Popular English proverbs

Since proverbs are the wisdom of nations, so I have decided to go with the flow, and tackle today common proverbs that you can find in English language. We all know some of them. Some of us, knows more than the other, so, my idea was to make a large collection of them, so you can always learn something new ( like I did, while writing them for you), and enrich your vocabulary, by remembering few more.

• A bad man in Zion City is a good man in Chicago.
• A bad man thinks always bad
• A bad workman always blames his tools.
• A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.
• A cat has nine lives.
• A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
• A crooked cornstalk can have a straight ear.
• A drowning man will clutch at a straw.
• A fault confessed is half redressed.
• A fool and his money are soon parted.
• A forest is the poor man’s overcoat.
• A friend in need is a friend indeed.
• A friend who shares is a friend who cares.
• A lean agreement is better than a fat judgment.
• A leopard cannot change its spots.
• A man is known by the company he keeps.
• A man who has both feet planted firmly in the air can be safely called a liberal.
• A penny saved is a penny earned.
• A person who talks about his inferiors has not any.
• A picture is worth a thousand words.
• A rolling stone gathers no moss.
• A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is for.
• A smile is worth a thousand words.
• A thing begun is half done.
• A tree never hits an automobile except in self-defense.
• A whistling girl and a crowing hen never came to a good end.
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
• Abuse is like a god that destroys his master
• Actions speak louder than words.
• Adversity and loss make a man wise.
• After a rich man gets rich, his next ambition is to get richer.
• After the feast comes the reckoning.
• After weeks of beans and taters, even a change to taters and beans is good.
• All good things come to an end.
• All is fair in love and golf.
• All that glitters is not gold.
• All is well that ends well.
• Always count the cost.
• Always put your best foot forward.
• Among the blind the one-eyed man is king.
• An American will go to hell for a bag of coffee.
• An analyst is only as good as his last idea.
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• An empty pot makes a lot of noise.
• An idle brain is the devil’s workshop.
• An ignorant consent is no consent.
• An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit.
• An ounce of proof is worth a ton of assertions.
• An ounce of protection is worth a
• As you sow, so you shall reap.
• Barking dogs seldom bite.
• Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
• Before borrowing money from a friend decide which you need most.
• Beggars cannot be choosers.
• Best things in life are free.
• Better a live coward than a dead hero.
• Better late than never.
• Better to be poor and healthy rather than rich and sick.
• Better to risk a little than to lose the whole.
• Birds of a feather flock together.
• Blood is thicker than water.
• Borrowed wives, like borrowed books, are seldom returned.
• Bragging saves advertising.
• Bulls make money and bears make money, but hogs just get slaughtered.
• Buy low, sell high.
• Buy on the rumor; sell on the news.
• Buying on credit is robbing next year’s crop.
• Charity begins at home.
• Clothes do not make the man.
• Cowards die many times before their deaths.
• Cunning men deal in generalizations.
• Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.
• Cut your losses and let your profits run.
• Do as I say, not as I do.
• Doctor’s faults are covered with earth, and rich men with money.
• Do not bite off more than you can chew.
• Do not bite the hand that feeds you.
• Do not blow your own trumpet.
• Do not cast pearls before swine.
• Do not change horses while crossing a stream.
• Do not count your chickens before they hatch.
• Do not cross a bridge until you come to it.
• Do not cry over spilled milk.
• Do not ignore the small things — the kite flies because of its tail.
• Do not judge a book by its cover.
• Do not judge a man until you have walked in his boots.
• Do not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
• Do not look a gift horse in the mouth.
• Do not make a mountain out of a molehill.
• Do not marry without love, but do not love without reason.
• Do not measure your neighbor’s honesty by your own.
• Do not mistake chicken dung for an egg.
• Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
• Do not put the cart before the horse.
• Do not take any wooden nickels.
• Do not throw the baby with the bathwater.
• Drink and frankfurters for a dime; kill a man before his time.
• Early bird catches the worm.
• Easy come, easy go.
• Eggs cannot be unscrambled.
• Empty bags cannot stand upright.
• Every animal knows more than you do.
• Every cloud has a silver lining.
• Every man has his price.
• Every man is occasionally what he ought to be perpetually
• Every man is the architect (or blacksmith) of his destiny(fate).
• Fall seven times. Stand up eight.
• Familiarity breeds contempt.
• Fooled once shame on you, fooled twice shame on me.
• Forewarned is forearmed.
• Fortune favors the brave.
• From small beginnings come great things.
• Gentlemen prefer blonds — but marry brunettes.
• Give them an inch and they will take a mile.
• God helps those who help themselves.
• Gold is where you find it.
• Good fences make good neighbors.
• Good things come in small packages.
• Good things come to those who wait.
• Half a loaf is better than none.
• Haste makes waste.
• He who hesitates is lost.
• Hell, and the courtroom are always open.
• Hindsight is better than foresight.
• Honesty is like an icicle — if once it melts, that is the end of it.
• Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
• Human nature is the same all the world over.
• Hunger finds no fault with moldy corn.
• I would rather have them say “There he goes” than “Here he lies.”.
• If at first you fail, try, try again.
• If it is not broken, do not fix it.
• If it does not seem like it is worth the effort, it probably is not.
• If men could see the epitaphs their friends write, they would believe they had gotten into the wrong grave.
• If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.
• If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain.
• If we blame others for our failures, then we should also give others credit for our successes.
• If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
• If you are always dwelling in trouble, change your address.
• If you cannot beat them, join them.
• If you cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
• If you cut down the trees you will find the wolf.
• If you do not have a plan for yourself, you will be part of someone else’s.
• If you eat a live toad first thing in the morning, nothing worse will happen all day long.
• If you ever find yourself in a hole, the first thin’ to do is stop digging.
• If you make yourself into a doormat, people will wipe their feet on you.
• If you play with fire, you will get burned.
• If you sing before breakfast, you will cry before night.
• If you are riding ahead of the herd, look back every now and then to make sure it is still there.
• Ignorance is bliss.
• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
• In business partnerships and marriage partnerships, oh, the cheating that goes on.
• In unity there is strength.
• It does not take no genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
• It is bad luck to fall out of a thirteenth story window on Friday.
• It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.
• It never rains but it pours.
• It takes a heap of licks to strike a nail in the dark.
• It takes two to make a quarrel.
• It takes two to tango.
• It took a mile to load a rifle so, a miss is as good as a mile!
• It is as difficult to win love as to wrap salt in pine needles.
• It is better to be safe than sorry.
• It is no use crying over spilt milk.
• It is not over till it is over.
• Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.
• Laughter is the best medicine.
• Learn to walk before you run.
• Leave well enough alone.
• Letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than putting it back.
• Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
• Listen or the tongue will keep the deaf.
• Living in worry invites death in a hurry.
• Look before you leap.
• Loose lips sink ships.
• Love is blind.
• Love makes the world go round.
• Lust never sleeps.
• Man does not live by bread alone.
• Man is greater than the tools he invents.
• Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.
• Maternity is a matter of fact; paternity is a matter of opinion.
• Might makes right.
• Misery loves company.
• Money does not grow on trees.
• Money talks — everything else walks.
• Money talks.
• Necessity is the mother of invention.
• Never ask a barber if he thinks you need a haircut.
• Never lie unless you must, and if you do not have a dang good lie, stick to the truth.
• Never miss a good chance to shut up.
• Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
• Never test the depth of water with both feet.
• Never trouble till trouble troubles you.
• New churches and new bars are seldom empty.
• No gain without pain.
• No matter how bad a child is, he is still good for a tax deduction.
• No news is good news.
• No one can destroy a man but his own mind/ego
• No one can destroy iron but his own rust.
• No pain, no gain.
• No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.
• No rogue like the godly rogue.
• Nobody has ever bet enough on a winning horse.
• One foot is better than two crutches.
• One man’s gravy is another man’s poison.
• One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
• One of the greatest labor-saving inventions of today is tomorrow.
• One should not miss forest for the trees.
• One swallow does not a summer make.
• One who cannot respect himself cannot respect another.
• Out of sight, out of mind.
• Paddle together, bail, paddle; paddle, bail; paddle towards the land.
• Patience is often rewarded.
• Pen is mightier than sword.
• People who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others.
• Practice makes perfect.
• Professionals built the ‘Titanic,’ amateurs built the ark.
• Rome was not built in a day.
• Scratch my back and I will scratch yours.
• Self-help is the best help.
• Silence is half consent.
• Slow and steady wins the race.
• Smith and Wesson or a Colt always beat four aces.
• Some families are like potatoes — all that is good of them is underground.
• Some will, some do not, so what!
• Speech is silver, silence is golden
• Still waters run deep.
• Strike while the iron is hot.
• Success has many parents, but failure is an orphan.
• The apple does not fall far from the tree.
• The bad gardener quarrels with his rake.
• The best things in life are free.
• The best-laid plans go astray.
• The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
• The cemeteries are filled with people who thought the world could not get along without them.
• The customer’s always right.
• The early bird gets the worm.
• The end justifies the means.
• The first step is always the hardest.
• The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.
• The good lawyer knows the law, the clever one knows the judge.
• The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
• The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.
• The harder you work, the luckier you get.
• The length of a conversation does not tell nothing about the size of the intellect.
• The love of evil is the root of all money.
• The more sins you confess, the more books you will sell.
• The most dangerous food is wedding cake.
• The mountains are never so far apart but the animals find one another.
• The only thing we learn from new elections is we learned nothing from the old.
• The opportunity of a lifetime is seldom so labeled.
• The peacock has fair feathers, but foul fee
• The pen is mightier than the sword.
• The Pilgrim Fathers landed on the shores of America and fell on their knees; then they fell upon the aborigines.
• The rain follows the forest.
• The real owners of the land are not yet born.
• The rich get richer, and the poor get babies.
• The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
• The road to the head lies through the heart.
• The show must go on.
• The simplest things are the most startling.
• The sound of a church bell at times has more effect than a sermon
• The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
• The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
• The tiger crouches before he leaps upon his prey.
• The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
• The unknown is always great.
• The wicked work harder to preach hell than the righteous do to get to heaven.
• The world is a ladder for some to go up and others down.
• There are many witty men whose brains cannot fill their bellies.
• There are three faithful friends: an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.
• There are three kinds of people; those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those who do not know what is happening.
• There are three things that can destroy a preacher, the glory, the gold, and the girls.
• There are two sides to every story—and then there is the truth.
• There is no honor among thieves.
• There is safety in numbers.
• There is more than one way to skin a cat.
• There is no advice like father’s — even if you do not take it
• There is no fool like an old fool.
• There is no place like home.
• There is no use asking the cow to pour you a glass of milk.
• There are two theories to arguing’ with a woman—and neither one works.
• They who drink beer think beer.
• Those above are going down, those below are going up.
• Those who sleep with dogs gets up with fleas.
• Time and tide wait for no man.
• Too many cooks spoil the broth.
• Try the ice before you venture on it.
• Two heads are better than one.
• Two wrongs do not make a right.
• Unite to move forward.
• Use it up, make do, or do without.
• Use your wit as a shield, not as a dagger.
• Variety is the spice of life.
• Watch the doughnut, and not the hole.
• We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.
• We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.
• We will cross that bridge when we get to it.
• What a fool does in the end, the wise man does in the beginning.
• What goes around comes around.
• When a father praises his son, he flatters himself.
• When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
• When pleasure interferes with business, give up business.
• When sitting among the crows, you must make the same noise as they do.
• When the bait’s worth more than the fish, it is time to stop fishing.
• When the cat’s away, the mice play.
• When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
• When the law is against you, argue the facts. When the facts are against you, argue the law. When both are against you, change the subject.
• When you see gossamer flying, be sure the air is drying.
• When you throw dirt, you lose ground.
• When you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. Live your life in a manner so that when you die the world cries, and you rejoice.
• When you are trying’ something’ new, the fewer people that know about it, the better.
• Where one door shuts, another opens.
• Where there is a will, there is a way.
• Where there’s smoke there’s fire.
• Where there’s smoke, there’s toast.
• While the cat’s away, the mice will play.
• Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
• Years know more than books.
• You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
• You can lead a horse to water but you.
• You cannot fit a round peg in a square hole.
• You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
• You cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs.
• You cannot steal second base with your foot on first.
• You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.
• You cannot unscramble scrambled eggs.
• You cannot win them all.
• You cannot have all chiefs; you got to have Indians too.
• You do not get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.
• You do not have to eat the whole hog to know you are eating pork.
• You must take the good with the bad.
• You made your bed, now lie in it.
• You must not enthrone ignorance just because there is much of it.
• You reap what you sow.
• You show me the man and I will show you the rule.