Italian Proverbs Love work Friendship

He who tells his own affairs will hardly keep secret those of others.

One knife keeps another in its sheath.

From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.

Tell your secret to your friend and he will set his foot on your neck.

He who sleeps catches no fish.

He would sell even his share of the sun.

Don't judge a horse by its harness.

Stretch your arm no further than your sleeve will reach.

A drowning man would catch at razors.

Save something for the man that rides on the white horse.

Starlings are lean because they go in flocks.

Patience is a flower that grows not in everyone's garden.

Some many heads, so many brains.

Open thy mouth that I may know thee.

So good that he is good for nothing.

Look not out for dead men's shoes.

It is easy robbing when the dog is quieted.

The bucket goes so often to the well that it leaves its handle there.

Far from the eyes, far from the heart.

The tree is not felled at one blow.

He who enjoys good health is rich, though he knows it not.

The gown does not make the friar.

Sweet meat requires sour sauce.

Evil be to him who evil thinks.

That is pleasant to remember which was hard to endure.

Learned fools are the greatest fools.

Some who just tell tales of themselves.

A braying ass eats little hay.

He who has no patience, has nothing at all.

He who sups with the devil must have a long spoon.

Glowworms are not lanterns.

One pair of ears would exhaust a hundred tongues.

Take care you don't let your tail be caught in the door.

Italian Saying in English

Once resolved, the trouble is over.

A cage made of gold does not feed the bird inside of it.

Measure three times and cut once.

He that is kinder than he was wont hath a design upon thee.

It is not for the blind to give an opinion on colors.

Don't sell the bearskin before you have caught the bear.

He that exceeds his commission must answer for it at his own cost.

Who cannot beat the horse let him beat the saddle.

An old ox makes a straight furrow.

Drop by drop wears away the stone.

He that marries a widow with four children marries four thieves.

Beware the person with nothing to lose.

He takes out a nail and puts in a pin.

Where there is nothing to gain, there is a lot to lose.

A solitary man is either a beast or an angel.

He knows where the devil carries his tail.

Eating and drinking Shouldn't keep us from thinking.

It is too late to come with water when the house is burnt down.

A doctor and a clown know more than a doctor alone.

Who paints me before blackens me behind.

Boil stones in butter, and you may sip the broth.

He that reckons without his host must reckon again.

A good horse cannot be of a bad color.

Who throws a stone at the sky, it falls back on his head.

He preaches well who lives well.

Beware of one who has nothing to lose.

A small woman always seems newly married.

Knowledge has bitter roots but sweet fruits.

An old dog does not grow used to the collar.

Break the legs of an evil custom.

Wise men learn by other men's mistakes, fools by their own.

He that seeks to have many friends never has any.

Empty vessels make most noise.

A living dog is been than a dead lion.

A beautiful woman smiling, bespeaks a purse weeping.

He knocks boldly at the door who brings good news.

Buy the bed of a great debtor.

He that will not strive in this world should not have come into it.

Even a fly has its spleen.

Wolves have howled at the moon for centuries, yet it is still there.

A drop of water breaks a stone.

When the tree is down every one runs to it with a hatchet to cut wood.

A thing done has a head.

Between two cowards, the first to detect the other has the advantage.

Words are female, deeds are male.

He that would have the fruit, must climb the tree.

A fools knows his own business better than a wise man knows that of others.

He who eats alone dies alone.

He is the world's master who despises it, its slave who prizes it.

Anger can be an expensive luxury.

He who sleeps well does not feel the fleas.

He who blows dust fills his eyes with it.

By lamplight every country wench seems handsome.

You cannot damage a wrecked whip.

Even among the apostles there was a Judas.

Between the hand and the mouth the soup is spilt.

Life is half spent before we know what it is.

When his head is broken he puts on his helmet.

He who buys by the pennyworth keeps his own house and other men's too.

Better untaught than ill taught.

He is not free who drags his chain after him.

You must grease the wheels if you would have the car run.

An ass's trot does not last long.

Even old foxes are caught in the snare.

A short tail won't keep off flies.

Wealth is not his who makes it, but his who enjoys it.

By their marks the bales are known.

He who chastises one threatens a hundred.

A good thing lost is valued.

A blind man is not judge of colours.

He is not a good mason who refuses any stone.

Better to fall from the window than the roof.

Look for the hog at the oak.

Even the sea. great as it is, grows calm.

A man's own opinion is never wrong.

War makes robbers, and peace hangs them.

He who does as he likes has no headache.

Although the sun shines, leave not your cloak at home.

He is in search of a ram with five feet.

A traveler may lie with authority.

Chastise the good and he will mend, chastise the bad and he will grow worse.

Various are the roads to fame.

He is a good dog who goes to church.

A great man will not trample on a worm, nor sneak to an emperor.

He who doth the injury never forgives the injured man.

Every bird thinks its own nest beautiful.

Any water will put out fire.

He who serves the public has a sorry master.

Better one day as a lion than a hundred as a sheep.

He is a fool who does not know from what quarter the wind blows.

Trust not the praise of a friend nor the contempt of an enemy.

Every ditch is full of your after-wits.

Your enemy makes you wiser.

A little stone overturns a great cart.

He who excuses, accuses himself.

Christmas comes but once a year.

He hangs the May-branch at every door.

A beetle is a beauty in the eyes of his mother.

All the honey a bee gathers during its lifetime doesn't sweeten its sting.

He devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil.

Arms carry peace.

Consolation, for the condemned, is to be one of many.

He who goes slowly goes safely and goes far.

To have luck needs little wit.

A gold key opens every door.

Every glowworm is not a fire.

Better is an enemy to well.

Many a one leaves the roast who afterwards longs for the smoke of it.

A mild sheep is suck by every lamb.

Have two strings to your bow.

A sailor must have his eye trained to the rocks and sands as well as the north star.

Credit is dead, bad pay killed it.

Hatred renewed is worse than at first.

He that would heal a wound must not handle it.

A book whos sale's forbidden all men rush to see, and prohibition turns one reader into three.

Every man is nearest himself.

Marriages are not as they are made, but as they turn out.

Better give a penny then lend twenty.

It is no use crying over spilt milk.

He who has a glass roof should not throw stones at his neighbour's.

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

Hard with hard makes not the stone wall.

A voluntary burthen is no burthen.

Every one can navigate in fine weather.

Three women and a goose make a market.

Happiness that lasts too long spoils the heart.

As the snow melts the filth shows through.

Criticizing another's garden doesn't keep the weeds out of your own.

A liar is sooner caught than a cripple.

Grief pent up will burst the heart.

Every one gives himself credit for more brains than he has, and less money.

He who has a tongue, may go to Rome.

Better be the head of a cat than the tail of a lion.

Misfortune does not always result in harm.

There's no smoke with fire.

A bad agreement is better than a good lawsuit.

Speak not ill of the year until it is past.

Great cry and little wool, as the man said who shaved the sow.

Curses are like processions: they return to whence they set out.

Every one thinks himself without sin because he has not those of others.

Many are brave when the enemy flies.

He who has money to throw away, let him employ workmen, and not stand by.

Misfortunes, when asleep, are not to be awakened.

A rakish bachelor makes a jealous husband.

Mouth shut and eyes open.

Every rose has its thorn.

A mouse will scare a thief.

For the flying enemy a golden bridge.

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Faith in a lord, a cap for the fool.

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Love knows not labour.

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Love me love my dog.

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Love rules without law.

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Love is master of all arts.

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Love rules without rules.

Love levels all inequalities.

Love is blind but sees afar.

Lovers think others are blind.

Love me little and love me long.

Love your friend with his faults.

Love kills time and time kills love.

Love is an excuse for its own faults.

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Love and lordship like no fellowship.

Lovers' purses are tied with cobwebs.

Love demands faith, and faith firmness.

Love rules his kingdom without a sword.

Love, a cough, and smoke, are hard to hide.

Love is the true price at which love is bought.

Love's merchandise is jealousy and broken faith.

Love begins with song and music and ends in a sea of tears.

Love, should i escape your snares, i doubt that i can be trapped by any other means.

Who loves the tree loves the branch.

A lover's anger is short-lived.

Who loves, fears.

Who loves, believes.

Anger increases love.

True love never grows old.

Where love is there the eye is.

He loves well who does not forget.

Counsel is nothing against love.

As is the lover so is the beloved.

Let him not be a lover who has not courage.

Absence is the enemy of love.

Likeness is the mother of love.

There is no love like the first love.

Who loves well chastises well.

He who is not impatient is not in love.

He saith little that loveth much.

The man who loves is easy of belief.

In the war of love who flies conquers.

There is no love without jealousy.

Who suffers from love, feels no pain.

Who loves to roam may lose his home.

We love the treason but hate the traitor.

The cat loves fish, but is loth to wet her feet.

Choose neither a lover nor linen by candlelight.

Happy is she who is in love with an old dotard.

Who has no children does not know what love is.

The more physical the love, the more sublime.

Everyone loves justice in the affairs of another.

Absence is a foe to love; out of sight out of mind.

Where there is great love there is great pain.

Who has love in his heart has spurs in his sides.

Does your neighbour love you? Lend him a sequin.

You will not be loved if you think of yourself alone.

The purse of loved ones is tied with a gossamer thread.

It is better to have a husband without love than jealous.

It is all one whether you die of sickness or of love.

Where there is equality there never can be perfect love.

In a thousand pounds of law there is not one ounce of love.

If you want to buy love, love itself is the price you'll have to pay.

Absence is a foe to love; away from the eyes, away from the heart.

A woman who loves to be at the window is like a bunch of grapes on the wayside.

Vexations, duly borne, Are but as trials, which heaven's love to man Sends for his good.

Hard work never did anyone any harm.

A cask of wine works more miracles than a church full of saints.

He who would rest must work.

Every excuse is good, if it works.

All saints do not work miracles.

He who works by himself does the work of three.

If I sleep, I sleep for myself; if I work, I know not for whom.

The workman is known by his work.

If you would have your work ill done, pay beforehand.

The end praises the work.

It is not the long day, but the heart that does the work.

Don't believe in the saint unless he works miracles.

At the end of the work you may judge of the workmen.

The saint has no believers unless he works miracles.

If the hours are long enough and the pay is short enough, someone will say it's women's work.

He cries wine, and sells vinegar.

A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.

When wine sinks, words swim.

Thick wine is better than clear water.

Beware of the vinegar of sweet wine.

Sometimes the lees are better than the wine.

When wine enters modesty departs.

Beware of vinegar made of sweet wine.

In wine there is truth.

Wine is old men's milk.

Good wine needs no bush.

The cask can give no other wine that that it contains.

Drink water like an ox, wine like the king of Spain.

He who likes drinking is always talking of wine.

When the wine is in, the wit is out.

Good wine makes good blood.

Old wine and friends improve with age.

When wine comes in, modesty leaves.

He that makes himself dirt is trod on by the swine.

Strong is the vinegar of sweet wine.

Drink wine and let water go to the mill.

When the wine's in the wit's out.

He is a fool who boasts of four things: that he has good wine, a good horse, a handsome wife, and plenty of money.

Friends tie their purses with a spider's web.

Friends are known in time of need.

Friendships are cheap when they can be brought by doffing the hat.

Friendship should be unpicked, not rent.

Friends are like fiddle-strings; they must not be screwed too tight.

Friends in need are friends indeed.

Better one true friend than a hundred relatives.

To preserve friendship, one must build walls.

A true friend, is one that will take a bullet for you in the war.

Peel a fig for your friend, a peach for your enemy.

Give your friend a pig and your enemy a peach.

Who would have many friends let him test but few.

A clear bargain, a dear friend.

The unfortunate know who are their real friends.

God keep me from my friends, from my enemies I will keep myself.

Rather have a little one for your friend, than a great one for your enemy.

Everybody's friend, nobody's friend.

When a friend asks, there is no tomorrow.

Beat the churl and he will be your friend.

Reconciled friendship is a wound ill salved.

The priest's friend loses his faith, the doctor's his health, and the lawyer's his fortune.

It is good to have friends everywhere.

You will never have a friend if you must have one without faults.

A friend is not known till he is lost.

Money and friendship break the arms of justice.

One enemy is too many, and a hundred friends are too few.

Save us from our friends.

When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing.

A friend, and look to thyself.

One enemy is too much for a man, and a hundred friends too few.

Where shall a man have a worse friend than he brings from home.

Speak well of your friend; of your enemy neither well nor ill.

Old friends are always new.

Beat the rogue and he will be your friend.

The friendship of the great is fraternity with lions.

One enemy is too much, and a hundred friends are not enough.

The poor is hated by his neighbour, but the rich hath many friends.

You can live without a brother but not without a friend.

Small rain lays a great wind.

Everyone thinks his own cross is heaviest.

God helps him who helps himself.

A cat that licks the spit is not to be trusted with roast meat.

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Even the fool says a wise word sometimes.

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Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.

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He that is busy is tempted but by one devil, he that is idle by a legion.

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A man of words and not of deeds Is like a garden full of weeds.

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Don't play with the bear if you don't want to be bit.

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It is no time to play chess when the house is on fire.

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Blessed is the misfortune that comes alone.

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Who has never done thinking never begins doing.

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A gift delayed, and long expected, is not given, but sold dear.

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He that has time, has life.

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Who excuses himself accuses himself.

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A closed mouth catches no flies.

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Every ten years one man has need of another.

Good watch prevents misfortune.

Better alone than in bad company.

Delays are dangerous.

There goes more to marriage than four bare legs in a bed.

He who holds a ladder is as bad as the thief.

Never do that by proxy which you can do yourself.

A jade eats as much as a good horse.

The house completed, possession defeated.

Every time history repeats itself the price goes up.

Asking costs little.

Dirty water will quench fire.

If only I were a bird! Ah, but eating caterpillars? If someone betrays you once, it's his fault. If he betrays you twice, it's your fault.

If the young man knew, if the old man could, there is nothing but would be done.

The world is for him who has patience.

Good company on the road is the shortest of short cuts.

He who is born with a weak intellect and a goiter can never be cured.

All is not butter that comes from the cow.

For an honest man half his wits are enough; the whole is too little for a knave.

I will do what I can, and a little less, to be able to continue at it.

Never rub your eye but with your elbow.

A woman who cries, a man who swears, a horse that sweats, all imposture.

The tongue goes to where the tooth aches.

Bend the tree while it is young.

God sends us the meat, but it is the Devil who sends us cooks.

Every vine must have its stake.

He who is the offender is never the forgiver.

A heavy shower is soon over.

I protect myself from my enemies; may God protect me from my friends.

Italian Proverb in English

The same fire purifies gold and consumes straw.

Do not give the dog bread every time he wags his tail.

God save me from him who studies but one book.

No day in which you learn something is a complete loss.

Hunger is the best sauce.

A good anvil fears no hammer.

Fools live poor to die rich.

A new net won't catch an old bird.

He who knows nothing doubts nothing.

Everything is good for something.

Blows are not given upon conditions.

Imagination gallops, judgment merely walks.

The pitcher that goes often to the fountain leaves there either its handle or its spout.

At a great pennyworth pause awhile.

Fortune comes to him who strives for it.

No sooner is the law made than its evasion is discovered.

The apple does not fall far from the tree.

Honest men marry soon, wise men never.

God heals and the doctor has the thanks.

Because of a period, Martin lost his post.

The just man may sin with an open chest of gold before him.

He who laughs too much, is hiding his grief.

Flies don't light on a boiling pot.

Hell is crowded with ungrateful wretches.

A burden which one chooses is not felt.

Four eyes see more than two.

Does your neighbor bore you? Lend him some money.

The hardest step is that over the threshold.

Everything must have a beginning.

Hear the other side, and believe little.

Not everything that is bad comes to hurt us.

Go early to market and as late as you can to battle.

A fat kitchen, a lean testament.

One door never shuts but another opens.

The fortress that parleys soon surrenders.

Feed a cold and starve a fever.

He who loses is always in fault.

Evil does are evil dreaders.

Giving is fishing.

Rather an ass that carries than a horse that throws.

Of three things the devil makes a salad: advocate's tongues, notaries' fingers, and a third that shall be nameless.

He would slaughter a bug to drink its blood.

At table bashfulness is out of place.

Friends may meet, but mountains never greet.

Pay beforehand was never well served.

Preventing someone from falling is better than helping him get up.

The dog that is quarrelsome and not strong, woe to his hide.

Be the same thing that ye wa'd be ca'd.

He would be a good one to send for death.

A hundred years cannot repair a moment's loss of honour.

He who mentions Siena mentions the Palio.

Give the priest drink, for the clerk is thirsty.

Dogs bark at hose they don't know.

The best is the enemy of the good.

He who would enjoy the feast should fast on the eve.

Savings are the first gain.

Pluck the rose and leave the thorns.

Experience without learning is better than learning without experience.

A proud pauper and a rich miser are contemptible beings.

It is a bad thing to be a knave, but worse to be known for one.

Self exaltation is the fool's paradise.

The back door robbeth the house.

He who says nothing never lies.

One cannot drink and whistle at the same time.

Don't break your shins on your neighbors' pots.

He who wants milk should not sit in the middle of a field and wait for a cow to back up to him.

Gifts are often losses.

Poverty wants many things, and avarice all.

After the storm ends, the sun will shine.

That priest is a fool who decries his relics.

Only a fool asks, "What do you want with my wife?"

The dog that quits barking can get some sleep.

Six of one, and half a dozen of the other.

Fair promises bind fools.

The soldier is well paid for doing mischief.

Dress up a stick and it does not appear to be a stick.

Bad is the wool that cannot be died.