English proverbs

God is on the side of the strongest batallions.

Every man thinks his own geese swans.

It is an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.

Fair play is a jewel.

Proverbs are popularly defined as "short expressions of popular wisdom". Efforts to improve on the popular definition have not led to a more precise definition. The wisdom is in the form of a general observation about the world or a bit of advice, sometimes more nearly an attitude toward a situation. See also English proverbs (alphabetically by proverb)

Absent

• Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Long absent, soon forgotten.
  • Belfour, John (1812). A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French,hiii Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. G. Cowie. p. 76. 
• The absent are always in the wrong. (1640)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Accident

• Accidents will happen in the best families. (19th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Action

• Actions speak louder than words.
  • "The World is full of fools and faint hearts; and yet every one has courage enough to bear the misfortunes, and wisdom enough to manage the Affairs of his neighbor."
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Rickards Almanack (1743)
  • Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. 1845. p. 10. 

Advance

• He who does not advance goes backwards.
  • "He will through life be master of himself and a happy man who from day to day can have said,
    'I have lived: tomorrow the Father may fill the sky with black clouds or with cloudless sunshine.'"
  • Horace, 'Odes Book III, ode xxix, line 41. (c. 23 BC and 13 BC).
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "495". Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. II. Routledge. p. 445. ISBN 978-1-136-78978-6. 

Advice

• Advice most needed is least heeded.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Advise none to marry or go to war. (1640)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Advisers run no risks.
  • "We must be very careful when we give advice to younger people: sometimes they follow it!"
  • Edsger W. Dijkstra, "The Humble Programmer", Communications of the ACM (1972)
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). Dictionary of European Proverbs. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

All

• All is fair in love and war. (17th century)
• All is well that ends well. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

America

• America is God's melting-pot. (Israel Zangwill)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 17. ISBN 9511109618

Anchor

• Good riding at two anchors, men have told, for if the one fails, the other may hold. (Strauss, 1994 p. 879)

Apple

• One rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel. or One scabbed sheep mars the whole flock.
  • "Evil spreads. One attractive bad example may be readily followed by others, eventually ruining a whole community."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "X". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 292. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
  • Cf. Dan Michael of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340): "A rotten apple will spoil a great many sound ones." (Middle English: "A roted eppel amang þe holen: makeþ rotie þe yzounde.").
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
  • Cf. Notes and Queries magazine, Feb. 24, 1866, p. 153: "Eat an apple on going to bed, // And you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread." .
  • Adapted to its current form in the 1900s as a marketing slogan used by American growers concerned that the temperance movement would cut into sales of apple cider.
  • (Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire, Random House, 2001, ISBN 0375501290, p. 22, cf. p. 9 & 50)

• A rotten apple injures its companions.
  • "A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies."
  • Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)
  • Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away--if you have good aim.
  • A humorous version of the nutritional exortation to maintain good health by eating fruit. Original source unknown.

Art

• The best art conceals art.
  • "Artistic excellence lies in making something that is subtle or intricate appear simple and streamlined."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 20 June 2013. 

Ass

• When all men say you are an ass it is time to bray. (Strauss 1994, p. 1221)

Baby

• Don't make clothes for a not yet born baby. (Strauss 1994, p. 683)
  • "One never rises so high as when one does not know where one is going."
  • Oliver Cromwell to M. Bellièvre. Found in Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz
• Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
  • "Do not take the drastic step of abolishing or discarding something in its entirety when only part of it is unacceptable."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 25 August 2013. 
  • Primo dede mulieris consilio, secundo noli.
  • "Take the first advice of a woman and not the second."
  • Gilbertus Cognatus Noxeranus, Sylloge. See J. J. Grynæus, Adagio, p. 130. Langius, Polyanthea Col (1900) same sentiment. (Prends le premier conseil d'une femme et non le second. French for same). Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 10-11.
  • Brown, James Kyle (2001). I Give God a Chance: Christian Spirituality from the Edgar Cayce Readings. Jim Brown. p. 8. ISBN 0759621705. 

Bad

• Bad is the best choice.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 17. 
• A bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit.
  • Filipp, M. R. (2005). Covenants Not to Compete, Aspen.
• A bad workman quarrels with his tools. (1640)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Good laws have sprung from bad customs.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "1072". Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. II. Routledge. p. 879. ISBN 978-1-136-78978-6. 

Bark

• Barking dogs seldom bite. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• His bark is worse than his bite. (17th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Beauty

• A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 122. ISBN 9511109618
• Beauty is truth, truth beauty (John Keats)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 123. ISBN 9511109618

Bed

• As you make your bed, so you will sleep on it.
  • "One has to accept the consequences of one's actions, as any result is the logical consequence of preceding actions."
  • Source for proverb and meaning: (Paczolay, 1997 p. 401)

Bear

• Some days you get the bear, other days the bear gets you.
  • Kavari, Jekura Uaurika (25 October 2013). Omiano vya Tjipangandjara: Otjiherero Proverbs and Idioms. University of Namibia Press. pp. 75–. ISBN 978-99916-42-07-9. 

Beat

• If you can't beat them, join them.
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). "beat". A Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 

Best

• The best is cheapest.
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 116. 
• The good is the enemy of the best.
  • "What are books but folly, and what is an education but an arrant hypocrisy, and what is art but a curse when they touch not the heart and impel it not to action?"
  • Louise Sullivan, Kindergarten Chats (1918)
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Beggar

• A beggar can never be bankrupt. (1639)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Beggars can't be choosers.
  • "We must accept with gratitude and without complaint what we are given when we do not have the means or opportunity to provide ourselves with something better."
  • Source for meaning:Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. 
• Put a beggar on horseback and he'll ride it to death.
  • "It shows a weak mind not to bear prosperity as well as adversity with moderation."
  • Cicero, De Officiis (44 B.C.), I. 26.
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 241. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Behavior

• Two wrongs don't make a right.
  • proverb
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "W". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Begin

• A good beginning makes a good ending. (14th century)
  • "Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "40". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 228. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
• Well begun is half done.
  • "Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "40". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 228. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
  • Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721

Bellyful

• A bellyful is one of meat, drink, or sorrow.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 45

Better

• Better a lean peace than a fat victory. (17th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Better is the enemy of good.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. xcv
• Better late than never.
  • John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress
  • "It is better that somebody arrives or something happens later than expected or desired, than not at all."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 30 June 2013. 
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. xcv
• Better safe than sorry.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1989). "S8". Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. p. 543. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 
• Better underdone than overdone.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "679". Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. p. 589. ISBN 978-1-136-78971-7. 

Beware

• Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, and inwardly are ravening wolves. (Matthew; bible quote). (Strauss, 1998 p. 170)
  • "An innocent demeanor may hide much guilt."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 127. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Bird

• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
  • John Bunyan cites this traditional proverb in The Pilgrim's Progress, (1678):
  • "So are the men of this world: They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good. That proverb, 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,' is of more authority with them than are all the divine testimonies of the good of the world to come."
• Birds of a feather flock together.
  • "It is a fact worthy of remark, that when a set of men agree in any particulars, though never so trivial, they flock together, and often establish themselves into a kind of fraternity for contriving and carrying into effect their plans. According to their distinct character they club together, factious with factious, wise with wise, indolent with indolent, active with active et cetera."
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 41. 
• Deal gently with the bird you mean to catch.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "801". Dictionary of European Proverbs. II. Taylor & Francis. p. 689. ISBN 978-0-415-10381-7. <
• Fine feathers make fine birds. (Simpson , 2009)
  • "Fairest and best adorned is she
    Whose clothing is humility."
  • James Montgomery, Humility. (1841)
• It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.
  • "Why wantonly proclaim one's own disgrace, or expose the faults or weaknesses of one's kindred or people?"
  • WALTER K. KELLY (1859). PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS, COMPARED, EXPLAINED, AND ILLUSTRATED. p. 109. Retrieved on 3 August 2019. .
• It is the early bird that gets the worm.
  • "Those who are late to act, arrive, or get up tend to miss opportunities already seized by those who came earlier."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 5 September 2013. 

Bite

• Don't bark if you can't bite.
  • "I made the statement years ago which is often quoted that 80 percent of life is showing up. People used to always say to me that they wanted to write a play, they wanted to write a movie, they wanted to write a novel, and the couple of people that did it were 80 percent of the way to having something happen."
  • Woody Allen, Interview for The Collider (2008)
  • V&S EDITORIAL BOARD (2015). "D". CONCISE DICTIONARY OF PROVERBS (POCKET SIZE). p. 34. ISBN 978-93-5215-057-1. 
• Don't bite off more than you can chew.
  • Heacock, Paul (2003). Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms (Illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 512. ISBN 052153271X. 
• Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
  • V&S EDITORIAL BOARD (2015). CONCISE DICTIONARY OF PROVERBS (POCKET SIZE). p. 33. ISBN 978-93-5215-057-1. 

Blood

• Blood is thicker than water.
  • "The bonds between solders of a battle is stronger than family ties"
    • "The blood of the covenant is thicker that the water of the womb"
  • "Family before Friendship"
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "X". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 233. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
• Good blood always shows itself.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 34. 

Book

• A book is a friend.
  • "There are two motives for reading a book: one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it."
  • Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness (1930), Ch. 3: Competition.
  • Bartlett Jere Whiting (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. Harvard University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. Retrieved on 17 July 2013. 
• A great book is a great evil.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "G". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?"
  • The Bible, the Gospel of Luke (~65)
• Books think for me. (Charles Lamb)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 13. ISBN 9511109618
• Don't judge a book by its cover.
  • "Do not form an opinion about something or somebody based solely on outward appearance."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 311
• Fear the man of one book. (Strauss 1994, p. 851)
• No book was so bad, but some good might be got out of it.
  • "From one learn all."
  • Virgil, Æneid (29-19 BC)
  • (Strauss 1994, p. 1104)

Boat

• A rising tide lifts all boats.
  • "The poverty pimps have to keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing."
  • Robert A. Hall, I'm Tired (February 19, 2009)
  • Reader's Digest Association (1 June 1996). Reader's Digest Oxford complete wordfinder. p. 1808. ISBN 978-0-89577-894-9. 
• To be all in the same boat. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Boot

• Don't judge a man until you have walked a mile in his boots.
  • "Do not pass judgment on somebody until you have been in the same situation, undergone the same experiences, or tried the same thing."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 16 August 2013. 

Bough

• The boughs that bear most hang lowest.
  • "Well, looks like you've got lots of stuff to do, before you do any stuff."
  • John Wren, Mac, Get a Mac Ad Campaign (2006).
  • J. Russell Smith (1869). English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases Collected from the Most Authentic Sources Alphabetically Arranged and Annotated by W. Carew Hazlitt. p. 360. 

Bow

• Better bow than break.
  • "It is better to make some confession, or pay a little deference to others, our neighbors, friends, acquaintances, and especially our superiors, rather than lose our credit or break friendship."
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 46. 
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 20. 

Bran

• Much bran and little meal.
  • "Much ado about nothing."
  • Keating, Walter (1859). Proverbs of All Nations. W. Kent & Company (late D. Bogue). p. 128. 
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "178". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. Routledge. p. 173. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

Brave

• None but the brave deserve the fair.
  • John Dryden, Alexander's Feast
• Fortune favors the brave.
  • "Those who act boldly or courageously are most likely to succeed."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Bread

• Half a loaf is better than no bread.
  • "'We must be grateful for what we get, even if it is less than we desire."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Bridge

• Don't cross a bridge before you come to it.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 60. 

Broke

• A broken watch is right two times a day.
  • "If you make a great number of predictions, the ones that were wrong will soon be forgotten, and the ones that turn out to be true will make you famous."
  • Malcolm Gladwell, Dangerous Minds: Criminal profiling made easy (2007)
  • Honthaner, Eve Light (2010). I Hollywood drive: what it takes to break in, hang in & make it in the entertainment industry. Elsevier. p. 341. ISBN 0240806689. 
• If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
  • "Do not try to improve on something that already is working well."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Broom

• A new broome sweepeth cleane.
  • "We should never use an old tool when the extra labor in consequence costs more than a new one. Thousands wear out their lives and waste their time merely by the use of dull and unsuitable instruments."
  • "We often apply it to exchanges among servants, clerks, or any persons employed, whose service, at first, in any new place, is very good, both efficient and faithful; but very soon, when all the new circumstances have lost their novelty, and all their curiosity has ceased, they naturally fall into their former and habitual slackness."
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 38. 
  • John Lyly, Euphues. Arber's Reprint, p. 89; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.

Brother

• The younger brother the better gentleman.
  • "The Elder Brother of a Houfe depending on his Efiate, is either indulged by Parents, or gives up himfelf to an indolent Humour, that his Soul in his Body, like a Sword in the Scabbard, rufis for want of life, thinking‘ his Efiate fuflicient to gentilize him, if he have but only the Accompliihment of a Fox-Hunter, or a Country Juftice; the Younger Brother being put to his fhifts, having no Inheritance to depend upon, by plying his Studies hard at Home, and accompliihing himfelf by Travels Abroad, oftentimes, either by Arts or Arms, raifes himfelf to a confpicuous pitch of Honour, and fo becomes much the better Gentleman."
  • Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721

Bull

• You can't milk a bull.
  • "You can pull and pull, but you can't milk a bull."
  • Thomas Froncek (1970). The Horizon book of the arts of Russia. American Heritage Pub. Co.. p. 144. 
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "1356". Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. II. p. 1040. ISBN 978-1-136-78971-7. 
• A bully is always a coward.
  • "We’re the only ones who matter, the only ones in this world. And everything they’ve taken from us, we’re going to take back and more."
  • Jaime "The Kingslayer" Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Game of Thrones (2016) directed by Jeremy Podeswa
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "coward". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Burn

• To burn the candle at both ends. (1678)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Business

• Business is business.
  • "Those that are above business."
  • Mathew Henry, Commentaries, Matthew XX. in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 85-87.
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Everyone's business is no one's business.
  • "Matters that are of general concern, but are the responsibility of nobody in particular, tend to get neglected because everybody thinks that somebody else should deal with them."
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 116. 
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 11 June 2013. 
• Mind your own business.
  • V. Cordry, Harold (2015). The Multicultural Dictionary of Proverbs: Over 20,000 Adages from More Than 120 Languages, Nationalities and Ethnic Groups. p. 171. ISBN 978-1-4766-0735-1. 

Buying

• Buy cheap, sell dearǃ (Thomas Lodge)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 124. ISBN 9511109618
• If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly.
  • Herrero Ruiz, Javier (2009). Understanding Tropes: At the Crossroads Between Pragmatics and Cognition. Peter Lang. p. 101. 3631592620. 
• If you buy quality, you only cry once.
  • Burch, Geoff (2010). Irresistible Persuasion: The Secret Way to Get to Yes Every Time. John Wiley and Sons. p. 138. 190731248X. 

Cake

• You can't have your cake and eat it too.
  • Cf. George Herbert The Sizz "Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 467

Candle

• A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
  • Groft, Jan (2010). As We Grieve: Discoveries of Grace in Sorrow. Greenleaf Book Group. p. 19. 0984230602. 
• Don't burn the candle at both ends.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 70

Canoe

• Paddle your own canoe.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 71

Cat

• A cat may look at a king.
  • Carew Hazlitt, William (1869). English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: Collected from the Most Authentic Sources. p. 5. 
  • "Christ saw much in this world to weep over, and much to pray over: but he saw nothing in it to look upon with contempt."
  • Edwin Hubbell Chapin, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)
• All cats love fish but hate to get their paws wet.
  • "One is often reluctant to take the risk, or to do the necessary worked involved in doing/getting something desirable.".
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "X". European Proverbs in 55 Languages with Equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. p. 346. ISBN 978-1-875943-44-9. 
  • Trapp, John (1650). Solomonis Panaretos: Commentarie Upon the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. p. 128. 
• Curiosity killed the cat.
  • "Inquisitiveness – or a desire to find about something – can lead you into trouble."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 9 August 2013. 
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 81
• There's more than one way to skin a cat.
  • Anand Prahlad, Sw.; Prahlad, S. W. (1996). African-American Proverbs in Context. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-87805-890-7. 
• The more you stroke the cat's tail, the more he raises his back. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1184)
• When the cat is away, the mice will play. (16th century) (Citatboken)
  • "In the absence of the person in authority those under his control will often neglect the duties/rules imposed on them." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 114)

Chain

• A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Or, a chain is no stronger than its weakest link
  • "A weak part or member will affect the success or effectiveness of the whole."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 31 July 2013. 
  • Cf. Thomas Reid Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, 1786, Vol. II, p.377, Essay VII, Of Reasoning, and of Demonstration, ch. 1: "In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of this chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest."

Charity

• Charity begins at home. (14th century)
• Cold as charity. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Cheating

• Cheaters never prosper.
  • Miserrima est fortuna quæ inimico caret.
  • "That is a very wretched fortune which has no enemy."
  • Syrus, Maxims
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Chicken

• Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 97

Child

• The child is father to the man.
  • "A child's character is an indication of the type of adult he or she will become – human nature does not change from youth to maturity."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 388. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 1 August 2013. 
  • The original version of this quote is "The child is father of the man" from William Wordsworth's poem "My Heart Leaps up When I Behold". See http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww194.html Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a poem in answer to Wordsworth's use of this phrase, and uses the quote as given here on wikiquote. See http://www.bartleby.com/122/68.html
• Children are uncertain comforts but certain cares.
  • "Children are bound to cause their parents anxiety, and may or may not also bring them joy."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 2 August 2013. 
  • Belfour, John (1812). "C". A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. G. Cowie. p. 4. 
• Spare the rod, spoil the child.
• "Never count your children twice." An old saying from the Anglo-Welsh border, where it was believed to be unlucky to do so. This saying arises from old superstition, which may have been contributed to in part by the terrain, which is rugged, hilly and sparsely populated; the region is also often subject to dense fog and disappearances under mysterious circumstance were not uncommon. Hence, the unlucky nature as on the second count, it was believed one child would most likely have disappeared; lost forever to the hills.
  • Ray, John (1742). A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish and Other Languages .̤. p. 152. 

Church

• Fear not the loss of the bell more than the loss of the steeple.
  • "Do not be risk averse. In some cases, charging the bunker without enough ammo is enough to prevent worse things from happening."
  • The United States Army, The Soldier's Blue Book (2010)
  • Henry George Bohn; John Ray (1855). A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages. And a Complete Alphabetical Index. 

Clothes

• Good clothes open all doors.
  • "Clothes not only enhance appearance but also aim to accredit you to some particular audience."
  • Philip L. Wagner (1 January 2010). "Show and Tell". Showing Off: The Geltung Hypothesis. University of Texas Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-292-77388-2. 
  • George Latimer Apperson (May 2006). Dictionary of Proverbs. Wordsworth Editions. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-84022-311-8. 

Coal

• Carrying coals to Newcastle.
  • A pointless exercise. An example would be customers already having enough of what you are selling at a market fair.
  • "Newcastle upon Tyne", Encyclopædia Britannica
  • Whiting, Bartlett Jere (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. Harvard University Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 

Coast

• The coast is clear. (17th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Cobbler/Shoemaker

• Cobblers children are worst shod.
  • "Working hard for others one may neglect one's own needs or the needs of those closest to him." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 65).
• Shoemaker, stick to your last.
  • "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live."
  • Henry David Thoreau Journals (1838-1859)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 723

Cock

• As the old cock crows, so crows the young.
  • "Children generally follow the example of their parents, but imitate their faults more surely than their virtues."
  • Proverbs of All Nations. W. Kent & Company (late D. Bogue). 1859. p. 27. 

Command

• Counsel is no command. (Strauss, 1994 p. 675)
• Who has not served cannot command. (Strauss, 1994 p. 758)

Common

• Common sense is not so common.
  • From Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1765)
  • Paraphrased by graphic designers as 'Comic Sans is not so comic'.
  • Res est ingeniosa dare.
  • "Giving requires good sense."
  • Ovid, Amorum (16 BC), I. 8. 62.

Company

• A man is known by the company he keeps.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 125
• Better to be alone than in bad company. (Strauss, 1998 p. 162)
• Misery loves company.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 125
• Two is a company; three is a crowd.
  • "A Platonic friendship is perhaps only possible when one or other of the Platonists is in love with a third person."
  • Evelyn Beatrice Hall, The Friends of Voltaire (1906)
  • William Ickes, P. D., & Ickes, W. K. (2004). Two's Company; Three's a Crowd: Booksurge Llc.
• Two is company, three is none. (19th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Comparison

• Comparisons are odious. (15th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Confidence

• Confidence begets confidence. (Strauss 1994, p. 187)
  • "As is our confidence, so is our capacity."
  • William Hazlitt, Characteristics (1823).

Conscience

• A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
  • "People who know they have done wrong reveal their guilt by the things they say or the way they interpret what other people say."
  • Source for meaning Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Cook

• He's an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.
  • "The only valid question is: Does it work?"
  • Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley Bank's CEO Summit (2011)
  • John Ray; John Belfour (1813). A complete collection of English proverbs: also, the most celebrated proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and other languages. 

Corn

• Plough deep while sluggards sleep, and you will have corn to sell and keep. (Strauss 1994, p. 1001)

Counsel

• Counsel is no command.
  • Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British. B. Barker ... and A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch. 1732. p. 44. 
• Give neither salt nor counsel till you are asked for it. (Strauss, 1994 p. 661)
• Keep your own counsel.
  • "If you’ve got an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.”
  • Stan Lee, UCLA Extension certificate graduation ceremony (2017)
  • Selden, John (1689). Table Talk: Being the Discourses. T. White. p. 175. 
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 74. 
• Though thou hast ever so many counsellors, yet do not forsake the counsel of thy own soul. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1044)
  • "It is so easy to be immature. If I have a book to serve as my understanding, a pastor to serve as my conscience, a physician to determine my diet for me, and so on, I need not exert myself at all. I need not think, if only I can pay: others will readily undertake the irksome work for me. The guardians who have so benevolently taken over the supervision of men have carefully seen to it that the far greatest part of them (including the entire fair sex) regard taking the step to maturity as very dangerous, not to mention difficult. Having first made their domestic livestock dumb, and having carefully made sure that these docile creatures will not take a single step without the go-cart to which they are harnessed, these guardians then show them the danger that threatens them, should they attempt to walk alone. Now this danger is not actually so great, for after falling a few times they would in the end certainly learn to walk; but an example of this kind makes men timid and usually frightens them out of all further attempts."
  • Immanuel Kant, "What is Enlightenment?" (1784)

Country

• Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. (John F. Kennedy)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 92. ISBN 9511109618
• I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country. (Nathan Hale)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 93. ISBN 9511109618
• Our country, right or wrongǃ (Stephen Decatur)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 91. ISBN 9511109618

Courage

• Courage lost, all lost. (Strauss 1994, p. 675)'

Credit

• Give credit where credit is due.
  • "Do not neglect to give people the praise they deserve, or to acknowledge the good things they do."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Crow

• Crows will not pick out crows eyes.
  • "One belonging to a group having common interests is not likely to act against or find fault with another member of the same group. Solidarity may prevail over law, justice or truth."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "13". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 96. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 

Cup

• There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip.

Cure

• What can't be cured must be endured. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Customers

• The customer is always right.
  • "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
  • Bill Gates, Business @ The Speed of Thought (1999)
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 50. 

Day

• Praise the day at sunset.
  • "Make sure a matter is really over before relaxing about it. Unforeseen unfavourable developments may intervene and change the expected final result."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "X". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 323. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
• Enjoy the present day, trusting little to what tomorrow may bring.
  • "Listen to the Exhortation of the Dawn!
    Look to this Day! For it is Life,
    The very Life of Life.
    In its brief course lie all the Varieties
    And Realities of your Existence;
    The Bliss of Growth,
    The Glory of Action,
    The Splendor of Beauty;
    For Yesterday is but a Dream,
    And Tomorrow is only a Vision;
    But Today well lived
    Makes every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness,
    And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope.
    Look well therefore to this Day!
    Such is the Salutation of the Dawn."
  • Salutation of the Dawn; from the Sanskrit.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "910". Dictionary of European proverbs. II. Routledge. p. 765. ISBN 978-0-415-10381-7. Retrieved on 28 December 2013. 
• The day is short and the work is long. (15th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
  • "If today was your last day. Could you say goodbye to yesterday?"
  • Chad Kroeger, the Nickelback song "If today was your last day" (2008)
  • Wolfgang Mieder (2008). "Proverbs Speak Louder Than Words": Folk Wisdom in Art, Culture, Folklore, History, Literature and Mass Media. Peter Lang. p. 266. ISBN 978-1-4331-0378-0. 

Death

• It's safer to commend the dead than the living.
  • "Not to know what happened before you were born is to be a child forever."
  • Cicero Orator Ad M. Brutum (46 BC)
  • Wolfgang Mieder; Stewart A. Kingsbury; Kelsie B. Harder (1992). A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Deep

• Deep calls to deep. (Strauss 1994, p. 695)
  • "The more of the context of a problem that a scientist can comprehend, the greater are his chances of finding a truly adequate solution."
  • Russell L. Ackoff, The development of operations research as a science (1956)
• In the deepest water is the best fishing. (1616)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Defence

• The best defence is a good offence. (Strauss, 1994 p. 518)
  • "You are more likely to win if you take the initiative and make an attack rather than preparing to defend yourself."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 30 June 2013. 

Delay

• Delays are dangerous. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• There is danger in delay. (Strauss, 1998 p. 695)
  • "Hesitation or procrastination may lead to trouble or disaster."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 10 August 2013. 

Demagogue

• A parish demagogue. (P. B. Shelley)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 102. ISBN 9511109618

Desire

• First deserve, then desire.
  • “If a man cannot find ease within himself, it is to little purpose to seek it anywhere else."
  • Maturin Murray Ballou, Ballou's Monthly Magazine (1855)
  • Henry George Bohn; John Ray (1855). A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages. And a Complete Alphabetical Index. G. Bell. p. 355. 

Devil

• Away goes the devil if he finds the door shut against him.
  • "Evil will never triumph if all temptations are rejected."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. pp. 493–. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Better the devil you know (than the one you don't).
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1989). "Devil". Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 
• Give the devil his due.
  • "A woman's advice is not worth much, but he who does not heed it is a fool."
  • Pedro Calderon, El Medico de su Honra. (1637)
  • Martin H. Manser (2009). The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions. Infobase Publishing. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-8160-7105-0. 
• Idle hands are the devil's playthings.
  • Lowry, Lois (1980). Autumn street. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 59. ISBN 0395278120. 
• If you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 138
• Talk of the devil and he's sure to appear.
• Where God has a church the devil will have his chapel.
  • "Very seldom does any good thing arise but there comes an ugly phantom of a caricature of it."
  • Proverbs of All Nations. W. Kent & Company (late D. Bogue). 1859. p. 130. 

Dig

• Who digs a trap for others ends up in it himself.
  • "He who intends to harm others will himself suffer from his action. - As anger is blind, some aspects of an action - harmful for the doer - may be overlooked in the process."(Paczolay, 1997 p. 77)

Discretion

• An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit. (Mieder 2006, p. 906)^{[specific citation needed]}
• Discretion is the better part of valor.
  • "He's a Fool that cannot conceal his Wisdom."
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Rickards Almanack (1745)
  • Derived from "The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life." Falstaff in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1.
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 11 August 2013. 

Disease

• Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.
  • "Drastic action is called for – and justified – when you find yourself in a particularly difficult situation."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 10 August 2013. 

Ditch

• Better go about than fall into the ditch. (Ward, 1842 p. 11)
  • "Better put an end to a troublesome business than to be always vex'd with it."
  • James Kelly (1818). A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs Explained and Made Intelligible to the English Reader. Rodwell and Martin. p. 35. 

Do

• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
  • "Judges ought to be more learned than witty, more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident. Above all things, integrity is their portion and proper virtue."
  • Francis Bacon, Essays (1825), Of Judicature.
  • Based on the Bible (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31). "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" in the King James version; "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." in the New International Version
• If you want a thing done right, do it yourself.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 139
• "Well done" is better than "well said".

Doctor

• God heals, and the doctor takes the fee. (1640)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Never lie to your doctor.
  • Huler, Scott (1999). From Worst to First: Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback. John Wiley & Sons. p. 200. 0471356522. 

Dog

• A dog will not howl if you beat him with a bone. (1659)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

• A staff is quickly found to beat a dog. (Strauss, 1998 p. 103)

• All are not thieves that dogs bark at.
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 6. 

• Barking dogs seldom bite.
  • "Threatening does not always lead to action: Harsh words may disguise a different feeling, intention or ability." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 44)

• Brag is a good dog, but holdfast is better.
  • A variation of "Talk is cheap"
  • "This Proverb is a Taunt upon Braggadoccio's, who talk big, boast, and rattle:
  • It is also a Memento for such who make plentiful promises to do well for the future but are suspected to want Constancy and Resolution to make them good." - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721. 4

• The dogs bark but the caravan passes on. (Strauss, 1998 p. 340)

• Dogs wags their tails, not as much to you as to your bread. (Strauss, 1994 p. 710)

• Every dog has his day. (1546)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

• Give a dog a bad name and hang him.
  • "Once somebody's reputation has been damaged – for example, by rumor or slander – it will never recover."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

• Give a dog a bad name and he'll live up to it.
  • Clarke, Nick (1865). Alistair Cooke: a biography. Routledge. p. 174. 1420931989. 

• He that would hang his dog gives out first that he is mad.
  • "One who intends some unjust action will try to justify it in advance."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

• If you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas.
  • "Wahrhaftig, der Umgang mit schlechten Büchern ist oft gefährlicher als mit schlechten Menschen."
  • "Truly, associating with bad books is often more dangerous than associating with bad people."
  • Wilhelm Hauff, Das Buch und die Leserwelt.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. p. 224. 

• It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog.
  • Anonymous American proverb; this has often been attributed to Mark Twain since at least 1998 on the internet, but no contemporary evidence of Twain ever using it has been located.
  • Variants:
  • It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that matters.
    • "Stub Ends of Thoughts" by Arthur G. Lewis, a collection of sayings, in Book of the Royal Blue Vol. 14, No. 7 (April 1911), as cited in The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs, edited by Charles Clay Doyle, Wolfgang Mieder, and Fred R. Shapiro, p. 232
  • It is not the size of the dog in the fight that counts, but the fight in the dog that wins.
    • Anonymous quote in the evening edition of the East Oregonian (20 April 1911)
  • What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight — it's the size of the fight in the dog.
    • Dwight D. Eisenhower, declaring his particular variant on the proverbial assertion in Remarks at Republican National Committee Breakfast (31 January 1958)

• Let sleeping dogs lie. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

• Love me, love my dog.
  • Bernard of Clairvaux attests in the 12th century this was a common proverb, In Festo Sancti Michaelis, Sermo 1, sect. 3; translation from Richard Chevenix Trench, Archbishop of Dublin, On the Lessons in Proverbs ([1853] 1856) p. 148
  • Also reported in English by John Heywood, Proverbs (1546), Part II, chapter 9; and by Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732), No. 3292

• The guilty dog barks the loudest.
  • [1]

Dog food

• Eat your own dog food.
  • Iles, Greg (2007). Third Degree. Simon and Schuster. p. 159. 0743292502. 

Door

• The door swings both ways.
  • Borcherdt, Bill (1996). Making families work and what to do when they don't: thirty guides for imperfect parents of imperfect children. Routledge. p. 65. 0789000733. 
• When one door closes, another door opens. or God never closes one door without opening another.
  • "When baffled in one direct a man of energy will not despair, but will find another way to his object."
  • Proverbs of All Nations. W. Kent & Company (late D. Bogue). 1859. p. 67. 

Doubt

• When in doubt, don't. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1223)
• When in doubt, do nothing.
  • "If you are unsure what to do, it is best to do nothing at all."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 296. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• When in doubt, leave it out.
  • "If you are unsure what to do, it is best to do nothing at all."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 296. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Dream

• We are such stuff / As dreams are made of.
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 83. ISBN 9511109618

Drinking

• What's drinking? / A mere pause from thinking. (Lord Byron)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 110. ISBN 9511109618

Dropping

• Constant dropping wears away the stone.
  • "A drop hollows out the stone by falling not twice, but many times; so too is a person made wise by reading not two, but many books."
  • (Giordano Bruno, Il Candelaio)
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "71". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 349. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 

Drunkard

• Once a drunkard always a drunkard. (Strauss, 1994 p. 771)

Duck

• If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
  • "It is usually safe to identify somebody as a particular type of person when his or her appearance, behavior, and words all point to the same conclusion."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Reportedly coined by James Whitcombe Riley, sometime before his demise 1916. He wrote: When I see a bird that walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.
  • Made famous by the then Governor Ronald Reagan's use of the expression 1967, in an interview with a journalist. (Cryer 2011, p. 163)

Dwarf

• Dwarf on a giant's shoulder sees farther of the two.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 163

Ear

• In at one ear and out at the other. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Early

• Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. (1639)
  • "A lifestyle that involves neither staying up late nor sleeping late is good for body and mind and leads to financial success."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 5 September 2013. 
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1735 edition), "October"

East

• Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet... (Rudyard Kipling)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 101. ISBN 9511109618

Easy

• Easier said than done. (15th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• It's easy to be wise after the event.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1989). Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 

Eat

• Good eating deserves good drinking.
  • R. Stone, Jon (27 September 2006). "Drink". The Routledge Book of World Proverbs. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-135-87054-6. 
• You don't shit where you eat.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (2014). Behold the Proverbs of a People: Proverbial Wisdom in Culture, Literature, and Politics. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-62674-303-8. 

Eavesdropper

• Eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves.
  • "People who eavesdrop on the conversations of others risk hearing unfavorable comments about themselves; used as a warning or reprimand."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "250". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. Routledge. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

Egg

• Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
  • "It is said, that the thing you possess is worth more than two you may have in the future. The one is sure and the other is not."
  • Jean de La Fontaine, Fables, V. 3.
  • (Strauss, 1998 p. 75)
• Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
  • "Spread your risks or investments so that if one enterprise fails you will not lose everything."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 18 August 2013. 
  • First recorded 1662, G. Toriano, Italian proverbial phrases ("To put all one's eggs in a paniard"); 1710, Samuel Palmer, Moral essays on proverbs ("Don't venture all your eggs in one basket").
  • Apperson, GL (2006). Dictionary of proverbs. Wordsworth. p. 170. ISBN 978-1840223118. 
• Eggs and oaths are soon broken. (Strauss, 1998 p. 765)
• He that steals an egg will steal an ox. (Strauss, 1994 p. 962)
• You can't have an omelette unless you break the egg.
  • "Sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve a goal; often used to justify an act that causes loss, harm, or distress to others."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 259

Empty

• Empty vessels make the greatest sound.
  • Belfour, John (1812). "E". A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. p. 104. 

End

• All's well that ends well.
  • Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
• Whatever you do, act wisely, and consider the end. (Strauss, 1994 p. 600)
  • "Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do, and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."
  • George S. Patton War As I Knew It (1947)

Enemy

• Do not think that one enemy is insignificant, or that a thousand friends are too many. (Strauss 1994, p. 71)

• The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
  • "Those who dislike or oppose the same person or thing are bound to be friends or allies."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 8 September 2013. 
• If you have no enemies it is a sign that fortune has forgotten you.
  • "Envy is a kind of praise."
  • John Gay, The Hound and the Huntsman
  • Emanuel Strauss (1994). "1292". Dictionary of European Proverbs. Taylor & Francis. p. 1008. ISBN 978-0-415-10381-7. 
  • Ambrose Bierce THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY (1991)
• There is no little enemy. (Strauss 1994, p. 718)
• We carry our greatest enemies within us.
  • "Today’s computers are not even close to a 4-year-old human in their ability to see, talk, move, or use common sense. One reason, of course, is sheer computing power. It has been estimated that the information processing capacity of even the most powerful supercomputer is equal to the nervous system of a snail—a tiny fraction of the power available to the supercomputer inside [our] skull."
  • Steven Pinker, How Unique You Are!; Is There a Creator Who Cares About You? (1998), published by Jehovah's Witnesses.
  • Specified as a proverb in "73". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 300. 

Englishman

• An Englishman's house (home) is his castle. (17th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Every

• Every cloud has a silver lining.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 115
• Every rose has its thorn.
  • Bradley, E. and H. Bradley, Every Rose Has Its Thorn: The Rock 'n' Roll Field Guide to Guys, Penguin Group USA.

Everyone/Everybody

• Everyone talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.
  • Die Philosophen haben die Welt nur verschieden interpretirt; es kommt aber darauf an, sie zu verändern.
  • "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it."
  • Karl Marx "Theses on Feuerbach" (1845), Thesis 11, Marx Engels Selected Works,(MESW), Volume I, p. 15; these words are also engraved upon his grave.
  • First published as an appendix to the pamphlet Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy by Friedrich Engels (1886)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. 
• What everybody says must be true. (Strauss 1994, p. 77)

Evil

• Avoid evil and it will avoid thee. (Strauss, 1994 p. 520)
  • "The love of justice is, in most men, nothing more than the fear of suffering injustice."
  • François de La Rochefoucauld, Maximes.
• Evil begets evil.
  • John Deane, John Deane (1891). Proverbs. p. 207. 
• Of two evils choose the least.
  • "If you are forced to choose between two options, both of which are undesirable, all you can do is choose the one that is less undesirable than the other."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 3 August 2013. 
• Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
  • Note: From Matthew 6:34
  • George Smith, William; Harvey, Paul (1960). The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs. p. 182. 

Example

• Example is better than correction.
  • (Ward, 1842 p. 31)

Exception

• The exception proves the rule.
  • George Smith, William; Harvey, Paul (1960). The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs. p. 182. 

Experience

• Experience is the best teacher.
  • "I've never set out to teach anyone anything. It's been more of an expression of my views and feelings than sitting down and deciding "What is today's message?" And I do think that, although I never, again, sat down consciously and thought about this, I do think judging, even for my own daughter, that children respond to that than to 'thought for the day'."
  • J.K Rowling, Interview by Lizo Mzimba (February 2003) ^{[specific citation needed]}
  • Speake, Jennifer (2015). Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-19-105959-9. 

Eye

• The eye looks but it is the mind that sees. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1175)

Face

• Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. (Strauss 1998, p. 713)

Fairness

• Fair play's a jewel.
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 25 September 2013. 

Fame

• Common fame is seldom to blame. (Strauss 1998, p. 662)
  • "Rumors are rarely without substance, and if unpleasant things are being said about somebody, then that person has propably done something to deserve them."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 4 August 2013. 

Fall

• Don't fall before you're pushed.
  • Don't give up in the face of adversity.
  • Mason, John (2000). Know Your Limits- Then Ignore Them. Insight International, Inc. pp. 206. ISBN 1890900125. 
• Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
  • Confucius
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 153

Family

• Accidents will happen in the best families. (19th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Far

• Far from eye, far from heart. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Fault

• Faults are thick where love is thin. (1659)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Fear

• We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
  • Originally Francis Bacon Nil terribile nisi ipse timor.
  • Nothing is terrible except fear itself.
  • De Augmentis Scientiarum, Book II, Fortitudo (1623)
  • Became famous with the words being uttered at Franklin D. Roosevelt's inauguration speech 1933.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "only". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 216. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Feet

• It is better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees.
  • "It is not death that a man should fear, but never beginning to live."
  • Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (150 BC)
  • Walter Keith (1980). The Fizz Inside: Critical Essays of a Lighter Kind. University of Waterloo Press. p. 23. 

Fence

• Good fences make good neighbors.
  • Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"

Flow

• Go with the flow.
  • "Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows. Let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances."
  • Tzu, Sun (̃¨ 400 B.C). "VI. Weak Points and Strong". The Art of War. 
  • John Ayto (8 July 2010). Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford University Press. p. 133. ISBN 0-19-954378-X. 

First

• First come, first served.
  • Ray, John (1670). A Collection of English Proverbs: Digested Into a Convenient Method for the Speedy Finding Anyone Upon Occasion; with Short Annotations. Whereunto are Added Local Proverbs with Their Explications, Old Proverbial Rhythmes, Less Known Or Exotic Proverbial Sentences, and Scottish Proverbs. p. 90. 
• The first step to health is to know that we are sick.
  • Stuckey Lean, Vincent (1969). "Health". Lean's Collectanea; Collections ... of Proverbs: (English & Foreign), Folk Lore, and Superstitions, Also Compilations Towards Dictionaries of Proverbial Phrases and Words, Old and Disused. p. 506. 
  • "Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either."
  • Golda Meir, in an interview with Oriana Fallaci published in Ms. magazine (April 1973)
• First things first.
  • "It is important to do things in the proper order, and not omit a basic first step."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
  • "Do not be discouraged by failure, and never give up – if you keep trying you will ultimately enjoy success."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Cf. William Edward Hickson's Try and Try again
    "Tis a lesson you should heed:
    Try, try, try again.
    If at first you don't succeed,
    Try, try, try again"
• The last will be first, and the first last. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1085)

Find

• Love is not finding someone to live with; it's finding someone whom you can't live without.
  • Lipper, D. and E. Sagehorn (2008). The Everything Wedding Vows Book: How to Personalize the Most Important Promise You'll Ever Make, Adams Media.
• Seek and ye shall find.
  • Christian New Testament
• You always find something in the last place you look.
  • Mass, W. (2008). Jeremy Fink and the meaning of life, Scholastic.

Fire

• A burnt child dreads the fire.
  • "Somebody who has had an unpleasant experience thereafter shrinks from the cause of that experience."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 30 July 2013. 
  • "This Proverb intimates, That it is natural for all living Creatures, whether rational or irrational,
    to consult their own Security, and Self-Preservation; and whether they act by Instinct or Reason, it still
    tends to some care of avoiding those things that have already done them an Injury." - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
• Do not add oil to the fire.
  • "One should not make a bad situation even worse by an improper remark." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 338)
• Fight fire with fire. (Strauss 1994, p. 688)
  • "The best way to deal with an opponent is to fight back with similar weapons or tactics."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• No fire without some smoke. (1546)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• There is no smoke without fire. (15th century, Citatboken)
  • "There is no effect without some cause. also It is supposed that if there is a rumour, there must be some truth behind it."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "1". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 33. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 

Fish

• All is fish that comes to the net.
  • "Look round the habitable world: how few Know their own good, or knowing it, pursue."
  • John Dryden, Juvenal, Satire X (1693).
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 4. 
• Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
  • The earliest known version is from Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, Mrs. Dymond (1885 novel): "I don't suppose even Caron could tell you the difference between material and spiritual,[...] but I suppose the Patron meant that if you give a man a fish he is hungry again in an hour. If you teach him to catch a fish you do him a good turn. But these very elementary principles are apt to clash with the leisure of the cultivated classes."
  • Gregory Graham (14 January 2016). A Conservative's Book of Proverbs, Parables, and Prophecies. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-68213-972-1. 
• There are as good fish in the sea as ever were caught.
  • "Many are accustomed to envy others for their rare acquisitions, while they themselves have equal opportunity of obtaining the same. They ought to be satisfied that as good advantages are equally accessible to them as others, and remember the significant saying, that 'Man is the architect of his own fortune.'"
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 192. 

Flaunt

• If you got it, flaunt it.
  • Jenkins-Sanders, Marsha (2007). The Other Side of Through. Simon and Schuster. p. 21. ISBN 159309115X. 

Fly

• You can catch more flies with a drop of honey than with a barrel of vinegar.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 100. 

Fools

• A fool is ever laughing.
  • Emanuel Strauss (1994). "137". Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. Routledge. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-136-78978-6. 
• Better foolish by all than wise by yourself.
  • Emanuel Strauss. Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. 
• Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "fool, 120". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 349. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Fools live poor to die rich.
  • "I have to live for others and not for myself; that's middle-class morality."
  • George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion (1912)
  • Whiting, Bartlett Jere (1977). "F231". Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. Harvard University Press. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 
• The first chapter of fools is to think themselves wise. (Strauss, 1994 p. 879)
• Every fool is pleased with his own folly.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "147". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 
• Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "fool". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 353–. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
  • "Wisdom precludes boldness."
  • Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind (2007),
  • Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Criticism"
• He is a fool that forgets himself. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• He that leaves certainty and sticks to chance,
  When fools pipe, he may dance.
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 50. 
• Knaves and fools divide the world.
  • "The world is made up, for the most part, of fools and knaves, both irreconcilable foes to truth."
  • George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, "Letter to Mr. Clifford, on his Human Reason"; also in The Works of His Grace, George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham (London: T. Evans, 1770) vol. 2, p. 105.
• Natural folly is bad enough, but learned folly is intolerable. (1732)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• A tongue of a fool carves a piece of his heart to all sit near him. (Strauss, 1994 p. 136)
• The last fool never dies. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• There's no fool like an old fool. (1546)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "163". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 351. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• A wise man changes his mind, but a fool never does.
  • "It is foolish to persist in the same opinion or course of action regardless of new information or different circumstances."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Forewarned

• Forewarned, forearmed.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "401". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. Routledge. p. 364. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

Forgiveness

• Forgive and forget.
  • Meaning: "Do not bear grudges—forgive those who have wronged you and forget the wrong."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 357
• To err is human, to forgive divine. (Alexander Pope)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 20. ISBN 9511109618

Fortune

• If fortune favours, beware of being exalted; if fortune thunders, beware of being overwhelmed. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1001)

Fox

• Fire, quoth the fox, when he pissed on the ice.
  • "This is spoken in derision to those which have great expectation from some fond design or undertaking which is not likely to succeed."
  • John Ray (1737). A compleat Collection of English Proverbs, also the most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish and other Languages. Hughs. p. 110. 

Friend

• A friend cannot be known in prosperity nor an enemy be hidden in adversity.
  • Specified as a proverb in "13". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 402. 
• A friend is best found in adversity.
  • "I never knew any man in my life, who could not bear another's misfortunes perfectly like a Christian."
  • Alexander Pope. See Jonathan Swift's Thoughts on Various Subjects.
  • Specified as a proverb in "16". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 402. 
• A friend in need is a friend indeed.
  • A Dialogue Conteynyng Prouerbes and Epigrammes (1562) has Prove thy friend ere thou have need; but, in-deed. A friend is never known till a man have need.
• A good friend never offends.
  • "You can always tell a real friend: when you've made a fool of yourself, he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job."
  • Esar, Evan (1995). "Friend". 20,000 Quips & Quotes. p. 330. ISBN 978-1-56619-529-4. 
  • Specified as a proverb in "36". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 403. 
• A true friend does sometime venture to be offensive.
  • "I speak the truth, not my fill of it, but as much as I dare speak; and I dare to do so a little more as I grow old."
  • Michel de Montaigne, Essais (1595)
  • "48". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 404. 
• A reconciled friend is a double enemy.
  • "42". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 403. 
• All are not friends who speak one fair.
  • "In one hand he is carrying a stone, while he shows the bread with the other."
  • Plautus, Aulularia (c. 2nd-3rd century BC), Act II, sc. 2, l. 18
  • "57". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 404. 
• Be a friend to thyself, and others will befriend thee.
  • "Mens friends commonly bear a proportion to their circumstances iu the world. And therefore if we be such friends to as to make our circumstances easy and plentiful we will not want friends."
  • James Kelly (1818). "B". A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs Explained and Made Intelligible to the English Reader.  and quotes (1995)
• Bought friends are not friends indeed.
  • "When you lose a friend by lending him some money, you get the best of the bargain."
  • Evan Essar, 20. 000 Quips and Quotes (1995)
  • Specified as a proverb in "73". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 402. 
• Do not think that one enemy is insignificant, or that a thousand friends are too many. (Strauss 1994, p. 718)
• False friends are worse than open enemies.
  • Specified as a proverb in "87". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 406. 
• Friends are thieves of time. (17th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• He is my friend who grinds at my mill.
  • "Those who love their neighbor as themselves possess nothing more than their neighbor."
  • Basil of Caesarea, Homily to the Rich (c. 368), in Saint Basil on Social Justice, edited and translated by C. P. Schroeder (2009), p. 43
  • Kelly, Walter Keating (1859). Proverbs of all nations. W. Kent & co. (late D. Bogue). pp. 238. , p. 42
• He is my friend that succoreth me, not he that pitieth me.
  • Specified as a proverb in "112". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 407. 
• If you want enemies excel others, if you want friends let others excel you.
  • Specified as a proverb in "140". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 409. 
• It is good to have some friends both in heaven and hell. (1640)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• No longer foster, no longer friend.
  • "God does not love that which is already in itself worthy of love, but on the contrary, that which in itself has no worth acquires worth just by becoming the object of God's love. Agape has nothing to do with the kind of love that depends on the recognition of a valuable quality in its object. Agape does not recognize value, but creates it. Agape loves, and imparts value by loving. The man who is loved by God has no value in himself; what gives him value is precisely the fact that God loves him. Agape is a value-creating principle."
  • Anders Nygren, Agape and Eros (1930), as translated from the Swedish by P. S. Watson (1932), p. 78
  • Specified as a proverb in "169". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 411. 
• Our friends are our mirrors and show us ourselves.
  • James Kelly (1818). "B". A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs Explained and Made Intelligible to the English Reader. 
• When thy friend asks, let there be no to-morrow. (Ward, 1842 p. 51)
• With friends like that, who needs enemies?
  • "A man is morally free when... he judges the world, and judges other men, with uncompromising sincerity. This is not just an aim but an obligation."
  • Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012)
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Fruit

• Stolen fruit is the sweetest. (Strauss, 1994 p. 835)
  • "Things that you must not have or do are always the most desirable."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• You know the tree by its fruit.
  • Note: A reversal of the proverb "The apple does not fall far from the tree." The meaning is that you can estimate how children's parents are based on children's behavior, because children takes after their parents and are of the same nature as them. (Paczolay, 1997 p. X)
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 590)

Garbage

• Garbage in, garbage out.
  • "'A person or machine provided with inferior source material, faulty instructions, or erroneous information can provide only poor quality-work or rubbish."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Garden

• A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds.
  • "That is, both at a distance seem something, but, when narrowly inspected, are nothing."
  • James Kelly (1818). A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs Explained and Made Intelligible to the English Reader. Rodwell and Martin. p. 12. 
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 365

Genius

• Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety nine percent perspiration.
  • Said byThomas Edison,
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5.  lists the adage as a proverb.

Gentleman

• It takes three generations to make a gentleman. (Robert Peel)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 61. ISBN 9511109618
• Once a gentleman, always a gentleman. (Charles Dickens)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 60. ISBN 9511109618

Give

• From those to whom much is given, much is expected. (Luke 12:48
• Give and take is fair play.
  • "Exchanging like for like – wether it be a blow, an insult, a favor, or a pardon is a fair and legitimate way to proceed".
  • Manser, Martin H (2007). The Facts on File dictionary of proverbs. Infobase Publishing. 0816066736. , p. 133
• Give, and ye shall receive.
  • From Luke 6:38
• Give credit where credit is due.
  • Derived from Romans 13:7
• Give him an inch and he'll take a yard.
  • "Give way slightly and he'll press home his advantage. Yielding a little to bad influence (or to a greedy perrson/group), one will be taken entirely or he/it will be encouraged to take much more." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 208)
  • Derived from Romans 13:7
    • Variant: Give a nigger an inch and he'll take an ell.
      • Twain, Mark (1885). Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Charles L. Webster and Company. p. 222 (EBook). 
    • Variant: Give him an inch and he'll take a mile.
      • (Strauss 1998, p. 240)
• He gives twice who gives in a trice.
  • "Immediate aid is of more value. - A process of derogation can best be stopped in its initial stages, or a process of development can best be helped in the beginning." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 452)

Glory

• Follow glory and it will flee, flee glory and it will follow thee. (Strauss 1994, p. 832)
  • "It was queer. All over England young men were eating their hearts out for lack of jobs, and here was he, Gordon, to whom the very word 'job' was faintly nauseous, having jobs thrust unwanted upon him. It was an example of the fact that you can get anything in this world if you genuinely don't want it."
  • George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)

Going

• Don't go between the tree and the bark. (Strauss, 1998 p. 204)
  • "When Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House, he confessed that if he could be right 75 percent of the time, he would reach the highest measure of his expectation. If that was the highest rating that one of the most distinguished men of the twentieth century could hope to obtain, what about you and me? If you can be sure of being right only 55 percent of the time, you can go down to Wall Street and make a million dollars a day. If you can't be sure of being right even 55 percent of the time, why should you tell other people they are wrong?"
  • Dale Carnegie, How to make friends and influence people (1936)
  • "It is better to decide a difference between enemies than friends, for one of our friends will certainly become an enemy and one of our enemies a friend."
  • Bias
• What goes around comes around.
  • Anand Prahlad, Sw; Prahlad, S. W. (1996). African-American Proverbs in Context. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-87805-890-7. 
• What goes up must come down.
  • "All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies."
  • Dr. John Arbuthnot as quoted in Hoyts New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations (1922).
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. X. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
  • George Latimer Apperson (2006). "Going". Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 237. ISBN 978-1-84022-311-8. 

God

• God heals, and the doctor takes the fee. (1640)
• God helps the rich, the poor can beg. (1659)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• God is, and all is well.
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 106. ISBN 9511109618
• God is on the side of the strongest battalions. (Kin 1955, p. 255)
  • "You can have the other words— chance, luck, coincidence,serendipity. I'll take grace."
• God sends fortune to fools. (1546)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• God works in mysterious ways.
  • "Sometimes, you need a door slammed in your face before you can hear opportunity knock."
  • James Geary, My Aphorisms, (2009)
  • Select Proverbs. Mustafa Akkus. 23 December 2013. pp. 15–. GGKEY:UBW9H94680W. 
  • Mary Oliver, Winter Hours (1999)
• God's a good man. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 108. ISBN 9511109618
• Whom God will destroy, he first make mad. (Strauss 1994, p. 841)
  • "Someone can conquer kingdoms and countries without being a hero; someone else can prove himself a hero by controlling his temper. Someone can display courage by doing the out-of-the-ordinary, another by doing the ordinary. The question is always-how does he do it?"
  • Soren Kierkegaard Either/Or Part II, (1843)

Gold

• All that glisters is not gold. or All that glitters is not gold.
  • "An attractive appearance may be deceptive. It may cover or hide a much less favourable content."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "19". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 125. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). National proverbs in the principal languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 114. 
  • William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act II, scene 7.

Good

• All good things must come to an end.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "good". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 415. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). "sound". A Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 632. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 
• If you can't be good, be careful.
  • Speake, Jennifer; Simpson, J. A. (2015). "good". The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Oxford University Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-19-873490-1. 
• Only the good die young.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1989). Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. p. 263. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 

Goods

• The best goods are cheapest in the end. (Kelly, 1859 p, 95)
  • It is often the expensive product which ultimately costs the least, because of the pleasure and usefulness it brings us.

Goose

• Don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
  • "Take care not to destroy something valuable, such as a source of steady income, through greed, impatience, or a desire for instant gain."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 17 August 2013. 
• Every man thinks his own geese swans.
  • "This proverb imitates that an inbred Philauty runs through the whole Race of Flefh and Blood. It blinds the Underftanding, perverts the Judgment, depraves the Reafon of the Diftinguishers of Truth and Falfity."
  • Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
• Goose, gander and gosling are three sounds but one thing. (Strauss, 1994 p. 104)
  • "It's funny how people get mad when you treat them the same way they treat you."
  • Bill Murray, Twitter (2015)
• What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
  • "What is appropriate for one person is equally appropriate for their counterpart or their critic."
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. 

Gossip

• Whoever gossips to you will gossip of you.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "gossip". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 424. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Government

• That government is best which governs least.
  • "Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
  • Winston Churchill, Armistice - or Peace (1937)
  • Wolfgang Mieder (1992). A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 425. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Grass

• The grass is always greener on the other side.
  • Manser, Martin H (2007). The Facts on File dictionary of proverbs. Infobase Publishing. 0816066736. , p. 105

Grasp

• Grasp all, lose all. (Strauss, 1994 p. 884)

Great

• Great events cast their shadows before them.
  • The Edinburgh review, Volym 132. A. and C. Black. 1870. p. 231. 
• Great minds agree. (Strauss, 1994 p. 882)
• Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
  • Albert Einstein. Buziak, Cari (2011). Calligraphy Magic: How to Create Lettering, Knotwork, Coloring and More. North Light Books. p. 79. 
• A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
  • Manser, Martin H (2007). The Facts on File dictionary of proverbs. Infobase Publishing. 0816066736. , p. 112

Greeks

• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
  • Note: "This advice has its root in the story of the Trojan Horse, the treacherous subterfuge by which the Greeks finally overcame their trojan adversaries at the end of the Trojan War."
  • From Virgil's Aeneid Book II, line 48: timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. Translation: I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts.
  • Wolfgang Mieder (1992). "beware". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Hair

• Fretting cares make grey hairs. (Strauss, 1994 p. 631

Halvation

• Never do things by halves.
  • "Betwixt the devil and the deep sea."
  • Erasmus, Adagia, Chapter III. Cent, IV. 94.
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Hand

• Never let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 447
• One hand washes the other.
  • Bartlett Jere Whiting (1977). "H46". Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. Harvard University Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 

Handsome

• Handsome is that handsome does. (1670) (Strauss, 1994 p. 879)
  • "People should be valued for their good deeds, not their good looks, also occasionally used of things, or as a warning not to be misled by an attractive appearance."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Hard

• Hard words break no bones. (Strauss, 1998 p. 17)

Hare

• Drumming is not the way to catch a hare. (Strauss, 1994 p. 753)
• You must not run after two hares at the same time.
  • "Concentrate on one thing at a time or you will achieve nothing. - Trying to do two or more things at a time, when even one on its own needs full effort, means that none of them will be accomplished properly."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "X". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. X. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 102. 

Haste

• Make haste slowly.
  • "Progress with discretion. Acting hastily one is likely to forget/overlook something important, leading to grave errors or failure." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 241)
• Haste makes waste.
  • "By acting too hastily or doings too hurriedly you risk causing damage or making mistakes that subsequently have to be put right."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Hawk

• Hawks will not pick out Hawk's eyes.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). Dictionary of European Proverbs. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

Have

• He that can have patience can have what he will. (Strauss, 1994 p. 87)

Head

• He that hath a head of wax must not walk in the sun. (Ward, 1842 p. 54)
• Two heads are better than one.'
  • Ray, John (1737). "T". A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs;: Also the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages. : The Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. p. 164. 
• We should not expect to find old heads on young shoulders. (Strauss, 1994 p. 77)
  • Variant: You can't put an old head on young shoulders.
  • "The advice of the elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books."
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "The Path of Law" 10 Harvard Law Review 457 (1897).
• When the head is sick, the whole body is sick. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1117)
• Who falls short in the head must be long in the heels.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "149". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. Routledge. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

Health

• Health is better than wealth. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Health is wealth.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 273
• A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools.
  • "We gotta make a change
    It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes
    Let's change the way we eat
    Let's change the way we live
    And let's change the way we treat each other
    You see the old way wasn't workin'
    So it's on us to do what we gotta do to survive"
  • Tupac "2Pac" Shakur, Changes (1992)
  • Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1888. p. 489. 

Heart

• The heart sees farther than the head.
  • "Trust your instincts."
  • Julia Louis-Dreyfus, How She Broke the Seinfeld Curse, Redbook Magazine (2010)
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "1675". Dictionary of European Proverbs. II. Taylor & Francis. p. 1181. ISBN 978-0-415-10381-7. 

Heaven

• We are as near to heaven by sea as by land! (Humphrey Gilbert)
  • Dying words as his frigate Squirrel sank in the Atlantic Ocean near the Azores, 5 August 1583. Quoted in Richard Hakluyt Third and Last Volume of the Voyages of the English Nation, 1600. Dictionary of Quotations, p. 353

Hedge

• A hedge between keeps friends green.
  • "The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people."
  • G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News (16 July 1910)
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Men leap over where the hedge is lower.
  • "This is slavery, not to speak one’s thought."
  • Line 392 (Jocasta); translated by Elizabeth Wyckoff; as found in Euripides IV: Helen, The Phoenician Women, Orestes, ed. Griffith, Most, Grene & Lattimore, University of Chicago Press (2013), p. 114
  • Proverbs of All Nations. W. Kent & Company (late D. Bogue). 1859. p. 59. 

Heed

• Take heed you find not what you do not seek.
  • "But these are foolish things to all the wise,
    And I love wisdom more than she loves me;
    My tendency is to philosophise
    On most things, from a tyrant to a tree;
    But still the spouseless virgin Knowledge flies,
    What are we? and whence come we? what shall be
    Our ultimate existence? What's our present?
    Are questions answerless, and yet incessant."
  • Lord Byron, Don Juan (1818-24), Canto VI, Stanza 63
  • Elegant Extracts: OR Useful and Entertaining PASSAGES in PROSE.: Book Third & Fourth. 1794. p. 1025. 

Hell

• And thou unfit for any place but hell. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 60. ISBN 9511109618
• Come hell or high water.
  • Suomi-englanti-suomi-sanakirja, Sanoma Pro Oy, Helsinki, 2000, p. 786, ISBN 978-952-63-0663-6
• Hell is empty and all the devils are here. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 60. ISBN 9511109618
• The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
  • Earlier variants of this proverb are recorded as Hell is paved with good intentions. recorded as early as 1670, and an even earlier variant by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Hell is full of good intentions or desires.
  • Similar from Latin: "The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way" — Virgil, the Aeneid Book VI line 126

Help

• Every little helps.
  • "All contributions, however small, are of use."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 20 September 2013. 

Hesitation

• He who hesitates is lost.
  • "The opportunity is often lost by deliberating."
  • Syrus, Maxims.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 492

Hindsight

• Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
  • Note: 20-20 refers to perfect vision.
  • Brenner, Gail Abel (2003). Concise dictionary of European proverbs. Wiley. p. 284. 0764524771. 

History

• History repeats itself.
  • "Lack of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong—these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history."
  • Winston Churchill, speech, House of Commons (1935)
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). A Dictionary of Proverbs. OUP Oxford. p. 345. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 

Hole

• If you're in a hole, stop digging.
  • "When you have landed yourself in trouble, such as through a foolish remark or action, do not say or do anything to make it worse."
  • As "If you are in a hole, stop digging." Moore, Merton (December 4, 1920). "Stop Digging—Climb". Holstein-Friesian World XVII (49): 34. Retrieved on 2018-11-11.
  • Variant: Stew it and it will only stink more.
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). A Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 

Home

• Home is where the heart is.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett 3 (1989). "H255". Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 
• There's no place like home.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "25". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 503. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Home sweet home.
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Honor

• Where honour ceaseth, there knowledge decreasefh.
  • "He deserves praise who does not what he may, but what he ought."
  • Seneca, Octavia, 454.
  • John Ray (1818). A compleat collection of English proverbs. To which is added, A collection of English words not generally used. Repr. verbatim from the ed. of 1768. pp. 83–. 

Hope

• He wha lives on hope will die fasting .
  • Henderson, Andrew (1832). Scottish proverbs, collected and arranged by A. Henderson. p. 34. 

Horse

• A horseǃ a horseǃ My kingdom for a horseǃ (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 62. ISBN 9511109618
• A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse.
  • "Usually suggesting that a person understands very well what another person is getting at as any kind of hint or gesture will suffice to communicate it."
  • Source for proverb and meaning: George Latimer Apperson (May 2006). Dictionary of Proverbs. Wordsworth Editions. p. 413. ISBN 978-1-84022-311-8. Retrieved on 16 September 2013. 
• Don't change horses in midstream.
  • Note: When in water it is ardous to mount and dismount.
  • "It is often wise not to quit an undertaking already begun."
  • Source for proverb and meaning: Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 18 August 2013. 
• Don't put the cart before the horse.
  • "It is important to do the things in the right or natural order."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 18 August 2013. 
  • Cf. Dan Michael of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340): "Many religious folk set the plough before the oxen." (Middle English: "Moche uolk of religion зetteþ þe зuolз be-uore þe oksen.")
• If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
  • "There is no point in indulging in wishful thinking."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• I'll hear it from the horse's mouth.
  • "I will hear it from an authoritative or dependable source."
  • Ammer, Christine (1997). The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 640. ISBN 039572774X. 
• It's a good horse that never stumbles.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 290
• Look not a gift horse in the mouth.
  • "A present should not be criticized. It is an expression of respect and appreciation and any criticism would offend the donor. (The teeth of a horse reveal its age, i.e its real value.)"
  • (Paczolay, 1997 p. 54)
• Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
  • Goudreau, Colleen Patric (2011). Vegan's Daily Companion: 365 Days of Inspiration for Cooking, Eating, and Living Compassionately. Quarry Books. p. 133. 1592536794. 
• A golden bit does not make the horse any better. (Strauss, 1998 p. 52)
• You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
  • Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume (1984)
  • "It is so amusing the way that mortals misunderstand the shape, or shapes, of time. … In the realms of the ultimate, each person must figure out things for themselves. … Teachers who offer you the ultimate answers do not possess the ultimate answers, for if they did, they would know that the ultimate answers cannot be given, they can only be received."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Medlin, Carl (2008). Second Great Reformation: Man Shall Not Live by Faith Only. Xulon Press. p. 74. 1606476459. 
• Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse.
  • "Try not to change the world. You will fail. Try to love the world. Lo, the world is changed. Changed forever."
  • Sri Chinmoy, Meditations: Food For The Soul (1970), August 31
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "703". Dictionary of European Proverbs. II. Routledge. p. X. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

House

• All things are soon prepared in a well ordered house.
  • The Family Economist: A Penny Monthly Magazine. Groombridge and sons.. 1850. p. 2. 
• People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
  • Variation: Whose house is of glass, must not throw stones at another.
  • George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640; cited in "Proverbs 120". The Yale Book of Quotations. 2006. pp. p. 613. ISBN 0-300-10798-6. 
  • George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 1651, number 196

Ignorance

• Admiration is the daughter of ignorance.
  • Martin H. Manser (2007), The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs, Infobase Publishing, p. 2, ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5, retrieved on 16 June 2013 
• Ignorance is bliss.
  • "Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life."
  • Robert Louis Stevenson, "An Apology for Idlers", Virginibus Puerisque and Later Essays (1881), p. 80.
• The ignorant always adore what they cannot understand.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "adore". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "ignorance, 26". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 541. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Imitation

• Imiation is the highest form of flattery.
  • "There is no Man so bad, but he secretly respects the Good."
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1747)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "imitation". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 544. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Insanity

• Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (2012). The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs. Yale University Press. pp. 312. ISBN 0300136021. 

Iron

• Don't have too many irons in the fire. (16th century) (Citatboken)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 588
• Iron sharpens iron. (Whiting, 1997 p. 235)
• Strike while the iron is hot. or Make hay while the sun shines.
  • "Take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself, before it passes away. A good opportunity is usually a rare coincidence of various factors, unlikely to be repeated." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 109)
  • George Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem, Act IV, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642. Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth, Chapter V. Webster, Westward Ho, III. 2. Geoffrey Chaucer, Troylus and Cresseyde, Book II, Stanza 178.

Islands

• No man is an island.
  • "The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist or political philosopher. "
  • John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, (1936)
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Job

• If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 133

Joy

• Joy shared, joy doubled: sorrow shared, sorrow halved. (Strauss, 1994 p. 249)

Judgment

• Hasty judgment leads to repentance. (Strauss, 1994 p. 196)

Justice

• Justice delayed is justice denied.
• Odia in longum jaciens, quæ reconderet, auctaque promeret.
  • "Laying aside his resentment, he stores it up to bring it forward with increased bitterness."
  • Tacitus, Annales (109) , I, 69
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "justice, 3". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 571. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Justice pleaseth few in their own house.
  • Carew Hazlitt, William (1882). English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: Collected from the Most Authentic Sources, Alphabetically Arranged, and Annotated. p. 259. 

Kindness

• Kindness, like grain, increases by sowing.
  • Bohn, Henry George; Ray, John (1860). "K". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising an Entire Republication of Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages : and an Alphabetical Index, in which are Introduced Large Additions, as Well of Proverbs as of Sayings, Sentences, Maxims, and Phrases. H.G. Bohn. p. 437. 

Keeping

• Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
  • Matthews, Chris (1999). Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told By One Who Knows The Game (revisada, reimpresa ed.). Simon and Schuster. p. 91. ISBN 0684845598. 

King

• The king can do no wrong. (17th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Knowledge

• Know thyself.
  • "No man who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing, and doing it well, ever loses his self-respect."
  • George Bernard Shaw, 'The Doctor's Dilemma (1911)
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Learning is the eye of the mind.
  • "A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth."
  • Proverbs 17:24, (New International Version)
  • Emanuel Strauss (12 November 2012). "590". Dictionary of European Proverbs. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

Kingdom

• A good mind possesses a kingdom. (Strauss, 1998 p. 58)

Kitchen

• 'If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
  • "If you cannot cope with the pace or stress, as in a competitive industry or in a position of high office, then you should leave or resign."
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Ammer, Christine (1997). The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 640. ISBN 039572774X. 

Lady

• Faint heart never won fair lady.
  • "It is necessary to be bold and courageous to win the heart of a woman – or to achieve any other cherished objective."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 22 September 2013. 
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 30. 
• It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "fat, 2". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 301. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Joan is as good as my lady in the dark.
  • John (1813). A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages. G. Cowie and Company. p. 128. 

Knowledge

• Knowledge is power. (17th Century)
  • Henry George Bohn; John Ray (1855). A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages. And a Complete Alphabetical Index. G. Bell. pp. 438–. 

Land

• In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
  • Bartlett, Jere Whiting (1989). Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. Harvard University Press. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 
• The land of the free, and the home of the brave. (Francis Scott Key])
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 16. ISBN 9511109618

Lane

• It's a long lane that has no turning.
  • Belfour, John (1812). "Long". A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. p. 135. 

Language

• That's not good language that all understand not.
  • John Warner Barber (1855). The Hand Book of Illustrated Proverbs: Comprising Also a Selection of Approved Proverbs of Various Nations and Languages, Ancient and Modern. Bradley. p. 30. 

Laugh

• He laughs best who laughs last.
  • "Do not celebrate prematurely while something is not yet achieved finally. - Unforeseen developments often lead to a less favourable final result." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 395)
• Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 325

Law

• Laws catch flies, but lets hornets go free.
  • "He complained in no way of the evil reputation under which he lived, indeed, all over the world, and he assured me that he himself was of all living beings the most interested in the destruction of Superstition, and he avowed to me that he had been afraid, relatively as to his proper power, once only, and that was on the day when he had heard a preacher, more subtle than the rest of the human herd, cry in his pulpit: "My dear brethren, do not ever forget, when you hear the progress of lights praised, that the loveliest trick of the Devil is to persuade you that he does not exist!"
  • Charles Baudelaire, "The Generous Gambler" (Feb. 1864).
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 75. 

Legs

• To be on one's last legs. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Less

• Less is more.
  • "Good writers indulge their audience; great writers know better."
  • Tom Heehler, The Well-Spoken Thesaurus (2011)
  • Il semble que la perfection soit atteinte non quand il n'y a plus rien à ajouter, mais quand il n'y a plus rien à retrancher.
  • "It seems that perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove."
  • Antoine de Saint Exupéry, L'Avion^{[specific citation needed]}
  • Variant translations:
  • "Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
    • As translated by Lewis Galantière"
  • "Perfection is attained not when no more can be added, but when no more can be removed."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Lie

• A lie can go halfway around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). "L". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Life

• Life begins at forty.
  • Fergusson, Rosalind (1995). Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-85471-095-6. 
• Life imitates art.
  • "Play! Invent the world! Invent reality!"
  • Vladimir Nabokov, in Look at the Harlequins! (1974)
  • Bloom, H. (2007). Arthur Miller, Bloom's Literary Criticism.
• Life is what you make of it.
  • "There is no fate that plans men's lives. Whatever comes to us, good or bad, is usually the result of our own action or lack of action."
  • Herbert N. Casson cited in: Forbes magazine (1950) The Forbes scrapbook of Thoughts on the business of life. p. 218
• Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the one who thinks he can.
  • Lucier, T. J. (2005). How to make money with real estate options: low-cost, low-risk, high-profit strategies for controlling undervalued property-- without the burdens of ownership!, Wiley.
• Look on the sunny side of life.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "sunny, 2". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 788. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• The best things in life are free.
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). A Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 

Lightning

• Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
  • "A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience."
  • Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State (1642), Book III, Of Fancy.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 634

Like

• Like cures like. (Strauss, 1994 p. 648)
  • "The best remedy for a disease or affliction is something that is capable of causing the same condition."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Like father, like son.
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). A Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 

Linen

• Don't wash your dirty linen in public. (Strauss, 1994 p. 702) (19th century, Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1)

Little

• Little by little and bit by bit.
  • Dickens, Charles (1867). Nicholas Nickleby, Volumes 1-4. Hurd & Houghton. p. 145. 0814412947. 
• A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
  • "I don't think the thing is to be well known, but being worth knowing."
  • Robert Fulghum .Interview, "Robert Fulghum : Philosopher King" by Linda Richards at January magazine
  • Lewis Smith, Elmer (1968). "A". American Proverbs, Maxims & Folk Sayings. p. 5. 

Living

• Live and let live.
  • "The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues."
  • Elizabeth Taylor, as quoted in The Seven Deadly Sins (2000) by Steven Schwartz, p. 23.
  • John Ray; John Belfour (1813). A complete collection of English proverbs: also, the most celebrated proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and other languages. G. Cowie and co.. pp. 134–. 

Look

• Look before you leap.
  • Allan Mair, James (1873). A handbook of proverbs: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Shakesperean, and scriptural; and family mottoes, ed. by J.A. Mair. p. 50. 
• Look on the sunny side of life.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 788

Loose

• Loose lips sink ships.
  • Eugene, D. (2002). 20 Good Reasons to Stay Sober, Booksurge Llc.

Lose/Lost

• All is not lost that is in danger.
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). "A". National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. p. 11. 
• Use it or lose it.
  • Latimer Apperson, George (10 May 2006). Dictionary of Proverbs. Wordsworth Editions. p. 605. ISBN 978-1-84022-311-8. 

Love

• Love and ambition admit no fellowship.
  • "He that falls in love with himself, will have no Rivals."
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Rickard's Almanack (1739)
  • Davidoff, Henry (1946). A World Treasury of Proverbs from Twenty-five Languages: African, Arabic, Chinese [etc.] ... Collected by Henry Davidoff. p. 259. 
• Love is blind.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 657
• Love laughs at locksmiths.
  • George Bohn, Henry; Ray, John (1855). "L". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages. And a Complete Alphabetical Index. p. 446. 
• It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
  • V&S Editorial Board (2015). Concise dictionary of proverbs. V&S Publishers. p. 62. ISBN 978-93-5215-057-1. 
• Love me little, love me long. (1546)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Lunch

• There's no such thing as a free lunch.
  • Latimer Apperson (2006). "Free". Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-84022-311-8. 

Madness

• Though this be madness, yet there is method in't. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 70. ISBN 9511109618

Make

• Make the best of a bad bargain.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. 

Man

• A man's home is his castle.
  • Variant: An englishman's home is his castle.
  • William Blackstone refers to this traditional proverb in Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), Book 4, Chapter 16:

    And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?

    Translation: What more sacred, what more strongly guarded by every holy feeling, than a man's own home?

• A man's worst enemies are often those of his own house. (Strauss, 1994 p. 52)
• Good men are hard to find.
  • "It is often difficult to find a talented or suitably qualified person when you need one."
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "good". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave. (Thomas Browne)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 80. ISBN 9511109618
• The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 272
• Manners maketh the man.
  • 'Manners makyth man' - the motto of William of Wykeham(1320 - 1404)
  • Fergusson, Rosalind (1995). Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-85471-095-6. 
• Wise men learn by other men's harms, fools by their own. (Strauss, 1998 p. 34)

May

• Ne'er cast a clout till May be out.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "never". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Many

• Many a mickle makes a muckle.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 698
• Many things are lost for want of asking.
  • R. Stone, Jon (2006). "Loss, Lost". The Routledge Book of World Proverbs. p. 267. ISBN 978-1-135-87054-6. 

Marriage

• A young man married is a young man marred.
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 317. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Marry in haste, and repent at leisure.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 463

Measure

• Measure twice, cut once.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 171

Mend

• It's never too late to mend.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 602

Might

• Might is right. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Mind

• Men talk only to conceal the mind. (Strauss 1994, p. 1088)
• Mind your own business. (Strauss, 1998 p. 719)
• Mind your P's and Q's. or British: Mind your manners.'''''
  • [2]
  • Makhene, E. R. W. (2008). Mind Your Ps and Qs, Lulu.com.
• Out of sight, out of mind. (13th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Mile

• The longest mile is the last mile home.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "home, 22". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 502. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Milk

• It's no use crying over spilt milk. (Strauss, 1994 p. 631)

Mirrors

• The best place for criticism is in front of your mirror.
  • [Jack Dappen arrives in Dracula's chamber]
  • "Richter Belmont: Die, monster! You don't belong in this world!
  • Dracula: It was not by my hand that I'm once again given flesh. I was called here by humans who wish to pay me tribute.
  • Jack Henry Dappen: "Tribute"?! You steal men's souls, and make them your slaves!
  • Dracula: Perhaps the same could be said of all religions.
  • Jack Dappen: Your words are as empty as your soul! Mankind ill needs a savior such as you!
  • Dracula: What is a man? [flings his wine glass aside] A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk! Have at you!"
  • Toru Hagihara, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)
  • Martin H. Manser (2007), The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs, Infobase Publishing, p. 22, ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5, retrieved on 14 July 2013 

Misfortune

• Misfortunes never come singly. (14th century, Citatboken)
  • One misfortune is often followed by another. - A mishap may weaken/frighten a person/group/relationship, making him/it more liable to fell victim to subsequent minor dangers too.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 704
  • (Paczolay, 1997 p. 60)

Miss

• A miss by an inch is a miss by a mile.
  • Cf. Scottish Proverbs Collected and Arranged by Andrew Henderson, 1832, p.103: "An inch o' a miss is as gude as a span."

Mistake

• Don't make the same mistake twice.
  • "You should learn from your mistakes rather than repeating them."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 17 August 2013. 

Mob

• The mob has many heads, but no brains. (1732)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Money

• For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
  • "Did you get your money by fraud? By pandering to men’s vices or men’s stupidity? By catering to fools, in the hope of getting more than your ability deserves? By lowering your standards? By doing work you despise for purchasers you scorn? If so, then your money will not give you a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy. Then all the things you buy will become, not a tribute to you, but a reproach; not an achievement, but a reminder of shame. Then you’ll scream that money is evil."
  • Ayn Rand, Francisco d’Anconia in Atlas Shrugged (1957)
• Money is a good servant, but a bad master. (17th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Money makes the mare go.
  • Kelly, James (1721). "M". Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs. p. 243. 
• Money talks.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "M". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. pp. 190–. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Put your money where your mouth is.
  • "If you do not take risk for your opinion you are nothing. Don' t tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio."
  • Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Skin in the game (2018)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 714
• Time is money.
  • Leonard, F. (1995). Time is money: a million dollar investment plan for today's twenty- and thirty-somethings, Perseus Books Group.

More

• More haste, less speed. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1095)
• The more the merrier. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1094)
• The more things change, the more they stay the same.
  • R. Stone, Jon (2006). "Change, Changeable". The Routledge Book of World Proverbs. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-135-87054-6. 

Mountain

• Don't make a mountain out of a molehill.
  • "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
  • The Bible
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 708

Mouse

• Burn not your house to rid it of the mouse. (Strauss, 1994 p. 568)
  • "Take the first advice of a woman and not the second."
  • Gilbertus Cognatus Noxeranus, Sylloge. See J. J. Grynæus, Adagio, p. 130. Langius, Polyanthea Col (1900) same sentiment. (Prends le premier conseil d'une femme et non le second. French for same). Reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 10-11.

Mouth

• Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.
  • "A recipe for success in many walks of life is to speak only when necessary and to remain alert, observant, and watchful at all times."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Much

• Much is expected where much is given. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1095)
  • "More is expected of those who have received more - that is, those who had good fortune, are naturally gifted, or have been shown special favour."
  • Source for meaning and proverb: Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 8 September 2013. 

Muck

• Where there's muck there's brass.
  • "There is of money to be made whenever there is muck or dirt of some kind."
  • Source for meaning:Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Nail

• For want of a nail the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost.
  • Proverb reported by George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651), #495
• The nail that sticks up will be hammered down. (Whatling, 2009) From the Japanese, "deru kugi wa utareru."

Nature

• Nature is beyond all teaching. (Strauss, 1994 p. 764)

Never

• Never lie to your doctor.
  • Huler, Scott (1999). From Worst to First: Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback. John Wiley & Sons. p. 200. 0471356522. 
• Never lie to your lawyer.
  • Huler, Scott (1999). From Worst to First: Behind the Scenes of Continental's Remarkable Comeback. John Wiley & Sons. p. 200. 0471356522. 
• Never put off till (until) tomorrow what you can do today.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 264
• Never say die.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 203
• Never say never.
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). "NEVER". A Dictionary of Proverbs. OUP Oxford. p. 491. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 
• It's never too late to mend.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p.602

Nice

• If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
  • Morem, Susan (2005). One hundred one tips for graduates. Infobase Publishing. p. 69. 0816056765. 

Night

• A night with Venus and a life with mercury.
  • Anti-promiscuity adage, alluding to an 18th-century mercury-based folk treatment for syphilis
  • Cited in Bartz, Diane (30 October 2006). "Har, me hearties! Excavating Blackbeard's ship". Reuters (via Yahoo! News). Retrieved on 2006-11-01. 

No

• No man can serve two masters.
  • Christian New Testament
• No man is an island.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 419 e
• No man is indispensable. (Strauss, 1998 p. 319)
  • "I think that no forms of social interaction—including religion, love, crime, and fertility choice—are immune from the power of economic reasoning."
  • Robert Barro Nothing Is Sacred (2002)
• No news is good news.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 734 e
• No pain, no gain.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. 2006

Nothing

• Lose nothing for want of asking. (Mawr, 1885 p. 116)
• Nothing for nothing. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1111)
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained. (Manser, 2007 p. 207)
  • "George: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.
    Mary: I'll take it. Then what?
    George: Well, then you could swallow it, and it'd all dissolve, see? And the moonbeams'd shoot out of your fingers and your toes, and the ends of your hair... Am I talking too much?
    Old Man: Yes! Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death
    George: How's that?
    Old Man: Why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?
    George: Want me to kiss her, huh.
    Old Man: Ah, youth is wasted on the wrong people!"
  • Frank Capra, It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
  • Variant: Nothing venture, nothing have. (Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 )
• You don't get nothing for nothing.
  • "Everything has to be paid for, directly or indirectly, in money or in kind."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Number

• There is luck in odd numbers.
  • James Allan Mair (1873). "T". A handbook of proverbs: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Shakesperean, and scriptural; and family mottoes, ed. by J.A. Mair. p. 70. 

Nut

• He that would eat the kernel must crack the nut.
  • "Nothing is achieved without effort."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 56. 

Oak

• Little strokes fell great oaks.
  • A difficult task, e. g. removing a person/group from a strong position, or changing established ideas cannot be done quickly. It can be achieved gradually, by small steps, a little at a time. (Paczolay, 1997 p. 252)

Old

• Old habits die hard.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "552". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. p. 485. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

One

• Take care of number one.
  • "Put your own interests before those of everybody else."
  • H. Manser (2007). "T". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Only

• The only free cheese is in the mouse trap.
  • V&S Editorial Board (2015). "T". Concise Dictionary of Proverbs. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-93-5057-418-8. 
• The only stupid question is the one that is not asked.
  • Hull, E., K. Jackson, et al. (2005). Requirements engineering, Springer.

Opportunity

• Opportunity makes the thief. (13th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Out

• Out of sight... Out of mind. (13th century)
  • (Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1)
  • "Those who leave us are soon forgotten. - Seeing somebody reinforces the memory while a long abscence and the appearance of new impressions may result in a gradual fading of it."
  • Cf. Fulke Greville's sonnet "And out of minds as soons as out of sight"
• From big oaks little acorns grow.
  • Wolfgang Mieder (1992). "O". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 744. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Over

• It ain't over till it's over.
  • "Do not anticipate the end of something; specifically, do not give up hope until you have actually lost or failed."
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Yogi Berra
  • Often attributed to sportscaster Dan Cook (1978)

Oyster

• The world is your oyster.
  • "You are in a position to take the opportunities that life has to offer."
  • John Ayto (8 July 2010). Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. Oxford University Press. p. 389. ISBN 978-0-19-954378-6. 

Package

• Good things come in small packages.
  • Collis, Harry (1992). "Good Things Come in Small PAckages". 101 American English Proverbs: Understanding Language and Culture Through Commonly Used Sayings. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-8442-5412-8. 

Pain

• No pain, no gain.
  • "Nothing can be achieved without effort, suffering, or hardship." (Manser, 2007 p. 205)

Pay

• You get what you pay for.
  • "The quality of goods and services is reflected in their price − cheap things are usually inferior and expensive things are usually superior."
  • Source for meaning:Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 315. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Paradise

• There is no greater torment than to be alone in paradise. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1106)

Pardon

• Never ask pardon before you are accused.
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). "N". National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. p. 87. 

Peace

• If you want peace, prepare for war.
  • "But peace was not peace without honor; peace was not peace purchased by the degration of England; peace was not peace, if we did not hold the commanding station we ought to hold, should it be necessary to o to war."
  • Great Britain. Parliament (1821). The Parliamentary Debates. p. 887. 
  • Speake, Jennifer (2008). "peace". A Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 536. ISBN 978-0-19-158001-7. 
• There's no peace for the wicked.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1989). Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. p. 530. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 

Penny

• A penny for your thoughts.
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
  • John Heywood, Proverbs (1546)
• In for a penny in for a pound.
  • Ray, John; Belfour, John (1813). A complete collection of English proverbs: also, the most celebrated proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and other languages. G. Cowie and co.. p. 149. 
• Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1989). Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. p. 481. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 
• Penny wise, pound foolish.
  • Skimping on small financial matters can cause you to lose money overall. E.G. outsourcing customer service to a third-world country may save a small amount, but may cost a huge amount in lost customers.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. 
• Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.
  • Edwin Paxton Hood (1885). The World of Proverb and Parable: With Illustrations from History, Biography, and the Anecdotal Table-talk of All Ages. With an Introductory Essay on the Historic Unity of the Popular Proverb and Tale in All Ages. p. 90. 
• A penny saved is a penny earned.
  • Allan Mair, James (1873). "A". A handbook of proverbs: English, Scottish, Irish, American, Shakesperean, and scriptural; and family mottoes, ed. by J.A. Mair. p. 28. 

People

• The voice of the people is the voice of god. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1164)

Pig

• When the pig is proffered, hold up the poke.
  • "Seize the bargain."
  • John Heywood (1562). The Proverbs, Epigrams, and Miscellanies of John Heywood .... Print. for subscribers, by the Early English Drama Society. p. 422. 
  • Strauss (1994). "1787". Concise Dictionary of European Proverbs. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-78978-6. 

Pill

• Bitter pills may have blessed effects.
  • "The ignorant are not blissful; they are the butt of a joke they're not even aware of."
  • Neil Strauss, Rules of the Game: The Style Diaries (2007)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 128

Picture

• A picture is worth a thousand words.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1993). Proverbs are Never Out of Season: Popular Wisdom in the Modern Age. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-19-507728-5. 

Pitcher

• It's a cracked pitcher that goes oftenest to the well.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "82". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 
• Little pitchers have big ears. (Strauss 1994, p. 653)

Playing

• Better play a small game than to stand out.
  • "Beware how you take away hope from any human being."
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in his valedictory address to medical graduates at Harvard University (10 March 1858), published in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. LVIII, No. 8 (25 March 1858), p. 158; this has also been paraphrased "Beware how you take away hope from another human being"
  • Nathan Bailey, Divers Proverbs (1721)

Please

• He had need rise early who would please everybody.
  • "It is impossible to do something that everybody will approve of."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 43. 

Poet

• Poets are born, but orators are trained. (Strauss, 1998 p. 331)

Politeness

• Politeness costs nothing and gains everything.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "cost, 2". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Politics

• Politics makes strange bedfellows.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "politics". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Pot

• A little pot is easily hot.
  • Wolfgang Mieder (1992). "hot". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 520. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Shit or get off the pot. ( W., 1975)
  • "Decide what you're going to do this week, and not this year. Make decisions right before you do something, not far in advance."
  • Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson, Rework (2009)
• A watched pot never boils.
  • If you are actively waiting for something to happen, it seldom does.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 611

Poverty

• Poverty is the reward of idleness.
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "267". Dictionary of European Proverbs. I. Routledge. p. 252. ISBN 978-1-134-86460-7. 

Power

• Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
  • Attributed to Lord Acton
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "P". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Practice

• Practice makes perfect.
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 157. 
• Practice what you preach.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 469

Precept

• Precepts teach, examples move.
  • William Henry Porter (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 156. 

Prepare

• Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 512

Prevention

• An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
  • Bartlett, Jere Whiting (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. p. 323. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 
• Prevention is better than cure.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1977). "P275". Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. p. 347. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 

Price

• All those men have their price. (Robert Walpole)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 64. ISBN 9511109618
• Every man has his price.
  • "'Tis a hard task not to surrender morality for riches."
  • Martial, XI, 5, reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of Quotations (Classical) (1958), p. 15.
  • Wolfgang Mieder; Stewart A. Kingsbury; Kelsie B. Harder (1992). A Dictionary of American Proverbs. 
• Everything is worth its price. (Strauss, 1994 p. 800)
• I know my price. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 64. ISBN 9511109618

Pride

• Pride comes before the fall. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1148)

Problem

• If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. (Adam, 2010 p. 25)
• A problem shared is a problem halved. (Strauss, 1994 p. 351)

Prosperity

• He that swells in prosperity will shrink in adversity.
  • "In prosperity let us most carefully avoid pride, disdain, and arrogance."
  • Cicero, De Officiis (44 B.C.)
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 90. 

Proud

• As proud as a peacock. (14th century)
• As proud as Lucifer. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Proverb

• Proverbs run in pairs.
  • "Proverbs depend for their truth entirely on the occasion they are applied to. Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it."
  • George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Vol. 5: Reason in Science (1906), Ch. 8: "Prerational Morality".
  • Sir Richard Francis Burton (1863). Abeokuta and the Camaroons Mountains: An Exploration. p. 309. 

Pudding

• The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
  • Ray, John (1678). A Collection of English Proverbs: Digested Into a Convenient Method for the Speedy Finding Any One Upon Occasion : with Short Annotations. : Whereunto are Added Local Proverbs with Their Explications, Old Proverbial Rhythmes, Less Known Or Exotick Proverbial Sentences, and Scottish Proverbs. p. 193. 

Punishment

• Punishment is lame but it comes. (Strauss, 1994 p. 682)

Question

• A civil question deserves a civil answer.
  • "If somebody asks you something politely, you should respond in the same manner."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 4 August 2013. 

Race

• Slow and steady wins the race. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1155)

Rag

• A rag and a bone and a hank of hair.
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 234. ISBN 9511109618
• Like a red rag to a bull.
  • Suomi-englanti-suomi-sanakirja, Sanoma Pro Oy, Helsinki, 2000, p. 957, ISBN 978-952-63-0663-6

Rat

• Rats desert a sinking ship. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1150)

Reality

• Reality is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
  • Caper, R. (1999). A mind of one's own: a Kleinian view of self and object, Routledge

Reap

• What you sow is what you reap.
  • Goodwin, F. A. (2005). You Reap What You Sow. R.A.N. Pub id = 1411643550. pp. 203. 

Reason

• Reason does not come before years. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1150)

Remedy

• The remedy is worse than the disease.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 486

Revenge

• Revenge is a dish best served cold.
  • "Let him fry in his own Grease."
  • Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1792)
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Road

• There is no royal road to learning.
  • Warner Barber, John (1855). The Hand Book of Illustrated Proverbs: Comprising Also a Selection of Approved Proverbs of Various Nations and Languages, Ancient and Modern. p. 25. 

Rod

• He makes a rod for his own back. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Rome

• All roads lead to Rome.
  • Do not stick to one way of solution or do not be disappointed meeting a failure as an objective can be achieved (or a problem can be solved) in different ways. (Paczolay, 1997 p. 437)
• Rome wasn't built in a day.
  • Bartlett, Jere Whiting (1989). Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings. p. 535. ISBN 978-0-674-58053-4. 
• At Rome one must do the Romans do.
  • Zimmermann, E. (1878). Familiar German Quotations and Proverbs. Collins. p. 69. 

Rope

• Name not a rope in his house who hanged himself.
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. p. 86. 

Rules

• Rules were meant to be broken.
  • "It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission."
  • Grace Hopper, in "Only the Limits of Our Imagination", interview by Diane Hamblen in U.S. Navy's Chips Ahoy magazine (July 1986).
  • Speake, Jennifer (2015). "broken". Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-19-105959-9. 

Say

• Least said, soonest mended.
  • "In private animosities and verbal contentions, where angry passions are apt to rise, and irritating, if not profane expressions are often made use of, as we sometimes see to be the case, not only among neighbors, but in families, between husbands and wives, or parents and children, or the children themselves and other members of the household, - the least said, the better in general. By multiplying words, cases often grow worse instead of better."
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. pp. 125. 
• "Well done" is better than "well said".
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1977). "D214". Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 

Sea

• He complains wrongfully at the sea that suffer shipwreck twice. (Strauss, 1994 p. 898)

See

• Monkey see, monkey do.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 709
• There are none so blind as they who do not want to see. (Strauss, 1998 p. 320)
• What you see is what you get.
  • Don Draper: "People tell you who they are, but we ignore it - because we want them to be who we want them to be."
  • Matthew Weiner, Mad Men (2010)
  • McLenighan, Valjean (1981). What you see is what you get. Follett Pub. Co.. p. 4. 0695313703. 

Service

• Proffer'd service stinks. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1149)

Shadow

• Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance. (Strauss, 1998)
  • "We should not waste time on trivial aspects of a matter and neglect the essential matter itself."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 30 July 2013. 

Shame

• Shame take him that shame thinketh. (Strauss, 1994 p. 806)

Sheep

• One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.
  • Speake, Jennifer (2015). Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-19-105959-9. 

Shoe

• If the shoe fits, wear it.
  • "Love your Enemies, for they tell you your Faults."
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Rickards Almanack (1756)
  • Speake, Jennifer (2015). Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 283. ISBN 978-0-19-105959-9. 
• No one knows where the shoe pinches, but he who wears it.
  • "Nobody can fully understand another person's hardship or suffering."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 289. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 4. 
• To know where the shoe pinches. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Shoemaker/Cobbler

• Cobblers children are worst shod.
  • "Working hard for others one may neglect one's own needs or the needs of those closest to him." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 65).
• Shoemaker, stick to your last.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 723

Show

• The show must go on.
  • "Things must continue as if nothing had happened."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 243. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 14 July 2013. 

Sight

• Out of sight, out of mind. (13th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Silence

• Silence gives consent. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• The rest is silence. (William Shakespeare, Hamlet)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 63. ISBN 9511109618

Simplicity

• Keep it simple, stupid. (KISS)
  • McNairn, Colin (2015). In a Manner of Speaking: Phrases, Expressions, and Proverbs and How We Use and Misuse Them. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-63220-898-9. 

Sin

• There's a sin of omission as well as commision.
  • "There are times when failure to do what you should is as bad as doing what you should not do."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). "T". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Slippery

• As slippery as an eel. (15th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Smile

• There's daggers in men's smiles. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 73. ISBN 9511109618
• When you call me that, smileǃ (Owen Wister)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 73. ISBN 9511109618

Snail

• By perseverance the snail reached the arc.
  • (Strauss, 1994 p. 127)

Snooze

• If you snooze you lose.
  • Note: From the Aesop fable about the hare and the tortoise.
  • "Those who fail to keep alert will lose out."
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Son

• A son is a son 'till he gets him a wife; a daughter's a daughter all her life.
  • Wolfgang Mieder (1992). "daughter". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Soul

• O, God, if there be a God, save my soul if I have a soulǃ (A soldier before the battle of Blenheim in 1704)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Sowing

• As you sow, so you reap.
  • "The consequences are directly related to one's actions." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 38).
  • "It seems that every life form on this planet strives toward its maximum potential...except human beings. A tree does not row to half its potential size and then say, 'l guess that will do.”
  • Jim Rohn, Five Major Pieces To the Life Puzzle (1991)
• Sow thin, shear thin. (Strauss, 1998 p. 1158)
  • "He that sows bountifully, also reaps bountifully. Raise high your standard of excellence, if you would make worthy attainments."
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 163. 
• To sow one's wild oats. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Spade

• Call a spade a spade.
  • "Therefore I was glad that 97 percent of us voted to admit "dropout," which is clean and vivid, but that only 47 percent would accept "senior citizen," which is typical of the pudgy new intruders from the land of sociology, where an illegal alien is now an undocumented resident."
  • Zinsser, William On Writing Well (1976)
  • John Belfour (1812). A Complete Collection of English Proverbs: Also, the Most Celebrated Proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and Other Languages, the Whole Methodically Digested and Illustrated with Annotations, and Proper Explications. G. Cowie. p. 216. 

Speech

• It is not what you say, it is the way you say it.
  • "Phraseology and style are often more important than the actual content of speech or writing."
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "1341". Dictionary of European proverbs. Taylor & Francis. p. 1032. ISBN 978-0-415-10381-7. 

Spice

• Variety is the spice of life.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "variety". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 872. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Spirit

• The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
  • H. Bechtel, John (1910). Proverbs. p. 176. 

Steed

• While the grass grows the steed starves. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1228)
  • Dreams or expectations may be realized too late.

Stitch

• A stitch in time saves nine.
  • Cf. Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs Collected by Thomas Fuller, 1732, Vol. II, p. 283, Nr. 6291 : "A Stitch in Time // May save nine."
  • "No one needs to be told that a vast deal of labor is expended unnecessarily. This is occasioned, to a great extent, by the neglect of seasonable repairs."
  • Source for meaning:Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 13. 

Stone

• Leave no stone unturned.
  • "Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing (anussava),
  • nor upon tradition (paramparā),
  • nor upon rumor (itikirā),
  • nor upon what is in a scripture (piṭaka-sampadāna)
  • nor upon surmise (takka-hetu),
  • nor upon an axiom (naya-hetu),
  • nor upon specious reasoning (ākāra-parivitakka),
  • nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been pondered over (diṭṭhi-nijjhān-akkh-antiyā),
  • nor upon another's seeming ability (bhabba-rūpatāya),
  • nor upon the consideration, The monk is our teacher (samaṇo no garū)
  • 'Kalamas, when you yourselves know: "These things are good; these things are not blamable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness," enter on and abide in them.' "
  • Gautama Buddha, Kalama Sutta - Angutarra Nikaya 3.65 (~ O B.C)
  • William George Smith; Paul Harvey (1960). The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs. p. 359. 
• Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 252. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• A rolling stone gathers no moss.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. p. 417. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 

Straw

• A drowning man will clutch at a straw.
  • "A man in extreme difficulty will try anything which seems to offer even the slightest help to extricate himself." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 384)

Stream

• Cross the stream where it is shallowest.
  • "Always take the easiest possible approach to doing something."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 8 August 2013. 

Street

• Old streets a glamour hold. (K. W. Baker)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 121. ISBN 9511109618

Strike

• Strike when the iron is hot. (14th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Storage

• A store is no sore.
  • "An object that seems useless now may be just what you need at some future time, so do not discard it."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. J.W. Parker. p. 14. 

Success

• Confidence is the companion of success.
  • Specified as a proverb in "5". Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 168. d
• Failure is the stepping stone for success.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. 
• Nothing succeeds like success.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
• One secret of success is to know how to deny yourself and other people.
  • Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages: Classified Subjectively and Arranged Alphabetically. G. P. Putnam's sons. 1887. p. 319. 
• Success is a journey not a destination.
  • "When we see a great man desiring power instead of his real goal we soon recognize that he is sick, or more precisely that his attitude to his work is sick. He overreaches himself, the work denies itself to him, the incarnation of the spirit no longer takes place, and to avoid the threat of senselessness he snatches after empty power. This sickness casts the genius on to the same level as those hysterical figures who, being by nature without power, slave for power, in order that they may enjoy the illusion that they are inwardly powerful, and who in this striving for power cannot let a pause intervene, since a pause would bring with it the possibility of self-reflection and self-reflection would bring collapse."
  • Martin Buber, Between Man and Man (1965), p. 151.
  • "To rank the effort above the prize may be called love."
  • Confucius, The Analects (475 BC)
  • K. Singh, Anup (2017). "S". Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 94. GGKEY:3DUS38CW7YC. 

Sun

• There is nothing new under the sun.
  • "It turns out very often that something 'never seen/experienced before' especially in human relationships - has, in fact, in some way or another, happened before. - Human nature and the basic human aspirations did not change." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 461)

Surgeon

• A good surgeon has an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's hand.
  • Ray, John (1813). A compleat collection of English proverbs. To which is added, A collection of English words not generally used. [2 pt. Interleaved, with MS. additions by F. Douce].. p. 31. 

Swallow

• One swallow does not make a summer.
  • "Just because there is evidence does not mean there is truth"(Paczolay, 1997 p. 44)
  • Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (c. 325 BC), I.1098a18

Swimmer

• Good swimmers are often drowned. (Strauss, 1994 p. 879)

Sword

• A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword.
  • "It is an old saying, 'A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword:' and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever."
  • Robert Burton cites this traditional proverb in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) Part I, Section II, Member IV, Subsection IV:
  • "Many can bear Adversity, but few Contempt."
  • Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732)
  • Davidoff, Henry (1946). A World Treasury of Proverbs from Twenty-five Languages: African, Arabic, Chinese [etc.] ... Collected by Henry Davidoff. p. 489. 
• Live by the sword, die by the sword.
  • "Those who engage in aggression or violence will meet their death in a similar way."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• The pen is mightier than the sword.
  • Mazer, Anna (2009). The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword. Baker & Taylor. 1442012889. 

Take

• Take things as you find them. (Strauss 1994, p. 722)
  • "Wing it"
  • Kim Kardashian, 73 Questions With Kim Kardashian West (ft. Kanye West) | Vogue (2019)

Talk

• He that talks to himself, speaks to a fool. (1721)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Tango

• It takes two to tango. (Oshry, 1996 p. 59)
  • "The reason that there are so few good conversationalists is that most people are thinking about what they are going to say and not about what the others are saying."
  • François de La Rochefoucauld, Réflexions diverses, IV: De la conversation. (1731)

Tat

• Tit for tat.
  • Latimer Apperson, George (2006). "timely". Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 582. ISBN 978-1-84022-311-8. 

Temptation

• Without temptation there is no victory.
  • "Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything."
  • Samuel Johnson, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. p. 156. 

Thief

• Once a thief always a thief. (Strauss, 1994 p. 771)
• Set a thief to catch a thief.
  • George Bohn, Henry; Ray, John (1855). "T". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages. And a Complete Alphabetical Index. p. 136. 

Thing

• If you want a thing well done, do it yourself. (1616)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• The worth of a thing is what it will bring.
  • William Carew Hazlitt (1869). English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: Collected from the Most Authentic Sources. Russell Smith. p. 391. 
• Things done cannot be undone. (1546)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 188, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Think

• Think before you speak.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "think". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 820. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Thought

• Thought is freeǃ (William Shakespeare)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Second thoughts are the best.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 73. 

Time

• Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down.
  • "People who idle their lives away will not make a lasting impression on history or be remembered for their great achievements."
  • Manser, Martin H (2007). The Facts on File dictionary of proverbs. Infobase Publishing. 0816066736. 
• Nature, time, and patience are three great physicians.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
• Procrastination is the thief of time.
  • Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... 1845. p. 169. 
  • Cicero, De Senectute
• Time and tide wait for no man.
  • "Time and Tide wait for no man". Proverbs in Verse, Or Moral Instruction Conveyed in Pictures, on the Plan of Hogarth Moralized. to which are Prefixed Rules for Reading Verse. 1811. p. 107. 
• Time flies.
  • "Time sometimes seems to pass with surprising rapidity."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Cosby, B. (1988). Time flies, Bantam Books.
• Time flies when you're having fun.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "T". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Time himself is bald. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 118. ISBN 9511109618
• Time is money.
  • "Nobody can afford to waste time that could be spent earning money."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Whiting, Bartlett Jere (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. Harvard University Press. p. 441. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 
• Time is precious. (Paczolay, 1997 p. 428)
• Time will tell.
  • "Talking nonsense is the sole privilege mankind possesses over the other organisms. It's by talking nonsense that one gets to the truth! I talk nonsense, therefore I'm human"
  • Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
• There is no time like the present. (18th century) (Citatboken)
  • Elkin, A. (1999). Stress management for dummies, John Wiley & Sons.
• There is nothing more precious than time and nothing more prodigally wasted. (Strauss 1994, p. 722)

Tomorrow

• Avoid the pleasure which will bite tomorrow.
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). "A". National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. p. 11. 
• Never put off till tomorrow what can be done today.
  • "It may be more difficult or sometimes even impossible to do something later, which can be easily done now." or "One can have time later for something else if a job is done now." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 87)
• Tomorrow is another day.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "tomorrow". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 835. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Tongue

• A still tongue makes a wise head.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "tomorrow". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Tools

• A bad workman blames his tools.
  • George Herbert reports early English variants in Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, Etc. (1640):
    • Never hand an ill workman good tools.
    • An ill labourer quarrels with his tools.
      • The Works of George Herbert in Prose and Verse; 1881, New York: John Wurtele Lovell, Pub.; pp. 440 & 454
  • Compare the older French proverb:
    • Outil: ... Meſchant ouvrier ne trouvera ia bons outils: Prov. A bungler cannot find (or fit himself with) with good tools.
      • Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611)
  • Galen explains clearly, if less succinctly, in De Causis Procatarcticis (2nd c. A.D.), VI. 63–65:
    • They blame their tools: why did the carpenter make the bed so badly, if he was any good? He will reply: "Because I used a poor axe and a thick gimlet, because I did not have a rule, I lost my hammer, and the hatchet was blunt", and other things of this kind. [...] And who does not know that artisans make themselves responsible for the deficiencies in their work too, when they cannot pin the blame on material and tools?
      • Galen On Antecedent Causes, Tr. R. J. Hankinson, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0521622506, p. 90–93
  • "A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."
  • Douglas Adams in Mostly Harmless (1992)
• Do not play with edged tools. (Strauss, 1994 p. 716)

Trade

• Jack of all trades and master of none.
  • George Bohn, Henry; Ray, John (1860). "J". A Hand-book of Proverbs: Comprising an Entire Republication of Ray's Collection of English Proverbs, with His Additions from Foreign Languages : and an Alphabetical Index, in which are Introduced Large Additions, as Well of Proverbs as of Sayings, Sentences, Maxims, and Phrases. p. 436. 

Treasure

• A good name is the best of all treasures. (Strauss, 1998 p. 20)

Tree

• People only throw stones at trees with fruit on them.
  • Emanuel Strauss (1994). "1292". Dictionary of European Proverbs. Taylor & Francis. p. 1008. ISBN 978-0-415-10381-7. 
• The apple never falls far from the tree.
  • "Children observe daily and — in their behaviour — often follow the example of their parents." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 259).
• There is no tree but bears some fruit. (Mawr, 1885 p. 131)

Trencher

• He that waits on another man's trencher, makes many a late dinner.
  • Ward, Caroline (1842). National Proverbs in the Principal Languages of Europe. p. 55. 

Trouble

• Never trouble trouble 'til trouble troubles you.
  • Anand Prahlad, Sw.; Prahlad, S. W. (1996). African-American Proverbs in Context. p. 254. ISBN 978-0-87805-890-7. 

Trust

• If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die.
  • "Advertising reaches out to touch the fantasy part of people's lives. And you know, most people's fantasies are pretty sad."
  • Frederik Pohl, The Way The Future Was (1978)
• Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 p.b72

Truth

• A half truth is a whole lie.
  • "Not telling the whole truth or saying something that is only partially true, is tantamount to lying."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Truth gives a short answer, lies go round about. (Strauss, 1994 p. 221)
  • "It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of the truth."
  • John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), Book IV, Ch. 7, sec. 11.
• The truth shall set you free, or The truth will set you free.
  • "Sustained by truth, man becomes a most sublime spectacle. Here is the foundation of all true eloquence and dignity - the conscience untrammeled gives boldness and majesty, and the whole soul rises to the glorious height of its own nobility."
  • Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 194. 
  • Second meaning: "Within reality is the possibility of our own personal miracle. Once we finally understand and accept the truth, the promise of the future is then freed from the shackles of deception, which held it in bondage."
  • Rohn, E. James (1991). The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. Jim Rohn International. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-939490-02-8. 
  • In the Bible, John 8:32.
• Truth is stranger than fiction.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "T". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. pp. 280–. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Truth may be blamed, but it shall never be shamed.
  • "A fellow who is always declaring he's no fool usually has his suspicions."
  • "Maxims Old and New", All of a Piece: New Essays (1937), edited by Edward Verrall Lucas, p. 52.
  • John Ray; John Belfour (1813). A complete collection of English proverbs: also, the most celebrated proverbs of the Scotch, Italian, French, Spanish, and other languages. 
• Truth seeks no corners.
  • "Because he needs no praise, wilt thou be dumb? Excuse not silence so, for truth lies in there."
  • William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's sonnets (1609)
  • Bartlett Jere Whiting (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. Harvard University Press. pp. 456. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 

Try

• You never know what you can do until you try.
  • "People are often surprised to discover what they are capable of when they make an effort." (Manser, 2007 p. 316)

Turn

• One good turn deserves another.
  • Kelly, James (1721). "O". Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs. p. 269. 

Two

• It takes two to make a quarrel.
  • "Neither part to an argument or dispute can be held individually responsible for causing it."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Two heads are better than one.
  • "A problem is more quickly solved if two people put their minds to it."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Valley

• He that stays in the valley will not get over the hill.
  • "I have not learned how to solve difficult business problems, but to avoid them. To the extent I have been successful, it is because I concentrated on identifying one-foot hurdles because I acquired any ability to clear seven-footers."
  • Warren Buffet, 1989 Chairman's Letter
  • Caroline Ward (1842). National proverbs in the principal languages of Europe. p. 55. 

Vat

• Let every vat stand upon its own bottom. (William Bullein)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 98. ISBN 9511109618

Vessel

• Empty vessels make the most sound.
  • "Stupid, 'empty headed' people - lacking due consideration - are often verbose." (Paczolay, 1997 p. 146)

Vicar

• The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray. (Manser, 2007 p. 286)

Vice

• Where vice goes before, vengeance follows after.

Village

• It takes a village to raise a child.
  • "The whole community plays a part in the upbringing of the children that live there."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Virtue

• Virtue which parleys is near a surrender.
  • Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721

Walk

• Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk.
  • "Don't boast of something if you are unwilling or unable to back it up by your actions."
  • Source for meaning; Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 24 August 2013. 
• Learn to walk before you run.
  • "It is necessary to learn the basics before progressing to more advanced things."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Walk softly, carry a big stick.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 752
• Walk the talk. (Manser, 2007)
  • "I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself."
  • Oscar Wilde, An Ideal Husband (1895), Act I.

War

• War is too important to be left to the generals.
  • "Therefore my tax-payer, resign yourself to this: that we may fight bravely, fight hard, fight long, fight cunningly, fight recklessly, fight in a hundred and fifty ways, but we cannot fight cheaply."
  • George Bernard Shaw, The Technique of War (1917)
  • Source for proverb and meaning: Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 19 June 2013. 

Waste

• Waste not, want not.
  • "If we don't waste what we've got now, we won't want or need more of it in the future."
  • Jane Caughey (2008). Write with Purpose: An approach to personal writing. Curriculum Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-74200-304-7. 
• Willful waste makes woeful want.
  • "Reckless extravagance leads to dire need."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 435. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Water

• Still water runs deep.
  • "Slow but steady work can achieve much." or "That a man says little does not mean that he does not think profoundly."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "78". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 373. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 
• Wade not in unknown waters.
  • "Never esteem anything as of advantage to you that will make you break your word or lose your self-respect."
  • Marcus Aurelius Meditations (c. 161–180 CE)
  • George Latimer Apperson (1 January 2005). Dictionary of Proverbs. Wordsworth Editions. p. 608. ISBN 978-1-84022-311-8. 

Web

• What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang (1992). "weave". A Dictionary of American Proverbs. p. 875. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 

Wealth

• All the wealth I had ran in my veins; I was a gentleman. (William Shakespeare)
  • Laine, Jarkko (toim.): Suuri sitaattisanakirja. Otava, 1989, p. 61. ISBN 9511109618

• Wealth rarely brings happiness. (Strauss, 1994 p. 670)

Whale

• Set a herring to catch a whale. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1134)

Wheel

• Don't try to reinvent the wheel.
  • The things you are doing, no matter how seemingly unique, has been done before. Take advantage of, and perhaps expand upon, your predecessors work.
  • Heacock, Paul (2003). Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms (Illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 512. ISBN 052153271X. 
• The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
  • "Those who complain the most loudly or persistently, or who make the most fuss, get what they want. "
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. pp. 252–. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Wife

• A cheerful wife is the spice of life. (Strauss, 1998 p. 20)
  • "There are only two kinds of women, the plain and the coloured."
  • Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Chapter III. Same in Woman of No Importance, Act III.
• Choose a wife rather by your ear than your eye. (Strauss, 1994 p. 655)
• The cobbler's wife is the worst shod.
  • "Working hard for others one may neglect one's own needs or the needs of those closest to him."
  • Paczolay, Gyula (1997). European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyo. 
• A man's best fortune or his worst is a wife. (Strauss, 1994 p. 65)
• He that will thrive must first ask his wife.
  • "A married man's financial situation, his success or failure in business, and the like often depend on the behavior and disposition of his wife."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Two things prolong your life: A quiet heart and a loving wife.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.

Will

• He that will not when he may, when he will he may have nay.
  • "Take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself, even if you do not want or need it at the time, because it may no longer be available when you do."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Kelly, Walter Keating (1859). Proverbs of all nations. W. Kent & co. (late D. Bogue). pp. 41. 
• Take the will for the deed. (Strauss, 1994 p. 881)
  • Judge by the well intentioned effort, and not it's effects.
• Where there is a will, there is a way.
  • Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited. p. 627

Win

• Slow and steady wins the race.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 734

Wind

• He that sows the wind shall reap the whirlwind.
  • "Trouble once started can spark off a chain reaction, often resulting in a great trouble out of control."
  • Source for meaning:Paczolay, Gyula (1997). "103". European proverbs: in 55 languages, with equivalents in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese. Veszprémi Nyomda. p. 459. ISBN 1-875943-44-7. 

Wine

• Life is too short (to drink bad wine).
  • Hoggart, S. (2009). Life's Too Short to Drink Bad Wine: 100 Wines for the Discerning Drinker, Quapuba.
• Good wine needs no bush.
  • It was customary since early times to hang a grapevine, ivy or other greenery over the door of a tavern or way stop to advertise the availability of drink within.
  • Martin (2010). Good Wine Needs No Bush. Arthur Bruce Martin. pp. 200. ISBN 0646539477. 
• Wine in , truth out. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Winning

• Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.
  • "A friend is always delighted at your success, provided it doesn't exceed his own."
  • Evan Esar, 20.000 Quips and Quotes (1995)
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 303. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Wise

• Some are wise and some are otherwise. (1659)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Wish

• Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
  • H. Manser, Martin (2007). "B". The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• The wish is father to the thought.
  • "With how much ease believe we what we wish!"
  • John Dryden, All for Love (1678)
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. 303

With

• He who is not with me is against me.
  • Originally from the Bible, Luke 11:23 and Matthew 12:30. Specificed as a proverb in (Strauss, 1994 p. 974)

Woeful

• Willful waste makes woeful want. (Wolfgang, 1992 p. 925)

Wolf

• The wolf finds a reason for taking the lamb. (Strauss, 1994, p. 68)
  • "When people behave badly they always invent a philosophy of life which represents their bad actions to be not bad actions at all, but merely results of unalterable laws beyond their control."
  • Leo Tolstoy, The Slavery of Our Times (1890)

Woman

• Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
  • "A woman who is rejected by the man she loves has an immense capacity for ferocious or malicious revenge."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 

Wood

• Touch wood. (20th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 189, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• You cannot see the wood for trees. (1546)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 187, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Word

• A word spoken is past recalling.
  • R. Stone, Jon (2006). The Routledge Book of World Proverbs. p. 482. ISBN 978-1-135-87054-6. 
• Deeds are fruits, words are but leaves.
  • "Mere words have no value unless they are followed by positive action."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 9 August 2013. 
• Fine words butter no parsnips.
  • "Mere words have no value unless they are followed by positive action."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. Retrieved on 9 August 2013. 
• Many a true word is spoken in jest.
  • Kelly, Walter Keating (1859). Proverbs of all nations. W. Kent & co. (late D. Bogue). p. 57. 
• Many words will not fill a bushel.
  • Ray, John (1670). A Collection of English Proverbs: Digested Into a Convenient Method for the Speedy Finding Anyone Upon Occasion; with Short Annotations. Whereunto are Added Local Proverbs with Their Explications, Old Proverbial Rhythmes, Less Known Or Exotic Proverbial Sentences, and Scottish Proverbs. p. 30. 
• No need of words, trust deeds. (Strauss, 1994 p. 91)
  • "Actions may be, and indeed sometimes are deceptive in a measure though not as much so as words; and accordingly are received in general as more full and satisfactory proofs of the real disposition and character of persons than verbal expressions."
  • Source for meaning:Porter, William Henry (1845). Proverbs: Arranged in Alphabetical Order .... Munroe and Company. p. 10. 

Work

• A woman's work is never done.
  • Jere Whiting, Bartlett (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. p. 494. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6. 
• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
  • "The NET is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it."
  • William Gibson Title of an article for New York Times Magazine (14 July 1996).
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American proverbs. pp. 710. , p. xxiv
• Many hands make light work. (Speak, 2009)
• No man is born into this world, whose work is not born with him. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1107)
• Quick at meat, quick at work. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1150)

Worm

• Tread on a worm and it will turn.
  • "The meanest or weakest person is not to be provoked or despised. No creature so small, weak, or contemptible, but if it be injured and abused will endeavour to revenge itself."
  • Ray, John (1813). A compleat collection of English proverbs. To which is added, A collection of English words not generally used. [2 pt. Interleaved, with MS. additions by F. Douce].. p. 176. 
  • "Speak with contempt of none, from slave to king,
    The meanest Bee hath, and will use, a sting."
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1743)

World

• It takes all sorts of people to make a world.
  • Mieder, Wolfgang; Kingsbury, Stewart A.; Harder, Kelsie B. (1992). A Dictionary of American Proverbs. Oxford University Press. p. 577. ISBN 978-0-19-505399-9. 
• Smile, and the world smiles with you; cry, and you cry alone.
  • "Cheerful people never lack company, but miserable people are shunned by others."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Spurgeon, Charles Haddon (June 1968). American proverbs, maxims & folk sayings. Applied Arts. p. 24. 
• Take all things as they come and be content.
  • "We should not plan and then try to make circumstances fit those plans. Instead we should make plans fit the circumstances."
  • George S. Patton, War as I Knew It (1947)
  • John Heywood; Rudolph E. Habenicht (1963). A Dialogue of Proverbs: Edited, with Introd., Commentary, and Indexes. by Rudolph E. Habenicht. University of California Press. p. 284. 

Worth

• He is worth his weight in gold. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

Wrong

• If anything can go wrong, it will.
  • "If there is the remotest possibility of failure or disaster, you can be sure that it will happen."
  • Manser, Martin H. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
• Two wrongs don't make a right.
  • K. Singh, Anup (2017). Dictionary of Proverbs. Neelkanth Prakashan. p. 48. GGKEY:3DUS38CW7YC. 

Wound

• It is not wise to open old wounds.
  • Mawr, E.B. (1885). Analogous Proverbs in Ten Languages. p. 45. 

Youth

• Diligent youth makes easy age.
  • "Young people should take the opportunity to do all the things they will be unable to do when they're older."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "1605". Dictionary of European proverbs. II. Routledge. p. 1151. ISBN 0415096243. 
• Reckless youth makes rueful age.
  • "Young people should take the opportunity to do all the things they will be unable to do when they're older."
  • Martin H. Manser (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs. Infobase Publishing. p. 318. ISBN 978-0-8160-6673-5. 
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "1605". Dictionary of European proverbs. II. Routledge. p. 1151. ISBN 0415096243. 
• They who would be young when they are old must be old when they are young.
  • "I rather regret something I've done than something I had wish I have done."
  • AvFumio Sasaki, Goodbye, Things: On Minimalist Living (2017)
  • Strauss, Emanuel (1994). "1605". Dictionary of European proverbs. II. Routledge. p. 1151. ISBN 0415096243. 
• Young men may die, old men must. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Young men think old men fools, and old men know young men to be so. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Young saint, old devil. (15th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1
• Youth and age will never agree. (16th century)
  • Citatboken, Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1967, p. 190, ISBN 91-27-01681-1

References

• • Strauss, Emmanuel (1998). Dictionary of European Proverbs. Routledge. p. 103. ISBN 0415160502. 

See also

• Irish proverbs
• Jamaican proverbs
• Maori proverbs
• Scots proverbs
• Welsh proverbs

External links

• Proverb Hunter English Proverbs Explained
• Proverbs and their meanings
• English Proverbs Center Over 2000 English proverbs and Sayings.