Proverb Phrases

Phrases

• A barking dog never bites
• A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
• A cat may look at a king
• A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
• A change is as good as a rest
• A dog is a man's best friend
• A drowning man will clutch at a straw
• A fool and his money are soon parted
• A friend in need is a friend indeed
• A golden key can open any door
• A good beginning makes a good ending
• A good man is hard to find
• A house divided against itself cannot stand
• A house is not a home
• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
• A leopard cannot change its spots
• A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
• A little of what you fancy does you good
• A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client
• A miss is as good as a mile
• A new broom sweeps clean
• A penny saved is a penny earned
• A person is known by the company he keeps
• A picture paints a thousand words
• A place for everything and everything in its place
• A poor workman blames his tools
• A problem shared is a problem halved
• A prophet is not recognized in his own land
• A rising tide lifts all boats
• A rolling stone gathers no moss
• A soft answer turneth away wrath
• A stitch in time saves nine
• A swarm in May is worth a load of hay
• A thing of beauty is a joy forever (from a poem by Keats)
• A volunteer is worth twenty pressed men
• A woman is only a woman but a good cigar is a smoke
• A woman's place is in the home
• A word to the wise
• Absence makes the heart grow fonder
• Absolute power corrupts absolutely (quotation by Lord Acton)
• Accidents will happen
• Actions speak louder than words
• Adversity makes strange bedfellows
• All good things must come to an end
• All publicity is good publicity
• All roads lead to Rome
• All that glisters is not gold
• All the world loves a lover
• All things come to he who waits
• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
• All's Well, That Ends Well
• All's fair in love and war
• All's for the best in the best of all possible worlds (Voltaire quotation - in Candide)

• An Englishman's home is his castle
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away
• An army marches on its stomach
• An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
• An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
• Another day, another dollar
• Any port in a storm
• April is the cruellest month
• April showers bring May flowers
• As the saying goes
• As you make your bed so must you lie on it
• As you sow so shall you reap
• Ashes to ashes dust to dust
• Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer
• Ask no questions and hear no lies
• Attack is the best form of defence
• Bad money drives out good
• Bad news travels fast
• Barking dogs seldom bite
• Be careful what you wish for
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
• Beauty is only skin deep
• Beggars can't be choosers
• Behind every great man there's a great woman
• Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow
• Better late than never
• Better safe than sorry
• Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don't
• Better to remain silent and be thought a fool that to speak and remove all doubt
• Between two stools
• Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
• Beware the Ides of March
• Big fish eat little fish
• Birds of a feather flock together
• Blessed are the cheese makers (line from Monty Python's Life of Brian)
• Blessed are the peacemakers
• Blood is thicker than water
• Blue are the hills that are far away
• Boys will be boys
• Brevity is the soul of wit
• Brum brum (child's play idiom expressing the sound of a vehicle)
• Business before pleasure
• Caesar's wife must be above suspicion
• Carpe diem (latin expression meaning seize the day)
• Charity begins at home
• Charity covers a multitude of sins
• Cheaters never win, and winners never cheat (proverbial saying)
• Cheats never prosper
• Children and fools tell the truth
• Children should be seen and not heard
• Cleanliness is next to godliness
• Clothes maketh the man
• Coin a phrase

• Cold hands warm heart
• Comparisons are odorous
• Count your blessings
• Cowards may die many times before their death
• Crime doesn't pay
• Cut your coat to suit your cloth
• Dead men tell no tales
• Discretion is the better part of valour
• Distance lends enchantment to the view
• Do as I say not as I do
• Do as you would be done by
• Do not meet your troubles halfway
• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
• Don't believe everything you hear
• Don't bite the hand that feeds you
• Don't burn your bridges behind you
• Don't cast your pearls before swine
• Don't change horses in midstream
• Don't count your chickens before they are hatched
• Don't cross the bridge till you come to it
• Don't cry over spilt milk
• Don't cut off your nose to spite your face
• Don't get mad get even
• Don't keep a dog and bark yourself
• Don't leave your manners on the doorstep
• Don't let the bastards grind you down
• Don't let the grass grow under your feet
• Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
• Don't mix business with pleasure
• Don't put all your eggs in one basket
• Don't put new wine into old bottles
• Don't rock the boat
• Don't shoot the messenger
• Don't spoil the ship for a ha'pworth of tar
• Don't sweat the small stuff
• Don't trust anyone over thirty
• Don't try to teach your Grandma to suck eggs
• Don't try to walk before you can crawl
• Don't upset the apple-cart
• Doubt is the beginning not the end of wisdom
• Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise
• East is east and west is west
• East, west, home's best
• Easy come easy go
• Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
• Empty vessels make the most noise
• Enough is as good as a feast
• Enough is enough
• Even a worm will turn
• Every Jack has his Jill
• Every dark cloud has a silver lining
• Every dog has his day
• Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost

• Every man has his price
• Every stick has two ends
• Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die
• Failing to plan is planning to fail
• Faint heart never won fair lady
• Fair exchange is no robbery
• Faith will move mountains
• Familiarity breeds contempt
• Feed a cold and starve a fever
• Fight fire with fire
• Fight the good fight
• Finders keepers, losers weepers
• Fine words butter no parsnips
• First come first served
• First impressions last
• First things first
• Fish always rot from the head downwards
• Fish and guests smell after three days
• Flattery will get you nowhere
• Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
• For everything there is a season
• For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the man was lost
• Forewarned is forearmed
• Forgive and forget
• Fortune favours the brave
• Genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains (Thomas Carlyle quotation)
• Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration (Thomas Edison quotation)
• Give a dog a bad name and hang him
• Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
• Give a man enough rope and he will hang himself
• Give credit where credit is due
• God helps those who help themselves
• Good fences make good neighbours
• Good talk saves the food
• Good things come to those who wait (Guinness advertising slogan)
• Great minds think alike
• Half a loaf is better than no bread
• Handsome is as handsome does
• Hard cases make bad law
• Hard work never did anyone any harm
• Hard work never killed anyone
• Haste makes waste
• He that goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing
• He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches (George Bernard Shaw quotation)
• He who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day
• He who hesitates is lost
• He who laughs last laughs longest
• He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword
• He who pays the piper calls the tune
• He who sups with the Devil should use a long spoon
• Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
• Hindsight is always twenty-twenty
• History repeats itself

• Home is where the heart is
• Honesty is the best policy
• Hope springs eternal
• Hope springs eternal in the human breast (from a poem by Alexander Pope)
• Horses for courses
• If God had meant us to fly he would have given us wings
• If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well
• If anything can go wrong, it will
• If at first you don't succeed try, try and try again
• If ifs and ands were pots and pans there'd be no work for tinkers
• If it ain't broke don't fix it
• If life deals you lemons made lemonade
• If the cap fits, wear it
• If the mountain won't go to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain
• If the shoe fits, wear it
• If wishes were horses beggars would ride
• If you build it they will come
• If you can't be good, be careful
• If you can't beat em, join em
• If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas
• If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys
• If you want a thing done well, do it yourself
• Ignorance is bliss
• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
• In for a penny in for a pound
• In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king
• In the midst of life we are in death
• Into every life a little rain must fall
• It goes without saying
• It is easy to be wise after the event
• It never rains but it pours
• It takes a thief to catch a thief
• It takes all sorts to make a world
• It takes one to know one
• It takes two to tango
• It's all grist to the mill
• It's an ill wind that blows no one any good
• It's better to be looked over than overlooked
• It's better to give than to receive
• It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
• It's better to light a candle than curse the darkness
• It's better to travel hopefully than to arrive
• It's never too late
• It's no use locking the stable door after the horse has bolted
• It's not over until the fat lady sings
• It's not worth crying over spilt milk
• It's the early bird that gets the worm
• It's the empty can that makes the most noise
• It's the singer not the song
• It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease
• Jack of all trades but master of none
• Judge not, that ye be not judged
• Keep your chin up

• Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer (proverbial saying)
• Keep your powder dry
• Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and, you weep alone
• Laughter is the best medicine
• Least said soonest mended
• Less is more
• Let bygones be bygones
• Let not the sun go down on your wrath
• Let sleeping dogs lie
• Let the buyer beware
• Let the dead bury the dead
• Let the punishment fit the crime
• Let well alone
• Life begins at forty
• Life is just a bowl of cherries
• Life is what you make it
• Life's not all beer and skittles
• Lightning never strikes twice in the same place
• Like father, like son
• Little pitchers have big ears
• Little strokes fell great oaks
• Little things please little minds
• Live for today for tomorrow never comes
• Look before you leap
• Love is blind
• Love makes the world go round
• Love thy neighbour as thyself
• Love will find a way
• Make hay while the sun shines
• Make love not war
• Man does not live by bread alone
• Manners maketh man
• Many a mickle makes a muckle
• Many a true word is spoken in jest
• Many are called but few are chosen
• Many hands make light work
• March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb
• March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers
• Marriages are made in heaven
• Marry in haste, repent at leisure
• Might is right
• Mighty oaks from little acorns grow
• Misery loves company
• Moderation in all things
• Money doesn't grow on trees
• Money doesn't talk, it swears
• Money is the root of all evil
• Money isn't everything
• Money makes the world go round
• Money talks
• More haste, less speed
• Music has charms to soothe the savage breast
• My enemy's enemy is my friend (proverb suggesting that opposing parties should cooperate)

• Nature abhors a vacuum
• Ne'er cast a clout till May is out
• Necessity is the mother of invention
• Needs must when the Devil drives
• Never go to bed on an argument
• Never judge a book by its cover
• Never look a gift horse in the mouth
• Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today
• Never speak ill of the dead
• Never tell tales out of school
• Nine tailors make a man
• No man can serve two masters
• No man is an island
• No news is good news
• No pain, no gain
• No rest for the wicked
• Nothing is certain but death and taxes
• Nothing succeeds like success
• Nothing ventured nothing gained
• Oil and water don't mix
• Old soldiers never die, they just fade away
• Once a thief, always a thief
• Once bitten, twice shy
• One good turn deserves another
• One half of the world does not know how the other half lives
• One hand washes the other
• One law for the rich and another for the poor
• One man's meat is another man's poison
• One swallow doesn't make a summer
• One volunteer is worth ten pressed men
• One year's seeds make seven year weeds
• Only fools and horses work
• Opportunity never knocks twice
• Opportunity only knocks once
• Out of sight, out of mind
• Parsley seed goes nine times to the devil
• Patience is a virtue
• Pearls of wisdom
• Penny wise, pound foolish
• People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
• Physician heal thyself
• Possession is nine tenths of the law
• Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely
• Practice makes perfect
• Prevention is better than cure
• Pride comes before a fall
• Procrastination is the thief of time
• Put your best foot forward
• Rain before seven, fine before eleven
• Red sky at night shepherds delight
• Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning
• Revenge is a dish best served cold
• Revenge is sweet

• Rome wasn't built in a day
• Saturday's child works hard for a living
• See a pin and pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck; see a pin and let it lie, bad luck you'll have all day
• Seeing is believing
• Seek and ye shall find
• Set a thief to catch a thief
• Share and share alike
• Shrouds have no pockets
• Silence is golden
• Slow but sure
• Softly, softly, catchee monkey
• Spare the rod and spoil the child
• Speak as you find
• Speak softly and carry a big stick
• Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me
• Still waters run deep
• Strike while the iron is hot
• Stupid is as stupid does
• Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan
• Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves
• Talk is cheap
• Talk of the Devil, and he is bound to appear
• Tell the truth and shame the Devil
• That which does not kill us makes us stronger (Friedrich Nietzsche quotation)
• The Devil finds work for idle hands to do
• The Devil take the hindmost
• The age of miracles is past
• The apple never falls far from the tree
• The best defence is a good offence
• The best is the enemy of the good
• The best laid schemes of mice and men
• The best things in life are free
• The bigger they are the harder they fall
• The bottom line is the bottom line is the bottom line
• The boy is father to the man
• The bread always falls buttered side down
• The child is father of the man (from a poem by Wordsworth)
• The cobbler always wears the worst shoes
• The course of true love never did run smooth
• The customer is always right
• The darkest hour is just before the dawn
• The devil looks after his own
• The early bird catches the worm
• The ends justify the means
• The exception which proves the rule
• The female of the species is more deadly than the male
• The fruit does not fall far from the tree
• The good die young
• The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
• The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
• The husband is always the last to know
• The labourer is worthy of his hire
• The law is an ass

• The longest journey starts with a single step
• The love of money is the root of all evil
• The more the merrier
• The more things change, the more they stay the same
• The pen is mightier than sword
• The phrase that pays
• The price of liberty is eternal vigilance
• The proof of the pudding is in the eating
• The road to hell is paved with good intentions
• The saying goes
• The shoemaker's son always goes barefoot
• The truth will out
• The wages of sin is death
• The way to a man's heart is through his stomach
• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts (proverbial saying)
• There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with cream
• There are no pockets in a shroud
• There are none so blind as those that will not see
• There are two sides to every question
• There but for the grace of God go I
• There's a time and a place for everything
• There's an exception to every rule
• There's many a good tune played on an old fiddle
• There's many a good tune played on an old piano
• There's many a slip twixt cup and lip
• There's more than one way to skin a cat
• There's no accounting for taste
• There's no fool like an old fool
• There's no place like home
• There's no smoke without fire
• There's no such thing as a free lunch
• There's no such thing as bad publicity
• There's no time like the present
• There's none so blind as those who will not see
• There's none so deaf as they that will not hear
• There's nothing new under the sun
• There's nowt so queer as folk
• There's one born every minute
• There's plenty more fish in the sea
• They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind
• Third time lucky
• Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it
• Those who sleep with dogs will rise with fleas
• Those whom the Gods love die young
• Thursday's child has far to go
• Time and tide wait for no man
• Time flies when you are having fun