Motivational Quotes

Proverbs

No people require maxims so much as the American. The reason is obvious: the country is so vast, the people always going somewhere, from Oregon apple valley to boreal New England, that we do not know whether to be temperate orchards or sterile climate.

- Dahlberg, Edward

Best Quotes about Proverbs

A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains.

Dutch Proverb

He that can't endure the bad, will not live to see the good.

Jewish Proverb

The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.

Bacon, Francis

A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.

German Proverb

If you scatter thorns, don't go barefoot.

Italian Proverb

Maxims and aphorisms, let us remember that wisdom is the true salt of literature, and the books that are most nourishing are richly stored with it, and that is the main object to seek in reading books.

Morely, John

Never give a child a sword.

Latin Proverb

Never rely on the glory of the morning nor the smiles of your mother-in-law.

Japanese Proverb

If you want to be respected, you must respect yourself.

Spanish Proverb

10.

If you bow at all, bow low.

Chinese Proverb

11.

They are like the clue in the labyrinth, or the compass in the night.

Joubert, Joseph

12.

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.

Chinese Proverb

13.

The big thieves hang the little ones.

Czech Proverb

14.

Don't you go believing in sayings, Picotee: they are all made by men, for their own advantages. Women who use public proverbs as a guide through events are those who have not ingenuity enough to make private ones as each event occurs.

Hardy, Thomas

15.

A smiling face is half the meal.

Latvian Proverb

16.

Praise youth and it will prosper.

Irish Proverb

17.

Ask about your neighbors, then buy the house.

Jewish Proverb

18.

If you wish your merit to be known, acknowledge that of other people.

Oriental Proverb

19.

If you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry.

African Proverb

20.

Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one.

Scottish Proverb

21.

Don't make use of another's mouth unless it has been lent to you.

Belgian Proverb

22.

Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.

Spanish Proverb

23.

Do not throw the arrow which will return against you.

Kurdish Proverb

24.

Trumpet in a herd of elephants; crow in the company of cocks; bleat in a flock of goats.

Malayan Proverb

25.

He may justly be numbered among the benefactors of mankind, who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may early be impressed on the memory, and taught by frequent recollection to occur habitually to the mind.

Johnson, Samuel

26.

A proverb is much matter distilled into few words.

Fuller, R. Buckminster

27.

He who would leap high must take a long run.

Danish Proverb

28.

To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

Chinese Proverb

29.

When you drink the water, remember the spring.

Chinese Proverb

30.

Keep your broken arm inside your sleeve.

Chinese Proverb

31.

Don't fall before you're pushed.

English Proverb

32.

Don't stay long when the husband is not at home.

Japanese Proverb

33.

If the wind will not serve, take to the oars.

Latin Proverb

34.

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

Malayan Proverb

35.

Wait until it is night before saying that it has been a fine day.

French Proverb

36.

First secure an independent income, then practice virtue.

Greek Proverb

37.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Chinese Proverb

38.

What you don't see with your eyes, don't invent with your mouth.

Jewish Proverb

39.

Don't let your sorrow come higher than your knees.

Swedish Proverb

40.

I can't make head or tail of Life. Love is a fine thing, Art is a fine thing, Nature is a fine thing; but the average human mind and spirit are confusing beyond measure. Sometimes I think that all our learning is the little learning of the maxim. To laugh at a Roman awe-stricken in a sacred grove is to laugh at something today.

Stevens, Wallace

41.

Buy on the rumor; sell on the news.

Wall Street Proverb

42.

The reverse side also has a reverse side.

Japanese Proverb

43.

When you go to buy, use your eyes, not your ears.

Czech Proverb

44.

Although none of the rules for becoming more alive is valid, it is healthy to keep on formulating them.

Sontag, Susan

45.

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

Chinese Proverb

46.

Until a friend or relative has applied a particular proverb to your own life, or until you've watched him apply the proverb to his own life, it has no power to sway you.

Baker, Nicholson

47.

A full cup must be carried steadily.

English Proverb

48.

Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind.

Bulgarian Proverb

49.

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.

Chinese Proverb

50.

Don't be sweet, lest you be eaten up; don't be bitter, lest you be spewed out.