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WORLD PROVERBS

PROVERBS AND SAYINGS

Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good.

Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand.

Stupidity got us into this mess - why can't it get us out?

Love is grand; divorce is a hundred grand.

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason.

An optimist thinks that this is the best possible world. A pessimist fears that this is true.

There is always death and taxes; however death doesn't get worse every year.

People will accept your ideas much more readily if you tell them that Benjamin Franklin said it first.

It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.

I don't mind going anywhere as long as it's an interesting path.

Anything free is worth what you pay for it.

Indecision is the key to flexibility.

It hurts to be on the cutting edge.

If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

I don't get even, I get odder.

In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday.

A barking stomach.
Proverb, (Latin)

A candle under a bushel. (Unrevealed merit or skill.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A chip of the old block.
Proverb

A chip off the old block.
Proverb

A cold hand and a warm heart.
Proverb

A dancing pig.
Proverb, (Latin)

A deity or a devil. (Either greater or less than man.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A divining rod.
Proverb, (Latin)

A dog returned to his vomit. (Going back to bad habits.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A foxy tongue. (Cunning speech. Crafty arguments.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A frog in a well-shaft seeing the sky.
Proverb, (Chinese)

A greater chatterbox than a raven.
Proverb, (Latin)

A grove (so called because you cannot see into it.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A hair of the dog that bit you.
Proverb

A head without a tongue.
Proverb, (Latin)

A king or a donkey.
Proverb, (Latin)

A magpie aping a Syren!
Proverb, (Latin)

A man of three letters.
(Lat., Homo trium literarum.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A mere voice, and nothing more.
Proverb, (Latin)

A necessary evil. (e.g., a wife.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A Nero at home, a Cato abroad.
Proverb, (Latin)

A noisy useless fellow.
Proverb, (Latin)

A partnership with a lion. (The lion takes all.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A passing remark.
Proverb, (Latin)

A pretty kettle of fish.
Proverb

A proud man who will not bend the knee.
Proverb, (Latin)

A reproach to the doctors. (An incurable malady.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A Roland for an Oliver.
Proverb

A rope of sand.
Proverb

A sardonic laugh. (An unnatural laugh.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A scraped writing tablet.
(Lat., Tabula rasa.)
Proverb, (Latin)

A self-conceited fellow.
Proverb, (Latin)

A snail's gallop.
Proverb

A storm in a teacup.
Proverb

A three-halfpenny fellow.
Proverb, (Latin)

A triton among minnows.
Proverb

A white elephant.
Proverb

A wolf in his belly.
Proverb, (Latin)

Admiring himself like a peacock.
Proverb, (Latin)

After the fashion of a mouse. (i.e., living off others.)
Proverb, (Latin)

After this; therefore on account of this.
(Lat., Post hoc; ergo propter hoc.)
Proverb, (Latin)

All leaf and no fruit.
Proverb, (Spanish)

Always ready.
Proverb, (Latin)

An ambassador without authority.
Proverb, (Latin)

An amen clerk.
Proverb, (Spanish)

An ass in a lion's hide.
Proverb

An ass in the skin of a lion.
Proverb, (Latin)

An ill-assorted couple.
Proverb, (Latin)

An ox (eating his head off) in the stall.
Proverb, (Latin)

As bald as a coot.
Proverb

As calm as a clock.
Proverb

As clean as a whistle.
Proverb

As close as wax.
Proverb

As cold as charity.
Proverb

As cross as a bear with a sore head.
Proverb

As cross as nine highways.
Proverb

As cross as two sticks.
Proverb

As dead as a door-nail.
Proverb

As dead as mutton.
Proverb

As drunk as a lord.
Proverb

As drunk as a mouse.
Proverb

As drunk as a wheelbarrow.
Proverb

As dry as a bone.
Proverb

As dull as ditchwater.
Proverb

As fine as fivepence.
Proverb

As fit as a fiddle.
Proverb

As flat as a pancake.
Proverb

As full as an egg is of meat.
Proverb

As good be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.
Proverb

As good lost as found.
Proverb

As good play for nought as work for nought.
Proverb

As in a mirror.
Proverb, (Latin)

As in a picture.
Proverb, (Latin)

As jolly as a sandboy.
Proverb

As large as life.
Proverb

As lazy as Ludlam's dog, that leaned his head against a wall to bark.
Proverb

As lean as a rake.
Proverb

As like as bees.
Proverb, (Latin)

As like as two peas.
Proverb

As mad as a hatter.
Proverb

As mad as a March hare.
Proverb

As melancholy as a sick monkey.
Proverb

As merry as a cricket.
Proverb

As merry as a grig.
Proverb

As merry as mice in malt.
Proverb

As mild as a lamb.
Proverb

As much by strength as by skill. (Brute force.)
Proverb, (Latin)

As neat as a new pin.
Proverb

As nimble as an eel in a sandbag.
Proverb

As old as Paul's steeple.
Proverb

As old as the hills.
Proverb

As old as the itch.
Proverb, (Spanish)

As plain as a packstaff.
Proverb

As plain as a pikestaff.
Proverb

As plain as the nose on a man's face.
Proverb

As poor as a church mouse.
Proverb, (Italian)

As poor as Job.
Proverb

As proud as a peacock.
Proverb

As quick as thought.
Proverb

As quiet as a mouse.
Proverb

As red as a turkey-cock.
Proverb

As right as a trivet.
Proverb

As right as ninepence.
Proverb

As right as rain.
Proverb

As seasonable as snow in harvest.
Proverb

As seasonable as snow in summer.
Proverb

As sick as a dog.
Proverb

As slender in the middle as a cow in the waist.
Proverb

As slippery as an eel.
Proverb

As soft as butter.
Proverb

As soft as silk.
Proverb

As sore fight wrens as cranes.
Proverb

As sound as a bell.
Proverb

As sound as a trout.
Proverb

As sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.
Proverb

As sure as a gun.
Proverb

As sure as death.
Proverb

As sure as eggs is eggs.
Proverb

As sure as God made little apples.
Proverb

As sure as God's in Gloucestershire.
Proverb

As sweet as a nut.
Proverb

As the cat loves mustard.
Proverb

As the devil loves holy-water.
Proverb

As the wolf loves the lamb.
Proverb, (Latin)

As thick as hail.
Proverb, (Latin)

As true as God's in heaven.
Proverb

As true as Gospel.
Proverb

As true as steel.
Proverb

As true as the dial to the sun.
Proverb

As true as turtle to her mate.
Proverb

As ugly as sin.
Proverb

As useless as monkey's fat.
Proverb, (Spanish)

As warm as toast.
Proverb

As weak as water.
Proverb

As welcome as flowers in May.
Proverb

As welcome as water in one's shoes.
Proverb

As well as the beggar knows his dish.
Proverb

As wise as a man of Gotham.
Proverb

Balder than a pestle.
Proverb, (Latin)

Before one can say Jack Robinson.
Proverb

Better luck next time.
Proverb

Between Scylla and Charybdis.
Proverb, (Greek)

Between the beetle and the block.
Proverb

Between the devil and the deep sea.
Proverb

Between the hammer and the anvil.
(Between two difficulties.)
Proverb, (Latin, Dutch, German)

Between the hand and the chin.
Proverb, (Latin)

Between you and me and the bedpost.
Proverb

Between you and me and the post.
Proverb

Biter bit.
Proverb

Blind man's holiday.
Proverb

Blinder than a beetle.
Proverb, (Latin)

Born of a white hen. (A lucky fellow.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth.
Proverb

By fair means or foul.
Proverb

By hook or by crook.
Proverb

By main force.
Proverb, (Latin)

By the whole heavens. (As wide asunder as the poles.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Cabbage repeated.
(Lat., Crambe repetita.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Cauld kail het again.
(Cold cabbage warmed up.)
Proverb

Choose a Brabant sheep, a Guelder ox, a Flemish capon, and a Friezeland cow.
Proverb, (Dutch)

Club law.
Proverb, (Latin)

Coals to Newcastle.
Proverb

Companions in misfortune.
Proverb

Consenting against his inclination.
Proverb, (Latin)

Cousin-germans--quite removed.
Proverb

Coyly resisting.
Proverb, (Latin)

Crocodile's tears. (Hypocrisy.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Deaf to the voice of conscience.
Proverb, (Latin)

Dignity in retirement. (Ease and dignity combined.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Dressed like a windmill.
Proverb, (French)

Enchantments to Egypt.
Proverb

Enough and to spare.
Proverb, (Latin)

Explaining what is unknown by what is still more unknown.
(Lat., Ignotam per ignotius.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Fair words and rotten apples.
Proverb, (Italian)

Fearing his own shadow.
Proverb, (Latin)

Fetters of gold.
Proverb, (Latin)

Fir trees to Norway.
Proverb

From excess of caution.
Proverb, (Latin)

From home itself.
Proverb, (Latin)

From repose to tumult.
Proverb, (Latin)

From smoke to flame.
Proverb, (Latin)

From the beginning to the end of a feast.
Proverb

From the egg to the apple.
Proverb, (Latin)

From the egg to the apples.
(Lat., Ab ovo usque ad mala.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Give and take.
Proverb

Giving gold coins to a cat.
Proverb, (Japanese)

Hand and foot (with all our strength and resolution.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Happy as a clam at high tide.
Proverb

Happy as a lark.
Proverb

Harder than adamant.
Proverb, (Latin)

Harmless lightning. (Impotent threats.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Hasten gently.
Proverb, (Latin)

He lives the life of a hare. (Ever in fear.)
Proverb, (Latin)

He struts as valiantly as an English cock.
Proverb, (Dutch)

He throws a cloud over happiness. (A kill-joy; a mar-feast.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Ill-yoked.
Proverb

Indulgencies to Rome.
Proverb

Inquisitive and prone to gossip. (A Paul Pry.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Let it be unsaid. (Let the observation be withdrawn.)
Proverb

Like a bull in a china shop.
Proverb

Like a dying duck in a thunderstorm.
Proverb

Like a hen on a hot griddle.
Proverb

Like a house on fire.
Proverb

Like a red rag to a bull.
Proverb

Like a toad under a harrow.
Proverb

Like as waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end.
Proverb

Like bees at geometry.
(Lat., Ut apes geometriam.)
Proverb

Like herrings in a barrel.
Proverb

Like King Petaud's court, where every one is a master.
Proverb, (French)

Like water off a duck's back.
Proverb

Lions at home.
Proverb, (Latin)

Longer than a day without bread.
Proverb, (Italian)

More ancient than chaos and the reign of Saturn.
Proverb, (Latin)

More changeable than Proteus.
Proverb, (Latin)

More changeable than the chameleon.
Proverb, (Latin)

More chaste than vestal's couch.
Proverb, (Latin)

More have repented of speech than of silence.
Proverb

More naked than a post.
Proverb, (Latin)

More naked than an egg.
Proverb, (Latin)

More noise than wool.
Proverb

More noisy than laurel when burning.
Proverb, (Latin)

More persuasive than the Syrens.
Proverb, (Latin)

More prickly than a sea urchin.
Proverb, (Latin)

More silent than a statue.
Proverb, (Latin)

My better half.
Proverb, (Latin)

Needlessly alarmed.
Proverb, (Latin)

Neither a dumb barber nor a deaf singer.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

Not even a trace is left.
Proverb, (Latin)

Not from Cupid's quiver.
Proverb

Not to be fit to hold a candle to him.
Proverb

Not to be sneezed at.
Proverb

Not worthy the snap of a finger.
Proverb, (Latin)

Nothing to the point.
Proverb, (Latin)

Now or never.
(Lat., Nunc aut nunquam.)
Proverb

Old young, and old long.
Proverb

Out of danger.
Proverb, (Latin)

Out of the frying-pan into the fire.
Proverb, (Spanish)

Out of the mire and into the brook.
Proverb, (Spanish)

Out of the mouths of babes.
Proverb

Owls to Athens.
Proverb

Pepper to Hindostan.
Proverb

Philosophers as far as the beard.
Proverb, (Latin)

Prayers, but no pay.
Proverb, (Spanish)

Praying to God and hitting with the hammer.
Proverb, (Spanish)

Punic faith. (Treachery.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Slow and sure.
Proverb, (German)

Smoother than oil.
Proverb, (Latin)

So ends all earthly glory.
Proverb, (Latin)

Stark naked.
Proverb, (Latin)

Stubborn as a mule.
Proverb

Suddenly as a storm.
Proverb, (Latin)

Swifter than a hawk.
Proverb, (Latin)

Tell that to the Marines!
Proverb

That's as much as a bean in a brewing copper.
Proverb, (Dutch)

The agreeable and the useful combined.
Proverb, (Latin)

The baubles of children.
Proverb, (Latin)

The cobbler to his last.
Proverb, (Latin)

The crow has seized a scorpion. (The soldier caught a Tartar.)
Proverb, (Latin)

The die is cast. (The Rubicon is crossed.)
(Lat., Alea iacta est.)
Proverb, (Latin)

The last argument of kings. (The sword.)
Proverb, (Latin)

The matter is under consideration.
Proverb, (Latin)

The rabble.
Proverb, (Latin)

The traces of the old flame. (Second love.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Till you are hoarse with bawling.
Proverb, (Latin)

To act with closed eyes.
Proverb, (Latin)

To add a farthing to the riches of Croesus.
Proverb, (Latin)

To add a farthing to the wealth of Croesus.
Proverb, (Latin)

To add fuel to fire.
Proverb

To add insult to injury.
Proverb

To add light to the sun.
Proverb, (Latin)

To add malady to malady.
Proverb, (Latin)

To add stars to the firmament.
Proverb, (Latin)

To add water to the ocean.
Proverb, (Latin)

To ask wool of an ass.
Proverb, (French)

To be aground on the same rock. (To be in the same dilemma. )
Proverb, (Latin)

To be blind even in the light of the sun.
Proverb, (Latin)

To be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth.
Proverb

To be content to let twelve pennies pass for a shilling.
Proverb, (Italian)

To be dragged by the scruff of the neck.
Proverb, (Latin)

To be in a person's bad books.
Proverb

To be in the same hospital. (To be in the same dilemma.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To be in the wrong box.
Proverb

To be led by the nose.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To be like a bunch of nettles.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To be like a fish in the water.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To be like a leek, have a grey head and the rest green.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To be like a tailor's pattern-book.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To be on one's last legs.
Proverb

To be too busy gets contempt.
Proverb

To be under a cloud.
Proverb

To be wise beyond the scrip. (Have a care for the morrow.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To bear away the bell.
Proverb

To bear two faces in one hood.
Proverb

To beat about the bush.
Proverb

To beat the dog already punished.
Proverb, (Latin)

To beat the dog in presence of this lion.
Proverb, (French)

To begin at home.
Proverb

To begin skinning the eel at the tail.
Proverb, (French)

To bend the bow of Ulysses.
Proverb

To bind a dog with the gut of a lamb.
Proverb, (Latin)

To bite the lip. (To manifest indignation.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To blow hot and cold in the same breath.
Proverb, (Latin)

To blow hot and cold.
Proverb, (French)

To blow one's own trumpet.
Proverb

To break my head and then give me a plaster.
Proverb

To break Priscian's head.
Proverb

To break the constable's head, and take refuge with the sheriff.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To break the ice.
Proverb, (Latin)

To break the rope by overstraining.
Proverb, (Latin)

To bring a noble to ninepence.
Proverb

To bring down two apples with one stick.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To bring haddock to paddock.
Proverb

To bring out the implements of war, when the battle is over.
Proverb, (Latin)

To bruise the head of the serpent.
Proverb, (Latin)

To build castles in the air.
Proverb, (Dutch, French)

To burn one's boats.
Proverb

To burn out a candle in search of a pin.
Proverb, (French)

To burn the candle at both ends.
Proverb

To bury the hatchet.
Proverb

To buy a cat in a poke.
Proverb, (French)

To buy a pig in a poke.
Proverb

To buy and sell and live by the loss.
Proverb

To cackle and lay no egg.
Proverb, (Portuguese, Spanish)

To call a spade a spade.
Proverb, (Latin)

To carry a lantern in mid-day.
Proverb, (French)

To carry coals to Newcastle.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To carry fir-trees to Norway.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To carry on the head. (i.e., To love dearly.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To carry two faces under one hood.
Proverb

To carry water in a sieve.
Proverb, (Latin)

To carry water to the river.
Proverb, (French)

To carry water to the sea.
Proverb,
(Dutch, German, Portuguese)

To carry wood to the forest.
Proverb, (Latin)

To cast a dart without any fixed mark or aim. (To have no settled purpose.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To cast in a smelt to catch a codfish.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To cast out the mote from the eye of another.
Proverb, (Latin)

To cast pearls before swine.
Proverb, (Dutch, Italian)

To cast water into the sea.
Proverb

To catch a hare with a cart.
Proverb, (Italian)

To catch a hare with a tabret.
Proverb

To catch a Tartar.
Proverb

To catch a weasel asleep.
Proverb

To catch the shower in a sieve. (To lose one's time and pains.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To catch two pigeons with one bean.
Proverb, (Italian)

To change the course we have begun for the better.
Proverb

To checkmate your adversary. To leave him not a leg to stand on.
Proverb, (Latin)

To clip his wings.
Proverb

To comb one's head with a stool.
Proverb

To come from little good to stark nought.
Proverb

To come up to the scratch.
Proverb

To commit the sheep to the care of the wolf.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To condemn the error, but not to descend to personalities.
Proverb, (Latin)

To confuse matters.
Proverb, (Latin)

To count one's chickens before they are hatched.
Proverb

To cover the well after the child has been drowned in it.
Proverb, (German)

To cram on every stitch of canvas.
Proverb, (Latin)

To create a tempest in a teapot.
Proverb

To cry famine on a heap of corn.
Proverb, (French)

To cry out before one is hurt.
Proverb

To cry up wine, and sell vinegar.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To cry with one eye and laugh with the other.
Proverb

To cure every one with the same ointment.
Proverb, (Latin)

To cure evil by evil.
Proverb, (Latin)

To cut a man with a sword of lead.
Proverb, (Latin)

To cut broad thongs from another man's leather.
Proverb, (French)

To cut his comb off.
Proverb

To cut his throat with a feather.
Proverb

To cut off one's nose to spite one's face.
Proverb, (French)

To cut the coat according to the cloth.
Proverb

To cut the grass from under a person's feet.
Proverb

To cut the thread. (To open a letter; to break a seal.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To dance out of time. (To say an irrelevant thing: a thing out of place.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To deceive oneself is very easy.
Proverb

To deserve the whetstone.
Proverb

To die of laughing.
Proverb, (Latin)

To dig one's grave with one's teeth.
Proverb, (French)

To dig with golden spades. (To waste means.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To discover truth by telling a falsehood.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To dispute about a donkey's shadow.
Proverb, (Latin)

To dispute about smoke.
Proverb, (Latin)

To draw blood from a stone.
Proverb

To draw the foot out of the mire.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To draw the long bow.
Proverb

To draw the snake out of the hole with another's hand.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To draw water in a sieve. (To waste time.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To drink from a colander.
Proverb, (Latin)

To drink from the same cup.
Proverb, (Latin)

To drink like frogs.
Proverb, (Latin)

To err again on the same string.
Proverb, (Latin)

To exact an offering from the dead.
Proverb, (Latin)

To exchange a one-eyed horse for a blind one.
Proverb, (French)

To fall from the wall into the ditch.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To fare hard.
Proverb, (Latin)

To fawn with the tail, and bite with the mouth.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To fetch water after the house is burned.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To fiddle while Rome is burning.
Proverb

To fight with every kind of weapon.
Proverb, (Latin)

To fight with ghosts. (To speak against the dead.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To fight with windmills.
Proverb

To find a mare's nest.
Proverb

To fire the first shot. (To throw down the gauntlet.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To fish for a herring and catch a sprat.
Proverb

To fish in the air. To hunt in the sea.
Proverb, (Latin)

To fish with a golden hook.
Proverb, (Latin)

To flay the flayed dog.
Proverb, (Italian)

To flog a dead horse.
Proverb

To flog a stone.
Proverb, (Latin)

To fly, when no one pursues us. (Great timidity.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To follow a man like his shadow.
Proverb, (Latin)

To forget a kindness.
Proverb, (Latin)

To fry in one's own grease.
Proverb

To get out of one muck into another.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To get out of the mire and fall into the river.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To get out of the rain under the spout.
Proverb, (German)

To get out of the smoke and fall into the fire.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To give a cap and get a cloak.
(Lat., Pilleum dat ut pallium recipiat.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To give a duck to get a goose.
Proverb, (English)

To give a pea for a bean.
Proverb, (French)

To give a thing and take a thing
Is to wear the devil's gold ring.
Proverb

To give an egg to get an ox.
Proverb, (Dutch, French)

To give change out for his coin.
Proverb, (French)

To give court holy-water.
Proverb, (French)

To give instruction in the form of praise.
Proverb, (Latin)

To give one the sack.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To go beyond the bounds. (To digress from the subject of discussion.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To go for wool and come back shorn.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To go mulberry gathering without a crook.
Proverb, (French)

To go rabbit catching with a dead ferret.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To go rabbit hunting with a dead ferret.
Proverb

To go to the vintage without baskets.
Proverb, (French)

To grease the fat pig's tail.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To harness the horses behind the cart.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To harness unwilling oxen.
Proverb, (Latin)

To haul over the coals.
Proverb

To have a bee in one's bonnet.
Proverb

To have a bone in one's leg.
Proverb

To have a crow to pluck with one.
Proverb

To have a finger in the pie.
Proverb

To have a good opinion of himself.
Proverb, (Latin)

To have a rod in pickle for someone.
Proverb

To have a wolf by the ears.
Proverb, (Greek)

To have bats in the belfry.
Proverb

To have friends both in heaven and hell.
Proverb, (French)

To have hairs on his heart. (Hard-hearted.)
Proverb, (Spanish)

To have it written on his forehead.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To have many irons in the fire.
Proverb

To have one foot in the grave.
Proverb

To have one's brains in one's heels.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To have one's labour for one's pains.
Proverb

To have the belly up to one's mouth.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To have the foot in two shoes.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To help a lame dog over a stile.
Proverb

To help the sun by torches.
Proverb, (Latin)

To hide under a cloak.
Proverb, (Latin)

To hit the nail on the head.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To hold a candle to the devil.
Proverb

To hold a wolf by the ears. (To be between two difficulties.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To hold the wolf by the ears.
(Lat., Tenere lupum auribus.)
Proverb, (French, Latin)

To hunt for a knot in a rush which has no knots. (To raise unnecessary scruples.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To hunt the hare with the ox.
Proverb, (Latin)

To hunt with unwilling hounds.
Proverb, (Latin)

To indulge in a joke when surrounded by mourners. (To jest out of season.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To indulge in jest on sacred matters.
Proverb, (Latin)

To interfere in the affairs of others.
Proverb, (Latin)

To jump into the water for fear of the rain.
Proverb, (French)

To jump out of the frying pan into the fire.
Proverb, (French)

To jump out of the frying-pan and fall into the fire.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To keep one upon hot coals.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To keep one's nose to the grindstone.
Proverb

To keep one's tongue between one's teeth.
Proverb

To keep the wolf from the door.
Proverb

To kick a man when he is down.
Proverb

To kick against the pricks.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To kill a mercer for a comb.
Proverb, (French)

To kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Proverb, (Greek)

To kill the hen by way of getting the egg.
Proverb, (French)

To kill two birds with one stone.
Proverb, (Dutch, Portuguese)

To kill two flies with one flap.
Proverb

To kill with kindness.
Proverb

To know how many beans make five.
Proverb

To know on which side one's bread is buttered.
Proverb

To know where the shoe pinches.
Proverb

To know which way the wind blows.
Proverb

To laugh in one's sleeve.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To laugh on the wrong side on one's mouth.
Proverb

To lay it on with a trowel.
Proverb

To lay up for a rainy day.
Proverb

To lead one by the nose.
Proverb, (Latin)

To lean against a tottering wall.
Proverb, (Latin)

To leave no stone unturned.
Proverb, (Latin)

To leave the nuts. (To put away childish things.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To let the cat out of the bag.
Proverb

To lick into shape.
Proverb

To live at the beck and call of another.
Proverb, (Latin)

To live from hand to mouth.
Proverb, (French)

To live in clover.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To lock the stable after the horses are taken.
Proverb, (Italian)

To look a gift horse in the mouth.
Proverb

To look as if butter would not melt in one's mouth.
Proverb

To look at a shipwreck from the shore.
Proverb, (Latin)

To look at both sides of a penny.
Proverb

To look for a needle in a bottle of hay.
Proverb, (German)

To look for a needle in a bundle of hay.
Proverb, (French)

To look for a needle in a haystack.
Proverb, (Latin)

To look for five feet in a cat.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To look for noon at fourteen o'clock.
Proverb, (French)

To lose his last farthing.
Proverb, (Latin)

To lose one eye that you may deprive another of two.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To lose the ship for a halfpennyworth of tar.
Proverb

To love as the cat loves mustard.
Proverb

To make a birthday a day of grief. (To turn joy into sorrow.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To make a black man white.
Proverb, (Latin)

To make a cat's paw of one.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To make a mountain of a molehill.
Proverb

To make a palace of a pigstye.
Proverb

To make a person turn in his grave.
Proverb

To make a virtue of necessity.
Proverb, (French)

To make an elephant of a fly.
Proverb, (Dutch, Italian)

To make bricks without straw.
Proverb

To make coqs-a-l'ane.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To make ducks and drakes of.
Proverb

To make ends meet.
Proverb

To make fish of one and flesh of another.
Proverb

To make of a flea a knight cap-a-pie.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To make one hole by way of stopping another.
Proverb, (French)

To make two bites of a cherry.
Proverb

To make two extremes meet.
Proverb

To make two hits with one stone.
Proverb, (French)

To make two nails at one heat.
Proverb, (Italian)

To make waves in a cup.
(Lat., Exitare fluctus in simpulo.)
Proverb

To mingle heaven and earth. (Inextricably to confuse matters.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To miss the mark.
Proverb, (Latin)

To mix fire and water.
Proverb, (Latin)

To move every rope: to cram on all sail.
Proverb, (Latin)

To nourish a serpent in one's breast.
Proverb, (Latin)

To offer one candle to God and another to the devil.
Proverb, (French)

To open, as you would an oyster.
Proverb, (Latin)

To oppose by stratagem.
Proverb, (Latin)

To overshoot the mark.
Proverb, (Latin)

To parade the gallows before the town.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To pay off a grudge by a vote.
Proverb, (Latin)

To pay one in his own coin.
Proverb,
(Dutch, Italian, Portuguese)

To pay person in his own coin.
Proverb

To peer out the mote in another's eye and not the beam in your own.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To piece the lion's skin with that of the fox.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To play first fiddle.
Proverb

To play second fiddle.
Proverb

To pluck the goose without making it cry out.
Proverb, (French)

To pound water in a mortar.
Proverb, (Latin)

To pour oil upon the waters.
Proverb

To pour water into a sieve.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To pour water on a drowned mouse.
Proverb

To pray to the saint until the danger is past.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To promise more butter than bread.
Proverb, (French)

To promise more carts than oxen.
Proverb, (Italian)

To pull down the house for the sake of the mortar.
Proverb, (Italian)

To put a good face on a bad game.
Proverb, (French)

To put a racehorse to the plough.
Proverb

To put a spoke in one's wheel.
Proverb

To put bread into a cold oven.
Proverb, (Latin)

To put his finger on his lips. (To refuse to reveal what he knows.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To put his tail between his legs.
Proverb, (Latin)

To put in a needle and take out a bar.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To put on one's doublet before one's shirt.
Proverb, (Italian)

To put on the mask of a dancer when wearing the toga. (To do that which is out of place and inconsistent.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To put one's best foot foremost.
Proverb

To put one's nose out of joint.
Proverb

To put out the fire with tow.
Proverb, (Italian)

To put salt on a bird's tail.
Proverb

To put the cart before the horse.
Proverb, (Dutch, Italian, Latin)

To put the plough before the oxen.
Proverb, (French)

To put the same shoe on every foot.
Proverb, (Latin)

To put water into a basket.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To put your finger into another man's pie.
Proverb

To quarrel over a straw.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To quarrel with his little finger.
Proverb

To quench fire with fire.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To quench fire with oil.
Proverb, (Latin)

To rain upon the wet.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To re-open a wound.
Proverb, (Latin)

To reckon without one's host.
Proverb

To reckon without one's hostess.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To reckon without the hostess.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To repel force by force.
Proverb, (Latin)

To rob Peter to pay Paul.
Proverb

To row in the same boat.
Proverb

To row together, or in time. (To act in unison.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To run with the hard and hunt with the hounds.
Proverb

To run with the hare and hold with the hounds.
Proverb

To sacrifice certain for speculative profit.
Proverb, (Latin)

To satisfy one's wants at a small cost.
Proverb, (Latin)

To save at the spiggot, and let it run out at the bong-hole.
Proverb, (German)

To save at the spigot and let it run out of the bunghole.
Proverb

To save for old age, earning a maravedi and drinking three.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To see the sky through a funnel.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To see which way the cat jumps.
Proverb

To seek for a knot in a bulrush.
(Lat., Nodum in scirpo quaerere.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To sell a cat for a hare.
Proverb, (Portuguese, Spanish)

To sell honey to the beekeeper.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To sell the bird in the bush.
Proverb, (Italian)

To sell the honey to one who has the bees.
Proverb, (Italian)

To sell the skin of the bear before it is caught.
Proverb, (Italian)

To send away with a flea in his ear.
Proverb

To send one arrow after another.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To set the Thames on fire.
Proverb

To sew the fox's skin to the lion's.
Proverb, (French)

To shave an egg.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To shiver at work, and sweat at meals.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To show a clean pair of heels.
Proverb

To show the cloven foot.
Proverb

To show the sole of the foot.
Proverb, (Latin)

To show the sun with a torch.
Proverb, (French)

To shut the stable door when the steed is stolen.
Proverb

To sign for both parties.
Proverb, (French)

To sing out of tune and persist in it.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To sing to an ass.
Proverb, (Latin)

To sink a well by the river side.
Proverb, (German)

To sit brooding over treasures, and enjoy them not.
Proverb, (Latin)

To sit on two seats.
Proverb, (Latin)

To skin a flint for a farthing, and spoil a knife worth fourpence.
Proverb

To smell of the lamp.
Proverb

To snatch the lamb from the wolf.
Proverb, (Latin)

To sow one's wild oats.
Proverb

To sow our wild oats.
Proverb

To split hairs.
Proverb

To spoil the ship for a halfpennyworth of tar.
Proverb

To spur a horse on level ground.
Proverb, (Italian)

To stab the dead.
Proverb, (Latin)

To stand in one's own light.
Proverb

To start the hare for another's profit.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To steal a sheep and give away the trotters for God's sake.
Proverb, (Portuguese)

To steal the leather, and give away the shoes for God's sake.
Proverb, (German)

To steal the pig, and give away the pettitoes for God's sake.
Proverb, (Italian, Spanish)

To stew in one's own juice.
Proverb

To stop the hole after the mischief is done.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To strike with a leaden sword. (To use a useless argument.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To strip one altar to cover another.
Proverb, (Italian)

To strip Peter to clothe Paul.
Proverb, (Italian)

To strip St. Peter to clothe St. Paul.
Proverb, (French)

To stumble twice over the same stone.
Proverb, (Latin)

To suit present circumstances.
Proverb, (Latin)

To swallow a camel, and strain at a gnat.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To swallow both sea and fish.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To swim a river with a bridge close by.
Proverb

To swim between two waters.
Proverb, (French)

To take a leaf out of one's book.
Proverb

To take a shirt from a naked man.
Proverb, (Latin)

To take blood from a stone.
Proverb

To take counsel of one's pillow.
Proverb

To take him down a peg.
Proverb

To take one down a peg or two.
Proverb

To take one foot out the mire and put the other into it.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To take one up before he is down.
Proverb

To take opportunity by the forelock.
Proverb, (French, Spanish)

To take out a burning coal with another's hand.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To take the bull by the horns.
Proverb

To take the chestnuts out of the fire with the cat's paw.
Proverb, (French)

To take the gilt off the gingerbread.
Proverb

To take the law into one's own hands.
Proverb

To take the rough with the smooth.
Proverb

To take the will for the deed.
Proverb

To take the wind out of one's sails.
Proverb

To take to your heels.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To take two boars in one thicket.
Proverb, (Latin)

To take Villadiego's boots.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To tell tales out of school.
Proverb

To thrash one's jacket.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To throw a sprat to catch a whale.
Proverb

To throw dust in one's eyes.
Proverb, (Latin)

To throw good money after bad.
Proverb

To throw oil on flames.
Proverb, (Latin)

To throw oil on the fire.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To throw pearls before swine.
Proverb

To throw the halter after the ass.
Proverb, (Italian)

To throw the helve after the hatchet.
Proverb, (French, Spanish)

To throw the rope after the bucket.
Proverb, (Italian)

To throw the stone and conceal the hand.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To throw up a feather in the air, and see where it falls.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To tread softly like a thief.
Proverb, (Latin)

To turn an honest penny.
Proverb

To turn cat in pan.
Proverb

To turn fishmonger on Easter-eve.
Proverb, (French)

To turn over a new leaf.
Proverb

To turn things upside down.
Proverb, (Latin)

To undo crosses in a straw loft (i.e. to part all the straws that they may not lie crosswise; to be over nice).
Proverb, (Spanish)

To unite that which cannot be united. To attempt an impossibility.
Proverb, (Latin)

To untie the knot. (To solve a difficulty.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To use his own beast to fetch home evil. (To be the author of his own misery.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To wake a sleeping lion.
Proverb

To wash a blackamoor white.
Proverb, (Dutch, Greek)

To wash dirty linen in public.
Proverb

To wash the Ethiopian. (Labour in vain.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To wear one's heart upon one's sleeve.
Proverb

To wear the breeches.
Proverb

To wear the willow.
Proverb

To weep at the tomb of a stepmother. (Hypocrisy.)
Proverb, (Latin)

To wet one's whistle.
Proverb

To whip the air.
Proverb, (Latin)

To whiten ivory with ink. To spoil nature by art.
Proverb, (Latin)

To whiten two walls from the same lime-pot.
Proverb, (Latin)

To wipe up the sea with a sponge.
Proverb, (Dutch)

To wolf's flesh dog's teeth.
Proverb, (Portuguese, Spanish)

To work for the bishop.
Proverb, (Spanish)

To worry hornets.
Proverb, (Latin)

To wrest the prey from the hungry lion.
Proverb, (Latin)

Tooth and nail.
Proverb

Unbought feasts.
(Lat., Dapes inemptae.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Unbought grace.
Proverb, (Latin)

Up, guards, and at 'em.
Proverb

Utter confusion.
Proverb, (Latin)

War to the knife.
Proverb

Wash a blackamoor white.
Proverb

We apples swim.
(Lat., Nos poma natamus.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Weary of life.
Proverb, (Latin)

Well-digested hatred.
Proverb, (Latin)

When mules breed. (i.e., Never.)
Proverb

When the devil is blind.
Proverb

When the frog has hair.
Proverb

When the Greek Calends come round. (Never.)
Proverb, (Latin)

When two Sundays come together.
Proverb, (German)

When two Sundays meet.
Proverb

Whiter than snow.
Proverb, (Latin)

Willing and able.
(Lat., Volens et potens.)
Proverb, (Latin)

Willy nilly.
Proverb

With all his strength.
Proverb, (Latin)

With bad luck.
Proverb, (Latin)

With beak and claw.
Proverb, (Latin)

With claws and beak.
(Lat., Unguibus et rostro.)
Proverb, (Latin)

With good luck.
Proverb, (Latin)

With oars and sails.
Proverb, (Latin)

With sails and oars.
Proverb, (Latin)

Worn bare by the helmet.
Proverb, (Latin)

Worthy of a monument.
Proverb, (Latin)

You count the waves. (Labour in vain.)
Proverb, (Latin)

You rouse the fury of the lion.
Proverb, (Latin)

Your wife and the sauce at the lance hand (the right hand).
Proverb, (Spanish)

A baker's dozen.
Francois Rabelais, Works (bk. V, ch. XXII)

To beard the lion in his den, The Douglas in his hall.
Sir Walter Scott

The game is up.
William Shakespeare

The short and the long of it.
William Shakespeare

To make a virtue of necessity.
William Shakespeare

. . . that was laid on with a trowel.
William Shakespeare, As You Like It

Words, words, words.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet Prince of Denmark

To take up arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing end them.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet Prince of Denmark

To saw the air.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet Prince of Denmark

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet.
William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John

As like as eggs. (As like as two peas.)
William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale

As headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan

In the name of the Prophet--figs.
Horace Smith and James Smith

Like a fish out of water. (Lat., Sicut piscis sine aqua caret vita.)
Sozemen (Sozomenos Hermias),

Through thick and thin, both over banck and bush, In hope her to attaine by hooke or crooke.
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene

Big-endians and small-endians.
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

Hail, fellow, well met, All dirty and wet: Find out, if you can, Who's master, who's man.
Jonathan Swift, My Lady's Lamentation

Cut off your nose to spite your face. (Fr., Se couper le nez pour faire depit a son visage.)
Gedeon Tallemant des Reaux, Historiettes

The fools of habit.
Lord Alfred Tennyson

Like glimpses of forgotten dreams.
Lord Alfred Tennyson, The Two Voices

To pick out meat from the very funeral pile.
Terence (Publius Terentius Afer)

To touch a sore place. (A tender point.)
Terence (Publius Terentius Afer)

Much of a muchness.
Sir John Vanbrugh (Vanburgh),

A precious pair of scamps.
Virgil or Vergil (Publius Virgilius Maro Vergil)

To prate of peace, and arm your ironsides.
Virgil or Vergil (Publius Virgilius Maro Vergil)

To spare the vanquished, and subdue the proud.
Virgil or Vergil (Publius Virgilius Maro Vergil)

To whisper insidious accusations in the ear of the mob.
Virgil or Vergil (Publius Virgilius Maro Vergil)

To pile Ossa upon Pelion. (Lat., Imponere Pelio Ossam.)
Virgil or Vergil (Publius Virgilius Maro Vergil),

The total depravity of inanimate things.
Katherine Kent Child Walker (Mrs. Edward Ashley Walker),

I always wanted to be a procrastinator, never got around to it.

Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.

I am a nutritional overachiever.

My inferiority complex is not as good as yours.

I am having an out of money experience.

I plan on living forever. So far, so good.

I am in shape. Round is a shape.

Practice safe eating - always use condiments.

A day without sunshine is like night.

I have kleptomania, but when it gets really bad, I take something.
for it

If marriage were outlawed, only outlaws would have in-laws.

I am not a perfectionist. My parents were, though.

Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like.

You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.

One of life's mysteries is how a two pound box of candy can make you gain five pounds.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Time may be a great healer, but it's also a lousy beautician.

Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.

Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone.

Life not only begins at forty, it begins to show.

You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stopped laughing.