Proverbs from Robert Greene

Found 270 related proverbs. Click on any proverb below to view the full analysis and original text.

• A30 When ADAM delved and Eve span who was then the gentleman?
• A316 Stretch your ARM no farther than your sleeve will reach
• A331 ART (Knowledge, Learning) has no enemy save ignorance
• A356 An ASS laden with gold climbs to the top of the castle
• A392 To dance ATTENDANCE
• B1 He knows not a B from a battledore¹
• B32 To give one the BAG
• B50 The BAIT hides the hook
• B52 As you BAKE so shall you brew (eat)
• B86 The greatest BARKERS are not the sorest biters (bite not sorest)
• B88 A BARLEYCORN is better than a diamond (pearl) to a cock
• B107 The BAVIN¹ burns bright but it is but a blaze
• B186 Go to BED with the lamb and rise with the lark
• B202 As busy as a BEE
• B211 BEES that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails
• B221 The BEETLE flies over many a sweet flower and lights in a cowshard
• B238 Set a BEGGAR on horseback and he will ride a gallop (run his horse out of breath)
• B248 To swear by no BEGGARS (bugs)
• B303 When the BELLY is full the bones would be at rest
• B325 I see the BEST but follow the worst
• B333 The BETTER the worse
• B515 A broken BONE (leg) is the stronger when it is well set
• B580 An unhappy (ill, shrewd) BOY (lad) may make a good man
• B612 BREAD is a binder
• B645 She wears the BREECHES
• B670 To bite upon the BRIDLE
• B737 He that is afraid of every BUSH will never prove good huntsman
• B778 No BUTTER will stick on his bread
• C40 He that worst may must hold the CANDLE
• C59 A CANTERBURY TALE
• C126 To build CASTLES in the air
• C141 A CAT may look on a king
• C190 It is ill CATCHING of fish when the hook is bare
• C202 Remove the CAUSE and the effect will cease
• C262 To give a CHECKMATE
• C388 A CHURL's feast is better than none at all
• C413 Hasty CLIMBERS have sudden falls
• C424 As cold as a CLOCK
• C453 CLUBS are trump
• C507 To pay one in his own COIN
• C517 It is a dear COLLOP¹ that is taken (cut) out of the flesh
• C525 He has a COLT's tooth in his head
• C529 COME (Hap) what come (hap) may
• C540 I CAME, saw, and overcame
• C545 The COMFORTER's (counselor's) head never aches
• C601 CONSCIENCE is a thousand witnesses
• C623 CONTENT (A mind content) is a kingdom (crown)
• C629 CONTENTMENT (A contented mind) is great riches
• C635a A good COOK is half a physician
• C644 A Cooling CARD
• C801 The gentle CRAFT
• C817 He that has lost his CREDIT is dead to the world
• C822 CRETANS are liars (Use craft against Cretans)
• C921 Past CURE past care
• C934 CUSTOM makes sin no sin
• C945 Like CYPRESS TREES, that have fair leaves but no fruit
• D14 To leap at a DAISY
• D90 The longest DAY has an end
• D168 To pay one's DEBT to nature
• D203 To bind in DERBY's bands
• D233 The DEVIL dances in an empty pocket
• D297 Though I am black I am not the DEVIL
• D321 To move as does the DIAL HAND, which is not seen to move
• D381 The DISPOSITION of the mind follows the constitution (composition) of the body
• D386 He that cannot DISSEMBLE knows not how to live (rule)
• D403 It is never too late to DO well
• D404 It is never too late to DO well
• E3 Only the EAGLE can gaze at the sun
• E27 EARLY up and never the nearer
• E50 EAT to live, not live to eat
• E116 The END crowns (tries) all
• E125 Remember (Mark) the END
• E154 An ENGLISHMAN Italianate is a devil incarnate
• F2 A fair FACE and a foul bargain
• F231 To thrust away with the little FINGER what one pulls back with the whole hand
• F250 Cut not the FIRE with a sword
• F256 FIRE descends not
• F260 FIRE is love, and water sorrow
• F283 To come to fetch FIRE
• F326 To find FISH on one's fingers
• F336 There is no FISHING to¹ the sea nor service to¹ the king
• F443 As fat as a FOOL
• F510 We must answer a FOOL with silence
• F562 Do not make the FOOT the head
• F584 FORBEARANCE (Omittance, Sufferance) is no quittance (acquittance)
• F595 One good FOREWIT is worth two afterwits
• F597 FORGIVE and forget
• F604 FORTUNE (Justice) is blind
• F681 A FRIDAY's feast (face, reason)
• G83 As good as GEORGE of GREEN
• G97 A GIFT is valued by the mind of the giver
• G134 As brittle as GLASS
• G146 Better fill a GLUTTON's belly than his eye
• G148 GLUTTONY (Surfeit) kills more than the sword
• G151 The farther we GO the farther behind
• G237 I owe GOD a death
• G358 It is a blind GOOSE that comes to a fox's sermon
• G419 To cut the GRASS from under your feet
• G439 It is GREEK to me
• H31 Gray HAIRS are death's blossoms
• H44 The HALF shows what the whole means
• H120 Spit in your HANDS and take better hold
• H121 Spit in your HANDS and take better hold
• H156 Take a HARE without a meuse and a woman without a 'scuse
• H158 To hold (run) with the HARE and run (hold, hunt) with the hound
• H160 You shall as soon catch a HARE with a tabor
• H184 A long HARVEST of a little corn
• H196 Marry in HASTE and repent at leisure
• H315 His HEART (mind, hand) is on his halfpenny
• H317 I will not set at my HEART what I should set at my heel (what you set at your heel)
• H334 What the HEART thinks the tongue speaks
• H353 To go to HEAVEN in a string
• H403 HELL is broke loose
• H436 HERCULES himself cannot deal with two
• H447 As lean (lank) as a shotten HERRING
• H469 To hop against the HILL
• H472 She is loose in the HILTS (haft)
• H522 To pick a HOLE in a man's coat
• H533 He is gone to his long (last) HOME
• H537 Let HOMER yield to such as presents bring
• H625 He wears the HORNS
• H638 Do not spur a free HORSE
• H732 Soon HOT soon cold
• H750 Better one HOUSE filled than two spilled
• H781 A smoking HOUSE and a chiding wife make a man run out of doors (Smoke, rain, and a cursed wife drive a man out of his house)
• H803 To be in HUCKSTERS' handling (hands)
• I58 Ready (Waiting) at an INCH
• I70 To pocket up an INJURY (wrong)
• I96 The more you beat IRON (the stone of Sicilia) the harder it grows
• J12 JACK DRUM's entertainment
• J37 Like JANUS, two-faced
• J45 It is ill (no, not good) JESTING (meddling) with edged tools
• J89 Your JOY is that of the Pyrausta (Pyralis)
• J101 To drink the JUICE of mandrake (mandragora)
• K116 KITES of Cressid's kind
• K122 A crafty KNAVE needs no broker
• K167 He has tied a KNOT with his tongue that he can't untie with all his teeth
• K168 To seek a KNOT in a rush (bulrush)
• L68 The LAPWING cries most when farthest from her nest
• L74 He that is old and marries with a LASS lies but at home and proves himself an ass
• L85 Better LATE than never
• L177 Like a LEEK, he has a white head and a green tail
• L202 To have (know) the LENGTH of one's foot
• L254 LIFE is sweet
• L255 LIFE lies not in living but in liking
• L316 The LION spares the suppliant
• L322 To see the LIONS
• L381 LIVE charily if not chastely
• L384 Too soon wise to LIVE long
• L437 He LOOKS as if he had neither won nor lost
• L490 LOVE and a cough (smoke, itch) cannot be hid
• L495 LOVE and lordship like no fellowship
• L501 LOVE comes by looking (in at the eyes)
• L504 LOVE does much but money does all (more)
• L508 LOVE is lawless
• L517 LOVE is without reason
• L522 LOVE makes men orators
• L535 Natural LOVE descends but it does not ascend
• L538 One LOVE drives out (expels) another
• L549 When LOVE puts in friendship is gone
• L569 LOVERS live by love as larks live by leeks
• M38 Suffolk fair MAIDS
• M49 You MAKE me scratch (claw) where it does not itch.
• M147 Give a MAN (dog) roast meat and beat him with the spit
• M284 A MAN must sell his wares according to the rates of the market
• M622 As full of good MANNERS as an egg is of oatmeal
• M678 To walk penniless in MARK LANE¹
• M727 Most MASTER wears no breech
• M745 He has met with his MATCH
• M761 It is not the MATTER (words) but the mind
• M804 MEASURE is a merry mean
• M816 He brings (carries) MEAT in his mouth
• M875 It is never too late to MEND (repent)
• M910 MEUM and tuum
• M1026 I care not (Not worth) a MITE
• M1040 He for my MONEY
• M1095 They left him as bare of MONEY as an ape of a tail
• M1203 He was lapped (wrapped) in his MOTHER's smock
• M1273 He is not rich that has MUCH but he that covets least
• N132 He has pissed on a NETTLE
• N204 NON EST INVENTUS
• N205 NON PLACET
• N230 To follow one's NOSE
• N236 To play with the NOSE
• N258 He is good for NOTHING
• N311 NOTHING more certain than death and nothing more uncertain than the time of its coming
• N367 The foolish NYAS¹ will never away
• O27 OIL of angels¹
• O81 To heap OSSA upon Pelion
• P37 The straighter (higher) grows the PALM the heavier the weight it bears
• P56 The PARISH PRIEST forgets that ever he was clerk
• P68 She is as tender as a PARSON's leman
• P158 The PEACOCK has fair feathers but foul feet
• P194 He thinks his PENNY (farthing, halfpenny) good silver
• P199 No PENNY no paternoster
• P203 A PENNY for your thought
• P253 PHILOSOPHERS must be captains (kings) and captains (kings) philosophers
• P260 Kitchen PHYSIC is the best physic
• P304 I will not buy a PIG in a poke
• P322 As plain as a PIKESTAFF (packstaff)
• P335 To be on a merry PIN
• P458 POISON is hidden in golden cups
• P518 A POUND of care will not pay an ounce of debt
• P592 To live (fare) like a PRINCE (king)
• R81 To buy REPENTANCE too dear
• R82 To buy REPENTANCE too dear
• R84 REPORT has a blister on her tongue
• R133 Soon RIPE soon rotten
• R168 I had rather have your ROOM than your company
• S29 Every SAINT will have his candle (feast, shrine)
• S33 Young SAINT old devil
• S89 To plow the SAND (shore)
• S174 In a calm SEA every man may be a pilot
• S184 To plow the SEA
• S196 Trust no SECRET with a woman
• S225 Whited SEPULCHERS (Women are whited sepulchers)
• S240 A SERVANT that is diligent, honest, and good must sing at his work like a bird in the wood
• S323 He casts a SHEEP's EYE at her
• S366 A great (Hercules') SHOE will not fit a little (a child's) foot
• S380 To be over SHOES
• S472 A SIN unseen is half pardoned
• S530 It is good SLEEPING in a whole skin
• S539 As black as a SLOE¹
• S572 The SMOKE of a man's own house (country) is better than the fire of another's
• S576 To sell (buy) SMOKE
• S581 The SNAIL in time climbs up the castle's tower
• S601 SOFT AND FAIR goes far
• S746 If you beat (pound) SPICE it will smell the sweeter
• S825 One may point (look) at a STAR but not pull (reach) at it
• S827 To look at the STARS and fall into a ditch
• S885 A rolling STONE gathers no moss
• S929 The STREAM (current, tide) stopped swells the higher
• S945 To be in a brown STUDY
• S946 To bestir (stir) one's STUMPS
• S1028 Like a SWAN, he sings before his death
• T26 If you will not TAKE what I will give you take what you brought with you
• T27 TAKE it as you will (list, please)
• T42 One TALE is good until another be told (heard)
• T204 THiNGS past cannot be recalled but may be repented
• T206 The THINGS that are above us are nothing to us
• T332 TIME lost (past) we cannot win (recall)
• T424 Good that the TEETH guard the tongue
• T448 As the TOUCHSTONE tries gold, so gold tries men
• T494 Such as the TREE is such is the fruit
• T509 The highest TREES abide the sharpest storms (winds)
• T542 He is TRUE BLUE (Coventry blue)
• V3 In VAIN the net is spread in the sight of the birds
• V50 Do not triumph before the VICTORY
• V71 It is a VIRTUE to abstain from pleasures
• W99 Much WATER goes by the mill that the miller knows not of
• W107 To fetch (wring) WATER (blood) out of a stone (flint)
• W185 The WEAKEST goes to the wall
• W274 Without WELT¹ or guard²
• W441 What WIND blew (brought) you hither?
• W466 No WINE without lees
• W539 WISHERS and woulders are never good householders
• W545 Bought WIT is best
• W552 He has WIT at will
• W655 A WOMAN is the weaker vessel
• W672 A WOMAN's heart and her tongue are not relatives
• W673 A WOMAN's mind and winter wind (Winter weather and women's thoughts) change oft
• W681 All WOMEN may be won
• W703 WOMEN are necessary evils
• W710 WOMEN have tears of dissimulation as well as sorrow
• W767 No WORD but mum
• W801 Foul (High) WORDS break no bones
• W838 WORDS have wings and cannot be recalled
• W886 To have the WORLD (fortune) in a string
• W893 The WORLD goes (runs) on wheels
• Y48 YOUTH will have its course (swing)