List of Aphorisms

 www.partow.net  .: Home :.   .: Links :.   .: Search :.   .: Contact :. 


A barking dog never bites
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link
A change is as good as a rest
A dog is a man's best friend
A fool and his money are soon parted
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds
A friend in need is a friend indeed
A good beginning makes a good ending
A jack of all trades is master of none
A job worth doing is worth doing well
A little learning is a dangerous thing
A man is known by the company he keeps
A man with one clock knows what time it is. A man with two clocks is never sure
A man's home is his castle
A miss is as good as a mile
A new broom sweeps clean
A nod is as good as a wink to a blind man
A penny saved is a penny earned
A place for everything and everything in its place
A poor craftsman blames his tools
A rising tide lifts all boats
A rolling stone gathers no moss
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
A soft answer turneth away wrath
A stitch in time saves nine
A thing of beauty is a joy forever
A watched pot never boils
A woman's work is never done
A word to the wise is sufficient
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Actions speak louder than words
All for one and one for all
All that glitters is not gold
All the world's a stage
All things come to those who wait
All we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All's fair in love and war
All's well that ends well
Always cut the cards
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
An army marches on its stomach
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
Any port in a storm
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong
Appearances can be deceiving
April showers bring May flowers
As you sow so shall you reap
Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer
Ask and it shall be given
Ask and you shall receive
Ask no questions and hear no lies
Bad news travels fast
Barking dogs seldom bite
Be careful you don't go from the frying pan into the fire
Be it ever so humble there's no place like home
Be not penny wise and pound foolish
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Beauty is only skin deep
Before you judge a man you should walk a mile in his shoes
Beggars can't be choosers
Behind every successful man is a woman
Better late than never
Better safe than sorry
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it
Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
Birds of a feather flock together
Blood is thicker than water
Boys will be boys
Brevity is the soul of wit
Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door
Business before pleasure
Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker
Carpe diem … seize the day
Cast your bread upon the water and it will be returned a hundred-fold
Chickens will come home to roost
Children should be seen and not heard
Cleanliness is next to godliness
Cold hands warm heart
Common sense is not so common
Cream always rises to the top
Crime does not pay
Discretion is the better part of valour
Do as I say not as I do
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
Don't wait until it rains to build your ark
Don't bite off more than you can chew
Don't bite the hand that feeds you
Don't burn the candle at both ends
Don't burn your bridges behind you
Don't change horses in midstream
Don't close the barn door after the horse runs away
Don't count your chickens before they hatch
Don't cry over spilt milk
Don't cut off your nose to spite your face
Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes
Don't foul your own nest
Don't give up the ship
Don't hide your light under a bushel
Don't judge a book by its cover
Don't kill the goose that lays the golden eggs
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
Don't make mountains out of molehills
Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Don't put the cart before the horse
Don't shoot the messenger
Don't speak ill of the dead
Don't spit into the wind
Don't take any wooden nickels
Don't throw out the baby with the bath water
Don't throw pearls before swine
Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
Easier said than done
East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet
East or west, home is best
Easy come easy go
Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
Eat to live; don't live to eat
Even a broken clock is right twice a day
Every cloud has a silver lining
Every dog has his day
Every man has a price
Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it
Expect the unexpected
Experience is the best teacher
Faith will move mountains
Familiarity breeds contempt
Feed a cold starve a fever
Finders keepers losers weepers
First come first served
Flattery will get you nowhere
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
For want of a nail a kingdom was lost
Forewarned is forearmed
Forgive and forget
Forgive them for they know not what they do
From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may
Genius is no guarantee of wisdom
Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
Give him an inch and he'll take a mile
Give him enough rope and he'll hang himself
Give the devil his due
God disposes
God helps those who help themselves
Good fences make good neighbours
Good gifts come in small packages
Great minds think alike
Great oaks from little acorns grow
Grin and bear it
Half a loaf is better than none
Handsome is as handsome does
Haste makes waste
He that is not with me is against me
He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day
He who hesitates is lost
He who laughs last laughs best
He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword
He who pays the piper calls the tune
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
Here today gone tomorrow
History repeats itself
Hitch your wagon to a star
Home is where the heart is
Honesty is the best policy
Hope springs eternal in the human breast
Hunger is the best sauce
I think therefore I am
Idle hands are the devil's workshop
If at first you don't succeed try try again
If it's not broke don't fix it
If it's not one thing it's another
If the shoe fits wear it
If wishes were fishes then no man would starve
If wishes were horses then beggars would ride
If you can't beat them join them
If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got
If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas
If you snooze you lose
Ignorance is bliss
Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
In for a penny in for a pound
In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king
It never rains but it pours
It takes a thief to catch a thief
It takes one to know one
It takes two to tango
It'll all come out in the wash
It's an ill wind that blows no good
It's every man for himself
It's never too late to mend
It's no use beating a dead horse
It's not over till it's over
It's not over until the fat lady sings
It's not the knowing that is difficult but the doing
It's not whether you win or lose but how you play the game
It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease
It's time to fish or cut bait
Keep a stiff upper lip
Keep your eyes peeled
Keep your fingers crossed
Keep your head above water
Keep your nose to the grindstone
Know thyself
Know which side your bread is buttered on
Knowledge is power
Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone
Laughter is the best medicine
Leave no stone unturned
Leave well enough alone
Let bygones be bygones
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone
Let nature takes its course
Let sleeping dogs lie
Let's cross the bridge when we come to it
Life is short art is long
Lightning never strikes twice in the same place
Little pitchers have big ears
Little strokes fell great oaks
Live and learn
Live and let live
Live every day as if it were your last
Look before you leap
Love conquers all
Love is blind
Love makes the world go 'round
Love without trust is a river without water
Make a virtue of necessity
Make haste slowly
Make hay while the sun shines
Man cannot live by bread alone
Man proposes, God disposes
Many are called but few are chosen
Many hands make light work
Marry in haste repent at leisure
Measure twice cut once
Might makes right
Mind your P's and Q's
Misery loves company
Money isn't everything
Murder will out
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast
Nature abhors a vacuum
Necessity is the mother of invention
Never give a sucker an even break
Never judge a book by its cover
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today
Never say die
No good deed goes unrewarded
No man can serve two masters
No man is an island
No news is good news
No pain no gain
Nothing ventured, nothing gained
Nothing is certain but death and taxes
Oil and water don't mix
Old habits die hard
Once bitten twice shy
One good turn deserves another
One man's loss is another man's gain
One man's meat is another man's poison
One man's trash is another man's treasure
One picture is worth a thousand words
One rotten apple spoils the barrel
Opportunity never knocks twice
Opposites attract
Out of sight out of mind
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
Politics makes strange bedfellows
Possession is nine-tenths of the law
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely
Practice makes perfect
Practice what you preach
Pride goeth before a fall
Procrastination is the thief of time
Rats desert a sinking ship
Revenge is a dish best eaten cold
Revenge is sweet
Rome wasn't built in a day
Seeing is believing
Seek and ye shall find
Share and share alike
Silence is golden
Sink or swim
Slow but steady wins the race
Spare the rod and spoil the child
Still waters run deep
Stone walls do not a prison make
Strike while the iron is hot
Take the bitter with the sweet
Take the bull by the horns
That's life
That's the way the ball bounces
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree
The bad workman always blames his tools
The best things in life are free
The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry
The bigger they come the harder they fall
The burnt child shuns the fire
The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long
The child is the father of the man
The course of true love never did run smooth
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose
The early bird gets the worm
The end justifies the means
The eyes are the windows to the soul
The grass is always greener on the other side
The hotter the battle the sweeter the victory
The leopard cannot change its spots
The longest journey begins with but a single footstep
The love of money is the root of all evil
The meek shall inherit the earth
The more the merrier
The more things change, the more they stay the same
The pen is mightier than sword
The proof of the pudding is in the eating
The purpose of life is a life of purpose
The quality of mercy is not strained
The race isn't always to the swift, nor the fight to the strong, but that's the way to bet
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions
The sea refuses no river
The show must go on
The teacher appears when the student is ready
The truth will out
The walls have ears
The way to a man's heart is through his stomach
The wish is father of the deed
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch
There are old soldiers and bold soldiers but there are no old bold soldiers
There are plenty of fish in the sea
There are two sides to every question
There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so
There's a first time for everything
There's many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip
There's method in his madness
There's more than one way to skin a cat
There's no accounting for taste
There's no defence like a good offense
There's no disputing about taste
There's no fool like an old fool
There's no place like home
There's no rest for the wicked
There's no right way to do the wrong thing
There's no such thing as a free lunch
There's nothing new under the sun
There's something rotten in Denmark
Things aren't always what they seem
This too shall pass
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Time and tide wait for no man
Time heals all wounds
Time is money
Time is of the essence
To err is human to forgive divine
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Truth is stranger than fiction
Turn the other cheek
Turnabout is fair play
Two heads are better than one
Two wrongs don't make a right
Two's company three's a crowd
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
Variety is the spice of life
Waste not want not
Water seeks its own level
We're too soon old and too late smart
Well begun is half done
What can't be cured must be endured
What goes around comes around
What goes up must come down
What will be will be
What you see is what you get
What's good for the goose is good for the gander
When all you have are lemons make lemonade
When in Rome do as the Romans do
When it rains it pours
When the cat's away the mice will play
When the going gets tough the tough get going
When your only tool is a hammer every problem looks like a nail
Where there's a will there's a way
Where there's smoke there's fire
While there's life there's hope
Who pays the piper calls the tune
Winners never quit and quitters never win
You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you can't fool all of the people all of the time
You can kill a man but you can't kill an idea
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy
You can't fight city hall
You can't fit a round peg in a square hole
You can't get the toothpaste back in the tube
You can't go home again
You can't have your cake and eat it too
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs
You can't squeeze blood from a turnip
You can't steer a parked car
You can't take it with you
You can't teach an old dog new tricks
You can't tell a book by its cover
You can't unring a bell
You can't unscramble an egg
You don't get something for nothing
You get what you pay for
You have to take the good with the bad
You made your bed, now lie in it
You need to stop to smell the roses
You need to take a bull by the horns, and a man by his word
You pays your money and you takes your choice
You take what you need and you leave the rest
You're never too old to learn


© Arash Partow. All Rights Reserved.