Famous British Proverbs Sayings

Truth will come to light.

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Never lend that thing you most need.

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It is not work that kills, but worry.

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Poison is poison though it comes in a golden cup.

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The cow that's first up gets the first of the dew.

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Birds of a feather flock together.

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Arthur could not tame woman's tongue.

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What's in your wame's not in your testament.

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He who wants a mule without fault, must walk on foot.

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Absence is the mother of disillusion.

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Love is full of fear.

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Never refuse a good offer.

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Fortune is weary to carry one and the same man always.

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He who wills the end, wills the means.

Understand is better than stare.

When a ewie's drowned she's dead.

Policy goes beyond strength.

A penny-weight of love is worth a pound of law.

When a snake gets warm on ice, then a German will wish well to a Czech.

The cowl does not make the monk.

Authority shows the man.

It is profound ignorance that inspires the dogmatic tone.

Biting and scratching is Scots folk's wooing.

Love is the true reward of love.

Unprofitable is a fever of the world.

When a thing is done, advice comes too late.

A man is known to be mortal by two things, sleep and lust.

He who works begins well; he who economises ends better.

The crutch of time does more than the club of Hercules.

Adversity is the touchstone of virtue.

It is too late to call back yesterday.

Poor men go to heaven as soon as rich.

Vice is often clothed in virtue's habit.

When all fruits fails, welcome haws.

Never too late to learn.

From a choleric man withdraw a little; from him that says nothing for ever.

A word to the wise is enough.

Health and gaiety foster beauty.

Weel kens the mouse when pussie's in.

The customer is always right.

A heavy purse makes a light heart.

When children stand quiet, they have done some ill.

Love lasts as long as money endures.

It should be better to blame friends at a distance.

The descent to hell is easy.

Bad news travels fast.

Weigh justly and sell dearly.

Health is not valued till sickness comes.

Give credit where credit is due.

A poor man's table is soon spread.

It takes two to tango.

The face is no index to the heart.

Possession is nine points of the law.

When drink's in wit's out.

Blue are the faraway hills.

New meat begets a new appetite.

Love laughs at locksmiths.

Weil worth aw, that gars the plough draw.

After a typhoon there are pears to gather up.

Hear twice before you speak once.

The fewer the words, the better the prayer.

No garden without its weeds.

A bad shearer never had a good sickle.

When it thunders in March, it brings sorrow.

Gluttony kills more than the sword.

Poverty is an enemy to good manners.

Welcome is the best dish.

A woman's advice is no great thing, but he who won't take it is a fool.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

A horn spoon holds no poison.

No living man all things can.

Well goes the case when wisdom counsels.

Heresy is the school of pride.

Love me little, love me long.

Bashfulness is an enemy to poverty.

The greatest step is that out of doors.

Gold dust blinds all eyes.

Poverty is no disgrace, but it is a great inconvenience.

Wha canna gie will little get.

After-wit is dear bought.

Heresy may be easier kept out than shook off.

A beggar can never be bankrupt.

No man better knows what good is than he who has endured evil.

When love cools fauts are seen.

The grey mare is the better horse.

Maidens should be meek till they be married.

What canna be cured maun be endured.

Gold is part of a plot.

Bob's your uncle.

When money speaks the world is silent.

Poverty wants many things, and avarice all.

High places have their precipices.

Burn not your house to fright the mouse away.

The guest who outstays his fellow-guests loses his overcoat.

What greater crime than loss of time?

Good fame is better than a good face.

Make hay while the sun shines.

Present to the eye, present to the mind.

No man can make his own good luck.

When people have but little property, they take good care of it.

A pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt.

Debts remain from day to day.

What may be done at ony time will be done at nae time.

Hoist your sail when the wind is fair.

A man may say too much, even upon the best subjects.

The healthful man can give counsel to the sick.

Good fences make good neighbours.

Make not your sail too big for the ballast.

When the cat's away the mice will play.

Delays are not denials.

Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Beauty and folly go often in company.

Good men suffer much.

The joy of the heart makes the face fair.

What the church doesn't take, the exchequer carries away.

No man can play the fool so well as the wise man.

A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm.

Put new wine into old bottles..

Man learns little from success, but much from failure.

Good wine needs no bush.

What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.

All is not lost that is in danger.

The little cannot be great unless he devour many.

Do no business with a kinsman.

British Proverbs List

The best things in life are free.

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He who peeps through a hole, may see what will vex him.

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Fortune is blind.

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When the cow has been sold with firmness you may relax for a while and go for a better one.

Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.

A black plum is as sweet as a white.

Burning the candle at both ends.

No man has a worse friend than he brings from home.

Put not fire to flax.

The longer we live, the more wonders we see.

What we first learn we best ken.

Man, woman, and devil, are the three degrees of comparison.

A cat has nine lives.

Hope is grief's best music.

When the cup is full, carry it even.

Don't cross the bridge till you get to it.

Beauty is eloquent even when silent.

No man is indispensable.

Hope often deludes the foolish man.

The longest at the fire soonest finds cold.

Manners make often fortunes.

A house is a fine house when good folks are within.

No man so wise but he may be deceived.

Don't cross your bridges before you come to them.

When troubles are few, dreams are few.

Quarrelsome dogs get dirty coats.

How can the foal amble if the horse and mare trot?

Ambition makes people diligent.

Many a cloud has a silver lining.

The love of money and the love of learning rarely meet.

Good words cost nought.

Don't eat the calf in the cow's belly.

A wise man is a great wonder.

When war begins, then hell opens.

No mischief but a woman or a priest is at the bottom of it.

Idle folks have the least leisure.

Raise no more devils than you can lay.

The love of the wicked is more dangerous than their hatred.

Where coin is not common, provisions can be scant.

Grace will last, beauty will blast.

Many a good cow has an evil calf.

A problem shared is a problem halved.

If fools went not to market, bad wares would not be sold.

No one ought to be judge in his own cause.

Religion, credit, and the eye are not to be touched.

A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.

Where drums beat, laws are dumb.

Grass grows not upon the highway.

If the dog is not at home, he barks not.

The man who is ready to lend is the beggar's brother.

Beauty's sister is vanity, and its daughter lust.

Many a one blames his wife for his own unthrift.

Remorse is lust's dessert.

It was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Where old age is evil, youth can learn no good.

No pleasure without pain.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Ambition makes people scorn rustic living.

The married man has many cares, the unmarried one many more.

Many a one for land takes a fool by the hand.

Great birth is a very poor dish at table.

Where there is no trust there is no love.

Business is business.

The money you refuse will never do you good.

No root, no fruit.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

A cheerful wife is a joy of life.

Handsome is as handsome does.

A man may woo where he will, but he will wed where his luck lies.

Where there's a will there's a way.

Repentance is good, but innocence is better.

Keep good men company, and you shall be of the number.

The more cost, the more honour.

No rose without a thorn.

If you always say "No', you'll never be married.

Many a one says well that thinks ill.

Don't meet troubles half-way.

A child's service is little, yet he is no little fool that despises it.

If you sell your purse to your wife, give your trousers into the bargain.

Where there's marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.

Many a true word is spoken in jest.

The old should not be overfed.

Drive your business, do not let it drive you.

Keep something for a rainy day.

No summer, but has its winter.

Rich folk have many friends.

He is an ill husband who is not missed.

Where your will is ready, your feet are light.

Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails.

If you will learn news, you must go to the oven or the mill.

Who comes uncalled, sits unserved.

Keep something for the sore foot.

The opera isn't over till the fat lady sings.

An army of stags led by a lion would be more formidable than one of lions led by a stag.

Many dogs may easily worry one hare.

If you would know the value of a ducat, try to borrow one.

No wrong without a remedy.

A ragged colt may make a good horse.

Kill not the goose that lays the golden egg.

Riches take away more pleasures than they give.

Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

The owl thinks her own young fairest.

Who goes a beast to Rome, a beast returns.

He is lifeless that is faultless.

None so deaf as those who will not hear.

The peacock has fair feathers, but foul feet.

By continually striving for the best, one may waste good opportunities.

Many lords, many laws.

If you yourself can do it, attend no other's help or hand.

Salt water and absence wash away love.

A wise man cares not for what he cannot have.

Who goes softly goes safely, and he that goes safely goes far.

Kings have many ears and many eyes.

The Peerage is the Englishman's Bible.

Not a few proverbs are dear children of experience.

Dying men speak true.

He is the best general who makes the fewest mistakes.

Many women, many words; many geese, many turds.

An atheist is one point beyond the devil.

Seek and you shall find.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Nothing enters into a close hand.

If youth knew what age would crave, it would both get and save.

Better cut the shoe than pinch the foot.

He is wise that has wit enough for his own affairs.

Easter so longed for is gone in a day.

Ill comes often on the back of worse.

Who has a woman has an eel by the tail.

A house well-furnished makes a woman wise.

He is wise that is honest.

Marriage halves our griefs, doubles our joys, and quadruples our expenses.

The remembrance of past sorrows is joyful.

Seek much, and get something; seek little, and get nothing.

Wife and children are bills of charges.

A crown is no cure for the headache.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Ell and tell is good merchandise.

He is wise that is ware in time.

With customs we live well, but laws undo us.

Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts.

Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist.

Marry in haste, and repent at leisure.

The rich knows not who is his friend.

Seek that which may be found.

A rich man's joke is not always funny.

Nurture and good manners makes man.

Ill words are bellows to a slackening fire.

Better go to heaven in rags than to hell in embroidery.

With great learning, a horse, and money, you may travel the world.

Seldom seen, soon forgotten.

He keeps his road well enough who gets rid of bad company.

The rich man has his ice in the summer and the poor man gets his in the winter.

Marry your like.

An eel by his tail, an Irishman at his word.

Labour is light where love pays.

Obedience is much more seen in little things than in great.

In many words, the truth goes by.

With Latin, a horse, and money, you may travel the world.

Children learn to creep before they can go.

The rich man may dine when he will, the poor man when he may.

He must have leave to speak who cannot hold his tongue.

Law is a lickpenny.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

With patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown.

Of a thorn springs not a fig.

Marry your son when you will, your daughter when you can.

A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple.

Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride to the devil.

He plays best that wins.

Wives must be had, be they good or bad.

Meat is much, but manners is better.

A man of great memory without learning. has a distaff and a spindle, and no stuff to spin.

Of soup and love, the first is the best.

The rich man spends his money, the poor man his strength.

In the eyes of the lover, pock-marks are dimples.

Sin is the root of much sorrow.

Wonder at your auld shoon when ye hae gotten your new.

Every man will have his own turn served.

He that brings good news, knocks hard.

Meddle not with another man's matter.

A vain belief, unprofitable.

The riches of the mind may make a man rich and happy.

It early pricks that will be a thorn.

Words and feathers the wind carries away.

Better hand loose than in an ill tethering.

Old age doesn't protect from folly.

Small birds must have meat.

Lawyers' gowns are lined with the wilfulness of their clients.

Command your man, and do it yourself.

He that cannot do better, must be a monk.

The skilfullest wanting money is scorned.

Medicines are not meat to live by.

A rich man's money often hangs him.

Words are but wind, but blows unkind.

It is a great point of wisdom to find out one's own folly.

Laziness goes so slowly that poverty overtakes it.

Every one thinks his sack heaviest.

The strong man and the waterfall channel their own path.

An honest man's word is as good as his bond.

Old age is a hospital that takes in all diseases.

Soft fire makes sweet malt.

He that complies against his will, is of his own opinion still.

A fair wife and a frontier castle breed quarrels.

Work for nought makes folks dead lazy.

Men are best loved furthest off.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

It is a proud horse that will not bear his own provender.

Better keep now than seek anon.

It is a poor wood that has never a withered bough in it.

The wind in one's face makes one wise.

Lead a pig to the Rhine, it remains a pig.

Old be, or young die.

Counsel must be followed, not praised.

He that enquires all opinions, comes ill speed.

Wrath often consumes what goodness husbands.

Men are not angels.

Let every sheep hang by his own shank.

Every tub must stand on its own bottom.

The world still he keeps at his staff's end that needs not to borrow and never will lend.

It is a sorry flock where the ewe bears the bell.

Sometimes clemency is cruelty, and cruelty clemency.

Ye ca' hardest at the nail that drives fastest.

A man that breaks his word, bids others be false to him.

He that gapes until he be fed, well may he gape till he be dead.

Men get wealth and women keep it.

Old love will not be forgotten.

There comes nothing out of the sack but what was there.

Ye hae been smelling the bung.

A gentleman ought to travel abroad, but dwell at home.

It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.

Better late than never.

Soon learnt, soon forgotten.

Ye hae the best end a' the string.

Let him that pays the reckoning choose the lodging.

Men make houses, women make homes.

There is a remedy for everything, could men find it.

Every why has a wherefore.

Sound advice had better be welcome.

Ye learn your father to get bairns.

He that has no children brings them up well.

Old men, when they marry young women, make much of death.

An ill tongue may do much.

It is best to be off with the old love before you are on with the new.

Ye may be heard where ye're no seen.

There is no blindness like ignorance.

Mettle is dangerous in a blind horse.

Spare to speak and spare to speed.

A truly great man never puts away the simplicity of a child.

Let my lamp at midnight hour be seen in some high lonely tower.

He that has no good trade, it is to his loss.

A hungry man is glad to get boiled wheat.

Ye should be a king of your word.

There's always room at the top.

Old saws speak truth.

It is best to be on the safe side.

Mind other men, but most yourself.

Such beginning, such end.

Craft must have clothes, but truth loves to go naked.

On painting and fighting look aloof.

Ye'll be hang'd and I'll be harried.

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

He that has the spice, may season as he list.

A good archer is not known by his arrows, but his aim.

They that are bound must obey.

Let the bait hide the hook.

It is better to be a beggar than a fool.

Sweet are the uses of adversity.

Ye'll neither dee for your wit nor be drowned for a warlock.

Everything is good in its season.

An inch of gold will not buy an inch of time.

On the day of victory no fatigue is felt.

Misery loves company.

They think a calf a large beast that never saw a cow.

Better spare to have of your own, than ask of other men.

He that is ill to himself will be good to nobody.

Ye'll no sell your hen in a rainy day.

Misfortunes come of themselves.

A good lawyer, an evil neighbour.

Take heed is a fair thing.

It is easy to bear the misfortunes of others.

Thinking is very far from knowing.

Once a use and ever a custom.

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.

Life is not all beer and skittles.

Misfortune is not that which can be avoided, but that which cannot.

Experience is the mother of wisdom.

He that lives in hope dances to an ill tune.

Tell not all you know, all you have, or all you can do.

A surgeon experiments on the heads of orphans.

Those far, far away are seldom seen for what they really are.

You can't tell a book by its cover.

It is good grafting on a good stock.

Crowns have cares.

One acre of performance, is worth twenty of the land of promise.

A man without reason is a beast in season

Life is short and time is swift.

You cannot catch old birds with chaff.

It is good sheltering under an old hedge.

Eyes are bigger than your belly.

A lean fee is a fit reward for a lazy clerk.

That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait.

One can love and be wise.

You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.

Fair words will not make the pot boil.

Better to ask the way than go astray.

Though old and wise, yet still advise.

Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.

An old cart well used may outlast a new one abused.

You may break a horse's back, be he never so strong.

Fair exchange is no robbery.

One good turn deserves another.

It is good to have a hatch before the door.

Custom without reason is but ancient error.

He that lives well is learned enough.

That sick man is not to be pitied who has his cure in his sleeve.

A sharp stomach makes short devotion.

Misfortunes hasten age.

You win some, you lose some.

He that makes a good war, makes a good peace.

Better to have than wish.

Times change and we with them.

One kindness is the price of another.

Like counsellor, like counsel.

Yourself first, others afterward.

A good paymaster never wants workmen.

He that marries ere he be wise, will die ere he thrive.

Money makes the pot boil.

Far from court, far from care.

That's the last straw.

A straight stick looks crooked in the water.

Youth never casts for peril.

It is good to marry late or never.

One man's meat is another man's poison.

Better to pay and have little than have much and be in debt.

The absent are always in the wrong.

An ounce of luck is worth a pound of wisdom.

He that nothing questions, nothing learns.

To be good tends to give absence later on.

Much coin, much care.

Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse.

Literature is a good staff but a bad crutch.

Few lawyers die well, few physicians live well.

One swallow does not make a summer.

A man's studies pass into his character.

The absent party is always to blame.

It is hard to sail over the sea in an egg-shell.

He that pities another remembers himself.

To bow the body is easy, to bow the will is hard.

A small leak will sink a great ship.

Much science, much sorrow.

One thief will not rob another.

It is height makes Grantham steeple stand awry.

Finders keepers, losers seekers.

Little and often fills the purse.

To dead men and absent there are no friends left.

He that puts on a public gown must put off a private person.

Better untaught than ill taught.

It is ill sitting at Rome and striving against the Pope.

The absent saint gets no candle.

Little intermeddling makes good friends.

One's own fire is pleasant.

Much travel is needed to ripen a man's rawness.

An ounce of mother is worth a ton of priest.

Today is the scholar of yesterday.

He that rises late, must trot all day.

Opportunity makes the thief.

The air of a window is as the stroke of a cross-bow.

A little body often harbours a great soul.

He that seeks a horse or a wife without fault, has neither steed in his stable nor angel in his bed.

Live and let live.

A solitary man is either a beast or an angel.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

First things first.

It is no sin to sell dear, but a sin to give ill measure.

Out of debt, out of danger.

The ant had wings to her hurt.

Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin.

Too much hope deceives.

Anger begins with folly, and ends with repentance.

He that speaks ill of the mare would buy her.

Better wit than wealth.

Long absence and guilt can change a friend.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Too much money makes one mad.

He that stays in the valley, shall never get over the hill.

The bait hides the hook.

A good paymaster never wants workmen.

Too much of ought is good for nought.

First try and then trust.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

He that tells his wife news, is but newly married.

Out of the frying pan into the fire.

Long visits bring short compliments.

Train up a child in the way he should go.

A handful of good life, is better than a bushel of learning.

It is no time to stoop when the head is off. *

The best advice is found on the pillow.

Beware of "Had I known".

He that will be rich before night, may be hanged before noon.

Anger is a short madness.

Pay what you owe and you'll know what you're worth.

He that will not be counselled, cannot be helped.

Truth fears no trial

Never be boastful; someone may pass who knew you as a child.

Fly that pleasure which pains afterward.

Truth has a scratched face.

Look to yourself when your neighbour's house is on fire.

It is not the beard that makes the philosopher.

A mother's love never ages.

The best payment is on the peck bottom.

He that woos a widow must woo her day and night.

Peace makes plenty.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Truth has always a sure bottom.

He that would be old long, must be old betimes.

Love begets love.

Fools build houses, and wise men buy them.

He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens.

Pleasures shorten tedious nights.

Truth is a spectre that scares many.

Appear in your own colours, that folk may know you.

He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.

Love covers many infirmities.

Truth needs not the ornament of many words.

Birds in their little nests agree.

Plenty breeds pride.

It is not what is he, but what has he.

Truth often hides in an ugly pool.

Love is as strong as death.

Never lay sorrow to your heart when others lay it to their heels.

The best remedy against an ill man, is much ground between.