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What is a proverb?
A proverb is a well-known saying that gives
practical advice about life.
MACMIILAN
ENGLISH DICTIONARY:
A saying = a well-known statement about what
often happens in life. ” Tomorrow is another
day”, she said, repeating one of her many sayings.
As the saying goes, ” A problem shared, is a
problem halved. ”
An adage = a well-known saying that says
something about human life
A student´s compositon:
Every cloud has a silver lining
I think it is important to look on the bright side of
everything, because I´ve noticed it really works!
Sometimes it isn´t easy – school is boring, you´re
stressed out and time flies, you have no time to
relax. But it could be much worse. You could be
homeless or starving. Someone else is in a harder
situation than you are. I often think of those things
a lot and then feel bad because I`m so selfish ,
minding my own business, not helping anyone.
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But I also feel better when I realise how well I´m
really doing. I have family, friends, hobbies and
things I love to do. There just might just might a
lot of wonderful things ahead of me if I just
understood that I don´t have to worry about
everything. It is all about attitude, isn´t it. Every
cloud has a silver lining, it is just a different thing
for different people: a bowl of rice for a starving
child and the chance to go to the cinema for me
who is stressed out.
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As you sow, so you reap.
= Mitä ihminen kylvää, sitä hän myös niittää.
As you make you bed, so you must lie in it.
= Niin makaa, kuin petaa.
Practise what you preach.
= Sanoista tekoihin.
The pot calls the kettle black.
= Pata kattilaa soimaa.
You can´t please everyone.
= kaikkia ei voi miellyttää.
Crime never pays.
= Rikos ei kannata.
Honesty is the best policy.
= Rehellisyys kannattaa.
Revenge is sweet.
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= Kosto on suloinen.
Truth never perishes.
= Totuus ei koskaan häviä.
Bad news travels fast.
= paha kello kauas kuuluu.
It is not work that kills you but worry.
= Ei työ tapa vaan huoli.
Jack of all trades and master of none.
= Se, joka osaa kaikkea, ei osaa oikein mitään
kunnolla.
The shoemaker´s son will go barefoot.
= Suutarin lapsilla ei ole kenkiä.
Two captains sink a ship.
One funeral makes many.
Spare the rod and spoil the child.
No pain, no gain.
Like father like son.
Master of your own fate
=oman onnensa seppä
All that glitters isn´t gold.
Be worth its weight in gold.
It happens even in the best of homes.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Choose one of the proverbs and write a
composition.
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For those who are intersested, there is a long list
of proverbs which you can study. Go ahead!
2)
The Penguin Dictionary of ENGLISH PROVERBS
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by Rosalind Ferguson
1. ABSENCE
1. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
2. Men are best loved furthest off.
3. Absence diminishes little passions and increases
great ones.
4. Far from eye, far from heart.
5. Salt water and absence wash away love.
6. Friends agree best at distance.
7. Long absence changes a friend.
8. When the cat’s away, the mice will play.
9. Well kens the mouse when the cat’s out of the
house.
10. He that fears you present will hate you absent.
11. The absent are always in the wrong.
12. Never were the absent in the right.
13. The absent party is always to blame.
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14. Out of sight, out of mind.
15. Present to the eye, present to the mind.
16. Unminded, unmoaned.
17. Long absent, soon forgotten.
18. Seldom seen, soon forgotten.
2. ADVERSITY
1. Misfortunes come of themselves.
2. Trouble brings experience and experience brings
wisdom.
3. Woes unite foes.
4. It’s easy to bear the misfortunes of others.
5. Misfortunes tell us what fortune is.
6. Ill luck is good for something.
7. Misfortunes find their way even on the darkest
night.
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8. Misfortune arrives on horseback but departs on
foot.
9. Mischief comes by the pound and goes away by
the ounce.
10. Misfortunes never come singly.
11. It never rains but pours.
12. Of one ill come many.
13. Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
3. ADVICE
1. Good counsel has no price.
2. Good counsel never comes too late.
3. When a thing is done, advice comes too late.
4. We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.
5. Counsel is no command.
6. Take counsel only of your own head.
7. Steer not after every mariner’s direction.
8. Too much consulting confounds.
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9. Like counsellor, like counsel.
10. If you wish good advice, consult an old man.
11. Night is the mother of counsel.
12. The best advice is found on the pillow.
13. Counsels in wine seldom prosper.
14. Counsel over cups is crazy.
15. Advice whispered in the ear is not worth a tare.
16. Advice whispered is worthless.
17. It is safer to hear and take counsel, than to give it.
18. It is as hard to follow good advice as to give it.
19. Give neither counsel nor salt till you are asked for
it.
20. Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.
21. Nothing is given as freely as advice.
22. The land is never void of counsellors.
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23. Bachelors’ wives and maids’ children are well
taught.
24. He who has no children, brings them up well.
4. AMBITION
1. Ambition makes people diligent.
2. He that stays in the valley, shall never act over the
hill.
3. Nothing crave, nothing have.
4. Nothing seek, nothing have.
5. There’s always room at the top.
6. He who opens his heart to ambition closes it to
repose.
7. Desire has no rest.
8. Better sit still than rise and fall.
9. Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
10. High places have their precipices.
11. Better be first in a village than second at Rome.
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12. Better to be the head of a dog than the tail of a
lion.
5. ANGER
1. He that is angry is seldom at ease.
2. Anger punishes itself.
3. Wrath killeth the foolish man.
4. Anger has no eyes.
5. When a man grows angry, his reason rides out.
6. Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance.
7. When a man is angry, he cannot be in the right.
8. As fire is kindled by bellows, so is anger by words.
9. Anger dies quickly with a good man.
10. Anger is a short madness.
11. He who slowly gets angry keeps his anger longer.
12. When angry, count a hundred.
13. Anger restrained is wisdom gained.
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14. Let not the sun go upon your wrath.
6. ANTICIPATION
1. Expectation is better than realization.
2. Prospect is often better than possession.
3. Fear of death is often worse than death itself.
4. Easter so longed for is gone in a day.
5. It is better to arrive hopefully than to arrive.
6. Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.
7. Don’t sell the skin till you have caught the bear.
8. First catch your hare.
9. Never spend your money before yoy have it.
10. Do not triumph before the victory.
11. The opera isn’t over till the fat lady sings.
12. He laughs best who laughs last.
13. He who laughs last, laughs longest.
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14. Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall
never be disappointed (Alexander Pope).
15. The unexpected always happens.
16. Nothing is certain but the unforeseen.
7. APPEARANCE
1. Appearances are deceptive.
2. Things are not always what they seem.
3. All that glitters is not gold.
4. It is not the beard that makes the philosopher.
5. Poison is poison though it comes in a golden cup.
6. Distance lends enchantment to the view (Thomas
Campbell).
7. Blue are the faraway hills.
8. All clouds bring not rain.
9. Still waters run deep.
10. You can’t tell a book by its cover.
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11. All are not thieves that dogs bark at.
8. ASKING
1. He that cannot ask, cannot live.
2. Better to ask the way than go astray.
3. Ask and it shall be given you (Matthew 7:7).
4. Ask a silly question and you’ll get a silly answer.
5. Never answer a question until it is asked.
6. Ask no questions and hear no lies.
7. It is not every question that deserves an answer.
8. Never refuse a good offer.
9. AUTHORITY
1. It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
2. He who holds the thread holds the ball.
3. Mickle (much) power makes many enemies.
4. Power corrupts.
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5. If you wish to know a man, give him authority.
6. Authority shows the man.
7. One must be a servant before one can be a master.
8. Servants make the worst masters.
9. He is not fit to command others, that cannot
command himself.
10. Every man cannot be a master.
11. One master in a house is enough.
10. BADNESS
1. Mischief comes without calling for.
2. Weeds want no sowing.
3. He who does no good, does evil enough.
4. He that lives not well one year, sorrows seven after.
5. He that has done ill once, will do it again.
6. A wicked man is his own hell.
7. It is a wicked world, and we make part of it.
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8. The end justifies the means.
9. Two wrongs do not make a right.
11. BEAUTY
1. Beauty is only skin-deep.
2. Beauty is only one layer (Japanese proverb).
3. Beauty opens locked doors.
4. Beauty is eloquent even when silent.
5. Beauty and folly go often in company.
6. A good face is a letter of recommendation.
7. All cats are grey in the dark.
8. Goodness is better than beauty.
9. Good fame is better than a good face.
10. Beauty won’t make the pot boil.
11. Beauty is no inheritance.
12. Beauty is potent but money is omnipotent.
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13. Beauty fades like a flower.
14. Beauty is but a blossom.
15. The fairest flowers soonest fade.
16. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
17. Health and gaiety foster beauty.
18. Beauty and wealth create beauty.
19. The joy of the heart makes the face fair.
12. BEGINNINGS
1. Everything must have a beginning.
2. Beginning has its seed.
3. No root, no fruit.
4. Rivers need a spring.
5. First impressions are the most lasting.
6. Every beginning is hard.
7. The first step is the hardest.
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8. A good beginning makes a good ending.
9. Such beginning, such end.
10. Well begun is half done.
11. No good building without a good foundation.
13. BELIEVING
1. We soon believe what we desire.
2. Seeing is believing.
3. He can who believes he can.
4. Men have greater faith in those things which they
do not understand.
5. Faith will move mountains.
6. Thinking is very far from knowing.
7. The more one knows, the less one believes.
8. He that knows nothing, doubts nothing.
9. He that nothing questions, nothing learns.
14. BORROWING
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1. Better buy than borrow.
2. Better go to bed supperless than to rise in debt.
3. Debt is the worst poverty.
4. A man in debt is caught in a net.
5. Debt is an evil conscience.
6. The borrower is servant to the lender.
7. Borrowed things will home again.
8. Once paid, never craved.
15. BREEDING
1. Civility costs nothing.
2. Manners maketh man.
3. Breeding and money make a gentleman.
4. Do not cast your pearls before swine.
5. The more noble, the more humble.
6. Virtue is the only true nobility.
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17. CHANGE
1. A change is as good as a rest.
2. Change brings life.
3. Variety is the spice of life.
4. Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t
know.
5. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
6. A new broom sweeps clean.
7. New lords, new laws.
8. Times change and we with them.
9. One cannot put back the clock.
10. Paul’s will not always stand. (St Paul’s Cathedral
in London)
11. There is nothing permanent except change.
12. Old shoes are easiest.
13. Preserve the old, but know the new (Chinese
proverb).
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14. There is nothing new under the sun.
18. CHARACTER
1. Eagles do not breed doves.
2. The apple never falls far from the tree.
3. Blood will tell.
4. The leopard cannot change his spots.
5. An ape’s an ape, a varlet’s a varlet, though they be
clad in silk or scarlet.
19. CHILDREN
1. He that has no children knows not what is love.
2. Children are poor men’s riches.
3. Happy is he that is happy in his children.
4. A little child weighs on your knee, a big one on your
heart.
5. Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts.
6. What children hear at home, soon flies abroad.
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7. Children pick up words as pigeons peas, and utter
them again as God shall please.
8. Boys will be boys.
9. Children should be seen and not heard.
10. When children stand quiet, they have done some
ill.
22. CHOOSING
1. You cannot have it both ways.
2. You cannot have your cake and eat it.
3. A door must either be shut or open.
4. Of two evils choose the less.
22. COMMERCE
1. Ask much to have a little.
2. At a good bargain, think twice.
3. Business is commerce.
4. The customer is always right.
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5. Good ware makes good markets.
6. Pleasing ware is half sold.
23. COMPANY
1. Two is company, three is none.
2. The company makes the feast.
3. Good company upon the road is the shortest cut.
4. Better be alone than in bad comapny.
5. A man is known by his friends.
6. As a man is, so is his company.
24. CONCEIT
1. Men love to hear well of themselves.
2. They can do least who boast loudest.
3. Great braggers, little doers.
4. Great boast, small roast.
5. Don’t hide your light under a bushel.
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25. CONFORMITY
1. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
2. One must howl with the wolves.
3. It is ill striving against the stream.
4. If you cant beat ‘em, join ‘em.
5. Better bend than break.
6. Say as men say, but think to yourself.
7. Do as most men do, then most men will speak well
of you.
26. CONSCIENCE
1. A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
2. A guilty conscience feels continual fear.
3. Conscience does make cowards of us all (W.
Shakespeare, Henry VI).
4. He that commits a fault, thinks everyone speaks of
it.
5. A clear conscience fears no false accusations.
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6. A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.
7. A good conscience makes an easy couch.
8. A good conscience is a soft pillow.
9. Every one is held to be innocent until he is proved
guilty.
27. CONTEMPT
1. Contempt pierces even through the shell of a
tortoise.
2. Many can bear adversity, but few contempt.
3. He that respects not is not respected.
28. CONTENTMENT
1. Content is all.
2. Content is more than a kingdom.
3. Content is happiness.
4. He is not rich that possesses much, but he that is
content with what he has.
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5. Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces.
6. He is at ease that has enough.
7. More than enough is too much.
8. The greatest wealth is contentment with a little.
9. A wise man cares not for what he cannot have.
10. No man is content with his lot.
11. The grass is always greener on the other side of
the fence.
12. The apples on the other side of the wall are the
sweetest.
29. CORRUPTION
1. The rotten apple injures its neighbours.
2. Power corrupts.
3. What cannot gold do?
4. Every man has his price.
5. Show me the man and I’ll show you the law.
6. Little thieves are hanged, but great ones escape.
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31. COURAGE
1. A bold heart is half the battle.
2. Fortune favours the bold.
3. Great things are done more through courage than
through wisdom.
4. A brave arm makes a short sword long.
5. To a brave and faithful man nothing is difficult.
6. Hares may pull dead lions by the beard.
7. Every dog is a lion at home.
32. COWARDICE
1. Cowards die many times before their deaths
(William Shakespeare; Julius Caesar).
2. He that forecasts all perils, will never sail the sea.
3. It is better to be a coward for a minute than dead for
the rest of your life.
4. A bully is always a coward.
33. CRIME
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1. Poverty is the mother of crime.
2. The more laws, the more offenders.
3. Crime does not pay.
4. He that will steal an egg, will steal an ox.
34. CRITICISM
1. Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1).
2. Live and let live.
3. The pot calls the kettle black.
36. CUNNING
1. Cunning surpasses strength.
2. An old fox is not easily snared.
37. DANGER
1. Far from home, near thy harm.
2. No safe wading in an unknown water.
3. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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4. He that is afraid to shake the dice will never throw a
six.
5. Don’t go near the water until you learn how to
swim.
6. Be not too bold with your biggers or betters.
7. If you play with fire you get burnt.
39. DEATH
1. All men are mortal.
2. All men must die.
3. Death is sure to all.
4. Nothing is sure but death and taxes.
5. Death keeps no calendar.
6. Death surprises us in the midst of our hopes.
7. Death is a remedy for all ills.
8. Death is the poor man’s best physician.
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9. Look upon death as a going home (Chinese
proverb).
10. There is but one way to enter this life, but the
gates of death are without number.
11. The best go first.
12. Whom the gods love die young.
13. The good die young.
14. Death is the great leveller.
15. Six feet of earth make all men equal.
16. The end makes all equal.
17. Never speak ill of the dead.
18. We must live by the living, not by the dead.
40. DECEIT
1. One lie makes many.
2. He that once deceives, is ever suspected.
3. Cheats never prosper.
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4. Better a lie that heals than a truth that wounds.
5. A liar should have a good memory.
6. You can’t kid a kidder.
41. DEEDS
1. By his deeds we know a man (African proverb).
2. Action speaks louder than words.
3. Deeds are fruits, words are but leaves.
4. A man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden
full of weeds.
5. Doing is better than saying.
6. The shortest answer is doing.
7. The greatest talkers are the least doers.
8. There is a great difference between a word and a
deed.
9. Saying and doing are two things.
10. Saying is one thing and doing another.
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11. Easier said than done.
12. A good deed is never lost.
13. Old sins cast long shadows.
43. DELAY
1. Time lost cannot be recalled.
2. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
3. One hour today is worth two tomorrow.
4. One today is worth two tomorrows.
5. Tomorrow never comes.
6. Sooner begun, sooner done.
7. No time like the present.
44. DESERVING
1. The deed comes back upon the doer.
2. Such answer as man gives, such will he get.
3. One ill word asks another.
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45. DESTINY
1. No flying from fate.
2. What must be, must be.
47. DIFFERENCES
1. It takes all sorts to make a world.
2. All things fit not all persons.
3. Every man after his fashion.
4. So many men, so many opinions.
5. There’s no accounting for tastes.
6. There’s no disputing about tastes.
7. Every one to his taste.
8. If one will not, another will.
9. If minds were alike goods would age in the shops
(Arabic proverb).
10. You can’t please everyone.
11. He that all men will please shall never find ease.
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12. Not God above gets all men’s love.
13. All roads lead to Rome.
48. DILIGENCE
1. If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
2. Diligence is the mother of good fortune.
3. Diligence makes an expert workman.
4. Diligence is a great teacher.
5. Lice do not bite busy men.
6. Labour overcomes all things.
7. No bees, no honey, no work, no money.
8. That which is well done is twice done.
9. No sweet without sweat.
10. No pains, no gains.
11. You don’t get something for nothing.
12. He that would have the fruit, must climb the tree.
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13. There are only twenty-four hours in the day.
14. If you run after two hares, you will catch neither.
15. The workman is known by his work.
16. You never know what you can do till you try.
49. DISCIPLINE
1. Spare the rod and spoil the child.
50. DRESS
1. Good clothes open all doors.
2. Fine feathers make fine birds.
3. Clothes do not make the man.
51. DRINKING
1. When the wine is in, the wit is out.
2. There is truth in wine (In vino veritas).
3. What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals.
4. When wine sinks, words swim.
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5. Wine is the best broom for troubles.
6. A good drink makes the old young.
7. Wine makes old wives wenches.
8. Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune.
9. There is a devil in every berry of the grape.
10. The first glass for thirst, the second for
nourishment, the third for pleasure, and the fourth for
madness.
11. Wine and wenches empty men’s purses.
12. Drink only with the duck. (The advice is to drink
only water!)
13. Eat at pleasure, drink by measure.
14. Clothe thee warm, eat little, drink enough, and
thou shalt live.
52. EARLINESS
1. The early bird catches the worm.
2. The cow that’s first up, gets the first of the dew.
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3. He that comes first to the hill, may sit where he will.
4. First come, first served.
5. Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy and wise.
6. An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening.
53. EATING
1. An army marches on its stomach.
2. The belly carries the legs.
3. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.
4. Man cannot live by bread alone.
5. The eye is bigger than the belly.
6. An apple-pie without some cheese is like a kiss
without a squeeze.
7. Eat to live and live to eat.
8. Eat at pleasure, drink by measure.
9. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
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54. EDUCATION
1. Learn not and know not.
2. There is no royal road to learning.
3. What we first learn, we best can.
4. Never too late to learn.
5. In every art, it is good to have a master.
55. ENDINGS
1. The end crowns the work.
2. All’s well that ends well.
3. Everything has an end.
4. All good things must come to an end.
5. The best of friends must part.
56. ENDURANCE
1. He conquers who endures.
2. What can’t be cured, must be endured.
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57. ENEMIES
1. There’s no little enemy.
2. One enemy can do more hurt than ten friends can
do good.
3. One enemy is too many, and a hundred friends too
few.
4. A secret foe gives a sudden blow.
5. Make your enemy your friend.
6. Speak well of your friend, of your enemy say
nothing.
7. The only good Indian is a dead Indian.
8. Trust not a new friend nor an old enemy.
58. ENGLAND
1. The English have one hundred religions, but only
one sauce.
2. An Englishman’s home is his castle.
3. One Englishman can beat three Frenchmen.
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4. Yorkshire born and Yorkshire bred, strong in the
arm and weak in the head.
5. When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.
6. The streets of London are paved with gold.
59. ENVY
1. Envy eats nothing but its own heart.
2. Envy shoots at others and wounds herself.
3. Nothing sharpens sight like envy.
4. He who envies admits his inferiority.
5. Envy never enrichened any man.
6. One potter envies another (This implies that every
man envies potential rivals within his own field).
60. EQUALITY
1. At a round table, there’s no dispute of place.
2. You a lady, I a lady, who will milk the cow?
3. We are all Adam’s children.
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4. Before God and bus-conductor we are all equal.
5. In church, in an inn, and in coffin, all men are equal.
6. The sun shines upon all alike.
7. The rain falls on every roof.
8. Human blood is all of a colour.
61. EXAMPLE
1. Practise what you preach.
2. He preaches well that lives well.
3. Do as I say, not as I do.
4. Do unto others as you would they should do unto
you (Luke 6:31).
62. EXPERIENCE
1. Experience is the mother of wisdom.
2. Experience is good, if not bought too dear.
3. Knowledge without practice makes but half an
artist.
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4. Experience is a precious gift, only given a man
when his hair is gone.
5. Experience is the best teacher.
6. Live and learn.
7. In doing we learn.
8. Failure teaches success.
9. Wise men learn by other men’s harms, fools, by
their own.
63. EYES
1. The eyes are the window of the soul/heart/mind.
2. Seeing is believing.
3. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.
64. FAME
1. Fame is but the breath of the people.
2. A good name is a rich heritage.
3. A good name is sooner lost than won.
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4. He that has lost his credit is dead to the world.
66. FEAR
1. Riches bring care and fears.
2. Fear gives wings.
3. Fear has a quick ear.
4. Fear has magnifying eyes.
5. Fear is a great inventor.
6. Fear is the prison of heart.
69. FOOLISHNESS
1. Children and fools have merry lives.
2. Fortune favours fools.
3. The world is full of fools.
4. We have all been fools once in our lives.
5. Little things please little minds.
6. A wise man changes his mind, a fool never.
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7. Children and fools cannot lie.
8. Empty vessels make the greatest sound.
9. Wise men silent, fools talk.
70. FORESIGHT
1. He is wise who looks ahead.
2. Prevention is better than cure.
3. Forewarned is forearmed.
4. Forethought is easy, repentance hard.
5. In fair weather prepare for foul.
71. FORGIVENESS
1. The noblest vengeance is to forgive.
2. To err is human, to forgive divine.
3. Pardon one offence and you encourage many.
4. Let bygones be bygones.
5. Forgive and forget.
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6. Wink at small faults.
72. Friends
1. It’s merry when friends meet.
2. He that ceases to be a friend, never was a good
one.
3. All are not friends that speak us fair.
4. It is good to have some friends both in heaven and
hell.
5. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
6. Real friendship does not freeze in winter.
7. A good friend never offends.
8. A true friend is the best possession.
9. He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind
our backs.
10. Books and friends should be few but good.
11. Try your friend before you trust.
12. A hedge between keeps friendship green.
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13. Friendship is a plant which must be often watered.
14. A friend is not so soon gotten as lost.
73. GAIN
1. No pains, no gains.
2. One man’s loss is another man’s gain.
3. You cannot lose what you never had.
77. GOD
1. Heaven takes care of children, sailors, and drunken
men.
2. God helps them that help themselves.
78. GOODNESS
1. Virtue is the beauty of the mind.
2. Goodness is better than beauty.
3. A good heart conquers ill fortune.
4. They die well that live well.
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5. Virtue never grows old.
6. It’s not how long, but how well we live.
7. It is good to be good in your time, for you know not
how long it will last.
8. A house is a fine house when good folks are within.
79. GOSSIP
1. There’s no smoke without fire.
2. Walls have ears.
3. He that is a blab is a scab.
80. GRATITUDE
1. Do not foract little kindnesses and do not remember
small faults.
2. Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
3. Beggars can’t be choosers.
4. Something is better than nothing.
5. He is an ill guest that never drinks to his host.
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81. GREATNESS
1. Great wings blow upon high hills.
2. He sits not sure that sits too high.
3. Great men have great faults.
4. Eagles don’t catch flies. (The implication is that the
great do not concern themselves with trivial matters!)
5. There would be no great ones if there were no little
ones.
6. From small beginnings come great things.
82. GREED
1. Appetite comes with eating.
2. The more you get, the more you want.
3. Much would have more.
4. Grasp all, lose all.
5. Beggars’ bags are bottomless.
83. HABIT
1. Habit is a second nature.
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2. Old habits die hard.
84. HAPPINESS
1. Content is happiness.
2. Happy is she who marries the son of a dead
mother.
3. Sadness and gladness succeed each other.
4. All happiness is in the mind.
5. Pleasant hours fly past.
6. Laugh and grow fat.
7. One joy scatters a hundred griefs.
8. Laughter is the best medicine.
9. One day of pleasure is worth two of sorrow.
10. Joy and sorrow are next door neighbours.
11. Laugh before breakfast, you’ll cry before supper.
12. All good things come to an end.
85. HASTE
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1. Haste makes waste.
2. Hasty work, double work.
3. Good and quickly seldom meet.
4. Make haste slowly.
5. There is luck in leisure.
6. Love not at the first look.
7. First think, then speak.
8. Look before you leap. (Parempi katsoa kuin katua).
9. Soft pace goes far. (Hiljaa hyvä tulee).
86. HATRED
1. Love and hate are blood relations.
2. He that cannot hate cannot love.
3. Old hate never wearies.
87. HEALTH
1. Health and money go far.
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2. Health is better than wealth.
3. Health is not valued till sickness comes.
4. The head and feet keep warm, the rest will take no
harm.
5. Early to bed and early to rise, makes the man
healthy, wealthy and wise.
6. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
7. A creaking gate hangs longest.
8. The best doctors are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet and Dr.
Merryman.
88. HELPING
1. All is not at hand that helps.
2. Many hands make light work.
3. Two heads are better than none.
4. Four eyes see more than two.
5. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
6. Slow help is no help.
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7. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
89. HONESTY
1. Honesty is the best policy. (Rehellisyys maan perii).
2. Plain dealing is best.
3. Better beg than steal.
4. Honesty is a fine jewel; but much out of fashion.
91. HOPE
1. Hope is the poor man’s bread.
2. If it were not for hope, the heart would break.
3. Hope keeps man alive.
4. Great hopes make great men.
5. In the land of hope there is never any winter.
6. A drowning man will clutch at a straw.
7. Too much hope deceives.
8. Hope for the best (and prepare for the worst).
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9. While there’s life there’s hope.
10. Tomorrow is another day.
92. HOSPITALITY
1. If a man receives no guests at home, when abroad
he’ll have no hosts.
2. A constant guest is never welcome.
3. Fish and guests smell in three days.
4. An unbidden guest knows not where to sit.
5. Who comes uncalled, sits unserved.
93. HUNGER
1. Hunger finds no fault with the cookery.
2. Hunger is the best sauce.
3. A hungry man is an angry man.
4. Hunger is stronger than love.
5. Hunger breaks stone walls.
94. HYPOCRISY
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1. Speak fair and think what you will.
2. The cat and dog may kiss, yet are none the better
friends.
3. Many kiss the hand they wish cut off.
4. Fine words dress ill deeds.
5. Many a one says well that thinks ill.
6. All are not friends that speak us fair.
95. IDLENESS
1. The devil finds work for idle hands to do.
2. Idleness is the root of all evil.
3. They must hunger is frost that will not work in heat.
4. Idle folks lack no excuses.
96. IGNORANCE
1. He that knows nothing, doubts nothing.
2. What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve
over.
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3. What you don’t know can’t hurt you.
97. IMPERFECTION
1. Every man has his faults.
2. He is lifeless that is faultless.
3. No man is infallible.
4. To err is human.
5. Even Homer sometimes nods. (Viisaskin menee
joskus vipuun).
6. Every man has his weak side.
7. No living man all things can.
8. Nothing so good but it might have been better.
9. No garden without its weeds.
10. No rose without a thorn.
11. No summer, but has its winter.
12. No land without stones, or meat without bones.
99. INQUISITIVENESS
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1. Listeners never hear good of themselves.
2. Mind your own business.
3. Ask no questions and hear no lies.
4. Every man knows his own business best.
100. JUSTICE
1. There’s one law for the rich, and another for the
poor.
2. Hear all parties.
3. There are two sides to every question.
4. Every medal has its reverse. (Jokaisella asialla on
kääntöpuolensa).
5. Share and share alike.
101. KINDNESS
1. Honey catches more flies than vinegar.
2. Kind hearts are soonest wronged.
3. Kindness comes of will.
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4. A good word costs no more than a bad one.
102. KNOWLEDGE
1. He that nothing questions, nothing learns.
2. He that travels far, knows much.
3. Knowledge is power.
4. With Latin, a horse, and money, you may travel the
world. (Latin = learning).
103. LATENESS
1. He that rises late, must trot all day.
2. Better late than never.
3. Never too late to learn.
104. LAW
1. New lords, new laws.
2. The more laws, the more offenders.
3. Go to law for a sheep and lose a cow.
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4. Every one is held to be innocent until he is proved
quilty.
5. So many countries, so many customs.
6. Every land has its own law.
105. LENDING
1. Lend only that which you can afford to lose.
2. Lend sitting and you will run to collect.
3. Lend your money and lose your friend.
4. Lend and lose, so play fools.
108. LIKELIHOOD
1. Possibilities are infinite.
2. Pigs might fly, if they had wings. / Pigs may fly, but
they are very unlikely birds.
3. If the sky falls we shall catch larks.
4. If my aunt had been a man, she’d have been my
uncle.
5. The age of miracles is past.
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6. Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
7. A man cannot be in two places at once.
8. Nothing comes of nothing. (Tyhjästä on paha
nyhjästä).
109. LOVE
1. Love is blind.
2. If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge of Jill’s beauty.
3. Love sees no faults.
4. Love is without reason.
5. One cannot love and be wise.
6. Love makes the world go round.
7. Love will find a way.
8. Love will go through stone walls.
9. Old love does not rust.
10. True love never grows old.
11. Never rely on love or the weather.
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12. Love is a sweet torment.
13. When love puts in, friendship is gone.
14. Love is not found in the market.
15. All is fair in love and war. (Sodassa ja
rakkaudessa kaikki on sallittua).
16. Love me, love my dog.
17. He that would the daughter win, must with the
mother first begin.
18. Lovers’ quarrels are soon mended.
19. When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out
of the window.
110. LOYALTY
1. No man can serve two masters.
2. Rats desert a sinking ship.
3. You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the
hounds.
111. FORTUNE
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1. A blind man may sometimes hit the mark.
2. You never know your luck.
3. Fortune is made of glass.
4. (It is) Better (to be) born lucky than rich.
5. Great fortune brings with it great misfortune.
6. If anything can go wrong, it will.
7. The bread never falls but on its buttered side.
8. A cat has nine lives.
9. Fortune favours those who use their judgment.
10. Fortune knocks once at least at every man’s gate.
11. Every dog has his day.
113. MARRIAGE
1. A man without a wife is but half a man.
2. Advise none to marry or go to war.
3. A good wife and health is a man’s best wealth.
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4. Matrimony is a school in which one learns too late.
5. Marriage is a lottery.
6. Marriages are made in heaven.
7. Wives must be had, be they good or bad.
8. Never marry for money, ye’ll borrow it cheaper.
9. A young maid married to an old man is like a new
house thatched with old straw.
10. Marry your like.
11. A good husband makes a good wife. ( A good wife
makes makes a good husband).
12. The wife is the key of the house.
13. A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a
happy couple.
14. It’s a good horse that never stumbles, and a good
wife that never grumbles.
15. Marriage is the tomb of love.
16. Love is a flower which turns into fruit a marriage.
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114. MIND
1. Thought is free.
2. The rope has never been made that binds
thoughts.
3. Reason rules all things.
116. MODERATION
1. Moderation in all things (Kohtuus kaikessa).
2. Measure is treasure.
3. Safety lies in the middle course.
4. You can have too much of a good thing.
5. If in excess even nectar is poison.
6. Extremes are dangerous.
120. NECESSITY
1. Necessity knows no law (Hätä ei lue lakia).
2. Necessity breaks iron.
3. Necessity is the mother of invention.
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121. NEIGHBOURS
1. No one is rich enough to do without his neighbour.
2. A near neighbour is better than a far-dwelling
kinsman.
3. Good fences make good neighbours.
122. NEWS
1. No news is good news.
2. Bad news travels fast.
3. Ill news comes unsent for/never comes too late.
123. OBEDIENCE
1. Do as I say, not as I do.
2. Forbidden fruit is sweet.
125. OLD PEOPLE
1. An old man’s sayings are seldom untrue.
2. Years know more than books.
3. No playing with a straw before an old cat.
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4. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
5. Old age comes stealing on.
6. They that live longest, must die at last.
126. OPPORTUNITY
1. Opportunity seldom knocks twice.
2. Strike while the iron is hot. (Tao kun rauta on
kuumaa).
3. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.
4. Time and tide wait for no man (Ota tilaisuudesta
vaarin).
5. Life is short and time is swift.
6. When fortune smiles, embrace her.
127. OPTIMISM
1. Look on the bright side.
2. When one door shuts, another opens.
3. There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out
of it.
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4. He that falls today may rise tomorrow.
5. The darkest hour is that before the dawn.
6. Cloudy mornings turn to clear afternoons.
7. Every cloud has a silver lining.
8. No great loss but (without) small profit.
128. PARENTS
1. Like father, like son. / Like mother, like daughter.
2. There’s only one pretty child in the world, and every
mother has it.
129. PASSION
1. Never do things by halves.
2. He freezes who does not burn.
130. PATIENCE
1. Everything comes to him who waits.
2. Long looked for comes at last.
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3. Be still, and have thy will.
4. Patience is a remedy for every grief.
5. A watched pot never boils.
6. An oak is not felled at one stroke.
7. All things are difficult before they are easy.
8. We must learn to walk before we can run.
132. PEACE
1. If you want peace, you must prepare for war.
133. PEOPLE AND PLACES
1. See Naples and die (Nähdä Napoli ja kuolla).
2. An Englishman is never happy but when he is
miserable, a Scotchman never at home but when he
is abroad, and an Irishman never at peace but when
he’s fighting.
134. PERSEVERANCE
1. Slow but sure wins the race (Hiljaa hyvä tulee).
2. The tortoise wins the race while the hare is
sleeping.
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3. The best things are hard to come by.
4. Little strokes fell great oaks.
135. POSSESSION
1. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (Parempi
pyy pivossa kuin kymmenen oksalla).
136. POVERTY
1. When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out of
the window.
2. Little wealth, little care.
3. Where nothing is, a little does ease.
4. Poverty is the mother of crime.
5. The poorer one is, the more devils one meets.
6. Better beg than steal.
137. PRAISE
1. Praise is always pleasant.
2. No man is indispensable.
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3. The best of men are but men at best.
4. Remember you are not but a man.
139. PROMISES
1. Egos and oaths are easily broken.
2. Promises are either broken or kept.
3. Words are but wind.
4. Promises are like pie-crust, made to be broken.
5. A man apt to promise, is apt to forget.
140. PROVERBS
1. A good maxim is never out of season.
2. Common proverb seldom lies.
3. Proverbs are the wisdom of the streets.
4. Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them.
5. Time passes away, but sayings remain.
141. QUARRELLING
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1. It takes to make a quarrel.
2. Divide and rule.
3. United we stand, divided we fall.
4. Birds in their little nests agree.
5. By scratching and biting, cats and dogs come
together.
6. The difference is wide that the street will not
decide.
142. REGRET
1. What’s done cannot be undone.
2. It is too late to call back yesterday.
3. Things past cannot be recalled.
4. It is no use crying over spilt milk.
5. Win or lose, never regret.
6. It is easy to be wise after the event.
7. If things were to be done twice, all would be wise.
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8. Never too late to repent.
143. RELATIONS
1. Blood is thicker than water.
2. Do no business with a kinsman.
3. There’s a black sheep in every flock.
4. Charity begins at home.
5. It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest (Omaa pesää
ei kannata liata).
6. Don’t wash your dirty linen in public (Likapyykkiä ei
pidä puiman julkisuudessa).
144. RELIGION
1. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
2. Some are atheists only in fair weather.
145. REMEDIES
1. There is a remedy for all things but death.
2. Adapt the remedy to the disease.
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3. If you don’t like the heat, get out of the kitchen.
4. The remedy may be worse than the disease.
147. RESPONSIBILITY
1. Every man is the architect of his own fortune
(Jokainen on oman onnensa seppä).
2. Every tub must stand on its own bottom.
3. As you make your bed, so you must lie on it.
4. As you sow, so you reap (Niin niittää kuin kylvää).
5. It takes two to tango.
6. Everybody’s business is nobody’s business.
7. A bad workman always blames his tools.
8. The absent party is always to blame.
148. REVENGE
1. Blood will have blood.
2. The noblest vengeance is to forgive.
3. Revenge never repairs an injury.
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4. Revenge is sweet.
5. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
150. SACRIFICE
1. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.
2. Venture a small fish to catch a great one.
3. Lose a leg rather than a life.
151. SAFETY
1. He that never climbed never fell.
2. Better be safe than sorry (Parempi katsoa kuin
katua):
3. It is best to be on the safe side.
4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
153. SELF
1. God helps them that help themselves.
2. Self-preservation is the first law of nature.
3. He is the slave of the greatest slave, who serves
nothing but himself.
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4. If you want a thing well done, do it yourself.
5. Our own opinion is never wrong.
6. Men are blind in their own cause.
7. No one ought to be judge in his own cause.
8. Every one thinks his sack heaviest.
154. SERVANTS
1. One must be a servant before one can be a master.
155. SHAME
1. When an ass kicks you, never tell it.
2. Better die with honour than live with shame.
156. SILENCE
1. Silence is golden.
2. A still tongue makes a wise head.
3. Silence catches a mouse.
4. Speech is silver, silence is golden.
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5. Still waters run deep.
157. SIMILARITY
1. Like father, like son.
2. Great minds think alike.
3. Birds of a feather flock together (Vakka kantensa
valitsee).
158. SKILL
1. There is an art even in roasting apples.
2. Great strokes make not sweet music.
3. The best carpenter makes the fewest ships.
159. SLEEP
1. In dreams and in love nothing is impossible.
160. SMALL THINGS
1. The best things come in small packages.
2. Small is beautiful.
3. Little fish are sweet.
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4. Many drops make a shower.
5. Little and often fills the purse.
6. Straws show which way the wind blows.
7. Men are not to be measured by inches.
161. SOLITUDE
1. Better be alone than in bad company.
2. He travels fastest who travels alone.
3. A crowd is not company.
162. SORROW
1. Sadness and gladness succeed each other.
2. No day passes without some grief.
3. Sorrow comes unsent for.
4. A cure for all sorrows is cnversation.
5. Misery loses company.
6. Two in distress make sorrow less.
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7. Time tames the strongest grief.
8. All griefs with bread are less.
163. SPENDING
1. Easy come, easy go.
2. Soon gotten, soon spent.
3. Spend as you get.
4. Let your purse be your master.
5. Cut your coat according to your cloth.
6. Stretch your arm no further than your sleeve will
reach.
164. STRENGTH
1. Strength grows stronger by being tried.
2. Union is strength.
3. A man can do no more than he can.
4. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.
165. SUCCESS
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1. You can’t win them all.
167. SUPERSTITIONS
1. Third time lucky (Kolmas kerta toden sanoo).
168. TALKING
1. The tongue talks at the head’s cost.
2. Talk much, and err much.
3. Barking dogs seldom bite.
4. Great barkers are not biters.
5. What the heart thinks, the tongue speaks.
6. Speech is the picture of the mind.
7. Hear and see and say nothing.
8. Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.
9. Hear twice before you speak once.
10. All truths are not to be told.
11. Talk of the devil and he is bound to appear (Siinä
paha missä mainitaan).
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12. Empty vessels make the most sound (Tyhjät
tynnyrit kolisevat eniten).
169. TEMPTATION
1. Opportunity makes the thief (Tilaisuus tekee
varkaan).
170. SPENDING
1. A penny saved is a penny earned.
2. You can’t take it with you when you die.
3. Shrouds have no pockets.
171. TIME
1. Time is money.
2. Time works wonders.
3. Tiem flies/has wings.
4. There is a time and place for everything.
5. Now is now, and then was then.
6. The golden age was never the present age.
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7. This morning knows not this evening’s happenings.
172. TRAVEL
1. Travel broadens the mind.
2. East or west, home’s best.
3. There’s no place like home.
4. Home is where the heart is.
5. Better at home than a mile from it.
6. The bird loves her nest.
173 TRIAL
1. The exception proves the rule (Poikkeus vahvistaa
säännön).
2. One swallow does not make a summer (Ei yksi
pääsky vielä kesää tee).
174. TROUBLE-MAKING
1. He that seeks trouble never misses.
2. Let sleeping dogs lie.
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3. Wake not a sleeping lion.
4. Rip not up old sores.
176. TRUTH
1. Truth will come to light.
2. Facts are stubborn things.
3. Children and fools cannot lie.
4. Truth is stranger than fiction.
177. USE
1. All’s fish that comes to the net.
178. WAR
1. Attack is the best form of defence (Hyökkäys on
paras puolustus).
179. WEAKNESS
1. Men are not angels.
180. WEALTH
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1. Money is round, and rolls away.
2. Money is the root of all evil.
3. Money makes the man.
4. The best things in life are free.
5. Money isn’t everything.
6. Riches alone make no man happy.
7. Gold dust blinds all eyes.
8. A rich man’s joke is always funny.
9. Money governs the world.
10. Money is a good servant, but a bad master.
182. WILL
1. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
2. Will is no skill.
3. Mere fishes are silly fishes.
4. Wishes can never fill a sack.
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183. WISDOM
1. Honest men marry soon, wise men not at all.
2. No man is wise at all times.
3. Even Homer sometimes nods.
184. WOMEN
1. Women have long hair and short brains.
2. Women are necessary evils.
3. Women will have their wills.
4. A woman’s sword is her tongue, and she does not
let it rust.
5. A woman’s place is in the home.
6. A woman’s work is never done.
7. Man is the head, but woman turns it.
8. Men make houses, women make homes.
9. A man is as old as he feels, and a woman as old as
she looks.
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185. WORLD
1. It’s a small world.
2. The world is but a little place, after all.
3. The world is a stage and every man plays his part
(William Shakespeare).
186. WORRY
1. Don’t cross the bridge till you get to it.
2. Take things as they come.
3. Don’t cry before you are hurt.
4. Don’t meet troubles half-way.
5. Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.
187. WORTH
1. The cow knows not what her tail is worth till she
has lost it.
2. You never miss the water till the well runs dry.
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