The Proverbs is a collection of
ancient wisdom, still recognized today as practical advice. It contains
the sayings not only of Solomon, but other sages of ancient Israel as well.
The teachings of this book can be applied by everyone from children to young
men and women to the leaders of business empires and nations.
Charity sees the need, not the cause.
Proverb, (German)
Charity well regulated begins at home.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Charm is more than beauty.
Proverb, (Yiddish)
Charm is stronger than beauty.
Proverb, (Maltese)
Chasten thy son while there is hope.
Proverb
Chastise a good child, that it may not grow bad, and a bad one, that it may
not grow worse.
Proverb, (Danish)
Chastise one that is worthless, and he will presently hate you.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Chastise the good and he will mend, chastise the bad and he will grow worse.
Proverb, (Italian)
Chastise the good man, he will grow better; chastise the bad, and he will
grow worse.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Che sara, sara.
[What will be, will be.]
Proverb
Cheap meat never makes a good soup.
Proverb, (Azerbaijani)
Cheap things are not good, good things are not cheap.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Cheat me in the price and not in the goods.
Proverb, (Portuguese, Spanish)
Cheat the earth and the earth will cheat you.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Cheating is more honourable than stealing.
Proverb, (German)
Cheating is the chapman's cart and plough.
Proverb, (German)
Cheats never prosper.
Proverb
Cheerful company shortens the miles.
Proverb, (German)
Cheerfulness and goodwill make labour light.
Proverb, (Danish)
Cheese and bread make the cheeks red.
Proverb, (German)
Cheese from the ewe, milk from the goat, butter from the cow.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Cheese is gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at night.
Proverb, (German)
Cheese it is a peevish elf,
It digests all things but itself.
Proverb, (Latin)
Cherries are bitter to the glutted blackbird.
Proverb, (French)
Chickens are counted in autumn.
Proverb, (Russian)
Chickens can't go back into eggs.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
Chickens don't praise their own soup.
Proverb, (Martinican)
Child's pig, father's pork.
Proverb
Children and chickens must be always picking.
Proverb
Children and drunken men speak the truth.
Proverb, (Danish)
Children and fools
Shouldn't play with edged tools.
Proverb
Children and fools are prophets.
Proverb, (French)
Children and fools have merry lives.
Proverb
Children and fools speak the truth.
Proverb, (German, Spanish)
Children and fools tell the truth.
Proverb
Children are a poor man's wealth.
Proverb, (Danish)
Children are certain cares, but uncertain comforts.
Proverb
Children are certain sorrow, but uncertain joy.
Proverb, (Danish)
Children are poor men's riches.
Proverb, (English)
Children are the riches of the poor.
Proverb, (Danish)
Children are what they are made.
Proverb, (French)
Children aren't dogs; adults aren't gods.
Proverb, (Haitian)
Children have wide ears and long tongues.
Proverb
Children learn to creep ere they can learn to go.
Proverb
Children married, cares increased.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Children pick up words, as pigeons peas,
And utter them again as God shall please.
Proverb
Children should be seen and not heard.
Proverb
Children suck the mother when they are young and the father when they are
old.
Proverb, (English)
Children tell in the highway what they hear by the fireside.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Children: one is one, two is fun, three is a houseful.
Proverb
Choleric men are blind and mad.
Proverb
Choose a horse made, and a wife to make.
Proverb
Choose a wife from among your equals.
Proverb, (Latin)
Choose a wife rather by your ear than your eye.
Proverb
Choose for yourself and use for yourself.
Proverb
Choose neither a lover nor linen by candlelight.
Proverb, (Italian)
Choose neither a woman nor linen by candlelight.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Choose neither woman nor linen by candle-light.
Proverb
Choose none for thy servant who have served thy betters.
Proverb
Choose your company before you choose your drink.
Proverb, (Gaelic)
Chop wood, carry water.
Proverb, (Zen)
Chop, and you will have splinters.
Proverb, (Danish)
Christians have no neighbours.
Proverb, (German)
Christmas comes but once a year.
Proverb, (Italian)
Christmas comes but once a year.
But when it comes it brings good cheer.
Proverb
Christmas comes, but once a year is enough.
Proverb, (American)
Christmas has been talked of so long that it has come at last.
Proverb, (French)
Church work goes on slowly.
Proverb
Cider is treacherous because it smiles in the face and then cuts the throat.
Proverb
Civility costs nothing.
Proverb
Clapping with the right hand only will not produce a noise.
Proverb, (Malay)
Claw me and I'll claw thee.
Proverb, (Dutch, German)
Clay and lime conceal much evil.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Cleaning a blot with blotted fingers maketh a greater.
Proverb
Cleanliness is next to godliness.
Proverb
Clergymen's sons always turn out badly.
Proverb
Clodius impeaches the adulterers!
Proverb, (Latin)
Close sits my shirt, but closer my skin.
Proverb
Close, but no cigar.
Proverb, (American)
Clothes make the man.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Cloudy mornings turn to clear evenings.
Proverb
Clumsy birds have need of early flight.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Coffee and love are best when they are hot.
Proverb, (German)
Coffee has two virtues, it is wet and warm.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Coin a phrase.
Proverb
Cold broth hot again, that loved I never;
Old love renew'd again, that loved I ever.
Proverb
Cold hand, a warm heart.
Proverb, (German)
Cold hands, warm heart.
Proverb
Cold of complexion, good of condition.
Proverb
Cold pudding settles love.
Proverb
Cold weather and crafty knaves come out of the north.
Proverb
Colewort twice cooked.
Proverb, (Latin)
Colts by falling, and lads by losing, grow prudent.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Come day, go day, God send Sunday.
Proverb
Come fish, come frog, all goes into the basket.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Come live with me and you'll know me.
Proverb
Come not to counsel uncalled.
Proverb
Comes in at the end with a wet sail.
Proverb
Coming events cast their shadow before.
Proverb
Command your man and do it yourself.
Proverb
Command your wealth, else that will command you.
Proverb
Common blame is a common liar.
Proverb
Common fame is seldom to blame.
Proverb, (German)
Common fame seldom lies.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Common Goods, no goods.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Communities begin by building their kitchen.
Proverb, (French)
Company in distress makes trouble less.
Proverb, (French)
Compare your griefs with other men's and they will seem less.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Comparison is not proof.
Proverb, (French)
Compete not with a friend.
Proverb, (Latin)
Compete, don't envy.
Proverb, (Arabian)
Complain to one who can help you.
Proverb, (Yugoslav)
Compliments cost nothing, yet many pay dear for them.
Proverb, (German)
Conceal not your secret from your friend, or you deserve to lose him.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Concealed goodness is a sort of vice.
Proverb
Conceited goods are quickly spent.
Proverb
Concerning the dead nothing but good.
[Lat., De mortuis nil nisi bonum.]
Proverb, (Latin)
Confess and be hanged.
Proverb
Confessed faults are half mended.
Proverb, (Scottish)
Confession is good for the soul.
Proverb
Confession is the first step to repentance.
Proverb, (English)
Confide a secret to a dumb man and he will speak.
Proverb, (Russian)
Confidence begets confidence.
Proverb, (German)
Confiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag
with a hole.
Proverb, (African)
Confound those who have anticipated us in what we would have said!
Proverb, (Latin)
Conquerors are kings; the beaten are bandits.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Conscience betrays guilt.
Proverb, (Latin)
Conscience is as a thousand witnesses.
Proverb, (Latin)
Conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses.
Proverb, (Italian)
Conscience is the chamber of justice.
Proverb
Conscience makes cowards of us all.
Proverb
Consider how long the winter will last.
Proverb, (Latin)
Consideration gets as many victories as rashness loses.
Proverb
Consideration is the parent of wisdom.
Proverb
Consideration should be shown to a novice.
Proverb, (Latin)
Consolation, for the condemned, is to be one of many.
Proverb, (Italian)
Constant dripping wears away the rock.
Proverb, (Latin)
Constant dropping wears away a stone.
Proverb
Constant dropping wears the stone.
Proverb, (German)
Constant occupation prevents temptation.
Proverb
Consult with your pillow.
Proverb
Content is more than a kingdom.
Proverb
Content is the philosopher's stone, that turns all it touches into gold.
Proverb
Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces.
Proverb
Continual cheerfulness is a sign of wisdom.
Proverb, (Irish)
Contrasts mutually set off each other.
Proverb, (Latin)
Contrivance is better than force.
Proverb, (French)
Conversation ministers to a mind diseased.
Proverb, (Latin)
Conviviality reveals secrets.
Proverb, (Latin)
Cool words scald not the tongue.
Proverb
Copper begets copper, and not ()the labour of) men's bones.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Corner a dog in a dead-end street and it will turn and bite.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Corporations have neither bodies to be punished nor souls to be damned.
Proverb
Correct a wise man, and he will be grateful; correct a fool, and he will not
only give a deaf ear, but send you off with a flea in your ear.
Proverb, (Latin)
Correction bringeth fruit.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Correction is good when administered in time.
Proverb, (Danish)
Corruption of best is worst.
[Lat., Corruptio optimi pessima.]
Proverb, (Latin)
Corsair against corsair nothing is got but empty casks.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Corsairs against corsairs, there is nothing to win but empty barrels.
Proverb, (Italian)
Could a man foresee events he would never be poor.
Proverb, (French)
Could everything be done twice, everything would be done better.
Proverb, (German)
Councils of war never fight.
Proverb
Counsel after action is like rain after harvest.
Proverb, (Danish)
Counsel before action.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Counsel breaks not the head.
Proverb
Counsel is as welcome to him as a shoulder of mutton to a sick horse.
Proverb
Counsel is irksome when the matter is past remedy.
Proverb
Counsel is nothing against love.
Proverb, (Italian)
Count not what is lost but what is left.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Count not your chickens before they are hatched.
Proverb, (German)
Count your blessings.
Proverb
Counted sheep are eaten by the wolf.
Proverb, (French)
Counterfeit coin passes current at night.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Coupled sheep drown one another.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Courage is often caused by fear.
Proverb, (French)
Courage is ten, nine is the ability to escape.
Proverb, (Azerbaijani)
Courage mounteth with occasion.
Proverb
Court not companionship with tigers.
Proverb, (Latin)
Courteous men learn courtesy from the discourteous.
Proverb, (Persian)
Courtesie is cumbersome to them that ken it not.
Proverb
Courtesy on one side can never last long.
Proverb
Courtesy on one side only lasts not long.
Proverb
Courtesy that is all on one side cannot last long.
Proverb, (French)
Courting and wooing brings dallying and doing.
Proverb
Courts grant not their favours as men are good and deserving.
Proverb, (Latin)
Cover up the pot, there's an eel in it.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Covet not the property of others.
Proverb, (Latin)
Covet wealth, and want it; don't, and luck will grant it.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Covetous men's chests are rich, not they.
Proverb
Covetousness brings nothing home.
Proverb
Covetousness bursts the bag.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Covetousness bursts the sack.
Proverb
Covetousness is never satisfied till its mouth is filled with earth.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Cow of many--well milked and badly fed.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Coward against coward, the assailant conquers.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Cowards have no luck.
Proverb, (German)
Cowards may die many times before their death.
Proverb
Cowards win no laurels.
Proverb, (Latin)
Cowards' weapons neither cut nor pierce.
Proverb, (Italian)
Cows have no business in horseplay.
Proverb, (Jamaican)
Craft must have clothes, but truth loves to go naked.
Proverb
Craftiness must have clothes, but truth loves to go naked.
Proverb, (English)
Crafty advice is often got from a fool.
Proverb, (Irish)
Crap or get off the pot.
Proverb, (American)
Crazy wheels run longest.
Proverb, (German)
Creaking carts last the longest.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Cream doesn't rise to the top, it works its way up.
Proverb
Credit is better than ready money.
Proverb, (German)
Credit is dead, bad pay killed it.
Proverb, (Italian)
Credit keeps the crown of the causeway.
Proverb
Credit lost is like a broken looking-glass.
Proverb
Creditors have better memories than debtors.
Proverb
Crimes may be secret, yet not secure.
Proverb
Criminals are punished, that others may be amended.
Proverb
Criticizing another's garden doesn't keep the weeds out of your own.
Proverb
Crooked by nature is never made straight by education.
Proverb
Crooked iron may be straightened with a hammer.
Proverb, (Danish)
Crooked logs make straight fires.
Proverb, (English)
Crooked wood burns quite as well as straight.
Proverb, (German)
Crooked wood is straightened with fire.
Proverb, (Sicilian)
Cross even a stone bridge after you've tested it.
Proverb, (Korean)
Cross in a crowd and the crocodile won't eat you.
Proverb, (Malagasy)
Cross the stream where it is ebbest.
Proverb
Cross the stream where it is shallowest.
Proverb
Crosses are ladders that lead to heaven.
Proverb
Crosses are ladders which lead to heaven.
Proverb
Crows are black everywhere.
Proverb
Crows are never the whiter for washing themselves.
Proverb
Crows bewail the dead sheep, and then eat them.
Proverb
Crows do not peck out crow's eyes.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Crows everywhere are equally black.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Cry and the whole world cries with you.
Proverb, (Russian)
Cry not out before you are hurt.
Proverb
Cultivate a heart of love that knows no anger.
Proverb, (Cambodian)
Cultivate not a barren soil.
Proverb, (Latin)
Cultivate the garden within.
Proverb
Cunning has little honour.
Proverb, (Danish)
Cunning is no burden.
Proverb
Cunning men's cloaks sometimes fall.
Proverb, (Italian)
Cunning surpasses strength.
Proverb, (German)
Curiosity is ill manners in another's house.
Proverb
Curiosity killed the cat.
Proverb
Curious Varvara's nose was torn off.
Proverb, (Russian)
Curse your wife at evening, sleep alone at night.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Cursed cows have short horns.
Proverb
Curses are like processions: they return to whence they set out.
Proverb, (Italian)
Curses are like young chickens,
And still come home to roost!
Proverb,
(Arabian), quoted by Bulwer-Lytton "The Lady of Lyons", act V, sc. 2
Curses on accounts with relations.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Curses, like chickens, always come home to roost.
Proverb
Curses, like chickens, come home to roost.
Proverb
Custom becomes law.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Custom in infancy becomes nature in old age.
Proverb
Custom is the plague of wise men and the idol of fools.
Proverb
Custom makes all things easy.
Proverb
Custom without reason is but ancient error.
Proverb
Customers are jade; merchandise is grass.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Cut down the tree that you are able to.
Proverb, (Russian)
Cut off the dog's tail, he remains a dog.
Proverb, (Italian)
Cut your coat according to your cloth.
Proverb, (Dutch, German, Spanish)
Cut your coat to suit your cloth.
Proverb
Cutting off a mule's ears doesn't make it a horse.
Proverb, (Creole)
