A proverb (derived from the Latin word, proverbium), also called a byword or nayword, is a simple, well known saying which is repeated, often expressing a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. Proverbs are found to be metaphorical and a proverb that describes a particular rule of conduct is called a maxim.

A selection of some well known and some not so well known proverbs from around the world follow.

African Proverbs

A wise man never knows all, only fools know everything

An elder’s handbag is never completely empty.

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.

Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.

American Proverbs

Cunning men deal in generalizations.

The more sins you confess, the more books you will sell.

Nobody has ever bet enough on a winning horse.

After all is said and done, more is said than done.

Argentinian Proverbs

No woman can make a wise man out of a fool, but every woman can change a wise man into a fool.

If you have a tail of straw, then keep away from the fire.

A dog that barks all the time gets little attention.

A man who develops himself is born twice.

Belgium Proverbs

Who sieves too much keeps the rubbish.

The beautiful is less what one sees than what one dreams.

He who does not wish for little things does not deserve big things.

Other people’s eggs have two yolks.

Weeds never perish.

Brazilian Proverbs

He who knows nothing, doubts nothing.

The trees with most leaves will not necessarily produce juicy fruit.

Between the beginning and the end there is always a middle.

Chinese Proverbs

A maker of idols is never an idolater.

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

A thorn defends the rose, harming only those who would steal the blossom.

A clever person turns great troubles into little ones and little ones into none at all.

Danish Proverbs

Better to ask twice than to lose your way once.

A lazy boy and a warm bed are difficult to part.

He who builds according to every man’s advice will have a crooked house.

Dutch Proverbs

He who attempts too much seldom succeeds.

A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.

Little pots soon run over.

He who is outside the door has already a good part of his journey behind him.

English Proverbs

Poor men seek meat for their stomach, rich men stomach for their meat.

Many things are lost for want of asking.

Practice makes perfect.

Some men go through a forest and see no firewood.

You never miss a slice from a cut loaf.

When a proud man hears another praised, he feels himself injured.

A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years.

It is better to begin in the evening than not at all.

French Proverbs

There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.

With enough “ifs” we could put Paris into a bottle.

They will be hushed by a good deed who laugh at a wise speech.

People count up the faults of those who keep them waiting.

Write injuries in sand, kindnesses in marble.

German Proverbs

Too clever is stupid.

God gives the nuts, but he does not crack them.

There is no eel so small but it hopes to become a whale.

Begin to weave and God will give the thread.

Greek Proverbs

Men never moan over the opportunities lost to do good, only the opportunities to be bad.

Milk the cow, but do not pull off the udder.

First secure an independent income, then practice virtue.

Icelandic Proverbs

All old sayings have something in them.

Everyone wants to live long, but no one wants to be called old.

He who lives without discipline dies without honor.

Indian Proverbs

Don’t bargain for fish which are still in the water.

Call on God, but row away from the rocks.

Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but build no house on it.

A person consists of his faith. Whatever is his faith, even so is he.

Irish Proverbs

Instinct is stronger than upbringing.

All sins cast long shadows.

A trout in the pot is better than a salmon in the sea.

Praise the ripe field not the green corn.

Italian Proverbs

Between saying and doing, many a pair of shoes is worn out.

A bad agreement is better than a good lawsuit.

To a quick question give a slow answer.

Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.

A hundred years cannot repair a moment’s loss of honour.

Japanese Proverbs

You can’t see the whole sky through a bamboo tube.

He who hunts two hares leaves one and loses the other.

Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods.

Malaysian Proverbs

You can’t see the whole sky through a bamboo tube.

Time spent laughing is time spent with the gods.

Mexican Proverbs

Never ask God to give you anything; ask Him to put you where things are.

He who strikes first, strikes twice.

It’s not enough to know how to ride — you must also know how to fall.

Polish Proverbs

There are a thousand paths to every wrong.

From someone else’s cart you have to get off halfway.

God grant me a good sword and no use for it.

Even a clock that is not going is right twice a day.

Portuguese Proverbs

Hell is paved with good intentions, roofed in with lost opportunities.

What was hard to bear is sweet to remember.

Good management is better than good income.

Russian Proverbs

Acknowledgment is half of correction.

Success and rest don’t sleep together.

For him who does not believe in signs, thre is no way to live in the world.

To ask is no sin and to be refused is no calamity.

A priest’s beard is always soaked in butter.

Pray to God, but keep rowing to the shore.

Saudi Arabian Proverbs

A promise is a cloud; fulfillment is rain.

A friend is known when needed.

A little and a little, collected together, becomes a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and rop makes an inundation.

South African Proverbs

The fool who owns an ox is seldom recognized as a fool.

No hill without gravestones, no valley without shadows.

He who has no intelligence is happy with it.

Spanish Proverbs

How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.

The absent are always at fault.

The beginning of health is to know the disease.

He who goes with wolves learns to howl.

Swedish Proverbs

God gives every bird his worm, but he does not throw it into the nest.

Those who wish to sing always find a song.

Sweep first before your own door, before you sweep the doorsteps of your neighbors.

Don’t throw away the old bucket until you know whether the new one holds water.

Swiss Proverbs

Speech is silver; silence is golden.

One simple maxim is often worth more than two good friends.

When one shuts one eye, one does not hear everything.

Turkish Proverbs

A person does not seek luck; luck seeks the person.

Measure a thousand times and cut once.

Having two ears and one tongue, we should listen twice as much as we speak.

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