Enjoy dozens of witty and insightful American proverbs and idioms that have been passed down from one generation to the next for hundreds of years!
- Don’t cross the bridge until you come to it.
- Could everything be done twice, it would be done better.
- The poor man’s budget is full of schemes.
- The secret of life is not to do what you like but to like what you do.
- Any landing you can walk away from is a good one.
- When pleasure interferes with business, give up business.
- “One of these days” is none of these days.
- A soft answer turneth away wrath.
- Much meat, much disease.
- From small beginnings come great things.
- By bravely enduring it, an evil which cannot be avoided is overcome.
- Riches have wings.
- He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life’s pleasures is like a blacksmith’s bellows: he breathes, but does not live.
- Beggars can never be bankrupt.
- Love laughs at locksmiths.
- Silent men, like still waters, are deep and dangerous.
- Don’t change horses while crossing a stream.
- Those that do you a very ill deed will never forgive you.
- An eagle does not catch flies.
- Luck is the idol of the idle.
- A wreck on shore is a beacon at sea.
- “Now” is the watchword of the wise.
- The word that is heard perishes, but the letter that is written remains.
- That which is escaped now is pain to come.
- Pay beforehand if you would have your work poorly done.
- In times of trouble, leniency becomes crime.
- People blame themselves for the purpose of being praised.
- What is a big shot except a little shot that kept on shooting.
- A light heart lives long.
- We come and cry and that is life; we cry and go and that is death.
- Man does what he can; God does what He will.
- Rebuke should have a grain more of salt than of sugar.
- A mill cannot grind with water that is past.
- Tell me who’s your friend and I’ll tell you who you are.
- There is nothing certain but the uncertain.
- Who wills the end, wills the means.
- Don’t spur a willing horse.
- Danger past, God forgotten.
- You cannot be lost on a road that is straight.
- Never perform card tricks for the people you play poker with.
- Three things drive a man outdoors; smoke, a leaking roof, and a scolding wife.
- Not the glittering weapon fights the fight, but rather the hero’s heart.
- The wolf changes his coat but not his disposition.
- Quick to borrow is always slow to pay.
- Great is the victory that is gained without bloodshed.
- No sheath shall hold what finds its home in flesh.
- We pay when old for the excesses of youth.
- Many can bear adversity, but few contempt.
- Tell the truth and then run.
- He loses his thanks who promises and delays.
- Custom is a tyrant.
- Better to be known as a sinner than a hypocrite.
- Soon enough is well enough.
- Simplicity is the seal of truth.
- A reconciled friend is a double enemy.
- Be slow in choosing a friend but slower in changing him.
- He who pays the piper calls the tune.
- Persuasion is better than force.
- No one can pray well but those who live well.
- The silent dog is the first to bite.
- A Sunday well-spent brings a week of content.
- There is no greater misfortune than to not be able to endure misfortune.
- Curses are like chickens: they always come home.
- One hour in the execution of justice is worth seventy years of prayer.
- There are no greater promisers than those who have nothing to give.
- Some who will not speak against another, in the end does them harm.
- Something you don’t want is dear at any price.
- If your time ain’t come, not even a doctor can kill you.
- Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy.
- Nobody has ever bet enough on a winning horse.
- If men could see the epitaphs their friends write, they would believe they had gotten into the wrong grave.
- Gifts dissolve rocks.
- Out of debt, out of danger.
- Choose your wife as you wish your children to be.
- The most dangerous food to eat is a wedding cake.
- Every cloud has a silver lining.
- When poverty comes in the door, love flies out the window.
- The darkest hour is just before the dawn.
- The less people think, the more they talk.
- He who lives by medical prescriptions lives miserably.
- After all is said and done, more is said than done.
- The only thing we learn from new elections is we learned nothing from the old.
- Kings have many ears and eyes.
- Gifts make their way through stone walls.
- He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
- People who have little to do are excessive talkers.
- Every convenience brings its own inconveniences along with it.
- Patience, money, and time bring all things to past.
- Better a living dog than a dead lion.
- Young people talk of what they are doing; old people of what they have done; and fools of what they have a mind to do.
- The one who wills is the one who can.
- You can’t steal second base with your foot on first.
- A mere friend will agree with you, but a real friend will argue.
- Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present.
- Fooled once shame on you; fooled twice shame on me.
- Never repeat old grievances.
- Short judgments make long friends.
- The longest day soon comes to an end.
- A mother’s heart is always with her children.
- Patience when teased is often transformed into rage.
For thousands more proverbs and words of wisdom, collected from over 40 countries, check out Proverbs from Around the World!