Proverbs
Proverbs
Friendship
- A friends frown is better than a fools smile.
- A friend in need is a friend indeed.
- A friend is easier lost than found.
- A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody.
- False friends are worse than open enemies.
- Flattery is all right so long as you don't inhale.
- Give credit where credit is due.
- Grief divided is made lighter.
- Memory is the treasure of the mind.
- Nothing dries sooner than a tear.
- Old friends and old wine are best.
- The best of friends must part.
- There is no better looking-glass than an old friend.
- Two cannot fall out if one does not choose.
Love
- A loveless life is a living death.
- Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
- All's fair in love and war.
- Before you meet the handsome prince you have to kiss a lot of toads.
- Cold hands, warm heart.
- Faint heart never won fair lady.
- First impressions are the most lasting.
- Hatred is as blind as love.
- Love does much but money does all.
- Love levels all inequalities.
- Love makes a good eye squint.
- Love sees no faults.
- Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.
- Love to live and live to love.
- Man is the head but woman turns it.
- Marry in haste, repent at leisure.
- The course of love never did run smooth.
- To eat one's heart out.
Relationships
- A good friend is one's nearest relation.
- A man is known by the company he keeps.
- A man of straw needs a woman of gold.
- Anger and hate hinder good counsel.
- At a round table there's no dispute about the place.
- Blood is thicker than water.
- Cheerfulness smooths the road of life.
- Don't blow your own trumpet.
- Do as you would be done by.
- Grow angry slowly; there's plenty of time.
- He bears misery best that hides it most.
- He that hurts another, hurts himself.
- It's not over till it's over.
- Out of sight, out of mind.
- Patience is a virtue.
- Persuasion is better than force.
- Spare the rod and spoil the child.
- Temper is so good a thing that we should never lose it.
- Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness.
Life
- A good thing is all the sweeter when won with pain.
- A man too careful of danger lives in continual torment.
- All promises are either broken or kept.
- An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
- An open door may tempt a saint.
- As you go through life, make this your goal, watch the doughnut and not the hole.
- Brevity is the soul of wit.
- Cut your coat according to the cloth.
- Discretion is the better part of valour.
- Easy come, easy go.
- Familiarity breeds contempt.
- Fortune favours the brave.
- Home is where the heart is.
- Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
- Life begins at forty.
- Live and learn.
- Manners maketh the man.
- The longer you live the more you see.
- The receiver is as bad as the thief.
- To look as if butter will not melt in his mouth.
- To wait and be patient soothes many a pang.
- We cannot erase the sad records from our past.
- What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.
- While there's life there's hope.
Health
- After dinner rest a while, after supper walk a mile.
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
- Another pot ! Try the teapot.
- A fit as a fiddle.
- As hard as nails.
- As sick as a dog.
- Beauty is but skin deep.
- Better to be poor and healthy rather than rich and sick.
- Better to wear out than rust out.
- Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
- Content is health to the sick and riches to the poor.
- Drink like a fish, water only.
- Early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy & wise.
- Good wine ruins the purse, and bad wine ruins the stomach.
- He who drinks a little too much drinks much too much.
- He who rises late must trot all day.
- His eyes are bigger than his belly.
- Hunger is the best sauce.
- Ready money is ready medicine.
- Sound as a bell.
- To add insult to injury.
- What can't be cured must be endured.
Conversation
- A fool uttereth all his mind.
- Actions speak louder than words.
- Angry words fan the fire like wind.
- To call a spade a spade.
- Do as I say not as I do.
- Few words and many deeds.
- Gossips are frogs, they drink and talk.
- He who sings drives away sorrow.
- If you don't say it you will not have to unsay it.
- It takes two to have an argument.
- Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.
- Many a true word spoken in jest.
- Nothing is ill said if it is not ill taken.
- One picture is worth a thousand words.
- Silence is an excellent remedy against slander.
- Silence is golden.
- Silence is less injurious than a bad reply.
- Speak clearly, if you speak at all.
- Stop beating around the bush.
- Take your wife's first advice.
- Talking comes by nature, silence by wisdom.
Wisdom
- A change is as good as a rest.
- A stitch in time saves nine.
- Accidents will happen.
- All's well that ends well.
- Bread never falls but on its buttered side.
- Charity begins at home.
- Different strokes for different folks.
- Empty vessels make the most sound.
- Faith is beleiving in something when common sense tells you not to.
- Four eyes are better than two.
- Innocent as a new born babe.
- It's an ill wind that blows no-one some good.
- Necessity is the mother of invention.
- No one can be caught in places he does not visit.
- No wise man ever wishes to be younger.
- Not in a month of Sundays.
- Out of the frying pan into the fire.
- Show a clean pair of heels.
- Still waters run deep.
- The darkest hour is before the dawn.
- The wise shall understand.
- Tomorrow is a new day.
- Two heads are better than one.
- You can't tell a book by its cover.
- Where observation is concerned, chance favours only the prepared mind.
- Wisdom is better than strength.
- Wisdom is neither inheritance nor a legacy.
- Wisdom is the wealth of the wise.
- Wise it is to comprehend the whole.
- You never know what you can do till you try.
Work
- All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
- An idle man is the devil's playfellow.
- It's all in a days work.
- Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes it.
- Least talk most work.
- Many hands make light work.
- No life can be dreary when work is a delight.
- The devil finds work for idle hands.
- The hardest work is to do nothing.
Animal related
- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
- A bird makes his nest little by little.
- An old fox need learn no craft.
- Birds of a feather flock together.
- Curses, like chickens come home to roost.
- Every dog has its day.
- If you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas.
- It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest.
- It is no use closing the stable door, after the horse has bolted.
- Kill two birds with the one stone.
- Let sleeping dogs lie.
- Like a fish out of water.
- Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
- Putting the cart before the horse.
- Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
- The early bird catches the worm.
- The leopard does not change his spots.
- The sleepy fox catches no chickens.
- To scare a bird is not the way to catch it.
- What do you expect from a pig, but a grunt?
- While the cats away the mice play.
- You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
- You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
Rural
- A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.
- A rolling stone gathers no moss.
- After the storm comes the calm.
- All aren't hunters that blow the horn.
- As green as grass.
- As is the gardener so is the garden.
- As you sow, so shall you reap.
- Better to go back than go wrong.
- By hook or by crook.
- Deeds are fruits, words are but leaves.
- Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.
- Don't cross your bridges until you come to them.
- Empty bags cannot stand upright.
- Every cloud has a silver lining.
- Fresh as a daisy.
- Good company on the road is the shortest cut.
- It is no use crying over spilt milk.
- Leave no stone unturned.
- Make hay while the sun shines.
- Never cackle unless you lay.
- Oaks may fall when reeds take the storm.
- Shake the hand before you plough the field.
- Strike while the iron's hot.
- The beaten path is safest.
- The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
- The longest journey begins with the first step
- The more you stir, the more it stinks.
- The sun shines on both sides of the hedge.
- Too many irons in the fire.
Growth
- A point is the beginning of magnitude.
- A spark can start a great fire.
- A short cut is often a wrong cut.
- Big fish eat little fish.
- Everything has an end.
- From trivial things, great contests often arise.
- Grow angry slowly, there's plenty of time.
- He who hesitates is lost.
- It is easier to destroy than to build.
- It is the first step that is difficult.
- Little strokes fell great oaks.
- Lost time is never found again.
- Many drops make a shower.
- Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow.
- Rome wasn't built in a day.
- Small faults indulged let in greater.
- You can eat an elephant if you do it one mouthful at a time.
Money
- A light purse makes a heavy heart.
- A little each day is much in a year.
- A penny saved is a penny earned.
- A single penny fairly got is worth a thousand that are not.
- Always you are to be rich next year.
- Diamonds are forever.
- Every man is the architect of his destiny.
- Experience is the father of wisdom.
- Fair exchange is no robbery.
- He has enough who is content.
- He that pays last never pays twice.
- He is rich that is satisfied.
- In for a penny, in for a pound.
- It is
to be born lucky than rich.
- Little and often fill the purse.
- Little thieves are hanged, but great ones escape.
- Money burns a hole in your pocket.
- Never spend your money before you have it.
- One today is worth two tomorrows.
- Penny wise, pound foolish.
- The love of money is the root of all evil.
- There is no honour among thieves.
- There's many a slip, twixt cup and the lip.
Business
- A good conscience is a soft pillow.
- A good thing is soon snatched up.
- A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
- Better safe than sorry.
- Better late than never.
- Business before pleasure.
- Divide and conquer.
- Don't rely on the label on the bag.
- Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- Experience is the best teacher.
- First come, first served.
- Fore-warned is fore-armed.
- Honesty is the best policy.
- If anything can go wrong, it will.
- It's a poor job that can't carry one boss.
- Let the buyer beware.
- Look before you leap.
- Nobody can serve two masters.
- One man's loss, is another man's gain.
- Possession is nine tenths of the law.
- The customer is always right.
- The gods help them that help themselves.
- The golden age never was the present one.
- To each his own.
- We do not always gain by changing.
- Where there's a will there's a way.
Fools
- A fool and his money are soon parted.
- A fool in a gown is none the wiser.
- A wise man doesn't need advice, and a fool won't take it.
- Advice when most needed is least heeded.
- Always in a hurry, always behind.
- Cheap is dear in the long run.
- Cut off one's nose to spit one's face.
- Empty vessels make the most noise.
- Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.
- Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
- If the cap fits, wear it.
- In one ear and out the other.
- It can't happen here is number one on the list of famous last words.
- One of these days is none of these days.
- Pride cometh before a fall.
- The fool wanders, the wise man travels.
- The hood does not make the monk.
- The wise man is deceived once but the fool twice.
- There is no fool like an old fool.
- Use not today what tomorrow will need.
- What's the good of home, if you are never in it?
- Waste not, want not.
- You cannot lose what you never had.
Torben Laurberg
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