A List of proverbs and sayings. This page contains examples of proverbs and an ever growing list of proverbs. It is a good practice to avoid use of these proverbs in poetry unless used in a completely original way.
See also: Idioms.
A proverb is a brief and popular saying that typically gives advice about how people should live or that expresses a belief that is commonly thought to be true.
Take away fuel, take away flame.
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Take away my good name, and take away my life.
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Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.
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Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.
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Take the will for the deed.
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Take time by the forelock.
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Take time when time is, for time will away.
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Talk of the devil and he'll be sure to appear.
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Talk of the devil and his imp appears.
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Talking pays no toll.
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Tell me what company you keep, and I will tell you who you are.
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Tell that tale to a deaf man.
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Temper the tongue.
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Temperance is the best physic.
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That is true which all men say.
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That penny is well spent that saves a groat.
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That suit is best that best fits me.
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That which is bred in the bone will never be out of the flesh.
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That which is easily done is soon believed.
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That which is evil is soon learnt.
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That's but an empty purse that's full of other men's money.
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That's where the laugh comes in.
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The absent are always at fault.
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The abundance of money ruins youth.
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The ass that brays most, eats least.
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The author of an interesting volume, comprising many well-known passages, names "Hudibras" as containing the lines
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The back is made for the burden.
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The balance distinguishes not between gold and lead.
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The beggar is never out of his way.
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The best fish are near the bottom.
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The best horse needs breaking, and the best child needs teaching.
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The best is cheapest.
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The best lie is the worst.
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The better the day, the better the deed.
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The bird that can sing and will not sing, must be made to sing.
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The brain that sows not corn, plants thistles.
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The cat is hungry when a crust contents her.
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The cat sees not the mouse ever.
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The chamber of sickness is the chapel of devotion.
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The charitable give out at the door, and God puts in at the window.
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The clock goes as it pleases the clerk.
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The cock crows and the hen goes.
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The crow thinks her own bird fairest.
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The danger's past, and God's forgotten.
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The devil can quote Scripture to suit his purpose.
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The devil is not always at one door.
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The devil's children have the devil's luck.
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The empty leech sucks sore.
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The evil wound is cured, but not the evil name.
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The fairest rose at last is withered.
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The faulty stands on his guard.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
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The fifer don't pay a fiddler.
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The finest shoe often hurts the foot.
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The first blow is half the battle.
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The first dish pleaseth all.
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The foremost dog catches the hare.
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The fox knows much, but more he that catcheth him.
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The full stomach loatheth the honeycomb, but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet.
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The gown is hers who wears it, and the world is his who enjoys it.
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The great Homer himself sometimes nods.
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The greater truth, the greater libel.
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The greatest barkers are not always the sorest biters.
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The greatest burdens are not the gainfullest.
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The greatest crabs are not always the best meat.
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The greatest number is made up of units.
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The greatest scholars are not always the wisest men.
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The greatest talkers are always the least doers.
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The greatest wealth is contentment with a little.
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The higher the standing the lower the fall.
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The hindermost dog may catch the hare.
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The horse thinks one thing, and he that rides him another.
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The ignorant think all things wrong which they cannot understand.
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The knowledge of the disease is half the cure.
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The ladle cools the pot.
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The lame goeth as far as the staggerer.
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The law is not the same at morning and night.
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The least boy always carries the greatest fiddle.
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The liberal man deviseth liberal things.
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The lion's not half so fierce as he's painted.
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The longest day must have an end.
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The longest liver dies at last.
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The loquacity of fools is a warning to the wise.
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The lower millstone grinds as well as the upper.
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The master's eye does more work than his hands.
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The master's eye makes the horse fat.
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The merry month of May.
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The mill cannot grind with the water that is past.
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The mob has many heads, but no brains.
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The moon's not seen where the sun shines.
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The more noble the more humble.
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The more the merrier; the fewer the better cheer.
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The more women look in their glasses, the less they look to their houses.
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The morning sun never lasts a day.
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The mother's breath is always sweet.
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The mouse that hath but one hole is easily taken.
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The nearer the bone the sweeter the meat.
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The nearer the church the farther from God.
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The nurse's tongue is privileged to talk.
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The offender never pardons.
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The origin of such everyday sayings as
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The persuasion of the fortunate sways the doubtful.
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The pitcher does not go so often to the water, but it comes home broken at last.
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The pot calls the kettle black.
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The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
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The receiver is as bad as the thief.
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The stillest humours are always the worst.
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The Subject Words of the Dictionary are not repeated here
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The subjects' love is the king's lifeguard.
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The sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinegar.
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The taste of the kitchen is better than the smell.
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The tempter is the greater rogue.
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The thief's sorry because he is caught, not because he is the thief.
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The thorn comes forth with his point forwards.
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The tide will fetch away what the ebb brings.
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The tongue talks at the head's cost.
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The tongue's not steel, yet it cuts.
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The topmost branch is not the safest perch.
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The vicar of Bray will be vicar of Bray still.
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The wearer best knows where the shoe pinches.
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The wife is the key of the house.
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The world is his who knows how to wait for it.
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The world was never so dull but if one won't another will.
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The worst spoke in the cart-wheel breaks first.
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The worst wheel of a cart creaks most.
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The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it.
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The young suckers drain the old tree.
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Their folly pleads the privilege of wealth.
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There are many ways of killing a dog beside hanging him.
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There are more threatened than struck.
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There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging.
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There are none so deaf as those who will not hear.
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There is a tide in the affairs of man which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
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There is a time to speak as well as to be silent.
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There is no deceit in a brimmer.
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There is no rule without an exception.
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There is nothing certain in this life but death and taxes!
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There is one good wife in the country, and every man thinks he hath her.
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There is sleeping enough in the grave.
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There needs a long time to know the world's pulse.
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There would be no great ones if there were no little.
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There's a medium between painting the face and not washing it.
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There's as good fish in the sea as were ever caught.
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There's many a true word spoken in jest.
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There's ne'er a why, but there's a wherefore.
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There's never enough where nothing's left.
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There's no companion like a penny.
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There's no great banquet but some fare ill.
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There's no joy without alloy.
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There's no washing the blackamore white.
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There's nothing agrees worse than a proud mind and a beggar's purse.
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There's reason in roasting of eggs.
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They are as mute as fishes.
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They complain wrongfully of the sea, who twice suffer shipwreck.
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They have need of a besom that sweep the house with a turf.
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They laugh the loudest who have least to lose.
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They look one way and row another.
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They love dancing well that dance among thorns.
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They love too much who die for love.
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They talk of Christmas so long that it comes.
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They that are bound must obey.
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They that cannot do as they will, must do as they can.
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They that will not work in heat, must hunger in frost.
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Think much, speak little, and write less.
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Think of ease, but work on.
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Think twice before you speak once.
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Thinkers govern toilers.
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This world is nothing except it tend to the next.
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Those are wise who learn caution from their own experience; but those are wiser who learn it from the experience of others.
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Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
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Thou art a bitter bird, said the raven to the starling.
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Though good be good yet better carries it.
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Though the cat winks awhile, yet sure she is not blind.
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Though the fox runs the chicken hath wings.
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Though the sun shines, leave not your cloak at home.
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Thoughts are free.
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Three may keep counsel, if two be away.
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Three women and a goose make a market.
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Thrifty men are fond of thrifty sayings.
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Throw a sprat to catch a whale.
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Thunder in December foretells fine weather.
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Time and straw make medlars ripe.
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Time and tide tarry for no man.
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Time assuages the greatest grief.
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Time cures sorrow.
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Time is the rider that breaks youth.
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Time tries all.
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Timely blossom timely ripe.
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Tis a blot on his escutcheon.
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Tis a good horse that never stumbles, and a good wife that never grumbles.
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Tis a great journey to the world's end.
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Tis a hard battle where none escapes.
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Tis a long lane that has no turning.
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Tis an ill dog that deserves not a bone.
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Tis an ill guest that never drinks to his host.
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Tis an ill horse will not carry his own provender.
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Tis easy to build castles in the air.
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Tis easy to find a staff to beat a dog.
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Tis folly to dig for lead with a silver shovel.
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Tis good fish if it were but caught.
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Tis hard to sail o'er the sea in an egg-shell.
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Tis money makes the mare to go.
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Tis not lost that comes at last.
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Tis pity fair weather should do any harm.
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Tis safe riding in a good haven.
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Tis sooner said than done.
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Tis the clerk makes the justice.
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Tis the early bird catches the worm.
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Tis the nature of the beast.
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Tis the second blow that makes a fray.
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Tis too late, to spare when the bottom is bare.
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To a crazy ship all winds are contrary.
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To a good spender God is the treasurer.
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To cast oil in the fire is not the way to quench it.
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To err is human; to forgive divine.
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To everything there is a season; and a time to every purpose under heaven.
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To forget a wrong is the best revenge.
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To forget wrong is the greatest revenge.
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To fright a hind is not the way to catch her.
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To give and keep there is need of wit.
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To him that hath lost his taste, sweet is sour.
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To him that wills ways are not wanting.
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To know the disease is half the cure.
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To know where the shoe pinches.
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To look for a needle in a pottle of hay.
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To split knotty timber use smooth wedges.
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To take the wrong sow by the ear.
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To woo is a pleasure in young men, a fault in old.
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To-day me, to-morrow thee.
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To-morrow comes never.
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Too far east is west.
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Too many cooks spoil the broth.
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Too much liberty spoils all.
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Too much of one thing is good for nothing.
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Touch a galled horse, and he will wince.
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Trade is the mother of money.
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Trade knows neither friends nor kindred.
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Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
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Trash and trumpery is the highway to beggary.
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Tread on a worm and it will turn.
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True praise takes root and spreads.
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Trust in God, and keep your powder dry.
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Trust not a broken staff.
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Trust not a horse's heel, nor a dog's tooth.
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Trust not still water nor a silent man.
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Truth hath a good face, but bad clothes.
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Truth is stranger than fiction.
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Truth lies in a well.
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Truth may be blamed, but it can't be shamed.
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Try your friend before you trust him.
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Two heads are better than one.
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Two in distress make sorrows less.
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Two of a trade seldom agree.
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Two wrongs will not make a right.
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Two's company and three's none.
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