Proverbs from French Proverbs

Found 356 related proverbs. Click on any proverb below to view the full analysis and original text.

• A14 Better is one ACCIPE (take) than twice to say, Dabo tibi (I will give you)
• A83 AGUES (Sicknesses) come on horseback but go away on foot
• A123 ALL came from and will go to others
• A142 ALL is lost that is given to a fool
• A147 ALL is not gospel that comes out of his mouth
• A180 He has not lost ALL who has one throw to cast
• A213 Who gives to ALL denies all
• A238 He is not far from AMENDMENT who confesses his fault
• A360 The ASS though laden with gold still eats thistles
• A365 One poor ASS cannot carry two burdens
• A370 He that washes an ASS's head loses both his soap and labor
• B27 To go from BAD to worse
• B104 BASTARDS by chance are good, by nature bad
• B138 First BORN first fed
• B153 A good BEAST will get himself a heat with eating
• B164 BEAUTY and folly are often matched together
• B175 BEAUTY without goodness is worth nothing (is like wine that has taken wind)
• B184 Early to BED and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
• B187 He that goes to BED thirsty rises healthy
• B214 Salt BEEF finds the way to the wine without a candle
• B264 From small BEGINNINGS come great things
• B287a The BELLY is the truest clock
• B288 The BELLY robs the back
• B361 Better to be a BIRD of the wood than of the cage
• B364 The BIRD is flown
• B373 He that will take the BIRD must not scare it
• B396 Old BIRDS are not caught with chaff
• B419 One BIT draws down another
• B490 Ill goes the BOAT without the oar
• B511 This BOLT (arrow) came never out of your bag
• B529 I will never drite¹ in my BONNET and set it on my head
• B553 Wind up your BOTTOM
• B621 He that sets the BREAD in the oven naughtily draws out the loaves crushed awry
• B666 On BRIDGE, on plank, and in river the boy (servant) before and master after
• C46 To burn (waste) a CANDLE to find a pin (flea)
• C48 To burn (light) one's CANDLE at both ends
• C68 If thou hast not a CAPON feed on an onion (on bread and onion)
• C122 A CASTLE that parleys and a woman that hears will both yield
• C163 A scalded CAT (dog) fears cold water
• C166 Such a CAT cannot be caught without mittens
• C170 To buy a CAT in a poke
• C197 He was born with a CAUL
• C213 He is not free that draws his CHAIN
• C226 No CHANCE but comes again
• C270 CHEESE is good that comes from a niggard (miser)
• C296 Better a snotty CHILD than his nose wiped off
• C349 He must needs swim that is held up by the CHIN
• C414 The highest CLIMBERS have the greatest falls (The higher he climbs the greater his fall)
• C426 They agree like the CLOCKS OF LONDON
• C487 He leaps from the COCK to the ass
• C505 To keep a foul COIL¹
• C529 COME (Hap) what come (hap) may
• C559 A merry COMPANION is a wagon in the way (is as good as a nag)
• C561 You are a crafty COMPANION
• C607 He has a CONSCIENCE as large as a Franciscan's sleeve
• C658 He eats his CORN in the blade
• C699 To the COUNSEL of fools a wooden bell
• C705 To be put out of COUNTENANCE
• C734 A slow COURTESY is a discourtesy
• C744 COVETOUSNESS (Too much) breaks the bag (sack)
• C776 It is better to be a COWARD than foolhardy
• D25 DANCING follows a full belly
• D90 The longest DAY has an end
• D94 Not a long DAY but a good heart rids work
• D96 One DAY judges another and the last is judge of all
• D173 Of ill DEBTORS men take oats (hay, straw)
• D214 He begins to die that quits his DESIRES
• D215 He begins to die that quits his DESIRES
• D252 The DEVIL is known by his claws (cloven feet, horns)
• D384 In too much DISPUTE truth is lost
• D400 DO what you ought and come what come can
• D587 DREAMS are lies
• D614 DROP by drop the sea is drained (the tub is filled)
• D622 DROUGHT never brought dearth
• D626 The DRUNKARD is known by his snout (nose)
• D630 There are more old DRUNKARDS than old physicians
• D640 To be in the DUMPS
• D654 As dull as a DUTCHMAN
• D656 The DUTCHMAN drinks pure wine in the morning, at noon wine without water, in the evening as it comes from the butt
• D659 A DWARF on a giant's shoulder sees farther of the two
• E33 Like EARTH like pitcher
• E53 Great EATERS (Gluttons) dig their graves with their teeth
• E67 Better is an EGG in peace than an ox in war
• E78 One EGG is none, two somewhat, three enough, four be too much, five give a deadly blow
• E142 There is no little ENEMY
• E146 ENGLAND is a good country but ill people
• E147 ENGLAND is the paradise of women, the hell of horses, and the purgatory of servants
• E162 He has ENOUGH that is pleased (content)
• E169 Who serves well asks ENOUGH
• E179 To ERR is human, to repent is divine, to persevere is diabolical
• E191 An EVENING red and morning gray Is the sign of a fair day
• E192 To be wise after the EVENT
• E215 To EXCUSE is to accuse
• E240 He that has one EYE is a king among the blind
• E261 His EYES are bigger than his belly
• F63 As soon may you get a FART of a dead man (horse)
• F104 A FAULT once excused (denied) is twice committed
• F143 After a FEAST one scratches his head
• F145 No FEAST to¹ a miser's
• F186 There's no FENCE against ill fortune
• F262 FIRE of flax, love of a quean, wind from the tail, all is one
• F329 Venture a small FISH to catch a great one (a salmon)
• F360 All FLESH is not venison
• F405 You hunt after FLIES
• F439 Short FOLLIES are the best
• F455 The FOOL begins but never ends a business
• F482 He is a FOOL that makes a wedge (mallet) of his fist
• F483 He is a FOOL that makes his physician his heir
• F485 He is more FOOL that demands sense of a fool
• F488 He that sends a FOOL expects one
• F509 To dote more on it than a FOOL on his bauble
• F531 FOOLS are wise as long as silent
• F540 FOOLS make feasts and wise men eat them
• F568 One FOOT is better than two crutches (stilts)
• F590 In the FOREHEAD and in the eye the lecture of the heart (mind) doth lie
• F601 FORTUNE favors the bold (hardy, valiant)
• F614 If FORTUNE me torments yet hope does me content
• F640 The FOX turns monk at length
• F649 The sleepy FOX has seldom feathered breakfasts
• F651 To catch the FOX
• F657 When the FOX sleeps nothing falls (no grapes fall) into his mouth
• F670 The FRENCH neither pronounce as they write nor sing as they prick nor think as they speak
• F698 A FRIEND to all is a friend to none
• F707 He who cannot counterfeit a FRIEND can never be a very bad enemy
• F719 A true FRIEND a great treasure
• F725 Who lends to a FRIEND loses double
• F755 Old FRIENDS and old wine are best
• F784 Out of (To leap like the flounder out of) the FRYING PAN (pan) into the fire
• G27 GAMING (Play), women, and wine, while they laugh they make men pine
• G88 The GERMAN's wit is in his fingers
• G117 To give up his GIRDLE
• G126 That which is GIVEN shines, that which is eaten stinks
• G137 To carry GLASSES to Venice
• G148 GLUTTONY (Surfeit) kills more than the sword
• G153 GO where you will, die where you ought
• G158 To GO clean cam¹
• G204 GOD knows well which are the best pilgrims
• G208 GOD often has a great share in a little house
• G209 GOD only knows (Men know not) who shall enjoy men's (their) gettings
• G210 GOD, our parents, and our master can never be requited
• G231 He is poor that GOD hates
• G235 He that serves GOD serves a good master
• G256 When GOD will all winds bring rain (no wind but brings rain)
• G289 No GOLD without dross
• G292 That is GOLD which is worth gold
• G303 The GOODS of fortune pass away with the moon
• G354 He may shoe the GOOSE
• G419 To cut the GRASS from under your feet
• G469 Today above GROUND tomorrow under
• G473 To swallow (gape for) a GUDGEON
• H16 For one HAIR Martin lost his ass
• H39 HALF a word (tale) to a wise man (a good understander) is enough
• H46 HALF (One half of) the world knows not how the other half lives
• H62 Between the HAMMER and the anvil
• H125 With unwashed HANDS
• H126 A HANDFUL of good life is better than a bushel of learning
• H160 You shall as soon catch a HARE with a tabor
• H164 He will make you believe that HARES lay eggs
• H187 In HARVEST TIME ladies are chambermaids
• H244 A great HEAD and thin neck is a sign of a fool
• H253 The HEAD and feet keep warm, the rest will take no harm
• H255 His HEAD is full of bees
• H288 HEALTH is a jewel (great riches)
• H333 What is in the HEART of the sober man is in the tongue (mouth) of the drunkard
• H336 Who has not a HEART let him have legs (heels)
• H367 Trim up a HEDGEHOG and he will look like a lord
• H370 Good HEED has good hap
• H413 To throw the HELVE after the hatchet
• H447 As lean (lank) as a shotten HERRING
• H483 As fat as a HOG
• H517 He has a HOLE under his nose that all his money runs into
• H550 He that has no HONEY in his pot let him have it in his mouth
• H554 It is dear-bought HONEY that is licked off a thorn
• H586 The HOOD (habit, cowl) makes not the monk
• H633 The best-shod HORSE does slip sometimes
• H641 A four white-foot HORSE is a horse for a fool, a three white-foot horse is a horse for a king, and if he has but one I'll give him to none
• H687 A running HORSE is an open grave
• H705 You bridle the HORSE by the tail
• H718 When one is on HORSEBACK he knows all things
• H746 Five HOURS sleeps a traveler, seven a scholar, eight a merchant, and eleven every knave
• H771 A HOUSE ready made and a wife to make
• H812 HUNGER drives the wolf out of the wood
• H821 HUNGER makes dinners, pastime suppers
• I52 He will not yield (budge) an INCH
• J43 True JESTS are the worst
• J71 To send (To come) by JOHN LONG (Tom Long) the carrier
• K56 He fears nor KING nor kaiser
• K72 What the KING wills, that the law wills
• K77 He that eats the KING's goose shall be choked with the feathers
• K96 Like KING PETAUD's court, where everyone is master
• K110 A fat KITCHEN a lean will (testament)
• L1 He has his LABOR for his pains
• L71 He thought that roasted LARKS would have fallen into his mouth
• L79 He stays not long that comes at LAST
• L143 He that is afraid of the LEAVES must not go to the wood
• L200 At LENGTH the fox is brought to the furrier
• L224 LIBERTY makes thieves
• L253 LIFE is no sure inheritance
• L307 By LINK and link the coat of mail is made at last
• L319 If the LION's skin cannot the fox's shall
• L478 The first LOVE is the fastest
• L486 In LOVE there is both dotage and discretion
• L490 LOVE and a cough (smoke, itch) cannot be hid
• L495 LOVE and lordship like no fellowship
• L519 LOVE lives in cottages as well as in courts
• L542 Sound LOVE is not soon forgotten
• L564 He that LOVES well does punish well
• M9 As proper as the MAGNIFICAT in the morning (at matins)
• M24 The MAID which takes, sells herself; the maid which gives, forsakes herself
• M163 He is a tall MAN of his hands
• M195 If a MAN will have his business well done he must do it himself
• M212 A little (low) MAN can fell a great oak
• M343 No MAN so good (stout) but another may be as good (stout) as he
• M365 The rich MAN may dine when he will, the poor man when he may
• M382 Such a MAN as thou would be draw thee to such company
• M397 To grease a MAN in the fist
• M481 An old wise MAN's shadow is better than a young buzzard's sword
• M552 MEN make the wolf worse than he is
• M591 To dead MEN and absent there are no friends left
• M625 Ill MANNERS (lives) produce good laws
• M672 He has made a good MARKET
• M685 MARRIAGE rides upon the saddle and repentance on the crupper
• M701 MARRYING is marring
• M784 The MEAL of the devil turns half to bran
• M882 He is a MERCHANT of eelskins
• M936 MILK says to wine, Welcome, friend
• M964 To have thwitten¹ a MILLPOST to a pudding-prick
• M1011 He gains enough that loses MISFORTUNE (for-tune)
• M1054 MONEY breeds rage; love, marriage
• M1091 Ready MONEY is a ready medicine
• M1099 To make MONEY with one's teeth
• M1103 When the MONEY is paid the arms are broken
• M1124 To take the MOON between one's teeth
• M1182 The MORTAR smells always of the garlic
• M1201 A pitiful MOTHER makes a scabby daughter (a scald¹ head)
• M1236 The MOUSE that has but one hole is quickly taken
• M1242 As merry as MICE in malt
• M1295 Who too MUCH grips (grasps, embraces) the less he holds (holds nothing fast)
• M1341 MUTTON is meat for a glutton
• N17 One NAIL drives out another
• N26 He that has the NAME (fame¹) to be an early riser may sleep till noon
• N36 To take one NAPPING
• N37 To take one NAPPING
• N125 To feather one's NEST
• N126 To feather one's NEST
• N143 If you will learn NEWS you must go to the oven or the mill
• N148 Ill NEWS has wings (comes apace)
• N206 He is put to a NONPLUS
• N220 He sees no farther than his NOSE
• N243 To wipe one's NOSE on one's sleeve
• N263 He loses NOTHING that keeps God for his friend (loses not God)
• N283 NOTHING but money is money worth
• N357 NURTURE is above (passes) nature
• O85 An OUNCE of fortune (good fortune) is worth a pound of forecast (wit)
• P2 He that stumbles and falls not mends his PACE (goes the faster)
• P9 There is a PAD¹ in the straw
• P61 PARSIMONY is the best revenue
• P102 He that can have PATIENCE can have what he will
• P103 He that has no PATIENCE has nothing
• P159 After a PEAR, wine or a priest
• P210 That PENNY (halfpenny) is well spent that saves a groat¹ (penny)
• P265 An old PHYSICIAN and a young lawyer
• P273 A young PHYSICIAN fattens the churchyard
• P353 One PIRATE gets nothing of another but his cask
• P373 He quits his PLACE well that leaves his friend there
• P420 There is no PLEASURE without pain
• P518 A POUND of care will not pay an ounce of debt
• P559 To say his PRAYERS backward
• P572 No PRIDE like an enriched beggar
• P588 PRIESTS and pigeons (doves) make foul houses
• P610 He that considers in PROSPERITY will be less afflicted in adversity
• Q1 To be in a QUANDARY
• Q9 Every QUESTION requires not an answer
• R9 February RAIN fills the barn
• R22 As lean as a RAKE
• R84 REPORT has a blister on her tongue
• R129 Do not wear a tight (strait) RING
• R180 The fairest ROSE at last (in the end, in three days) is withered (becomes a hep)
• R195 To give one a ROWLAND for an Oliver
• S29 Every SAINT will have his candle (feast, shrine)
• S36 At SAINT BARNABAS¹ the scythe in the meadow
• S65 To SAINT VALENTINE¹ the spring is a neighbor
• S74 SALMON and sermon have their season in Lent
• S129 One does the SCATHE and another has the scorn
• S167 Too much SCRATCHING pains, too much talking plagues
• S241 To the SERVANT the bit of good manners
• S420 Put not thy SICKLE in another man's corn (harvest)
• S479 When all SINS grow old covetousness grows young
• S629 The SON full and tattered, the daughter empty and fine
• S639 He makes two SONS-IN-LAW of one daughter
• S729 Who SPEAKS not errs not
• S749 He has swallowed a SPIDER
• S820 He STANDS not surely that never slips
• S867 To beat one like a STOCKFISH¹
• S870 A good STOMACH (appetite) is the best sauce (needs no sauce)
• S874 To go against one's STOMACH
• S910 A cock-and-bull STORY (tale)
• S977 A morning SUN and a wine-bred child and a Latin-bred woman seldom end well
• S1034 To go into SWEATLAND, or into Cornelius' tub
• T221 They that THINK none ill are soonest beguiled (They that do no harm suspect none)
• T224 He THINKS not well that thinks not twice
• T228 He that sows THISTLES shall reap thorns (prickles)
• T321 TIME and straw make medlars ripe
• T397 A long TONGUE is a sign of a short hand
• T403 The TONGUE breaks bone though itself has none
• T405 The TONGUE is not steel yet it cuts
• T416 To be TONGUE-TIED
• T432 Who has aching TEETH has ill tenants
• T460 He that learns a TRADE has a purchase made (has an estate)
• T461 He who has a TRADE has a share everywhere
• T476 A TRAVELER may lie with authority
• T483 No such TREASURE as to live at ease
• T496 The TREE (oak) falls not at the first stroke (blow)
• T502 When the TREE is fallen every man goes to it with his hatchet
• T517 In a TRICE
• T594 All TRUTHS must not be told
• U3 He is my true UNCLE who fills my belly
• U6 Who UNDERSTANDS ill answers ill
• U8 To be utterly UNDONE
• V20 Raw VEAL and chickens make fat churchyards
• W33 He that bewails his WANT has begged sufficiently
• W49 WAR makes thieves and peace hangs them
• W63 Good WARE will never want a chapman
• W75 For WASHING his hands none sells his lands
• W112 To put WATER in one's wine
• W168 To go the wrong WAY to work
• W327 WHORES and dogs fawn upon a man no longer than they are fed
• W459 Drink WINE like a king, drink water like an ox
• W461 Good WINE makes good blood
• W464 He that drinks not WINE after salad is in danger to be sick
• W483 WINE is the old man's milk
• W490 WINE wears no breeches
• W509 It is a hard WINTER (The hunger must be great) when one wolf eats another
• W535 If WISHES might prevail beggars (shepherds) would be kings
• W552 He has WIT at will
• W575 He is at his WIT's end
• W603 He holds a WOLF by the ears
• W608 Speak of the WOLF and you will see his tail
• W614 A WOLF in a lamb's (sheep's) skin
• W642 A wise (virtuous) WOMAN is the ornament of her house
• W683 Discreet WOMEN have neither eyes nor ears
• W689 Of WOMEN and fish the middle is best
• W714 WOMEN, money, and wine have their good and their pine¹
• W736 He knows not of what WOOD to make his arrows
• W787 Evening WORDS are not like to morning
• W793 Fair WORDS hurt not the mouth (tongue)
• W802 From WORDS to deeds is a great space (distance)
• W824 To come from WORDS to blows
• W836 The WORDS ending in -ic do mock the physician, as hectic, paralytic, apoplectic, lethargic
• W838 WORDS have wings and cannot be recalled
• W843 Everybody's WORK is nobody's work
• W921 Great WORTH is often found in things of small appearance (in little boxes)
• Y11 The ill YEAR comes in swimming
• Y18 A snow YEAR a rich year
• Y21 In a hundred YEARS, from the plow (wheelbarrow) to the spear (banner)
• Y42 That which one learns in YOUTH will continue till old age