English Proverbs & Sayings

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.
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.
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.

English Proverbs & Sayings - Part 3