Proverb of the Day

Cowards die many times before their deaths

This proverb is a quotation from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
Caesar says:
          Cowards die many times before their deaths;
           The valiant never tastes of death but once.

A coward often imagines that he is on the point of death when he is not, with the result that, unlike a brave man, he frequently experiences the fear of dying.

Proverb of the Day

Courtesy costs nothing

There is nothing to be lost by behaving in a courteous way.

Proverb of the Day

A constant guest is never welcome

People like their friends' company at fairly long intervals. If their friends come too often they are apt to grow to dislike them.

Proverb of the Day

Constant dripping wears away the stone.

The lesson to be learnt is summed up in the last two words of this quotation from Ovid: 'What is harder than rock, or softer than water? Yet soft water hollows out hard rock. Only persevere.

Similar proverbs:

If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again.
It's dogged that does it.
Little by little and bit by bit.
Little strokes fell great oaks.
Rome was not built in a day.
Slow but sure wins the race.
Where there's a will there's a way.

Proverb of the Day

Circumstances alter cases.

Here 'case' has the meaning of situation, the position in which one finds oneself; and this position is determined by the circumstances surrounding it. If the circumstances change, the situation (i.e. the case) changes also.

Proverb of the Day

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

If a hunter has shot one bird, he should be satisfied with that and not go off looking for the ones that flew away.
We use the proverb to mean that it is better to accept something small than to reject it and hope to get more later on.

Proverb of the Day

The biter is sometimes bit

'Biter' is a slang word for a cheat or swindler, e.g. a cardsharper. When he himself is cheated by his prospective victim. 'the biter is bit'. In a general way, this refers to any form of retribution.

Proverb of the Day

Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know

An unknown danger or hardship is much more frightening than one we have already experienced.

Proverb of the Day

Better be sure than sorry

Here 'sure' is used in the old sense of 'safe, free from danger'. 'If we reach the forest, ' says a character in Shakespeare, 'we shall be sure enough.' So the literal meaning of the proverb is: 'It is better to be safe than to do anything that may place us in a dangerous position.'

Proverb of the Day

Better late than never

It is better to do a thing after much procrastination than not to do it at all. It is often used as a semi-humorous excuse, e.g. 'Dear Tom, -- I'm sorry I've not written for such a long time, but better late than never...' A longer version of the original Latin proverb is: 'Better late than never, but better never late. '

English Proverb of the Day

The bait hides the hook

It is the hook that catches the fish, but it is the bait that tempts it to take the hook into its mouth. The moral is: beware of an attractive offer, for there is very likely to be a catch in it.

English Proverb of the Day

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

We should not always be working. Unless we can enjoy some form of recreation, we become stale and our work suffers in consequence.

English Proverb of the Day

Any port in a storm

In times of difficulty or danger any refuge is better than none.

English Proverb of the Day

A bad workman always blames his tools.

Good workmanship depends no more on the quality of the tools than it does on the way in which they are used, so to blame the tools for bad workmanship is to attempt to excuse one's own lack of skill. For example: 'I lost he match because my racket needed re-stringing.' "My essay wasn't very good because I had to use someone else's pen.' 'How did you expect me to catch fish with this rod?' To all these the response could be: 'A bad workman always blames his tools.'

English Proverb of the Day

As you make your bed, so you must lie in it

Should you make your bed badly, you will probably have an uncomfortable night, for which you will have only yourself to blame. In much the same way, all of us are responsible for the consequences of our actions, so we must put up with them.

As you sow, so shall you reap.

English Proverb of the Day

All roads lead to Rome

Toward the end of the fourteenth century Chaucer wrote in a treatise on the astrolabe, an ancient astronomical instrument, that 'diverse paths lead diverse folk the right way to Rome'. From this and other reference to the many roads to Rome has developed the proverb meaning that a number of person - scientists, perhaps - can arrive at one common objective by different means.

English Proverb of the Day

All cats are grey in the dark

This suggests that beauty is unimportant. Beneath the outward appearance people are all much alike. 'When the candles are out,' wrote Plutarch, 'all women are fair.'

English Proverb of the Day

Advice when most needed is least heeded

Advice is something that wise men don't need and foolish people won't take; and the greater the need for advice, the less likely the foolish person is to heed it - that is, to pay careful attention to it.

English Proverb of the Day

Actions speak louder than words

It is what we do that really matters, not just what we say. In Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha answers the mighty and bragging Megissogwen:

'Big words do not smite like war-clubs,
Boastful breath is not a bow-string,
Taunts are not as sharp as arrow,
Deeds are better things than words are,
Actions mightier than boastings!'