List of English Proverbs - A (Part 1)

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter A. 

1.  A bad excuse is better than none. 
Explanation: It is better to attempt to give some kind of explanation even a weak one.

2. A bad workman blames his tools. 
Explanation: Often used as a comment on someone 's excuses for their lack of success.   

3. A barking dog never bites.
Explanation: Noisy threats often do not indicate real danger.  

4. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Explanation: It is better to accept what one has than to try to get more and risk losing everything.

5. A burnt child dreads the fire.
Explanation:The memory of past hurt may act as a safeguard in the future.

6.  A carpenter is known by his chips.
Explanation: The nature of a person's occupation or interest is demonstrated by the traces left behind.   
7. A cat may look at a king.
Explanation:  Even someone in a lowly position has a right to observe a person of power and influence.

8. A clean conscience is a good pillow.
Explanation: A clear conscience enables its possessor to sleep soundly.  

9.  A fox may grow grey, but never good.
Explanation:  Ageing will not change a person's essential nature.

10. A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
Explanation:  Awareness of one’s own guilt has the same effect as an accusation

11. A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse.
Explanation: The slightest hint is enough to convey one's meaning in a particular case.

12.  A shut mouth catches no flies.
Explanation: A warning against the dangers of idle talk. 

13. A stitch in time saves time.
Explanation: A small timely intervention will ensure against the need for much more substantial repair later.  

14. A tree is known by its fruit.
Explanation:A person is judged by what they do and produce.

15. A trouble shared is a trouble halved.
Explanation: Discussing a problem will lessen its impact. 

List of English Proverbs - B

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter B. 

1. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Explanation:  Beauty is not judged objectively, but according to the beholder’s estimation.

2. Beauty is only skin deep. 
Explanation: Physical beauty is no guarantee of a good character or temperament.   

3. Better are small fish than an empty dish.
Explanation: A little is preferable to nothing at all.

4. Better be safe than sorry. 
Explanation: Urging the wisdom of taking precautions.

5. Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
Explanation: Take advantage of what is available now, rather than waiting for possible advantages later.   

6. Better late than never
Explanation: Even if one missed the first chance of doing something, it is better to attempt it than no to do it at all. 

7. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
Explanation:Understanding of the nature of a danger may give one an advantage and is preferable to something which is completely unknown and which may well be worse.

8. Birds of the same feather flock together.
Explanation:People of the same (usually unscrupulous) character tend to associate.

9. Business before pleasure.
Explanation: Often used to encourage a course of action.

10. Blue are the hills that are far away. 
Explanation:  A distant view lends enchantment.

11. Blood is thicker than water.
Explanation: In the end family ties will always count.

12. Beggars can't be choosers.
Explanation: Someone who is destitute is in no position to criticize what may be offered.

List of English Proverbs - A (Part 2)

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter A. 

1. A creaking door hangs longest. 
Explanation: Someone who is apparently in poor health may well cultivate the ostensibly stronger. 

2. A drowning man will clutch at a straw.  
Explanation: When hope is slipping away one grasps at the slightest chance. 

3. A hedge between keeps friendship green. 
Explanation: It is wise to have a clear boundary between neighbors.

4. An idle brain is the devil's workshop. 
Explanation: Those who do not apply themselves to their work are most likely to get into trouble.

5. An ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept.
Explanation: A small amount of practical assistance is worth more than a great deal of advice.  

6.  A penny saved is a penny earned.
Explanation: Used as an encouragement to be thrifty.   

7. All’s well that end well. 
Explanation: Often used with the implication that difficulties have been successfully negotiated. 

8. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 
Explanation: Warning against a lifestyle without any form of relaxation.

9.  All that glitters is not gold.
Explanation:  An attractive appearance is not necessarily evidence of intrinsic value.

10. After a storm comes a calm. 
Explanation:  Often used with the implication that a calm situation is only achieved after stress and turmoil. 

11.  A watched pot never boils. 
Explanation: To pay too close an attention to the development of a desired event appears to inhibit the result.

12. All is fish that comes to the net. 
Explanation: Everything can be used to advantage.

13. A slice off a cut loaf isn't missed. 
Explanation:  If someone has already been diminished or damaged, further damage may go unnoticed. 

14. Appearances are deceptive.
Explanation: The outward form of something may not be a true guide to its real nature.

List of English Proverbs - C

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter C. 

1.  Charity begins at home.
Explanation: You should look first to needs in your immediate vicinity.

2. Cold hands, warm heart.
Explanation: An outward sign may contradict an inward reality. 

3. Curses, like chicken, come home to roost. 
Explanation: Ill will directed at another is likely to rebound on the originator.

4. Cut your coat, according to your cloth.
Explanation: Actions taken should suit one's circumstances or resources. 

5. Constant dropping wears away a stone. 
Explanation: Persistence will achieve a difficult or unlikely object. 

List of English Proverbs - D

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter D.

1. Diligence is the mother of good luck.
Explanation:  Success results more from application and practice than from good fortune.  

2. Dog does not eat dog. 
Explanation:  People of the same profession should not attack each other.   

3. Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. 
Explanation:  One should not make or act upon an assumption which may turn out to be ill-founded.   

4. Don’t cross the bridge till you come to it.
Explanation: Warning that you should not concern yourself with possible difficulties unless and until they arise.

5. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Explanation: You should not change everything on a single venture but spread the risk.

6. Do not meet troubles halfway.
Explanation: Warning against anxiety about something that has not yet happened.

7. Don't put the cart before the horse.
Explanation: Don't reverse the proper order of things.

List of English Proverbs - E

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter E. 

1. Easy come, easy go.
Explanation: Something which is acquired without effort will be lost without regret.

2. Eagle don't catch flies. 
Explanation:  Great or important persons do not concern themselves with trivial matters. 

3. Empty vessels make the most sound.
Explanation:  Foolish and empty-headed people make the most noise.  

4. Every dog has his day.
Explanation: Everyone, however insignificant has a moment of strength and power.   

5. Everybody's business is nobody's business.
Explanation: Often used as encouragement to the reluctant.  

6. Experience is the best teacher.
Explanation: Sometimes used with the implication that learning by experience may be painful. 

List of English Proverbs - F

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter F. 

1. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Explanation: We value least the things which are most familiar.

2. Full cup, steady hand.
Explanation: Used specially to caution against spoiling a comfortable or otherwise happy situation by a careless action.   

3. Fire is a good servant, but a bad master. 
Explanation: Acknowledging that fire is both essential for living and potentially destructive. 

4. Fine feathers make fine birds
Explanation: Beautiful clothes confer beauty or style on the wearer.  

5. Forewarmed is forearmed.
Explanation:  If one has been warned in advance about a problem one can make preparations for dealing with it.

List of English Proverbs - H

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter H. 

1. Hasty climbers have sudden falls.
Explanation: The over-ambitious often fail to take necessary precautions.  

2. Haste makes waste. 
Explanation: Hurried work is likely to be wasteful.    

3. He who pays the piper call the tune. 
Explanation:  The person financially responsible for something can control what is done. 

4. Honey catches more flies than vinegar.
Explanation: Soft words achieve more than sharpness. 

List of English Proverbs - I

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter I. 

1. It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog.
Explanation: It is easy to find reasons to criticize someone who is vulnerable.  

2.  It is never too late to mend.
Explanation: One can always try to improve.   

3. It is not work that kills, but worry. 
Explanation: Direct effort is less stressful than constant concern.  

4.  It's ill waiting for dead men's shoes. 
Explanation: Often used for a situation in which one is hoping for a position currently occupied by another.  

5. It takes all sort to make a world. 
Explanation:  Often used in recognition that a particular group may encompass a wide range of character and background.

6. It takes two to make a bargain.
Explanation: Often used to imply that both parties must be prepared to give some ground.   

7. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Explanation: What one wishes for is often far from reality.  

List of English Proverbs - L

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter L. 

1.  Let sleeping dog lie.
Explanation:  Something which may be dangerous or difficult to handle is better left undisturbed. 

2. Like father like son. 
Explanation:  Often used to call attention to similarities in behavior.  

3. Look before you leap. 
Explanation:  Used to advise caution before committing oneself to a course of action. 

4. Love your neighbor, but don't pull down your hedge.
Explanation: Do not let feelings of friendship lead you to act unwisely.  

5. Less is more.
Explanation: Something simple often has more effect. 

6. Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
Explanation: Often used as an encouragement that a particular misfortune will not be repeated.  

7. Little pitchers have large ears.
Explanation: Children overhear what is not meant for them (a pitcher's ears are its handles). 

8. Lucky at cards, unlucky in love. 
Explanation: Suggesting that good fortune in gambling is balanced by lack of success in love. 

List of English Proverbs - M

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter M. 

1. Many hands make light work.

Explanation: Often used as an encouragement to join in with assistance.

2. Many go out for wool and come home shorn. 

Explanation: Many who seek to better themselves or make themselves rich end by losing what they already have.   

3. Man cannot leave by bread alone.

Explanation: A person needs spiritual as well as physical sustenance.  

4.  Make hay while the sun shines. 

Explanation: One should take advantage of favorable circumstances which may not last. 

List of English Proverbs - N

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter N. 

1. No pain, no gain.
Explanation: Nothing worth having can be achieved without effort.

2. No time like the present.
Explanation: Often used to urge swift and immediate action.   

3. New lords, new laws.
Explanation: New authorities are likely to change existing rules.  

4. No smoke without fire. 
Explanation: Rumor is generally founded on fact.  

5. Nothing venture, nothing gain.
Explanation: One must be prepared to take some risks to gain a desired end.  

6. Nothing so bad but it might have been worse. 
Explanation: Used in resignation or consolation.  

7. Necessity is the mother of invention. 
Explanation: Need is often the motive to the creative process. 

8. Necessity knows no law.
Explanation:Someone  in extreme need will disregard rules of prohibitions. 

9. New brooms sweep clean.
Explanation: Often used in the context of someone newly appointed to a post who is making changes in personnel and procedures. 

List of English Proverbs - O

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter O. 

1. Old habits die hard.
Explanation:  It is difficult to break long-established habits.  

2. Opportunity never knocks twice at any man's door. 
Explanation: A chance once missed will not occur again.   

3. Out of fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. 
Explanation: Overwhelming feeling will express itself in speech.  

4. Out the mouth of babes.
Explanation: Young children may sometimes speak with disconcerting wisdom.  

5. One step at a time.
Explanation: Recommending cautious progression along a desired route. 

6. Once bitten, twice shy.
Explanation:  Someone who has suffered an injury will be in the future be very cautious of the cause. 

7. Old sins cast long shadows.
Explanation: Current usage is likely to refer to the wrong done by one generation affecting its descendants.

List of English Proverbs - R

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter R.

1. Revenge is a dish that can be eaten cold. 
Explanation: Vengeance need not be immediately.   

2. Rome was not built in a day. 
Explanation: Used to warn against trying to achieve too much at once.

List of English Proverbs - S

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter S. 

1. Second thoughts are best.
Explanation: It is dangerous to act on one’s first impulse without due thought. 

2. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. 
Explanation: Conventionally represented by “the three wise monkeys" covering their eyes, ears and mouth respectively with their hands and used particularly to imply a deliberate refusal to notice something that is wrong.     

3. Set a thief to catch a thief.
Explanation: Used to imply that the person best placed to catch someone out in dishonest practices is one whose own nature tends that way.  

4. Soon ripe, soon rotten. 
Explanation:  A warning against talent/maturity, meaning that notably early achievement is unlikely to be long-lasting.

5. Speech is silver, but silence is golden.
Explanation: Discretion can be more valuable than the most eloquent words.  

6. Stolen fruit are sweet. 
Explanation: The knowledge that something is forbidden makes it more attractive.    

7. Strike while the iron is hot. 
Explanation: One should take advantage of opportunity.

8. Sing before breakfast, cry before night.
Explanation: Warning against overconfidence in early happiness presaging a reversal of good fortune. 

9. Still waters run deep.
Explanation: Now commonly used to assert that a placid exterior hides a passionate nature. 

10.  Stretch your arm no further than your sleeve will reach. 
Explanation:  You should not spend more than you can afford. 

11. Spare well and have to spend.
Explanation: The person who is and careful with their resources can use them lavishly when the occasion offers.

12. Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan.
Explanation: Once something is seen to succeed many people will claim to have initiated it, while responsibility for failure is likely to be disclaimed. 

List of English Proverbs - T

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter T. 

1. Talk is cheap.
Explanation: It is easier to say than to do something.  

2. The pen is mightier than the sword. 
Explanation: Written words may often have more lasting force than military strength.   

3. The higher the monkey climbs the more he shows his tail. 
Explanation: The further an unsuitable person is advanced, the more their inadequacies are apparent.  

4. The longest way home is the shortest way home.
Explanation: Not trying to take a short cut is often the most effective way.   

5. Too many cooks spoil the broth. 
Explanation: The involvement of too many people is likely to mean that something is done badly.   

6. Third time lucky. 
Explanation: Reflecting the idea that three is a lucky number, often used to suggest making another effort after initial failure.

7. The early bird catches the worm.
Explanation: Someone who is energetic and efficient is most likely to be successful. 

8. The eyes are the window of the soul.
Explanation: It is the eyes that a person’s true nature may be discerned.  

9. There's none so blind as those who will not see. 
Explanation:  Used in reference to someone who is unwilling to recognize unwelcome facts. 

10. There's none so deaf as those who will not hear.
Explanation: Used to refer to someone who chooses not to listen to unwelcome information.  

11.There are no birds in last year's nest.
Explanation: Circumstances have changed and former opportunities are no longer there. 

12 Two wrongs don’t make a right. 
Explanation:  A first injury does not justify a second in retaliation.  

13. Tastes differ.
Explanation: Different people will like or approve of different things.

14. Time change and we with time.
Explanation: We adapt in response to changes in the world around us. 

List of English Proverbs - W

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter W. 

1. Walls have ears.
Explanation: Care should be taken for possible eavesdroppers. 

2. When the cat's away, the mice will play. 
Explanation:   Many will take advantage of a situation in which rules are not enforced or authority is lacking. 

3. Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.
Explanation:  Both trees are traditionally slow growing, so that the benefit will be felt by future generations.  

4. We must learn how to walk before we can run.
Explanation: A solid foundation is necessary for faster progress. 

5. Where bees are, there is honey.
Explanation:  Industrious work is necessary to create riches.

6. Where there's a will there is a way. 
Explanation: Anything can be done if one has sufficient determination.

7. You win a few, you lose a few.
Explanation: One has to accept failure as well as success and used as an expression of consolation or resignation. 

8. Youth must be served. 
Explanation: Some indulgence should be given to the wishes and enthusiasms of youth.   

List of English Proverbs - Y

 

A range of English Proverbs with explanation, listed in alphabetical order by phrase. This page contains English Proverbs that start with letter Y. 

1. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
Explanation: Someone who is already set their ways is not able to learn new ways of doing things.  

2. You cannot lose what you never had. 
Explanation:  Used in consolation or resignation.   

3. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs. 
Explanation:  Often used in the context of regrettable political necessity which is said to be justified because it will benefit the majority.  

4. You never miss the water till the well runs dry.
Explanation: Applied to situation in which it is only when a source of support or sustenance has been withdrawn that its importance is understood.  

5. You never know what you can do till you try.
Explanation: Often used as encouragement to the reluctant.  

6. You can't win them all.
Explanation: Used as an expression of consolation or resignation. 

7. You win a few, you lose a few.
Explanation: One has to accept failure as well as success and used as an expression of consolation or resignation. 

8. Youth must be served. 
Explanation: Some indulgence should be given to the wishes and enthusiasms of youth.