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.
O ancient house, by what a different
master are you presided over!
Proverb, (Latin)
O daughter, I'm telling you. O daughter-in-law, listen to it.
Proverb, (Kashmiri)
O eggs, never fight with stones!
Proverb, (Chinese)
O hawk, the dove that's been wounded by your talons is frightened by the
least flutter of a feather.
[Lat., Terretur minimo pennae stridore columba
Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis.]
Proverb, (Latin)
O man, you who do not live a hundred years, why fret a thousand minutes?
Proverb, (Chinese)
"O what we must suffer for the sake of God's church!" said the abbot, when
the roast fowl burned his fingers.
Proverb, (German)
Oaks may fall when reeds stand the storm.
Proverb
Obedience is much more seen in little things than in great.
Proverb
Obedience is the mother of happiness.
Proverb, (Latin)
Obey orders, if you break owners.
Proverb
Observe decorum even in your sport.
Proverb, (Latin)
Observe your enemies, for they first find your faults.
Proverb, (Greek)
Obstinately to justify a fault is a second fault.
Proverb, (Latin)
Of a compliment only a third is meant.
Proverb, (Welsh)
Of a dead leopard we keep the skin, of man his reputation.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Of all meat in the world drink goes down the best.
Proverb
Of all tame beasts I hate sluts.
Proverb
Of all the thirty-six alternatives, running away is the best.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Of bad debtors you make take spoilt herrings.
Proverb, (Danish)
Of big words and feathers may go to the pound.
Proverb, (German)
Of brothers-in-law and red dogs few are good.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Of enough men leave.
Proverb
Of everything else the newest; of friends, the oldest.
Proverb, (Kurdish)
Of evil grain no good seed can come.
Proverb
Of evils, choose the least.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Of evils, the least.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Of hasty counsel take good heed, for haste is very rarely speed.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Of idleness comes no goodness.
Proverb
Of judgment every one has a stock on hand for sale.
Proverb, (Italian)
Of listening children have your fears, for little pitchers have great ears.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Of little cloth but a short cloak.
Proverb, (French)
Of little meddling cometh great rest.
Proverb
Of no sort of good to himself, or to anybody else.
Proverb, (Latin)
Of no worldly good can the joy be perfect, unless it is shared by a friend.
Proverb, (Latin)
Of oil, wine, and friends, the oldest.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Of other men's leather large thongs.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Of saving cometh having.
Proverb
Of soup and love, the first is the best.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Of soups and loves the first are the best.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Of sufferance cometh ease.
Proverb
Of the good man a good pledge, and of the bad neither pledge nor surety.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Of the great and of the dead either speak will or say nothing.
Proverb, (Italian)
Of the malady a man fears, he dies.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Of this world each man has as much as he takes.
Proverb, (Italian)
Of three things the devil makes a salad: advocate's tongues, notaries'
fingers, and a third that shall be nameless.
Proverb, (Italian)
Of thy sorrow be not too sad, of thy joy be not too glad.
Proverb
Of two cowards, the one who attacks conquers the other.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Of two cowards, the one who finds the other out first has the advantage.
Proverb, (Italian)
Of two evils choose the less.
Proverb
Of two evils the least is always to be chosen.
Proverb, (Latin)
Of two evils, it is always best to vote for the less hypocritical.
Proverb, (American)
Of two lookers on one is sure to become a player.
Proverb, (French)
Of war all can tattle, away from the battle.
Proverb, (German)
Of what does not concern you say nothing, good or bad.
Proverb, (Italian)
Of what use is it that the cow gives plenty of milk, if she upset the pail.
Proverb, (German)
Of what use is the veil if you are going to dance.
Proverb, (Hindu)
Of wine the middle, of oil the top, and of honey the bottom is best.
Proverb, (English, Latin)
Of words and feathers, it takes many to make a pound.
Proverb, (German)
Of your wife and your tried friend believe nothing but what you know for
certain.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Offend one monk, and the lappets of all cowls will flutter as far as Rome.
Proverb, (German)
Offenders never pardon.
Proverb
Offer a clown your finger, and he'll take your fist.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Offer not the right hand of friendship to every one.
Proverb, (Latin)
Offer the lazy an egg, and they'll want you to peel it for them.
Proverb, (Lithuanian)
Office tests the man.
Proverb, (Latin)
Office without pay makes thieves.
Proverb, (German)
Often and little eating makes a man fat.
Proverb
Often one finds one's destiny just where one hides to avoid it.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Often shooting hits the mark.
Proverb, (German)
Often there is eloquence in a silent look.
Proverb, (Latin)
Often to the water, often to the tatter.
Proverb
Oil and truth will get uppermost at last.
Proverb
Oil is best at the beginning, honey at the end, and wine in the middle.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Old age and poverty are wounds that can't be healed.
Proverb, (Greek)
Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.
Proverb
Old age does not announce itself.
Proverb, (Zulu)
Old age is a hundred disorders.
Proverb, (Welsh)
Old age is honourable.
Proverb
Old age is in itself a disease.
Proverb, (Latin)
Old age is not a blessing.
Proverb, (Russian)
Old age is not a joy, but death is not a gain.
Proverb, (Russian)
Old age is ripeness.
Proverb, (American)
Old age will not come alone.
Proverb, (Welsh)
Old age, though despised, is coveted by all.
Proverb
Old and tough, young and tender.
Proverb
Old as is the boat it may cross the ferry once.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Old bees yield no honey.
Proverb
Old birds are hard to pluck.
Proverb, (German)
Old birds are not caught with cats.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Old birds are not caught with chaff.
Proverb, (Danish)
Old birds are not caught with new nets.
Proverb, (Italian)
Old churches have dark windows.
Proverb, (German)
Old crows are hard to catch.
Proverb, (German)
Old foxes are hard to catch.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Old foxes want no tutors.
Proverb, (Latin)
Old friends and new reckonings.
Proverb, (French)
Old friends and old ways ought not to be disdained.
Proverb, (Danish)
Old friends and old wine are best.
Proverb
Old habits die hard.
Proverb
Old love and old brands kindle at all seasons.
Proverb, (French)
Old love does not rust.
Proverb, (German)
Old maids lead apes in hell.
Proverb
Old men and travellers may lie by authority.
Proverb
Old men are twice children.
Proverb, (Greek)
Old men will die and children soon forget.
Proverb
Old men's children are rarely of good constitution.
Proverb, (Latin)
Old muck-hills will bloom.
Proverb
Old oxen have stiff horns.
Proverb, (Danish)
Old oxen tread hard.
Proverb, (German)
Old people see best in the distance.
Proverb, (German)
Old pigs have hard snouts.
Proverb, (German)
Old porridge is sooner heated than new made.
Proverb
Old pottage is sooner heated than new made.
Proverb
Old reckonings breed new disputes.
Proverb, (French, Spanish)
Old reckonings, new disputes.
Proverb, (Italian)
Old Satan couldn't get along without plenty of help.
Proverb, (African American)
Old signs do not deceive.
Proverb, (Danish)
Old sin makes new shame.
Proverb
Old sins cast long shadows.
Proverb
Old soldiers never die.
Proverb
Old swine have hard snouts, old oxen hard horns.
Proverb, (Danish)
Old thanks are not for new gifts.
Proverb, (Italian)
Old trees are not to be bent.
Proverb, (German)
Old wounds easily bleed.
Proverb, (German)
Older than you by a day, wiser than you by a year.
Proverb, (Arabic)
Omelets are not made without breaking eggs.
Proverb
On a fool's beard all learn to shave.
Proverb, (Portuguese, Spanish)
On a fool's beard the barber learns to shave.
Proverb, (French, Italian)
On a hot day muffle yourself more.
Proverb, (Spanish)
On a long journey even a straw is heavy.
Proverb, (Italian)
On a long journey even a straw weighs heavy.
Proverb, (Spanish)
On a small pretence the wolf devours the sheep.
Proverb, (Dutch)
On a steep road, let your horse set the pace.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
On a thief, the hat's on fire.
Proverb, (Polish)
On an uphill road, give your horse his reins.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
On Candlemas Day throw candle and candlestick away.
Proverb
On dry land even brackish water is good.
Proverb, (Spanish)
On entering a country, ask what is forbidden, on entering a village, ask
what are the customs, on entering a private house, ask what should not be
mentioned.
Proverb, (Chinese)
On every small pretext the wolf seizes the sheep.
Proverb, (Italian)
On poor people's beards the young barber learns his trade.
Proverb, (German)
On Saint Thomas the Divine kill all turkeys, geese and swine.
Proverb
On St. Valentine all the birds of the air in couples do join.
Proverb
On the day of victory no one is tired.
Proverb, (Arab)
On the first of April
Hunt the gowk another mile.
Proverb
On the first of March, the crows begin to search.
Proverb
On the road between the homes of friends, grass does not grow.
Proverb, (Norwegian)
On Valentine's Day will a good goose lay.
Proverb
Once a buffoon, never a good father of a family.
Proverb, (Latin)
Once a friend, always a friend.
Proverb, (Kurdish)
Once a handmaid never a lady.
Proverb, (Latin)
Once a knave and ever a knave.
Proverb
Once a parson, always a parson.
Proverb
Once a priest, always a priest.
Proverb
Once a thief, always a thief.
Proverb, (Dutch, German)
Once a whore, always a whore.
Proverb
Once bit, twice shy.
Proverb
Once bitten by a snake, he is scared all his life at the mere sight of a
rope.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Once bitten, twice shy.
Proverb, (American)
Once burned by milk you will blow on cold water.
Proverb, (Russian)
Once in each man's life fortune smiles.
Proverb, (Latin)
Once in ten years one man hath need of another.
Proverb
Once is no custom.
Proverb, (Dutch, French)
Once is people's mouths, 'tis hard to get well out of them.
Proverb, (German)
Once on a tiger's back it is hard to alight.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Once out of the throat it spreads over the world.
Proverb, (Hindustani)
Once resolved, the trouble is over.
Proverb, (Italian)
Once upon a time, no time.
Proverb, (German)
Once wood and aye the waur.
Proverb
One "take this" is better than ten "God help you!"
Proverb, (German)
One "take this" is worth more than two "you shall have."
Proverb, (French)
One against whom accusations when made are easily believed.
Proverb, (Latin)
One always knocks oneself in the sore place.
Proverb, (French)
One always returns to one's first love.
Proverb, (French)
One and none is all one.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One and one are sometimes eleven.
Proverb, (Kashmiri)
One ass among many monkeys is grinned at by all.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One ass nicknames another "Long-ears."
Proverb, (German)
One bad apple spoils the bunch.
Proverb
One bad eye spoils the other.
Proverb, (German)
One bad general is better than two good ones.
Proverb, (French)
One bag of money is stronger than two bags of truth.
Proverb, (Danish)
One barber shears another.
Proverb, (French)
One basket of grapes does not make a vintage.
Proverb, (Italian)
One beast easily recognizes another.
Proverb, (Latin)
One beats one's breast who does not beat one's child.
Proverb, (Kurdish)
One beats the bush, and another catches the bird.
Proverb, (Dutch, German)
One bee is as good as a handful of flies.
Proverb, (German)
One bee is better than a thousand flies.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One beetle recognizes another.
Proverb, (Irish)
One beggar is enough at a door.
Proverb
One beggar is woe that another by the door should go.
Proverb
One beggar likes not that another has two wallets.
Proverb, (Danish)
One bell serves a parish.
Proverb, (Italian)
One bird in hand is better far
Than two that in the bushes are.
Proverb
One bird in the dish is better than a hundred in the air.
Proverb, (German)
One bird in the hand is better than two flying.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One bird in the hand is better than two on the roof.
Proverb, (Danish)
One bird in the hand is worth four in the air.
Proverb, (Latin)
One bird in the hand is worth two flying.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
One bite brings another.
Proverb, (Danish)
One blind man leads another into the ditch.
Proverb, (French)
One briar does not make a hedge.
Proverb, (Italian)
One butcher fears not many sheep.
Proverb, (Latin)
One camel does not make fun of another camel's hump.
Proverb, (Ghanaian)
One can care little for man, but we need a friend.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who
are kind.
Proverb, (Malay)
One can speak and seven can sing.
Proverb, (German)
One can't enter Paradise in spite of the saints.
Proverb, (Italian)
One can't hinder the wind from blowing.
Proverb, (French)
One can't make head or tail of it.
Proverb
One candle for St. Michael, and another for his devil.
Proverb, (French)
One cannot be and have been.
Proverb, (French)
One cannot be at the oven and the mill at the same time.
Proverb, (French)
One cannot be in two places at once.
Proverb, (French)
One cannot blow and swallow at the same time.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One cannot both feast and become rich.
Proverb, (Ashanti)
One cannot drink and whistle at the same time.
Proverb, (Italian)
One cannot keep peace longer than his neighbour will let him.
Proverb, (German)
One cannot love and be wise.
Proverb
One cannot make soup out of beauty.
Proverb, (Estonian)
One cannot manage too many affairs; like pumpkins in water, one pops up
while you try to hold down the other.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One cannot please everybody and one's father.
Proverb, (French)
One cannot ring the bells and walk in the procession.
Proverb, (French)
One cannot shoe a running horse.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One cannot wash a blackamoor white.
Proverb, (German)
One catches more flies with a spoonful of honey than with twenty casks of
vinegar.
Proverb, (French)
One catches the hare, another eats it.
Proverb, (German)
One coin in the money-box makes more noise than when it is full.
Proverb, (Arabian)
One coward makes ten.
Proverb, (German)
One crow does not make a winter.
Proverb, (Dutch, German)
One crow does not peck out another's eyes.
Proverb, (Dutch, German)
One daughter helps to marry the other.
Proverb, (Italian)
One day is as good as two for him who does everything in its place.
Proverb, (French)
One day of pleasure is worth two of sorrow.
Proverb
One deceit brings on another.
Proverb, (French)
One devil does not make hell.
Proverb, (Italian)
One devil drives out another.
Proverb, (Italian)
One devil knows another.
Proverb, (Italian)
One does evil enough when one does nothing good.
Proverb, (German)
One does it for love, another for honour, a third for money.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One does not always hit what one aims at.
Proverb, (French)
One does not breed a good bitch in her first heat.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
One does not give without a motive.
Proverb, (Malian)
One does not go to Tula with one's own samovar.
Proverb, (Russian)
One does not like hot, the other does not like cold; make it tepid to make
an agreement.
Proverb, (Malagasy)
One does not look for good when he is well.
Proverb, (Russian)
One does not wash one's dirty linen in public.
Proverb
One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One dog growls to see another go into the kitchen.
Proverb, (German)
One dog yelping at nothing will set ten thousand straining at their collars.
Proverb, (Japanese)
One door never shuts but another opens.
Proverb, (Italian)
One drink is just right; two is too many; three are too few.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One enemy can harm you more than a hundred friends can do you good.
Proverb, (German)
One enemy is too many, and a hundred friends are too few.
Proverb, (German, Italian)
One enemy is too much, and a hundred friends are not enough.
Proverb, (Danish, Italian)
One Englishman can beat three Frenchmen.
Proverb
One eye of the master sees more than four eyes of his servants.
Proverb, (Italian)
One eye on the frying-pan and the other on the cat.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One eye-witness is better than ten ear-witnesses.
Proverb
One falsehood leads to another.
Proverb
One falsehood spoils a thousand truths.
Proverb, (Ghanaian)
One family builds the wall, two families enjoy it.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One father is better at caring for ten children than ten children are for
one father.
Proverb, (European)
One finger can't lift a pebble.
Proverb, (Hopi)
One fisherman recognizes another from afar.
Proverb, (Russian)
One flea does not hinder sleep.
Proverb, (Italian)
One flower does not make a garland.
Proverb, (French, Italian)
One flower will not make a garland.
Proverb, (French)
One foe is too many, and a hundred friends are too few.
Proverb, (German)
One fool always finds a greater fool to admire him.
Proverb, (French)
One fool is enough in a house.
Proverb, (Italian)
One fool makes a hundred.
Proverb, (Portuguese, Spanish)
One fool makes many.
Proverb, (Latin, Danish, Dutch)
One fool may ask more questions than seven wise men can answer.
Proverb, (German)
One fool may ask more questions than ten wise men can answer.
Proverb, (Danish)
One fool praises another.
Proverb, (German)
One foot is better than two crutches.
Proverb, (Romanian)
One foot is better then two stilts.
Proverb, (French)
One for sorrow; two for mirth; three for a wedding; four for a birth.
Proverb
One for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, one to grow.
Proverb
One funeral makes many.
Proverb, (English)
One generation plants the trees, another gets the shade.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One generation plants the trees, the next eats the fruit.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
One goat cannot carry another goat's tail.
Proverb, (Nigerian)
One God, no more, but friends good store.
Proverb
One God, one wife, but many friends.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One good deed has many claimants.
Proverb, (Yiddish)
One good forewit is worth two afterwits.
Proverb
One good morsel and a hundred vexations.
Proverb, (Italian)
One good turn deserves another.
Proverb,
(Dutch, French, German), also found in Beaumont and Fletcher, "Little French
Lawyer", III, 2
One good word quenches more heat than a bucket of water.
Proverb, (Italian)
One grain does not full the granary, but it helps its companion.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
One grievance borne, another follows.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One grows used to love and to fire.
Proverb, (French)
One hair of a maiden's head pulls harder than ten yoke of oxen.
Proverb, (Danish)
One hair of a woman draws more than a bell-rope.
Proverb, (German)
One hair of a woman draws more than a team of oxen.
Proverb
One half of the world does not know how the other half lives.
Proverb
One half the world knows not how the other half lives.
Proverb, (French)
One half the world laughs at the other half.
Proverb, (German)
One half the world laughs at the other.
Proverb, (French)
One hand cannot applaud.
Proverb, (Arabic)
One hand for oneself and one for the ship.
Proverb
One hand full of money is stronger than two hands full of truth.
Proverb, (Danish)
One hand must wash the other, or both will be dirty.
Proverb, (Danish)
One hand washes the other, and both the face.
Proverb,
(Dutch, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Spanish)
One hand washes the other.
Proverb, (Latin, German)
One happiness scatters a thousand sorrows.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One has always strength enough to bear the misfortunes of one's friends.
Proverb, (French)
One has only to die to be praised.
Proverb, (German)
One has woven the thread, another has drawn it forth. [One man invents,
another develops the idea.)
Proverb, (Latin)
One hour to-day is worth two to-morrow.
Proverb
One hour's sleep before midnight is better than three after it.
Proverb, (French)
One hour's sleep before midnight is better than two after it.
Proverb, (German)
One hour's sleep before midnight is worth two after.
Proverb
One house cannot keep two dogs.
Proverb, (Latin)
One hunts the hare, and another eats it.
Proverb, (Danish)
One ill weed mars a whole pot of pottage.
Proverb
One ill word asketh another.
Proverb
One is never so rich as when one removes (from one house to another).
Proverb, (French)
One is never soiled but by filth.
Proverb, (French)
One is never too old to yearn.
Proverb, (Italian)
One joy shatters a hundred griefs.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One kind word can warm three winter months.
Proverb, (Japanese)
One kindness is the price of another.
Proverb
One kisses the child for the mother's sake, and the mother for the child's
sake.
Proverb, (German)
One kisses the nurse for the sake of the child.
Proverb, (German)
One knavery is met by another.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One knife keeps another in its sheath.
Proverb, (Italian)
One knife whets another.
Proverb, (German, Italian)
One knows not for whom he gathers.
Proverb, (French)
One lamp can't light two houses.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
One law for the rich and another for the poor.
Proverb
One lawsuit begets another.
Proverb, (Latin)
One learns by failing.
Proverb, (French)
One lie draw ten after it.
Proverb, (Italian)
One lie makes many.
Proverb, (Latin)
One link broken, the whole chain is broken.
Proverb, (German)
One living pope is better than ten dead.
Proverb, (Italian)
One log does not burn long by itself.
Proverb, (German)
One lost, two found.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One love drives out another.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One mad action is not enough to prove a man mad.
Proverb
One man beats the bush, another catcheth the bird.
Proverb
One man can burn water, whereas another cannot even burn oil.
Proverb, (Kashmiri)
One man cut the barrage, and a thousand people fell into the river.
Proverb, (Kashmiri)
One man excels in one thing, another in another.
Proverb, (Latin)
One man is another's devil.
Proverb, (German)
One man is born to money, and another to the purse.
Proverb, (Danish)
One man is no man. [A man is nothing without the aid of others.]
Proverb, (Latin)
One man is not bad because another is good.
Proverb, (Danish)
One man knocks in the nail, and another hangs his hat on it.
Proverb, (German)
One man may steal a horse while another may not look over the hedge.
Proverb
One man must not fight with two.
Proverb, (Latin)
One man often talks another off his bench, and seats himself upon it.
Proverb, (Danish)
One man uses his tongue, another his teeth.
Proverb, (Latin)
One man yawning makes another yawn too.
Proverb, (Latin)
One man's beard is on fire, and another man warms his hands on it.
Proverb, (Kashmiri)
One man's breath's another man's death.
Proverb
One man's death is another man's life.
Proverb, (Maltese)
One man's fault is another man's lesson.
Proverb
One man's loss is another man's gain.
Proverb, (Latin)
One man's meat is another man's poison.
Proverb, (Latin)
One man's story is no story; hear both sides.
Proverb, (German)
One man, no man.
Proverb, (French)
One mangy sheep spoils a whole flock.
Proverb, (Danish)
One marriage is never celebrated but another grows out of it.
Proverb, (German)
One may as well be well beaten as badly beaten.
Proverb, (French)
One may better steal a horse than another look over the hedge.
Proverb
One may buy gold too dear.
Proverb, (French, German, Italian)
One may go a long way after one is tired.
Proverb, (French)
One may have good eyes and see nothing.
Proverb, (Italian)
One may know by your nose what pottage you love.
Proverb
One may see day at a little hole.
Proverb
One may see through a wall, if there's a hole in it.
Proverb, (German)
One may steal nothing save a lawyer's purse.
Proverb, (French)
One may tire of eating tarts.
Proverb, (French)
One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.
Proverb, (French)
One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.
Proverb
One minute of patience, ten years of peace.
Proverb, (Greek)
One misfortune brings on another.
Proverb, (Dutch, Portuguese)
One monk shoulders water by himself; two can still share the labor among
them. When it comes to three, they have to go thirsty.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One mule scrubs another.
Proverb, (Latin)
One must be either anvil or hammer.
Proverb, (French)
One must draw the line somewhere.
Proverb
One must glean at harvest time.
Proverb, (German)
One must howl with the wolves.
Proverb, (French)
One must lose a minnow to catch a salmon.
Proverb, (French)
One must needs like what one cannot hinder.
Proverb, (French)
One must pass through the door or the window.
Proverb, (French)
One must plough with the horses he has.
Proverb, (German)
One must sometimes hold a candle to the devil.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One must step back to make the better leap.
Proverb, (French)
One must talk little and listen much.
Proverb, (African)
One must talk soothingly to the dog until one has passed him.
Proverb, (French)
One nail drives in another.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One nail drives out another.
Proverb, (French, German, Italian)
One never gets more than one's money's worth of anything.
Proverb, (French)
One never goes so far as when one don't know whither one is going.
Proverb, (French)
One never wept but another laughed.
Proverb, (Italian)
One of these days is none of these days.
Proverb
One often gets what one disdains.
Proverb, (Vietnamese)
One often has need of a lesser than oneself.
Proverb, (French)
One ounce of good luck is better than a ton of brains.
Proverb, (Yugoslavian)
One pair of ears would exhaust a hundred tongues.
Proverb, (Italian)
One pair of legs is worth two pairs of hands.
Proverb
One penny in the pot (money-box) makes more noise than when it is full.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One penny is better on land than ten on the sea.
Proverb, (Danish)
One person enjoys a piece of hard cheese, a second a spun out prayer chant,
and a third a door to the street.
Proverb, (Yiddish)
One piece of good advice is better than a bag full.
Proverb, (Danish)
One ploughs, another sows, who will reap no one knows.
Proverb, (Danish)
One poison is cured by another.
Proverb, (Latin)
One pound of learning requires ten pounds of common sense to apply it.
Proverb, (Persian)
One quill is better in the hand than seven geese upon the strand.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One raven does not peck out another's eyes.
Proverb, (Danish)
One rotten apple in the basket infects the whole.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One rotten egg spoils the whole pudding.
Proverb, (German)
One rotten sheepe will marre a whole flocke.
Proverb
One scabbed sheep will infect a whole flock.
Proverb
One scabbed sheep will mar a whole flock.
Proverb, (Danish)
One scabby sheep infects the whole flock.
Proverb, (Dutch, Latin)
One scabby sheep is enough to spoil the whole flock.
Proverb, (French)
One scabby sheep spoils a flock.
Proverb, (Italian)
One shoe will not fit every foot.
Proverb, (German)
One should be born either a king or a fool.
Proverb, (German)
One should be just as careful in choosing one's pleasures as in avoiding
calamities.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One should choose a wife with the ears, rather than with the eyes.
Proverb, (French)
One should go invited to a friend in good fortune, and uninvited in
misfortune.
Proverb, (Swedish)
One should learn to sail in all winds.
Proverb, (Italian)
One should never rub bottoms with a porcupine.
Proverb, (Akan)
One should speak little with others and much with oneself.
Proverb, (Danish)
One slumber invites another.
Proverb
One starts the game and another bags it.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One starts the hare, another catches it.
Proverb, (Italian)
One step at a time is good walking.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One step at a time.
Proverb
One story is good till another is told.
Proverb, (German)
One stroke on the nail and a hundred on the horseshoe.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One swallow does not make a spring.
Proverb, (French, German)
One swallow does not make a summer.
Proverb,
(Danish, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Spanish)
One sword keep another in the sheath.
Proverb, (German)
One sword keeps another in its scabbard.
Proverb, (Danish)
One take-this, is better than two thou-shalt-haves.
Proverb, (Dutch, French)
One tale is good till another is told.
Proverb
One that promised better things.
Proverb, (Latin)
One to one, and two to the devil.
Proverb, (Danish)
One to-day is better than ten to-morrows.
Proverb, (German)
One to-day is worth two to-morrows.
Proverb
One tongue is enough for a woman.
Proverb
One tree won't hold two robins.
Proverb, (Latin)
One trick is met by another.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One volunteer is worth two pressed men.
Proverb
One wedding brings another.
Proverb
One wedge drives another.
Proverb, (German)
One white foot, buy him; two white feet, try him; three white feet, look
well about him; four white feet, go without him.
Proverb
One who bathes willingly with cold water doesn't feel the cold.
Proverb, (Tanzania)
One who can do you a deal of good or a deal of harm.
Proverb, (Latin)
One who does not look ahead remains behind.
Proverb, (Brazilian)
One who enters a forest does not listen to the breaking of the twigs in the
brush.
Proverb, (Zambian)
One who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning.
Proverb, (Danish)
One who is false to her first oath will be false to her second.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
One who lies for you will also lie against you.
Proverb, (Bosnian)
One who looks for a friend without faults will have none.
Proverb, (Hasidic)
One who sits between two chairs may easily fall down.
Proverb, (Romanian)
One who sits by the well will never go thirsty.
Proverb, (Malayan)
One who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger.
Proverb, (Japanese)
One who speaks fair words feeds you with an empty spoon.
Proverb, (Italian)
One who walks in another's tracks leaves no footprints.
Proverb
One who wants to keep their yard tidy does not reserve a plot for the weeds.
Proverb
One who would quarrel about goats' wool. [A most captious person.]
Proverb, (Latin)
One with the courage to laugh is master of the world almost as much as the
person ready to die.
Proverb, (Italian)
One witness one liar; more witnesses, all liars.
Proverb, (Greek)
One wolf does not bite another.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One wolf does not kill another.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
One word beforehand is better than ten afterwards.
Proverb, (Danish)
One word brings on another.
Proverb, (Italian)
One would not be alone in Paradise.
Proverb, (Italian)
One would rather be bitten by wolves than by sheep.
Proverb, (Danish)
One written word is worth a thousand pieces of gold.
Proverb, (Japanese)
One wrong submitted to, another follows.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
One year a nurse, and seven years the worse.
Proverb
One year of joy, another of comfort, and all the rest of content.
Proverb
One year's seeding makes seven years weeding.
Proverb
One's own hearth is worth gold.
Proverb, (Dutch)
One's own simple bread is much better than someone else's pilaf.
Proverb, (Azerbaijani)
One's own spurs and another's horse make the miles short.
Proverb, (Italian)
One's prog does not clog.
Proverb, (Spanish)
One's shadow grows larger than life when admired by the light of the moon.
Proverb, (Chinese)
One, but that one a lion.
Proverb, (Greek)
Onions, smoke, and a shrew, make a good man's eyes water.
Proverb, (Danish)
Only a race horse or a Comyn lord is judged by his pedigree.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
Only death is certain.
Proverb, (Maltese)
Only fools and horses work.
Proverb
Only fools are glad when governments change.
Proverb, (Rumanian)
Only he that has traveled the road knows where the holes are deep.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Only he who does nothing makes a mistake.
Proverb, (French)
Only he who has traveled the road knows where the holes are deep.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Only lawyers and painters can turn white to black.
Proverb, (Japanese)
Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun.
Proverb, (Indian)
Only men laugh, only men weep, only men dance.
Proverb, (Darkovan)
Only one can be emperor.
Proverb, (German)
Only stretch your foot to the length of your blanket.
Proverb, (Afghan)
Only the foolish visit the land of the cannibals.
Proverb, (Maaori)
Only the mountains never meet.
Proverb, (Namibian)
Only the strong survive.
Proverb
Only the tent pitched by your own hands will stand.
Proverb, (Arabic)
Only three things in life are certain birth, death and change.
Proverb
Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Only when you can be extremely pliable and soft can you be extremely hard
and strong.
Proverb, (Zen)
Only when you have crossed the river can you say the crocodile has a lump on
his snout.
Proverb, (Ghanaian)
Only with a new ruler do you realize the value of the old.
Proverb, (Burmese)
Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.
Proverb
Open confession is good for the soul.
Proverb, (Scottish)
Open hand makes open hand.
Proverb, (German)
Open thy mouth that I may know thee.
Proverb, (Italian)
Open your purse, and I will open my mouth.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Opinion rules the world.
Proverb
Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest
violence.
Proverb, (Hebrew)
Opportunities, like eggs, come one at a time.
Proverb, (American)
Opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald; if you seize her by the
forelock, you may hold her, but, if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself
can catch her again.
Proverb, (Latin)
Opportunity makes a thief.
Proverb
Opportunity makes desire.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Opportunity makes the thief.
Proverb,
(Latin, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish)
Opportunity never knocks twice at any man's door.
Proverb
Opportunity only knocks once.
Proverb
Oppose not a hungry man.
Proverb, (Latin)
Opposites attract.
Proverb
Oppression causeth rebellion.
Proverb
Order and do it, and you will be rid of anxiety.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Other folks' cares kill the ass.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Other times, other counsels.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Other times, other folk.
Proverb, (Danish)
Other times, other manners.
[Fr., Autre temps, autre moeurs.]
Proverb, (French)
Other towns, other lasses.
Proverb, (German)
Others' bread has seven crusts.
Proverb, (Italian)
