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.
September blow soft till the fruit's in the loft.
Proverb
Servants differ as their masters.
Proverb, (Latin)
Servants should put on patience when they put on a livery.
Proverb
Servants should see all and say nothing.
Proverb
Serve a lord and you'll know what is grief.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Serve a lord, and you will know what it is to be vexed.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Serve as a serf or fly like a deer.
Proverb, (French)
Service is greatness.
Proverb, (Kashmiri)
Service is not inheritance.
Proverb, (Italian)
Services unrequired go unrequited.
Proverb, (German)
Set a beggar on a horse and he'll ride to the devil.
Proverb
Set a beggar on horseback, and he don't trot, but gallops.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll outride the devil.
Proverb, (German)
Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride to the Devil.
Proverb
Set a fox to catch a fox.
Proverb, (Danish)
Set a peasant on horseback, and he forgets both God and man.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Set a sprat to catch a mackerel.
Proverb
Set a stout heart to a stey brae.
Proverb
Set a thief to catch a thief.
Proverb, (Danish, Dutch, French, German)
Set hard heart against hard hap.
Proverb
Set out wisely at first; custom will make every virtue more easy and
pleasant to you than any vice can be.
Proverb, (English)
Set the saddle on the right horse.
Proverb
Set thy expense according to thy trade.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Set trees poor and they will grow rich, set them rich and they will grow
poor.
Proverb
Set your sail according to the wind.
Proverb, (French)
Set your sail to the wind.
Proverb, (French)
Setting out well is a quarter of the journey.
Proverb
Seven brothers in a council make wrong right.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Seven days is the length of a guest's life.
Proverb, (Burmese)
Seven hours of sleep is enough for the young and the aged.
Proverb, (Latin)
Seven hours' sleep will make a clown forget his design.
Proverb
Seven is company, and nine confusion. (Alluding to a dinner party.)
Proverb, (Spanish)
Seven may be company but none are confusion.
Proverb
Seven trades but no luck.
Proverb, (Arabic)
Shall the gosling teach the goose to swim?
Proverb
Shallow waters mak' maist din.
Proverb
Shame comes to no man unless he himself help it on the way.
Proverb, (Danish)
Shame in a kindred cannot be avoided.
Proverb
Shame lasts longer than poverty.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Shame take him that shame thinketh.
[Fr., Honi soit qui mal y pense.]
Proverb, (French)
Shameful deeds bring on revenge.
Proverb, (Norwegian)
Shameless craving must have shameful way.
Proverb
Share and share alike.
Proverb
Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
Proverb, (Swedish)
Shared sorrow is half sorrow.
Proverb, (Danish)
Sharp acids corrode their own containers.
Proverb, (Albanian)
She danced much better than became a modest woman.
[Lat., Saltabat melius quam necesse est probae.]
Proverb, (Latin)
She fries in her own grease.
Proverb
She hangs out the broom (wants a husband).
Proverb, (Dutch)
She is fond of greens who kisses the gardener.
Proverb, (Spanish)
She is fond of him--on the side where the pocket hangs.
Proverb, (German)
She is good and honoured who is dead and buried.
Proverb, (Spanish)
She is good who is close to the fire and does not burn.
Proverb, (Spanish)
She is nether fish nor fowl.
Proverb
She is not a modest woman whom common report condemns.
Proverb, (Latin)
She is well married who has neither mother-in-law nor sister-in-law.
Proverb, (Portuguese, Spanish)
She stoops to conquer.
Proverb
She that is born a beauty is half married.
Proverb
She who does not yet know how to walk cannot climb a ladder.
Proverb, (Ethiopian)
She who is born a beauty is born betrothed.
Proverb, (Italian)
She who loves an ugly man thinks him handsome.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Shear the sheep but don't flay them.
Proverb, (Dutch, French)
Shear your sheep in May and shear them all away.
Proverb
Shirk work and you will want bread.
Proverb, (Latin)
Shit floats to the top.
Proverb
Shit rolls downhill.
Proverb
Shoemaker stick to your last.
Proverb, (Dutch, German, Spanish)
Shoemakers are always the worst shod.
Proverb, (French)
Shoemakers go to mass and pray that sheep may die.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Shoot at a pigeon and kill a crow.
Proverb
Short acquaintance brings repentance.
Proverb, (English)
Short and sweet.
Proverb
Short cuts are long ways round.
Proverb, (Latin)
Short flax makes long thread.
Proverb, (Danish)
Short hair is soon brushed.
Proverb, (German)
Short hose must have long points.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Short pleasure often brings long repentance.
Proverb, (Danish)
Short pleasure, long lament.
Proverb
Short reckonings are soon cleared.
Proverb
Short reckonings make long friends.
Proverb,
(Dutch, French, German, Portuguese)
Short rede, good rede.
Proverb
Short shooting loseth the game.
Proverb
Should the heavens fall, many pipkins will be broken.
Proverb, (Danish)
Show a dog a finger, and he wants the whole hand.
Proverb, (Yiddish)
Show her the rudder, but don't steer her boat.
Proverb
Show me a liar, and I'll show you a thief.
Proverb, (Dutch, French, German)
Show me a poor man, I will show you a flatterer.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Show me not the meat, but show me the man.
Proverb
Show me the man, and I'll show you the law.
Proverb
Showy clothes attract most.
Proverb, (Latin)
Shrouds have no pockets.
Proverb
Shut your door, and you will make your neighbour a good woman.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Shut your door, and you will make your neighbour good.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Shut your mouth and you'll catch no flies.
Proverb
Sick people are like kings.
Proverb, (Malagasy)
Sickly body, sickly mind.
Proverb, (German)
Sickness comes in haste, and goes at leisure.
Proverb, (Danish)
Sickness comes on horseback and departs on foot.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Sickness comes on horseback, but goes away on foot.
Proverb
Sickness comes uninvited--no need to bespeak it.
Proverb, (Danish)
Sickness is every man's master.
Proverb, (Danish)
Sickness is felt, but health not at all.
Proverb
Sickness shows us what we are.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sickness tells us what we are.
Proverb
Sight goes before hearsay.
Proverb, (Danish)
Silence and look out, we shall catch both hen and chicks.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Silence and reflection cause no dejection.
Proverb, (German)
Silence answers much.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Silence is a fence around wisdom.
Proverb, (Hebrew)
Silence is a fine jewel for a woman, but it is little worn.
Proverb
Silence is a woman's best garment.
Proverb
Silence is also speech.
Proverb, (Yiddish)
Silence is an attribute of the dead; he who is alive speaks.
Proverb, (Yoruban)
Silence is golden, speech is silver.
Proverb, (American)
Silence is golden.
Proverb, (American)
Silence is the best answer to the stupid. The fool has his answer on the tip
of his tongue.
Proverb, (Arabian)
Silence is the best ornament of a woman.
Proverb
Silence is the door of consent.
Proverb, (Berber)
Silence is the greatest ornament in a woman.
Proverb, (Latin)
Silence is the voice of complicity.
Proverb
Silence is wisdom and gets a man friends.
Proverb
Silence means consent.
Proverb
Silence seldom doth harm.
Proverb
Silence surpasses speech.
Proverb, (Japanese)
Silence was never written down.
Proverb, (Italian)
Silent tongue and hempen heart often go together.
Proverb, (Danish)
Silent water is dangerous water.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Silent worms dig holes in the walls.
Proverb, (Japanese)
Silk and velvet put out the kitchen fire.
Proverb, (German)
Silks and satins put our the kitchen fire.
Proverb
Silks and satins put out the kitchen fire.
Proverb
Silly sheep, where one goes, all go.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Silly toad: planning a meal of goose!
Proverb, (Chinese)
Silver and gold are all men's dears.
Proverb, (Danish)
Since I wronged you, I have never liked you.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Since the house is on fire I will warm myself at the blaze.
Proverb, (Italian)
Since the house is on fire, let us warm ourselves.
Proverb, (Italian, Spanish)
Since the wine is drawn it must be drunk.
Proverb, (French)
Since we cannot get what we like, let us like what we can get.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Since we have loaves let us not look for cakes.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Since you have scolding me, I have counted a hundred and twenty holes in
that nutmeg grater.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Sincerity gives wings to power.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sing before breakfast, cry before night.
Proverb
Sing not of triumph before the victory.
Proverb, (Latin)
Singed cats live long.
Proverb, (German)
Singers, lovers, and poets are privileged liars.
Proverb, (German)
Sinning is the best part of repentance.
Proverb, (Arabian)
Sins are not known till they be acted.
Proverb
Sins of omission are seldom fun.
Proverb
Sit atop the mountain and watch the tigers fight.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Sit on the bank of a river and wait: Your enemy's corpse will soon float by.
Proverb, (Indian)
Sitting is being crippled.
Proverb, (Ethiopian)
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
Proverb, (Zen)
Six feet of earth make us all equal.
Proverb, (Italian)
Six hours for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.
Proverb
Six hours sleep for a man, seven for a woman, and eight for a fool.
Proverb
Six of one, and half a dozen of the other.
Proverb
Six on one and half a dozen of the other.
Proverb
Six things have no business in the world: a fighting priest, a coward
knight, a covetous judge, a stinking barber, a soft-hearted mother, and an
itchy baker.
Proverb, (French)
Skeptics are never deceived.
Proverb, (French)
Skill or fortune will efface the spots.
Proverb, (Italian)
Skill will enable us to succeed in that which sheer force could not
accomplish.
Proverb, (Latin)
Skilled hands eat trouts.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Slander cannot destroy an honest man: when the flood recedes the rock is
there.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Slander expires at a good woman's door.
Proverb, (Danish)
Slander leaves a scar behind it.
Proverb
Slander leaves a score behind it.
Proverb
Slander slays three persons: the speaker, the spoken to, and the spoken of.
Proverb, (Hebrew)
Slander! slander! some of it always sticks.
Proverb, (French)
Slanderers are the devil's bellows, to blow up contention.
Proverb
Slaughter no more than you can well salt.
Proverb, (German)
Sleep after selling horses and elephants.
Proverb, (Hindu)
Sleep faster, we need the pillows.
Proverb, (Yiddish)
Sleep has no master.
Proverb, (Jamaican)
Sleep is all important.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sleep is the best cure for waking troubles.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Sleep not in time of peril.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sleep over it, and you will come to a resolution.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Sleep without supping and wake without owing.
Proverb
Sleeping people can't fall down.
Proverb, (Japanese)
Sleeping shrimp gets taken by the current.
Proverb, (Puerto Rican)
Sloth is the beginning of vice.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Sloth is the key to poverty.
Proverb, (German, Portuguese, Spanish)
Sloth is the mother of poverty.
Proverb
Slow at meat, slow at work.
Proverb
Slow but sure.
Proverb
Slow help is no help.
Proverb
Slow in word, swift in deed.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Sluts are good enough to make slovens' pottage.
Proverb
Sma' winnings mak a heavy purse.
Proverb
Smack a tray of water and you get to wash your face.
Proverb, (Malay)
Small beer comes the last.
Proverb, (Danish)
Small birds must have meat.
Proverb
Small children give you headache; big children heartache.
Proverb, (Russian)
Small choice in rotten apples.
Proverb
Small faults indulged in are little thieves that let in greater.
Proverb
Small favours conciliate, but great gifts make enemies.
Proverb, (Latin)
Small gains bring great wealth.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Small ills are the fountains of most of our groans. Men trip not on
mountains, they stumble on stones.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Small invitation will serve a beggar.
Proverb
Small is beautiful.
Proverb
Small men think they are small; great men never know they are great.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Small minds discuss persons. Average minds discuss events. Great minds
discuss ideas.
Proverb
Small pitchers have wide ears.
Proverb
Small profits and often, are better than large profits and seldom.
Proverb, (German)
Small profits and quick returns.
Proverb
Small profits are sweet.
Proverb, (Danish)
Small rain lays a great wind.
Proverb, (Italian)
Small rain lays great dust.
Proverb
Small saints too work miracles.
Proverb, (German)
Small sorrows speak; great ones are silent.
Proverb, (Latin)
Small things have their own peculiar charm.
Proverb, (Latin)
Small undertakings give great comfort.
Proverb, (German)
Smoke follows the fairest.
Proverb, (Greek)
Smoke, a dripping roof, and a scolding wife, are enough to drive a man out
of his life.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Smoke, floods, and a troublesome wife, are enough to drive a man out of his
life.
Proverb, (French)
Smoke, rain, and a scolding wife, are three bad things in a house.
Proverb, (Danish)
Smoke, stench, and a troublesome wife are what drive men from home.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Smooth hands love the labor of others.
Proverb, (Russian)
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
Proverb, (African)
Smooth words do not flay the tongue.
Proverb, (Italian)
Smooth words make smooth ways.
Proverb
Snapping curs never want sore ears.
Proverb
Snarling curs never want sore ears.
Proverb, (French)
Sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on a Tuesday, you kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on a Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, see you sweetheart to-morrow;
Sneeze of a Sunday, your safety seek,
The Devil will have you the whole of the week.
Proverb
Snivelling folks always want to wipe other folks' noses.
Proverb, (French)
Snuff at a wake is fine if there's nobody sneezing over the snuff box.
Proverb, (Irish)
So good that he is good for nothing.
Proverb, (Italian)
So got, so gone.
Proverb, (Dutch)
So it goes in the world: one has the purse, the other has the gold.
Proverb, (German)
So long as a man is angry he cannot be in the right.
Proverb, (Chinese)
So lovers, to their fair one fondly blind,
E'en on her ugliness with transport gaze.
Proverb
So many countries, so many customs.
Proverb, (German, Italian)
So many heads, so many minds.
Proverb, (Danish)
So many men, so many minds.
Proverb, (French, German)
So many men, so many opinions.
[Lat., Quot homines, tot sententiae.]
Proverb, (Latin)
So many mists in March, so many frosts in May.
Proverb
So many servants, so many enemies.
Proverb, (Latin)
So money gets money.
Proverb, (Spanish)
So we have the chink, we will bear with the stink.
Proverb, (Latin)
So wise, so young, they say, do ne'er live long.
Proverb
So you tell me there are wolves on the mountain, and foxes in the valley.
Proverb, (Spanish)
So yourself be good, a fig for your grandfather.
Proverb
Soft and fair goes far.
Proverb
Soft and fair goeth far.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Soft fire makes sweet malt.
Proverb, (English)
Soft speeches injure not the mouth of the speaker.
Proverb, (Latin)
Soft water constantly striking the hard stone, wears it at last.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Soft words and hard arguments.
Proverb
Soft words butter no parsnips, but they won't harden the heart of the
cabbage either.
Proverb, (Irish)
Soft words don't scotch the tongue.
Proverb, (French)
Soft words scald not the tongue.
Proverb
Softly, barber, the water scalds.
Proverb, (Italian)
Softly, don't raise a dust.
Proverb, (Italian)
Softly, softly, catchee monkey.
Proverb
Soldiers must be well paid, and well hanged.
Proverb, (German)
Solitude is the nurse of wisdom.
Proverb
Some are wise and some are otherwise.
Proverb
Some crooketh the tree that good gambrel would be.
Proverb
Some day Peter will command as much as his master.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Some go to law, for the wagging of a straw.
Proverb
Some have bread who have no teeth left.
Proverb, (French)
Some have fine eyes and can't see a jot.
Proverb, (French)
Some have hap, some stick in the gap.
Proverb
Some have the fame, and other card the wool.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Some many heads, so many brains.
Proverb, (Italian)
Some men go through a forest and see no firewood.
Proverb, (English)
Some men grow, others swell.
Proverb
Some men have only one book in them, others a library.
Proverb
Some of the sweetest berries grow among the sharpest thorns.
Proverb, (Gaelic)
Some people make things happen, some watch things happen, while others
wonder what has happened.
Proverb
Some prefer carrots while others like cabbage.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Some roads aren't meant to be travelled alone.
Proverb
Some sell and don't deliver.
Proverb, (French)
Some sing who are not merry.
Proverb, (Italian)
Some small spark may yet by chance lie hidden.
Proverb, (Latin)
Some sow, others read.
Proverb, (Latin)
Some things are better praised by silence than by remark.
Proverb, (Latin)
Some think they have done when they are only beginning.
Proverb, (French)
Some thinking to avenge their shame increase it.
Proverb, (French)
Some who just tell tales of themselves.
Proverb, (Italian)
Some who mean only to warm, burn themselves.
Proverb, (French)
Something is better than nothing.
Proverb
Something to every one is good division.
Proverb, (German)
Sometimes an egg is given for an ox.
Proverb, (Italian)
Sometimes it is better to give your apple away, than to eat it yourself.
Proverb
Sometimes the lees are better than the wine.
Proverb, (Italian)
Somewhat is better than nothing.
Proverb
Soon crooks the tree
That good gambrel would be.
Proverb
Soon enough if well enough.
Proverb, (French, Latin)
Sooner could you hide an elephant under your armpit.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sooner or later the truth comes to light.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Sooner shall earth mount to heaven.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sooner will a beetle make honey.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sooner will the tamarisk bear apples.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sooner will the wolf take the sheep for a wife.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sorrow and an evil life maketh soon as old wife.
Proverb
Sorrow and ill weather come unsent for.
Proverb
Sorrow brings on premature old age.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sorrow comes unsent for.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sorrow dwells on the confines of pleasure.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sorrow follows pleasure.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sorrow for the death of a father lasts six months; sorrow for a mother, a
year; sorrow for a wife, until another wife; sorrow for a son, forever.
Proverb, (Sanskrit)
Sorrow is dry.
Proverb, (French)
Sorrow is good for nothing but sin.
Proverb
Sorrow is like rice in an attic: you use a little every day and at the end
it is all gone.
Proverb, (Malagasy)
Sorrow is the child of too much joy.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Sorrow is to the soul what the worm is to wood.
Proverb, (Turkish)
Sorrow seldom comes alone.
Proverb, (Danish)
Sorrow will pay no debts.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Sorrows come uninvited.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sound men wear out shoes, sick men sheets.
Proverb
Sour grapes will ne'er make sweet wine.
Proverb
Sour wine, old bacon, and rye bread keep a house rich.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Sour, sweet, bitter, pungent, all must be tasted.
Proverb, (Chinese)
Sow corn in clay, and plant vines in sand.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Stretch your arm no further than your sleeve will reach.
Proverb
Stretch your legs according to your coverlet.
Proverb, (German)
Stretch your legs no farther than your coverlet.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Stretch yourself according to your cover-lid.
Proverb, (German)
Strew no roses before swine.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Strike me a light, and I'll light you.
Proverb, (Latin)
Strike when the iron is hot.
Proverb
Strike while the iron is hot.
Proverb,
(Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese), also found in Farquhar
"The Beaux' Stratagem", act IV, sc. 2
Strong folks have strong maladies.
Proverb, (German)
Strong in action, gentle in method.
[Lat., Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo.]
Proverb, (Latin)
Strong is the vinegar of sweet wine.
Proverb, (Italian)
Study invites study, idleness produces idleness.
Proverb, (Latin)
Stupid is as stupid does.
Proverb,
said by Tom Hanks as the title character in the 1994 movie "Forrest Gump"
Submission to one wrong brings on another.
Proverb, (Latin)
Submit to the rule you have yourself laid down.
Proverb, (Latin)
Subtlety set a trap and caught itself.
Proverb
Success alters our manners.
Proverb, (Latin)
Success and rest don't sleep together.
Proverb, (Russian)
Success consecrates the foulest crimes.
Proverb
Success has many fathers, while failure is an orphan.
Proverb
Success has many friends.
Proverb, (Greek)
Success is doing what you like and making a living at it.
Proverb
Success is never blamed.
Proverb
Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you
started.
Proverb
Success leads to insolence.
Proverb, (Latin)
Success makes a fool seem wise.
Proverb
Success or ruin.
Proverb
"Success to you! God speed the craft!" as the hangman said to the judge.
Proverb, (German)
Such a beginning, such an end.
Proverb
Such as the man is, such will be his discourse.
Proverb
Such awkward things will happen as going into the great square and coming
back without ears.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Such beginning, such end.
Proverb
Such welcome, such farewell.
Proverb
Sudden friendship, sure repentance.
Proverb
Sudden glory soon goes out.
Proverb, (German)
Sudden trust brings sudden repentance.
Proverb
Sue a beggar and catch a louse.
Proverb
Sue a beggar and get a louse.
Proverb
Suffering and patience, obedience and application, help the lowly born to
honour.
Proverb, (Danish)
Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.
Proverb, (French)
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Proverb
Sugared words generally prove bitter.
Proverb, (Spanish)
Suit yourself to the times.
Proverb, (German)
Summer sown corn and women's advice turn out once in every seven years.
Proverb, (German)
Summer will not last for ever.
Proverb, (Latin)
Sunday's child is full of grace,
Monday's child is full in the face,
Tuesday's child is solemn and sad,
Wednesday's child is merry and glad,
Thursday's child is inclined to thieving,
Friday's child is free in giving,
Saturday's child work hard for its living.
Proverb
Sunshine all the time makes a desert.
Proverb, (Arab)
Supper is soon served up in a plentiful house.
Proverb, (Portuguese)
Supple as a glove.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Surfeits slay mae than swords.
Proverb
Suspicion is the poison of friendship.
Proverb, (French)
Sussex won't be druv.
Proverb
Sweat makes good mortar.
Proverb, (German)
Sweep before your own door before you look after your neighbour's.
Proverb, (Dutch)
Sweep before your own door.
Proverb
Sweep first before your own door, before you sweep the doorsteps of your
neighbors.
Proverb, (Swedish)
Sweep in front of your own door.
Proverb, (English)
Sweet is the memory of past labor.
Proverb, (Greek)
