Proverbi inglesi

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

V

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

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.