Proverb Examples from around the world

Proverbs Starting with letter D - part 1
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Damage makes you wise.
Damage suffered makes you knowing, but seldom rich.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Dance to the tune that is played.
Dancing at the carnival, baptizing on All Saints Day.
Dancing in Two Weddings.

Danger and delight grow on one stalk.
Danger is next neighbor to security.
Danger past, God forgotten.
Dangerous enemies will meet again in narrow streets.
Dare to be wise.' (Horace) (Motto of the University of New Brunswick).
Dare to steal the minaret but first prepare the sack for hiding it.
Daringly dared, half of it won.
Darkness and night are mothers of thought.
Darkness conceals the hippopotamus.
Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.
Das Eisen schmieden, solange es heiss ist.
Daughter Annuska is good, if(when) praised by her mother and granny.
Daughter-in-law hates mother-in-law.
Daughters are brittle ware.
Daughters are easy to rear, but hard to marry.
Daughters may be seen but not heard.
Dawn does not come to awaken a man a second time.
Dawn does not come twice to awaken a man.
Dawn is a friend of muses.
Dawn is the friend of the muses.
Day has its eyes, night has its ears.
Day will not break thanks to the cackling of the chicken.
Daylight will come, though the rooster do not crow.
Dead dogs don't bite.
Dead horses can't kick.
Dead king, new king. (That's not really a good translation).
Dead lions do not roar.
Dead man is hard to wake.
Dead men do not bite.
Dead men tell no tales.
Dead news, like dead love, has no phoenix in its ashes.
Dead song-birds make a sad meal.
Dead songbirds make a sad meal.
Dead with tea and dead without it.
Deal the cards, and learn to play.
Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.
Dear God: You do such wonderful things for complete strangers; why not for me?.
Dear is cheap, and cheap is dear.
Dearness gluts.

Dearth foreseen never came.
Death always comes too early or too late.
Death answers before it is asked.
Death brings to a level spades and sceptres.
Death cancels everything but truth.
Death carries on its shoulders a heavy Tsar just as easily as a light beggar.
Death closes all doors.
Death considers not the fairest forehead.
Death defies the doctor.
Death does not blow a trumpet.
Death does not come free of charge, for it costs us our life.
Death does not look at your teeth.
Death does not sound a trumpet.
Death does not take the old but the ripe.
Death has no modesty.
Death has the key to open the miser's chest.
Death is God's broom.
Death is a black camel that lies down at every door. Sooner or later you must ride the camel.
Death is a black camel which kneels at every man's gate.
Death is a giant against whom even the Tsars must draw weapons.
Death is a shadow that always follows the body.
Death is always news.
Death is blind.
Death is certain, life is not.
Death is common to all.
Death is in the pot.
Death is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
Death is never at a loss for occasions.
Death is not found behind mountains but right behind our shoulders.
Death is preferable.
Death is the black camel that kneels before every door.
Death is the bride of life.
Death is the great leveller.
Death is the key that will open a miser's coffers.
Death is the last doctor.
Death is the poor man's best physician.

Death is the reaper who doesn't take a midday nap.
Death keeps no almanack.
Death keeps no calendar.
Death makes no appointment.
Death makes us equal in the grave but not in eternity.
Death on your feet is better than life on your knees.
Death pays all debts.
Death rides a fast camel.
Death rights everything.
Death said to the man with his throat cut, 'How ugly you look.'.
Death settles sleepdebts.
Death snatches away the most deserving, and leaves the wicked.
Death spares neither Pope nor beggar.
Death squares all accounts.
Death takes the poor man's cow and the rich man's child.
Death to the wolf is life to the lambs.
Death was afraid of him because he had the heart of a lion.
Death will find me alive.
Debt is beautiful only after it is repaid.
Debt severs love.
Debtors are liars.
Debts are like children, the smaller they are the louder they scream.
Debts are like children; the smaller they are the more noise they make.
Debts are like women, once you have them you can't get rid of them.
Debts make the thief.
Deceit always returns to its master.
Deceit and treachery make no man rich.
Deceit is in haste, but honesty can wait a fair leisure.
Deceive me about the price but not about the goods.
Deceive not thy physician, confessor, or lawyer.
Deceive the rich and powerful if you will, but don't insult them.
Deceive the rich and powerful, if you will, but don't insult them.
Deceiving a deceiver is no knavery.
Declared dead live longer!.
Deeds are fruits, words are leaves.
Deeds are fruits, words are only leaves.
Deeds are love, and not fine phrases.
Deeds are love, and not sweet words.
Deeds not words are required.
Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom.
Deep down all men are alike -- and that is the problem.
Deep draughts, and long morning slumbers, soon make a man poor.
Deep rivers move with silent majesty, shallow brooks are noisy.
Deep swimmers and high climbers seldom die in their beds.
Deer-hunter, waste not your arrow on the hare.
Defeat isn't bitter if you don't swallow it.
Defend me from chickens, for dogs I'm not afraid of.
Defend me, Lord, from my friends, because from enemies I can defend myself.
Defer not till to-morrow what may be done to-day.

Deferred is not annulled.
Deficiencies come by the kilo and go by the gram.
Definition: Fail seven times, and succeed the eighth. (Keep trying and you will succeed.).
Delays are dangerous.
Deliberate before you act.
Deliberate often -- decide once.
Deliberate often--decide once.
Deliberate slowly, execute quickly.
Deliberately.
Depend on others and you'll go hungry.
Depend on your walking stick, not on other people.
Dependence on another is perpetual disappointment.
Deprive a mirror of its silver and even the czar won't see his face.
Derived from 'The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life.' in Shakespere's.
Descartes' most famous statement (Cogito Ergo Sum in Latin).
Desert and reward seldom keep company.
Desire beautifies what is ugly.
Desire first, death afterwards.
Desire is the father of thought.
Desire is worse then compulsion.
Desire nothing that would bring disgrace.
Desire of God and desire of man are two.
Desire of glory is the last garment that even wise men put off.
Desire won't fade with embraces.
Desires are nourished by delays.
Despair doubles our strength.
Despair gives courage to a coward.
Desperate cuts must have desperate cures.
Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.
Desperate ills require desperate remedies.
Desperate maladies require desperate remedies.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Desperation is the mistress of the impossible.
Despise learning and make everyone pay for your ignorance.
Despise not a small wound or a poor kinsman.
Despise not a small wound, a poor kinsman, or an humble enemy.
Despise not the weak: the gnat stings the eyes of the lion.
Despise school and remain a fool.
Despise your enemy and you will soon be beaten.
Destroy the lion while he is but a whelp.
Deviate an inch, lose a thousand miles.
Devil quoting scripture.
Devil take the hindmost.
Devils have more than twelve apostles.
Devils must be driven out with devils.
Diamond cut diamond.
Dictators ride to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount.
Did the flour go to your mouth.
Diet cures more than doctors.
Diet cures more than the lancet.
Differences between husband and wife should not be aired in the marketplace.
Different fields, different grasshoppers; different seas, different fish.
Different men like different things.
Different pursuits suit different ages.
Different strokes for different folks.
Different times different manners.
Dig a well before you are thirsty.
Dig a well every day to drink water every day.
Dig the well before you are thirsty.
Dig your well before you're thirsty.
Diligence is a great teacher.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.
Diligent work makes a skilful workman.
Dine with a friend but do not do business with him.
Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family.
Dine with arrogance, sleep with shame.

Dios tarda pero no olvida -- God delays but doesn't forget.
Dirty clothes one washes it at home.
Dirty water cannot be washed.
Dirty water does not wash clean.
Dirty water will quench fire.
Disappears like a fart into Sahara.
Disappears without trace.
Discover a well before you are thirsty.
Discreet stops make speedy journeys.
Discretion in speech is more important than eloquence.
Discretion is a way of hiding what you cannot help.
Discretion is the better part of valor.
Discretion is the better part of valour.
Diseased genitals must keep to themselves.
Diseases are the interest of pleasures.
Diseases are the visits of God.
Disgrace is like the grain of a tree trunk -- time makes it bigger instead of erasing it.
Disgraced like a man whose own pet bites him.
Disputing and borrowing cause grief and sorrowing.
Dissemblers oftener deceive themselves than others.
Distance lends enchantment to the view.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder.
Distance tests a horse's strength; time reveals a marls character.
Distant hills look beautiful; near ones are ugly.
Distracted by what is far away, he does not see his nose.
Distrust is poison to friendship.
Divide and conquer.
Divide and govern.' Attributed to.
Divide and rule.
Divide to conquer.
Dividing the pelt of a bear not yet killed.
Divorce a young woman and you make another man happy.
Divorce is the sacrament of adultery.
Divorcing a wife is easy for a single guy.
Do a good deed and throw it into the sea.
Do as I say, not as I do.
Do as others do, and few will mock you.

Do as you would be done by.
Do as you would be done unto.
Do bears shit in the woods?.
Do business best when the wind's in the west.
Do everything at the right time and one day will seem like three.
Do for me and I will do for you.
Do good and care not to whom.
Do good and forget it; do ill and remember it.
Do good and then do it again.
Do good and throw it in the sea.
Do good and throw it into the sea -- if it is not appreciated by an ungrateful man, it will be appreciated by God.
Do good and throw it into the sea; if the fish don't know it, God will.
Do good because of tomorrow.
Do good if you expect to receive it.
Do good to a knave, and pray God he may not do the same to thee.
Do good without looking at whom.
Do good, and care not to whom.
Do ill, and expect the like.
Do it today! Tomorrow it might be forbidden.
Do it today, tomorrow it may be against the law.
Do little things now; so shall big things come to thee by and by asking to be done.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?.
Do no evil and have no fear.
Do not abstain from sowing for fear of the pigeons.
Do not act to spite someone else if it is damaging to yourself.
Do not add legs to the snake after you have finished drawing it.
Do not allow sins to get beyond creeping.
Do not allow the sheep to die for a halfpenny of tar.
Do not ask questions of fairy tales.
Do not bathe if there is no water.
Do not be in a hurry to tie what you cannot untie.
Do not be like a miser who saves for those who will bury him.
Do not be like the mosquito that bites the owner of the house.
Do not bite into the hand which feeds you.
Do not blame God for having created the tiger, but thank Him for not giving it wings.
Do not blame the sun for the darkness of the night.
Do not blow in the bear's ear.
Do not boast of your own endeavours.
Do not buy a carrier's ass, or marry an innkeeper's daughter.
Do not buy either the moon or the news, for in the end they will both come out.
Do not buy with your ears but with your eyes.
Do not call the forest that shelters you a jungle.
Do not call to a dog with a whip in your hand.
Do not change horses in the middle of the river.
Do not check the teeth of a horse given as a present.
Do not choose your wife at a dance, but in the field among the harvesters.
Do not choose your wife on your way to the church.
Do not compare a fly with an elephant.
Do not confide in your friend if he has other friends.

Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.
Do not count the eggs that are in the chicken's ass.
Do not cut down the tree that gives you shade.
Do not cut the bough you are sitting on.
Do not despise an insignificant enemy, nor a slight wound.
Do not dispose of the monkey's tail before he is dead.
Do not divide the spoil till the victory is won.
Do not do something that may only harm you in the future.
Do not draw your sword to kill a fly.
Do not dress in clothes made of leaves when going to put out a fire.
Do not drink from a well and throw a stone into it.
Do not drink poison to quench a thirst.
Do not dwell in a city whose governor is a physician.
Do not eat before you have fed your animal.
Do not eat your chicken and throw its feathers in the front yard.
Do not employ handsome servants.
Do not fall before you are pushed.
Do not forget little kindnesses and do not remember small faults.
Do not fret for news, it will grow old and you will know it.
Do not give an opinion until it is asked for.
Do not give the dog bread every time he wags his tail.
Do not halloo until you are out of the wood.
Do not have each foot on a different boat.
Do not hide your light under a bushel.
Do not insult the crocodile until you've crossed the river.
Do not judge by appearances; a rich heart may be under a poor coat.
Do not judge of the ship from the land.
Do not judge the dog by his hairs.
Do not judge your fellow man until you have stood in his place.
Do not judge your friend until you stand in his place.
Do not keep secret from your friend what your enemy already knows.
Do not kick away the canoe which helped you to cross the river.
Do not laugh at the fallen; you may find slippery roads ahead.
Do not lean on a worm-eaten staff.
Do not leave for tomorrow, things you can do today.
Do not leave to the morning the business of the evening.
Do not leave your host's house throwing mud in his well.
Do not lend your money to a great man.
Do not let grass grow on the path of friendship.
Do not let the cat watch over the bacon.
Do not light a fire that you cannot yourself put out.
Do not look for further good from good.
Do not look to the peaceful man for cudgels.
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
Do not lose honour through fear.
Do not make an elephant out of a fly.
Do not make jokes that cost more than a ruble.
Do not make me kiss, and you will not make me sin.
Do not make the dress before the child is born.

Do not make two devils of one.
Do not make yourself so big, you are not so small.
Do not measure another man's coat on your body.
Do not measure the timbers for your house in the forest.
Do not measure the wolf's tail till he is dead.
Do not measure up the wood before the tree is cut down.
Do not meddle in other people's family affairs.
Do not meet troubles half-way.
Do not mend your neighbor's fence before seeing to your own.
Do not mistake a goat's beard for a fine stallion's tail.
Do not prophesy to the man who can see further than you can.
Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather by your friends.
Do not protect yourself with a fence, but rather by your friends.
Do not push the river, it will flow by itself.
Do not put all your eggs in one basket.
Do not put in more warp than you can weave.
Do not put your spoon into the pot which does not boil for you.
Do not rake up old grievances.
Do not rear a bird of a bad breed.
Do not refuse the body what it asks for.
Do not rejoice at my grief, for when mine is told, yours will be new.
Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.
Do not respond to a barking dog.
Do not rest after dinner, but walk a mile.
Do not ridicule the thin-bearded when you yourself have no beard.
Do not say the first thing that comes to your mind.
Do not scare the birds you are going to shoot.
Do not search for a calf under an ox.
Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish your opinions.
Do not sell sun in July.
Do not ship all in one bottom.
Do not show a stick to a dog that has been beaten.
Do not sigh, for your enemy will hear and rejoice.
Do not slaughter a calf before its mother's eyes.
Do not speak of a rhinoceros if there is no tree nearby.
Do not speak of secret matters in a field that is full of little hills.
Do not spit into a well—it may be useful to drink water.
Do not spread your corn to dry at an enemy's door.
Do not stand in a dangerous place trusting in miracles.
Do not stand in a place of danger trusting in miracles.
Do not stay too long when the husband is not home.
Do not steal a loaf from him that kneads and bakes.
Do not strip before bedtime.
Do not talk Arabic in the house of a Moor.
Do not talk about a rhinoceros if there is no tree nearby.
Do not teach a learned person.
Do not tear down the east wall to repair the west.
Do not tell a friend anything you would conceal from an enemy.
Do not tell all that you know, don't believe all you hear, and don't do all that you can.

Do not tell secrets in front of servants.
Do not tell the man who is carrying you that he stinks.
Do not tell your secrets behind a wall or a hedge.
Do not throw a stone at the mouse and break the precious vase.
Do not throw pearls to swine.
Do not throw the arrow which will return against you.
Do not treat your loved one like a swinging door: you are fond of it but you push it back and forth.
Do not triumph before the victory.
Do not trust a person who claims to be honest, and never trust exaggerated friendliness.
Do not try to cook the goat's young in the goat's milk.
Do not try to make yourself so big, you are not so small.
Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend's forehead.
Do not use words that are too big for your mouth.
Do not wade where you see no bottom.
Do not wake sleeping dogs.
Do not walk in God's ways on someone else's behalf.
Do not walk into a snake pit with your eyes open.
Do not waste your time looking for soft ground to drive your spade in.
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.
Do not wrong or hate your neighbor for it is not he that you wrong but yourself.
Do right and fear no man.
Do something good and your neighbor will never know, do something bad and they will hear about it a hundred miles away.
Do the works, and learn to play.
Do today what you want ro postpone until tomorrow.
Do today what you want to postpone until tomorrow.
Do unto others as you would be done unto.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Do unto others as you would they should do unto you.
Do well and have well.
Do well the little things now; so shall great things come to thee by and by asking to be done.
Do what I say well, and not what I do ill.
Do what the friar says, and not what he does.
Do what the mullah says, but don't do what he does.
Do what thou doest. (Age quod agis.).
Do what you do', in the sense of 'Do well what you do', 'Do well in whatever you do' or 'Be serious in what you do.
Do what you ought, come what may.
Do what you want, but make sure you are first.
Do when ye may, or suffer ye the nay, in love 'tis the way.
Do when you do something', 'If you do something, do it well' see also 'Age quod agis.
Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Proverbs 26.12.
Do you speak English? (Meaning, Have you got any money?).
Do you want better bread than wheaten?.
Do you want to buy cheap? Buy of a needy fool.
Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak.
Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak.
Do your duty, come what may.
Doctor Luther's shoes do not fit every parish priest.
Doctors and gravediggers are partners.
Doctors are the signposts to heaven.
Doctors make the worst patients.
Doctors must be old and lawyers must be young.
Doctors purge the body, ministers the conscience, lawyers the purse.
Does the left hand chop off the right?.
Does your neighbor bore you? Lend him some money.
Does your neighbour love you? Lend him a sequin.
Dog does not eat dog.
Dog has to have its stomach full.
Dog won't eat dog.
Dog won't eat dog's meat.
Dogs bark at hose they don't know.
Dogs bark but caravan still moves on.

Dogs bark, but the caravan goes on.
Dogs bark, but the caravan keeps on.

These are Proverb Examples from around the world, some have been translated from their original language to english.


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