Sayings in English - The Proverbial

Following a conversation with a friend in a local pub about sayings our grandparents used to use, I decided to compile a comprehensive list of all the ones I remember. Some are still in use, whilst others may be quite nostalgic for people who, like me, have grown up hearing them. Many of these are old beliefs about the weather (the English obsession), some are merely phrases used in various situations and others are pearls of wisdom lifted from such sources as the bible and Shakespeare. I have kept the wordings exactly as I used to hear them from my relatives however. A few of these old sayings have even found themselves enshrined in popular songs; others are just Kentish folklore from a bygone era. I have also added a few notes in square brackets where I felt a need.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
A cat can look at a king (so surely I can look at you?)
A cat has nine lives
A change is as good as a rest
A chip of the old block
A daughter's a daughter all her life, a son's a son till he gets a wife
A dead man tells no tales
A dripping June sets all in tune
A fool and his money are soon parted
A friend in need is a friend indeed
A good workman never blames his tools
A hot summer means a cold winter [and vice versa]
A hungry man is an angry man

A leopard doesn't change its spots
A rolling stone gathers no moss
A rose between two thorns
A rotten apple spoils the barrel
A stitch in time saves nine
A storm in a teacup
A taste of your own medicine [also known as 'just desserts']
A trouble shared is a trouble halved
A watch-pot never boils
A wise man keeps his own counsel
A wolf in sheep's clothing
A woman's work is never done
A worm will turn
Absence makes the heart grow stronger
Action speaks louder than words
Adding insult to injury
After dinner rest a while, after supper run a mile
All is fair in love and war
All mouth and no trousers
All roads lead to Rome
All tarred with the same brush
All that glitters is not gold
All water under the bridge [in the past]
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All's well that ends well
Always look after number one
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
An Englishman's home is his castle
Another nail in the coffin
As the days lengthen, so the cold strengthens
As you make your bed, so you must lie on it
As you sow, so must you reap
Be a brick, my father said, never heed a laugh
Be sure your sins will find you out
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Beauty is only skin-deep
Beggars can't be choosers
Better late than never
Better safe than sorry
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't
Between one and two you know what the weather will do
Blessed is he who expects nothing
Birds of a feather flock together
Blood is thicker than water
Blowing your own trumpet
Brevity is the soul of wit
Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth
Cat got your tongue? [said to a reticent person]

Caught between a rock and a hard place / the devil and the deep blue sea
Charity begins at home
Cleanliness is next to godliness
Cool, calm and collected
Corn in Egypt! [exclamation of surprise]
Creaking doors last the longest
Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye [said when telling the truth]
Curiosity killed the cat
Cut from the same cloth
Cutting your nose off to spite your face
Dicing with death
Digging your own grave
Discretion is the better part of valour
Don't bite the hands that feeds you
'Don't care' didn't care, 'don't care' was hung, 'don't care' was put in a pot and boiled till he was done
Don't cross your bridges before you get to them
Don't beat about the bush
Don't bite off more than you can chew
Don't bite the hand that feeds you
Don't count your chickens before they're hatched
Don't get your knickers in a twist
Don't kill the goose that laid the golden egg
Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing

Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Don't put the cart before the horse
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise
Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die
Elephants never forget
Empty vessels make the most noise
Every cloud has a silver lining
Every dog has his day
Every time you bar you lose a bite
Evil be to he who evil speaks
Faint heart never won fair lady
Familiarity breeds contempt
Feed a cold and starve a fever
Fight fire with fire
Finders keepers, losers weepers
Fine feathers make fine birds
Fire is a good servant but a poor master
Following in father's footsteps
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
Give them an inch and they take a mile
Gift, friend, foe, true lover, journey to go [superstition about the meanings of white marks on nails from thumb to little finger]
Give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves
God made the country and man made the town
Going round the sun to meet the moon

Gone to the dogs [same as 'gone downhill']
Good riddance to bad rubbish
Grab the bull by the horns
Great minds think alike
Great oaks from little acorns grow
Green with envy
Grinning like a Cheshire cat
Grow old gracefully
Hair of the dog that bit you [an alcoholic drink to cure a hangover]
Half a loaf is better than none
Have you swallowed the dictionary?
He/she could sell snow to the Eskimos
He/she could talk the hind-legs off a donkey
He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day
He who laughs last laughs the longest
He who pays the piper calls the tune
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
Honesty is the best policy
Hope springs eternal
Horses for courses [to each his own]
Hunting with the hounds and running with the foxes
I feel like a fish out of water

I feel like the wreck of the Hesperus
If a job's worth doing, its worth doing properly
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again
If it ain't broke don't fix it
If the cap fits wear it
If you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys
If you want to live and thrive, let a spider run alive
I'll have your guts for garters!
I'm not as green as I am cabbage-looking
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
In for a penny, in for a pound
Instant heat and instant cold [a reference to electric fires in the coal-fire era]
It never rains unless it pours
It takes all sorts to make a world
It's always calmest before the storm
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good
It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
It's easy to be wise after the event

It's enough to make a saint swear
It's enough to make your blood boil
It's no use crying over spilt milk
It's no use closing the stable door after the horse has bolted
It's not worth the paper it's written on
It's the last straw that broke the camel's back
Its bark is worse than its bite
Jack of all trades, master of none
Just what the doctor ordered
Keeping up with the Joneses
Killing two birds with one stone [solving two problems at once]
Know which side your bread is buttered on
Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone
Laughter is the best medicine
Least said, soonest mended
Let sleeping dogs lie
Life is not a bowl of cherries / bed of roses
Like father, like son
Link fingers and make a wish [when two people say the same thing]
Little children should be seen and not heard [old fashioned parenting]
Live and let live
Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves
Look before you leap
Looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses
Looking for a needle in a haystack
Love / money makes the world go round
Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe
Mackerel sky; not long wet, not long dry
Make hay while the sun shines
Making a rod for your own back
Making mountains out of molehills
Manners maketh man
Many a true word said in jest
Many hands make light work
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb [or vice versa]
March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers
Marry in haste, repent at leisure
Mind your Ps and Qs ['pleases' and 'thank yous']
Miser, miser, counting gold, what you gonna do when you get old?
Money is the root of all evil
More haste, less speed
Mutton dressed as lamb
Necessity is the mother of invention
Never buy a pig in a poke
Never cast a clout till May be out
Never in a month of Sundays
Never judge a book by its cover
Never look a gift horse in the mouth
New brooms sweep cleanest
No man is an island
No news is good news
No peace for the wicked
No sense, no feeling
North wind doth blow and we shall have snow
Once bitten, twice shy
Once in a blue moon [not very often]
One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told [counting magpies]
One good turn deserves another
One man's meat is another man's poison
One swallow doesn't make a summer
Opening up a can of worms / hornet's nest
Out of sight, out of mind
Out of the frying pan, into the fire [from bad to worse]
Patience has its own reward
Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can, seldom seen in women, never seen in man
Penny for your thoughts?
Penny wise, pound foolish
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
Plenty more fish in the sea
Politeness costs nothing
Pot calling kettle black [nothing about race I hasten to add]
Practice makes perfect
Practice what you preach
Pride goes before a fall
Procrastination is the thief of time
Promises, like pie-crust, break easily
Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Put your money where your mouth is
Rain before seven clears up at eleven
Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; red sky at morning, shepherd's warning
Revenge is a dish best served cold
Rob Peter to pay Paul
Rome wasn't built in a day
Rubbing salt into the wound
Running around like a headless chicken
Rushing around like a blue-a***d fly
Rushing around like a bull in a china shop
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit
Schooldays are the best days of your life
See a penny, pick it up, and all the day you'll have good luck
Seeing is believing
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil [known as the three wise monkeys]
Self praise is no recommendation
Set a thief to catch a thief
Shooting yourself in the foot
Six of one and half a dozen of the other
Sometimes you've got to be cruel to be kind
Spare the rod and spoil the child [old fashioned parenting again]
Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me
Sticking out like a sore thumb
Still waters run deep
Strike while the iron is hot
Talk of the devil and he's sure to appear
That gets my goat!
That's just the tip of the iceberg
The best presents come in small parcels
The best things in life are free

The best thing since sliced bread
The bigger they come, the harder they fall
The darkest hour is before the dawn
The devil makes work for idle hands
The early bird catches the worm
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence
The lesser of two evils
The path to true love never runs smooth
The pen is mightier than the sword
The proof of the pudding is in the eating

The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing
The road to hell is paved with good intentions
There's many a slip betwixt cup and lip
There's method in the madness
There's more than one way to skin a cat
There's no smoke without a fire
There's none so blind as those who can't see
They couldn't run a p*** up in a brewery
Throw your rubbish where you throw your love
Till the cows come home [a long time]
Time and tide wait for no man
Tomorrow never
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians
Touch wood [to prevent misfortune]
Turn over a new leaf
Two faces under one hat
Two wrongs don't make a right
United we stand, divided we fall
Unlucky at cards, lucky in love
Using a sledgehammer to crack a nut
Variety is the spice of life
Walls have ears and windows have eyes
Waste not want not
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink
We'll climb that hill when we get to it

What a name to go to bed with!
What a sight for sore eyes!
What are you, a man or a mouse? [said to a coward]
What did your last servant die of?
What the eye don't see the heart don't grieve
What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
When one door closes another door opens
When the wind is in the west, it is at its very best; when the wind is in the east, 'tis neither fit for man nor beast
When in Rome do as the Romans do
Where there's a will there's a way
Where there's muck there's brass
Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?
You can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink
You can't burn the candle both ends
You can't get blood from a stone
You can't have your cake and eat it too
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
You can't put an old head on young shoulders
You can't see the wood for the trees
You can't teach an old dog new tricks
You can't teach Granny to suck eggs
You look like a drowned rat [wet]
You look like the cat that got the cream
You look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards

You wouldn't say boo to a goose [timid]
You're barking up the wrong tree
You've swallowed the dictionary [said to somebody using long words]
Your eyes are bigger than your belly