A word to the wise is sufficient.........
The Proverbs of Time
N-Z
N
Nearest is dearest
Necessity has no law
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Neither wise men nor fools can work without tools
Never a rose without thorns.
Never cross a bridge until you have come to it
Never damn the bridge that you have crossed
Never do things by halves
Never hit a man when he is down
Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today.
Never say die! Up man, and try.
Never to old to learn, never too later to turn
Never trouble trouble till trouble trouble you
New brooms sweep clean
No gains without pains.
No man without enemies
No news is good news
No-one knows where the shoe pinches but he who wears it.
None so blind as those who will not see
None so deaf as those who will not hear
Nothing succeeds like success
O
Oaks fall when reeds stand.
Of two evils choose the less
Old age is a heavy burden
Old birds are not caught with chaff
Old wounds soon bleed
On a long journey every straw is heavy
One can live on little, but not on nothing.
One cannot die twice
One fool makes many
One good turn deserves another
One may lead a horse to water, but twenty cannot make him drink.
One man’s meat is another man’s poison
One may sooner fall than rise
One swallow does not make it summer
One today is worth two tomorrows
Other fish to fry
Out of sight, out of mind
Out of the frying pan into the fire
P
Penny wise, pound foolish
Pigs grow fat where lambs would starve
Plaster thick so some will stick
Practices makes perfect
Praise makes good men better and bad men worst
Presents keep friendships warm.
Prevention is better than cure
Pride and poverty are ill, yet often dwell together.
Procrastination is a thief of time
Punctuality is the soul of business.
Punctuality is the politeness of princes
Put not your trust in money; put your money in trust
R
Rats desert a sinking ship
Reckless youth makes rueful age
Rome was not built in a day
Rumour is a great traveler
S
Saying is one thing, doing is another
Scratch my back and I will scratch yours
Second thoughts are the best
Seeing is believing
Set a thief to catch a thief
Set not your loaf in till the oven is hot
Show me a liar and I can show a thief
Silence gives consent
Sink or swim
Six of one and half a dozen of the other
Skill is stronger than strength
Slow and steady wins the race
Slow and sure
Small beginnings make great endings
Soft words break no bones
Soft words win hard hearts
Some men are wise and some are otherwise
Sometime the best gain is to lose
Soon hot, soon cold
Sooner said than done
Spare the rod spoil the child
Speak the little but speak the truth
Speak well of your friends and of your enemies nothing
Speaking without thinking is shooting with out aim
Speech is silver, silence is golden
Spilt salt is never all gathered
Still water run deep
Strike while the iron is hot
Study the past if you would divine the future
Suspicion is the bane of friendship
Sympathy without relief is like mustard without beef
T
Talk of the devil and he’ll appear
That which I evil is soon learnt
That which proves too much proves nothing
The best of friends must part
The cat is fain of fish to eat, but hath no will to wet her feet
The cheapest comes the dearest in the end
The child is father of the man
The darkest hour is nearest the dawn
The devil lurk behind the cross
The early bird catches the worm
The end justifies the means
The exception proves the rule
The fountain is clearest at the source
The goat must browse where she is tied
The heart seeks further than the head
The last straw breaks the camel’s back
The less people think, the more they will talk
The love of a woman and a bottle of wine, are sweet for a season but last for a time
The master’s eye fatten the horse
The morning sun never last the day.
The nearer the church the further from God
The proof of the pudding is in the eating
The receiver is as bad as the thief
The stone that lieth not in your way need not offend you
The strength of a chain is its weakest link
The unexpected always happen
The wise make jests and the fool repeats them
The wish is father to the thought
The world is a staircase; some are going up, some are coming down.
There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers
There are more ways to kill a dog than by hanging him.
There could be no great ones if there were no little
There is a “But” in everything
There is no true love without jealousy
There is no venom like that of the tongue
There is a salve for every sore
There’s safety in numbers
They who only seek for faults find nothing else.
Those who do nothing generally take to shouting
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones
Those that make the best use of there time have none to spare
Time and tide wait for no man
Time cures more than the doctor
Time flies
Time is money
Tit for tat is fair play
To be born with a silver spoon in the mouth
To err is human; to forgive is divine
To forget a wrong is the best revenge
To kill two birds with one stone
To know the disease is half the cure
To look for a needle in a haystack
To make one hole to stop another
To make two bites at one cherry
To put the cart before the horse
To scare a bird is not the best way to catch it
To stir up a hornets nest
Too many cooks spoil the brooth
Too much of one thing is good for nothing
Train a tree while it is young
True love never grows old
True love never runs smoothly
Trust but not too much
Turn over a new leaf
Two eyes see more than one
Two heads at better than one
Two is company, three is a crowd
Two wrongs don’t make it right
Throw a sprat to catch a whale
U
Undertake no more than you can perform
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown
Union is strength
V
Vice is it own punishment, virtue its own reward
W
Walls have ears
Wash your dirty linen at home
Waste makes want
Waste not, want not
We are such stuff as dreams are made on
We can live without friends, but not without neighbors
Wedlock is like a place besieged; those within wish to get out, those
without wish to get in
Well began is half done
What belongs to everybody belongs to nobody
What can’t be cured must with patience be endured
What cost nothing is worth nothing
What’s done cant be undone
What is learnt in the cradle lasts to the tomb
What is one’s man meat is another man’s poison
What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
What is worth doing at all is worth doing well
What man has done man can do
What the eyes does not admire the heart does not desire
What the eyes don’t see the heart does not grieve for
What the heart thinketh the tongue speaketh
When a man is going down the hill everyone will give him a push.
When in Rome do as Romans do
When poverty comes in the door love flies out the window
When the cat is away the mice will play
When two friends have a common purse, one sings and the other weeps
When wits meet sparks fly out
Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise
Where there is nothing to lose there is nothing to fear
Where there is smoke there is fire
Where there’s a will there’s a way
Where there is life there is hope
While the grass grows the horse starves
Who chatters to you will chatter of you
Who judges other condemns himself
Who knows most says least
Who spends more than he should, shall not have to spend when he would
Who will not hear must be made to feel
Wine and wenches empty men’s purses
Words are wind, bit blows are unkind
Y
You cannot eat your cake and have it
You cannot get blood out of a stone
You cannot see the wood for the trees
You cannot shoe a running horse
You cannot teach an old dog new tricks
You will never know till you have tried
Young men think old men fools; old men know you men to be so
Youth and age will never agree
Youth lives on hope, age on remembrance
Z
Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse