Proverbs starting with "A"

Displaying 411 proverbs. Click on any proverb below to view the full analysis and original text.

• A1 Make ABB or warp of the business as soon as you can
• A2 He is able to bury an ABBEY
• A3 To bring an ABBEY to a grange
• A4 He swears like an ABBOT (falconer, lord, tinker)
• A5 If the ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY might marry the Abbess of Shaftesbury their heir would have more land than the King of England
• A6 He is an ABERDEEN's man, taking his word again
• A7 He that spends beyond his ABILITY may hang himself with great agility
• A8 ABRAHAM's bosom
• A9 ABSENCE is a shrew
• A10 ABSENCE sharpens love
• A11 The ABUNDANCE of money ruins youth
• A12 The ABUNDANCE of things engenders disdainfulness
• A13 Of the ABUNDANCE of the heart the mouth speaks
• A14 Better is one ACCIPE (take) than twice to say, Dabo tibi (I will give you)
• A15 There is no ACCORD where every man would be a lord
• A16 To cast up ACCOUNTS
• A17 To cast up ACCOUNTS
• A18 Who must ACCOUNT for himself and others must know both
• A19 He that gains well and spends well needs no ACCOUNT BOOK
• A20 Bate me an ACE, quoth Bolton
• A21 ACORNS were good till bread was found
• A22 From ACORNS come oaks
• A23 Short ACQUAINTANCE brings repentance
• A24 One ACRE of possession is worth a whole land of promise
• A25 He sits above that deals ACRES
• A26 Neither praise nor dispraise thyself, thy ACTIONS serve the turn
• A27 Our own ACTIONS are our security, not others' judgments
• A28 As old as ADAM
• A29 The old ADAM
• A30 When ADAM delved and Eve span who was then the gentleman?
• A31 We are all ADAM's children but silk makes the difference
• A32 As deaf as an ADDER
• A33 Whom an ADDER bites dreads a lizard
• A34 Come let us talk of ADDERS
• A35 Make ADO and have ado
• A36 Mickle ADO and little help
• A37 More ADO than needs
• A38 Much ADO about nothing
• A39 Much ADO to bring beggars to the stocks
• A40 Much ADO to keep cart on wheels
• A41 There is more ADO with one jackanapes than all the bears
• A42 ADVERSITY makes men wise
• A43 In ADVERSITY men find eyes
• A44 Though old and wise yet still ADVISE
• A45 It is good to be well ADVISED
• A46 An ADVOCATE's suit is a suit which never dies
• A47 There are more ADVOCATES than lawyers
• A48 AFFECTION is blind reason
• A49 AFFECTIONS¹ are the wings of the soul
• A50 Strong AFFECTIONS¹ give credit to weak arguments
• A51 He is AFFLICTED
• A52 Do not add AFFLICTION to the afflicted
• A53 AFFLICTIONS are sent us by God for our good
• A54 To be AFLOAT
• A55 More AFRAID than hurt
• A56 AFRICA is always producing something new (monsters, serpents)
• A57 Beware an AFTERCLAP
• A58 AFTERWIT comes over late
• A59 AFTERWIT is dear bought
• A60 An AFTERWIT is everybody's wit
• A61 AFTER YOU is good manners
• A62 AGE and experience teach wisdom
• A63 AGE and wedlock bring a man to his nightcap
• A64 AGE (Winter) and wedlock tame both man and beast
• A65 AGE and wedlock we all desire and repent of
• A66 AGE breeds aches
• A67 AGE should be housed
• A68 He dotes for AGE
• A69 He fears old AGE that knows it brings with it a world of woes
• A70 Old AGE comes stealing on
• A71 Old AGE is crooked
• A72 Old AGE is full of infirmities
• A73 Old AGE is sickness of itself
• A74 Old AGE tires both body and soul
• A75 A virtuous old AGE is a crown of glory
• A76 When AGE is jocund it makes sport for death
• A77 Where old AGE is evil youth can learn no good
• A78 An ill (lean) AGREEMENT is better than a good (fat) judgment
• A79 An AGUE in the spring is physic for a king
• A80 The Barnwell¹ (Kentish) AGUE
• A81 The Covent Garden¹ AGUE
• A82 A quartan AGUE¹ kills the old men and cures the young
• A83 AGUES (Sicknesses) come on horseback but go away on foot
• A84 Autumnal AGUES are long or mortal
• A85 He is out of his AIM
• A86 One can take no AIM (One cannot take true aim) at things too high
• A87 The AIR of a window is as the stroke of a crossbow
• A88 As free as the AIR (wind)
• A89 As good as ever flew in the AIR
• A90 As light as AIR (wind)
• A91 As loved (dear) as the AIR I breathe
• A92 As subtle (clear, thin) as AIR
• A93 Fresh AIR is ill for the diseased or wounded man
• A94 It is an ill AIR where nothing is to be gained
• A95 As mad as AJAX, who killed sheep
• A96 A false ALARM
• A97 No ALCHEMY to¹ saving
• A98 He is paced like an ALDERMAN
• A99 ALE (Liquor) that would make a cat speak
• A100 Banbury ALE, a half-yard pot
• A101 Derby¹ ALE and London beer
• A102 Fair cheve good ALE, it makes many folks speak as they think
• A103 Good ALE is meat, drink, and cloth
• A104 Good ALE is wine's equal
• A105 Good ALE makes good sale
• A106 He mends as sour ALE mends in summer
• A107 The nappy strong ALE of Southwark keeps many a gossip from the kirk
• A108 If ALEXANDER were a cook all the world should know it
• A109 ALIVE today and dead tomorrow
• A110 He is ALIVE and alive-like
• A111 ALL are fools
• A112 ALL are not friends that speak us fair
• A113 ALL are not hunters that blow the horn
• A114 ALL are not in bed that shall have ill rest
• A115 ALL are not maidens that wear bare hair
• A116 ALL are not saints that go to church
• A117 ALL are not thieves that dogs bark at
• A118 ALL are not turners that are dish-throwers
• A119 ALL are of the same dust
• A120 ALL are presumed good till they are found in a fault
• A121 ALL at this day are scholars to the fox
• A122 ALL brings grist to your mill
• A123 ALL came from and will go to others
• A124 ALL commend patience but none can endure to suffer
• A125 ALL commonly rejoice at new things
• A126 ALL complain
• A127 ALL covet all lose
• A128 ALL cracks all bears
• A129 ALL fails that fools think
• A130 ALL follow the corpse to the grave but every man bewails his own griefs
• A131 ALL for what will you give me
• A132 ALL goes down Gutter Lane
• A133 ALL in all and all in every part
• A134 ALL is alike at the latter day, a bag of gold and a wisp of hay
• A135 ALL is but lip wisdom that wants experience
• A136 ALL is fish that comes to net
• A137 ALL is good if God say amen
• A138 ALL is good that God sends
• A139 ALL is (All stratagems are) lawful in love and war
• A140 ALL is lost, both labor and cost
• A141 ALL is lost that falls beside¹ one's own mouth
• A142 ALL is lost that is given to a fool
• A143 ALL is lost that is put in a riven dish
• A144 ALL is not alway
• A145 ALL is not at hand that helps
• A146 ALL is not gold that glisters (glitters)
• A147 ALL is not gospel that comes out of his mouth
• A148 ALL is not lost that is in danger (peril, hazard)
• A149 ALL is not paid that is promised
• A150 ALL is not well (is well)
• A151 ALL is not won that is put in the purse
• A152 ALL is vanity
• A153 ALL is well and the man has his mare again
• A154 ALL is well that ends well
• A155 ALL is well, the old man dances
• A156 ALL is well when the mistress smiles
• A157 ALL is well with him who is beloved of his neighbors
• A158 ALL lay load on a willing horse
• A159 ALL lies and bleeds (lies a bleeding)
• A160 ALL looks yellow to the jaundiced eye
• A161 ALL must be as God will
• A162 ALL must live under a law
• A163 ALL must not be gotten by force
• A164 ALL shall be well and Jack shall have Jill
• A165 ALL that a man thinks comes not to pass
• A166 ALL that are in bed must not have quiet rest
• A167 ALL that is alike is not the same
• A168 ALL that is sharp is short
• A169 ALL that shakes falls not
• A170 ALL that the clerk gets his punk devours
• A171 ALL would have all, all would forgive
• A172 Bear (Take, Suffer) this, bear (take, suffer) ALL
• A173 Both together do best of ALL
• A174 Both together do best of ALL
• A175 Deal small and serve ALL
• A176 Either ALL or none at all
• A177 Fair cheve¹ ALL where love trucks²
• A178 He bears down ALL before him
• A179 He cannot hold but ALL must out
• A180 He has not lost ALL who has one throw to cast
• A181 He has pissed ALL he has against the wall
• A182 He looks as if he had sold ALL and took nothing for it
• A183 He sups ill who eats ALL at dinner
• A184 He teaches ill who teaches ALL
• A185 He that believes ALL misses, he that believes nothing hits not
• A186 He that comes last makes ALL (the door) fast
• A187 He that gives ALL before he dies provides to suffer (is a fool)
• A188 He that grants ALL that is asked is much harder than Hercules tasked
• A189 He that is warm thinks ALL so
• A190 He that ventures too far loses ALL
• A191 He that will have ALL dies of madness
• A192 He that will have ALL loses all
• A193 He that would please ALL and himself too undertakes what he cannot do
• A194 He would ALL have and nought forgo
• A195 I have lost ALL and found myself
• A196 Let ALL live as they would die
• A197 None so good that's good to ALL
• A198 Of ALL and of all commend me to Ball, for by licking the dishes he saved me much labor
• A199 Pardon (Forgive) ALL but thyself
• A200 Praise none too much, for ALL are fickle
• A201 Since you know ALL and I nothing, tell me what I dreamed last night
• A202 Speak not ALL you know, do not all you can, believe not all you hear
• A203 Take ALL and pay all
• A204 Take ALL and pay the baker
• A205 To live peaceably with ALL breeds good blood
• A206 To make ALL sure
• A207 To set ALL a going if it were a mile to the bottom
• A208 To set ALL at six and seven
• A209 Venture not ALL in one bottom
• A210 Whatever he can wrap and wring, ALL is his own
• A211 When ALL is consumed repentance comes too late
• A212 When ALL is gone and nothing left what avails the dagger with the dudgeon haft?
• A213 Who gives to ALL denies all
• A214 Who has ALL in one place has all in the fire
• A215 Ye are ALL cunts benison¹
• A216 Ye eat ALL and dryts¹ all and harles² the barrow at your arse
• A217 You see what we must ALL come to if we live
• A218 ALL ONE but their meat goes two ways
• A219 ALL's OUT is good for prisoners but nought for the eyes
• A220 An ALMOND for parrot
• A221 ALMOST and well-nigh (very nigh) save many a lie
• A222 ALMOST was never hanged
• A223 ALMS never make poor
• A224 He that preaches gives ALMS
• A225 It were ALMS (almsdeed) to punish him
• A226 Great ALMSGIVING lessens no man's living
• A227 Hungry ALMSMEN are Venus' apes
• A228 Never less ALONE than when alone (He is never alone who is accompanied with noble thoughts)
• A229 He carries his ALTAR with him
• A230 He that serves at the ALTAR ought to live by the altar
• A231 What cannot be ALTERED must be borne not blamed
• A232 He is AMATED and amazed
• A233 The Welsh AMBASSADOR¹
• A234 AMBITION is the last affection¹ a noble mind can put off
• A235 AMBITION loses many a man
• A236 He is young enough to AMEND
• A237 Some do AMEND when they cannot appair¹ (grow worse)
• A238 He is not far from AMENDMENT who confesses his fault
• A239 AMIENS was taken by the fox and retaken by the lion
• A240 Like an ANCHOR, that is ever in the water and never learns to swim
• A241 To cast one's ANCHOR
• A242 There spoke an ANGEL
• A243 ANGER and heartsease are utter enemies
• A244 ANGER dies quickly with a good man
• A245 ANGER edges valor
• A246 ANGER is short madness
• A247 ANGER punishes itself
• A248 ANGLESEY is the mother of Wales
• A249 Two ANONS and a by-and-by is an hour and a half
• A250 You are such ANOTHER
• A251 An ANSWER in a word
• A252 The shortest ANSWER is doing
• A253 A shrewd ANSWER is always ready
• A254 Such ANSWER as a man gives, such will he get
• A255 There is no ANSWER for, Go from my house, and, What will you have with my wife?
• A256 The ANT had wings to do her hurt
• A257 The ANVIL fears no blows
• A258 He has hammered it on his own ANVIL
• A259 To a hard ANVIL a hammer of feathers
• A260 When many strike on an ANVIL they must strike by measure
• A261 When you are an ANVIL hold you still, when you are a hammer strike your fill
• A262 An APE is an ape, a varlet is a varlet, though they be clad in silk or scarlet
• A263 An APE is an ape though clad in scarlet (gold)
• A264 The APE kills her young with kindness (by clipping)
• A265 As drunk as an APE
• A266 As fine as an APE in purple
• A267 As fond as an APE of a whip
• A268 As free as an APE is of his tail
• A269 As wise as an APE
• A270 Every APE thinks his puppy the fairest
• A271 The higher the APE goes the more he shows his tail
• A272 An old APE has an old eye
• A273 To make one his APE
• A274 To say an APE's paternoster
• A275 A PER SE
• A276 APOLLO's words and Cato's works are worthy of praise
• A277 As proud as an APOTHECARY
• A278 A broken APOTHECARY a new doctor
• A279 He chafes like an APOTHECARY
• A280 To speak like an APOTHECARY
• A281 The APOTHECARY's mortar spoils the luter's music
• A282 APOTHECARIES would not give pills in sugar unless they were bitter
• A283 APPAREL makes (Clothes make) the man
• A284 Handsome APPAREL makes fools pass for wise men (hides much deformity)
• A285 APPEARANCES are deceitful
• A286 APPETITE comes with eating
• A287 The APPETITE opens itself as soon as the eye
• A288 To moderate the APPETITE is a virtue, to let it loose is a vice
• A289 To rise with an APPETITE
• A290 As dear as the APPLE of my eye
• A291 As like as an APPLE is to an oyster (nut)
• A292 Better APPLE given nor eaten
• A293 He that's cooled with an APPLE and heated with an egg, over me shall never spread his leg
• A294 One rotten APPLE corrupts all those apples that lie near it
• A295 Won with an APPLE (egg) and lost with a nut (the shell)
• A296 APPLES, eggs, and nuts you may eat though dressed by sluts
• A297 APPLES of gold in pictures of silver
• A298 APPLES, pears, and nuts spoil the voice
• A299 APPLES, pears, hawthorn-quick, oak, set them at Allhallontide and command them to prosper, set them at Candlemas and intreat them to grow
• A300 Sodom APPLES outwardly fair, ashes at the core
• A301 Two APPLES in my hand and the third in my mouth
• A302 We APPLES swim, quoth the horse turds
• A303 An APPLE-SQUIRE
• A304 To be tied to the sour APPLE TREE
• A305 To be up the queen APPLE TREE
• A306 APRIL and May are the key of all the year
• A307 APRIL (March) borrows three days of March (April) and they are ill
• A308 In APRIL Dove's flood is worth a king's good
• A309 In APRIL the cuckoo can sing her song by rote; in June, out of tune, she cannot sing a note
• A310 In the APRIL of one's age
• A311 When APRIL blows his horn it's good for hay and corn
• A312 To hold by the APRON STRINGS
• A313 A good ARCHER is not known by his arrows but his aim
• A314 An ARGUS abroad and a mole at home
• A315 The sore ARM must have the scarf, the sore leg the bed
• A316 Stretch your ARM no farther than your sleeve will reach
• A317 To keep (hold) one at ARM's end
• A318 He that fights with silver ARMS is sure to overcome
• A319 ARMOR is light at table
• A320 It is absurd to warm one in his ARMOR
• A321 As straight as an ARROW
• A322 As swift as an ARROW
• A323 He that shoots always aright forfeits his ARROW
• A324 Oftentimes the ARROW hits the shooter
• A325 Shoot one ARROW after another
• A326 Dirten ARSE dreads aye
• A327 An ARSE BEATING is but an arse heating
• A328 ARSIE VERSIE
• A329 ART and part
• A330 ART apes nature
• A331 ART (Knowledge, Learning) has no enemy save ignorance
• A332 ART is long, life short
• A333 By ART and deceit men live half the year and by deceit and art the other half
• A334 In every ART it is good to have a master
• A335 It is ART to hide art
• A336 ARTHUR could not tame woman's tongue
• A337 ARTHUR himself had but his time
• A338 Hey brave ARTHUR BRADLEY
• A339 As pale as ASHES
• A340 Divine ASHES are better than earthly meal
• A341 I proud (stout) and thou proud (stout), who shall bear the ASHES out?
• A342 He that is ASHAMED to eat is ashamed to live
• A343 ASK and have
• A344 He that cannot ASK cannot live
• A345 A good ASKER (shameless beggar) should have a good naysayer (shameless denial)
• A346 He will not lose it (Nothing is lost) for ASKING (for want of asking)
• A347 To be had for the ASKING
• A348 As dull as an ASS
• A349 An ASS covered with gold is more respected than a good horse with a packsaddle
• A350 An ASS endures his burden but not more than his burden
• A351 An ASS in a lion's skin
• A352 An ASS is but an ass though laden with gold
• A353 An ASS is cold even in the summer solstice
• A354 An ASS is eaten up of wolves
• A355 An ASS is known by his ears
• A356 An ASS laden with gold climbs to the top of the castle
• A357 An ASS must be tied where his master will have him
• A358 An ASS (horse) pricked must needs trot
• A359 The ASS that brays most eats least
• A360 The ASS though laden with gold still eats thistles
• A361 Better ride on an ASS that carries me than a horse that throws me
• A362 Every ASS thinks himself worthy to stand with the king's horses
• A363 It is a sorry ASS that will not bear his own burden
• A364 It is good to hold the ASS by the bridle
• A365 One poor ASS cannot carry two burdens
• A366 To see an ASS play on a harp
• A367 When an ASS climbs a ladder we may find wisdom in women
• A368 Who drives an ASS and leads a whore has pain and sorrow evermore
• A369 The dull ASS's trot lasts not long
• A370 He that washes an ASS's head loses both his soap and labor
• A371 You will make me believe that an ASS's ears are made of horns
• A372 The very ASSES may have a bit there
• A373 He is a very ASS that thinks to live ever
• A374 He is an ASS that brays against an ass
• A375 He is an ASS that cannot make use of his own
• A376 He is an ASS that gives flesh for bones
• A377 He is an ASS that hurts himself
• A378 It is better to be mute than with an ASS to dispute
• A379 The veriest ASSES hide their ears most
• A380 He rose with his ASS upward
• A381 His ASS (breech, tail) makes buttons
• A382 I will not creep in her ASS to bake in her oven
• A383 It has neither ASS nor elbow
• A384 To hang an ASS (groin)
• A385 You may lend your ASS and shit through your ribs
• A386 You would kiss my ASS before my breeches be down
• A387 You would lose your ASS if it were loose
• A388 An ASSHEAD of your own
• A389 ASTROLOGY is true but the astrologers cannot find it
• A390 An ASTRONOMER is no prophet
• A391 It is as far from ATHENS (heaven, Highgate) to England (earth, London) as from England (earth, London) to Athens (heaven, Highgate)
• A392 To dance ATTENDANCE
• A393 No good ATTORNEY will ever go to law
• A394 As old as AUGHT
• A395 He is well eased¹ that has AUGHT of his own when others go to meat
• A396 Dry AUGUST and warm does harvest no harm
• A397 He was born in AUGUST
• A398 One of my AUNTS
• A399 She is one of my AUNTS that made my uncle go a begging
• A400 AURORA (The morning) is a friend to the Muses
• A401 Like AUTHOR like book
• A402 AUTHORITY (Honor, Office) shows what a man is
• A403 A kindly AVER¹ will never make a good horse
• A404 AWE makes Dun¹ draw
• A405 Well worth AWE that gars¹ the plow draw
• A406 Without AWL (all) the cobbler's nobody
• A407 Six AWLS (alls) make a shoemaker
• A408 To pack up one's AWLS
• A409 The AX goes to the wood where it borrowed its helve
• A410 He looks like a Lochaber AX
• A411 He sends the AX after the helve