "When the going gets tough, the tough get going."
  • "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras."
  • "Where one door shuts, another opens."
  • "Where there's a will there's a way."
  • "While the cat is away, the mice will play."
  • "While there's life, there's hope."
  • "Who keeps company with the wolves, will learn to howl."
  • "Whom we love best, to them we can say the least."
  • "Why have a dog and bark yourself?"
    • Asked of a leader who performs the work himself instead of distributing equally amongst his workers or subordinates.
  • "Why pay for the cow when the milk is free?"
    • Why make a commitment when the benefits are available without the obligation? Commonly applied to sexual favors where "paying for the cow" refers to (a promise of) marriage.
  • "Wide ears and short tongue are the best."
  • "Winners never cheat and cheaters never win."
  • "Without sleep, no health."

X

  • "X marks the spot."

Y

  • "You are responsible for you."
  • "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."
  • "You can lead (take) a horse to water but you can't make it drink."
  • "You can't have it both ways."
  • "You can't have your cake and eat it too."
    • Possible Interpretation: You cannot enjoy two mutually-exclusive benefits of the same situation.
  • "You can't judge a book by its cover."
  • "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs."
  • "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."
  • "You can't run with the hare and hunt with the hounds."
  • "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."
  • "You can't teach grandma to suck eggs."
  • "You can't teach grandpa to suck eggs." What does it mean?
  • "You can't tell a book by its cover."
  • "You have to crawl before you can walk."
  • "You'll always miss 100% of the [basketball] shots you don't take."
  • "You need to bait the hook to catch the fish."
  • "You never know what you've got till it's gone."
  • "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours."
  • "You will not rise to the occasion, you will default to the level of your training"
  • "You lose some... and you win some... and some you don't even bother to play".
  • "You can't grease a "pig" so many times that he can't be greased one more time."

See also: List of proverbs.


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