Proverb Examples from around the world

Proverbs Starting with letter W - part 1
Full list:
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Wait for a month before you praise a horse, and for a year before you praise a woman.
Wait for the night before saying that the day has been beautiful.
Wait for years, daddy.
Wait long, strike fast.

Wait until it is night before saying it has been a fine day.
Wait until the tree has fallen before you jump over it.
Wait, is a hard word to the hungry.
Waiting for a rabbit to hit upon a tree and be killed in order to catch it.
Waiting is futile for whomever wants to kiss someone's backside.
Wake not a sleeping cat.
Wake not a sleeping dog.
Waking up earlier won't make the sun rise any quicker.
Walk like the cat around hot porridge.
Walk on your own lands.
Walk safe and slow to go far and well.
Walk slowly, you'll get further.
Walk softly but carry a big stick.
Walk softly, carry a big stick.
Walk straight and you will not fall.
Walk straight, my son - as the old crab said to the young crab.
Walk the walk and talk the talk.
Walk till the blood appears on the cheek, but not the seat on the brow.
Walk until the blood appears on the cheek, but not the sweat on the brow.
Walk with your slippers until you can find your shoes.
Walls are the notebooks of fools.
Walls have ears, and little pots too.
Walls have ears, bottles have mouths.
Walls have ears, paper sliding doors have eyes.
Walls have ears.
Walls have mice and mice have ears.
Walls have mice, mice have ears.
Walls sink and dunghills rise.
Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.
Want a thing long enough, and you don't.
Want all lose all.
Want and necessity break faith and oaths.
Want is the mother of industry.
Want of variety leads to satiety.
Wanting to eat a crispbake with someone.
Wanton kittens make sober cats.
War appears pleasant to those who have never experienced it.
War begun, hell unchained.
War does not long for one man.
War ends nothing.
War gives no opportunity for repeating a mistake.
War has no eyes.

War is a disaster for winner and loser alike.
War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.
War is pleasant to those who have not tried it.
War is sweet to him who does not go to it.
War is to a man what bed is to a woman.
War makes robbers, and peace hangs them.
War makes thieves, and peace hangs them.
War will feed on itself.
War with all the world, and peace with England.
Warm a frozen snake and it will be the first to bite you.
Warm bed, cold food.
Warm food, warm friendships.
Warm water never forgets that it was once cold.
Warmth is great while coldness licks the back of the neck.
Wars are caused by women and priests.
Was, flax, and tin; much in and little in.
Wash a dog, comb a dog, still a dog remains a dog.
Wash your hands in the flowing Ganges.
Wash your hands often, your feet seldom, and your head never.
Waste makes want.
Waste not, want not.
Wasting is a bad habit, saving is a sure income.
Wasting time is stealing from oneself.
Watch out for a bad woman and never trust a good one.
Watch out for the dog that doesn't bark and the man who says nothing.
Watch out for the unexpected mushroom.
Watch the faces of those who bow low.
Watching women is labour in vain.
Water after does not quench a fire at hand.
Water always finds a way out.
Water and milk do not mix.
Water and words are easy to pour but impossible to recover.
Water beneath the bridge.
Water by Saint John's (celebration) takes oil and doesn't give bread.
Water can do without fishes, fishes cannot do without water.
Water can float a boat or sink it.
Water does not run under a lying stone.
Water does not stick to the mountain, and vengeance does not stick to a big heart.
Water does not trickle out of his hand.
Water flows, but rocks remain.
Water for oxen, wine for kings.
Water from far away is no good for a fire close by.
Water gives, water takes away.
Water has seeped under her skin.
Water in the mouth before eating; water in the eyes when the bill comes.
Water is in the jug, yet we're wandering around with parched lips.
Water is muddy at the fountainhead.
Water is past his head.
Water is the oldest salve.
Water is the strongest drink; it drives mills.
Water never loses its way.
Water on the leaf of a yam plant.
Water past will not turn the mill.
Water quenches the thirst but does not teach you how to sing.
Water teaches us to weep, wine teaches us to sing.
Water that has reached its level does not flow.
Water that is being 'chopped' will not be cut.
Water washes everything.
Water will always take the form of the vase it fills.
Water you are not going to drink, let it run.
Water(water drops) cuts through stone.
Water, smoke, and a vicious woman, drive men out of the house.
Waves will rise on silent water.
We admire what we do not understand.
We ain't what we want to be; we ain't what we gonna be; but thank God, we ain't what we was.
We all end up in a single bed sooner or later.
We all have a little of physician and madman.
We all have something of a doctor, a poet and a fool.
We all like lamb; each has a different way of cooking it.
We all refer to that of which we know most.
We all see the same sun, but we don't eat the same meal.
We all will die, but our tombs will differ.
We are all a long time dead.
We are all Adam's children, but silk makes the difference.
We are all equal before death.
We are all made of the same clay, but not from the same mold.
We are all on this earth, we can't get off so get on.
We are all schlemiels.
We are as the king, only not as rich.
We are born; we die.

We are both carriers, and shall meet on the road.
We are both queens, so who will hang out the laundry?.
We are dust and shadow' (, Carmina, Book IV, 7, 16).
We are glad to have what we have.
We are no more than candles burning in the wind.
We are not born for ourselves alone.
We are not disposed to study much after heavy meals.
We are not roasting, and already we are basting.
We are not yet roasting, and already we make sops in the pan.
We are the authors of our own disasters.
We are too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet.
We are usually the best men when in the worst health.
We beat the sack and mean the miller.
We became gravediggers but nobody dies anymore.
We become wiser as we grow older.
We benefit by affliction.
We can accustom ourselves to anything.
We can enjoy nothing without some one to share the pleasure.
We can study until old age and still not finish.
We cannot all be Pope of Rome.
We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.
We can't always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
We come and cry and that is life, we cry and go and that is death.
We conquer and are conquered in our turn.
We covet not that of the existence of which we are ignorant.
We decide our affairs, then we rest them with God.
We do in haste what we repent at leisure.
We do not inherit the land from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.
We do not know what is good until we have lost it.
We do not walk on our legs, but on our will.
We don't kill a pig every day.
We easily believe that which we hope for.
We easily give advice to others.
We expiate in old age the follies of our youth.
We find much ingratitude, and create more.
We forget even incense in easy times; come hard times, we embrace the Buddha's feet.
We forgive the bad it is for our health due to how good it tastes.
We give and take in turn.
We give to the rich, and take from the poor.
We gladly feast on those who would subdue us' (motto of ).
We hang little thieves, and let great ones escape.
We hang little thieves, and take off our hats to great ones.
We hate delays by others, but sometimes it makes us wise.
We hate the man whom we have wronged.
We hate whom we have injured.
We have all been fools in our time.
We have fallen off the horse, but we have not fallen from nobility.
We have never seen the earth show her teeth.
We have no son, and yet are giving him a name.
We have not inherited this land from our ancestors; rather we have borrowed it from our children.
We have not saddled and yet we are riding.
We have not yet saddled, and are already mounted.
We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
We have quite enough to do weeding our own garden.
We invited the bald man to keep us company; he uncovered his.
We judge of the present from the past. The boy and the wolf.].
We keep an eye on the scorpion and the serpent, but we do not watch out for the millipede.
We knock in jest, and it is opened in earnest.
We know the true worth of a thing when we have lost it.
We know the worth of a thing when we have lost it.
We know what we have, but not what we shall get.
We learn by teaching.
We learn little from victory, but a great deal from defeat.
We learn little from victory, much from defeat.
We learn not for school but for life.' (Original quotation 's is 'Non vitae, sed scholae discimus').
We lessen our wants by lessening our desires.
We let him in, and now he shows us the door.
We let him in, he brought his donkey along.
We live more by fashion than common sense.
We lose the certain things, while we seek the uncertain ones.
We make big promises to avoid little presents.
We may give advice, but we cannot give conduct.
We miss people when we are separated from them.
We must convince by reason, not prescribe by tradition.
We must eat a peck of dirt before we die.
We must eat and drink though every tree were a gallows.
We must have reasons for speech but we need none for silence.
We must learn to walk before we can run.
We must live as we can, not as we would wish.
We must not expect everything, everywhere, and from everybody.
We must sow even after a bad harvest.
We must suffer much, or die young.
We must take the bad with the good.

We need not friends if Providence smiles on us.
We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
We never profit by the gifts of the wicked.
We often need someone smaller than ourselves.
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean,but the ocean would be less without that drop.
We pardon faults in youth.
We pay when old for the excesses of youth.
We perish by permitted things.
We praised the bride, and she was found pregnant.
We receive nothing with so much reluctance as advice.
We shall never be younger.
We shall see, as the blind man said.
We should eat to live, not live to eat.
We should trust more to our eyesight than to our ears.
We sifted our flour and hung up our sifter.
We sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind.
We start as fools and become wise through experience.
We start to die when we are born, and the end depends on the beginning.
We tell them it is a bull, they say milk it.
We tend to be perfect. That's why when we make mistakes we are hard on ourselves.
We traded in shrouds; people stopped dying.
We trust what we see rather than what we hear.
We used to live and spill tears, now we live and build happiness.
We were born to die anyhow.
We will be grateful to flowers only if they have born fruits.
We will be known by the tracks we leave behind.
We will fly that hawk when his pinions are grown.
We will ride that colt when he is grown to wear a saddle.
We will stay longer dead than poor.
We won the war, but lost peace.
Weaklings never forgive their enemies.
Wealth belongs to the person who enjoys it and not to the one who keeps it.
Wealth can give legs to the cripple, beauty to the ugly, and sympathy to tears.
Wealth conquered Rome after Rome had conquered the world.
Wealth diminishes with usage; learning increases with use.
Wealth gets in the way of wisdom.
Wealth is both an enemy and a friend.
Wealth is but dung, useful only when spread about.
Wealth is but dung, useful only when spread.
Wealth is like hair in the nose: it hurts to be separated whether from a little or from a lot.
Wealth is not his who makes it, but his who enjoys it.
Wealth is protected and poverty is assisted by concord.
Wealth lightens not the heart and care of man.
Wealth makes many friends. Proverbs 19:4.
Wealth makes worship.
Wealth not acquired by our own labours, but inherited.
Wealth, like an index, reveals the character of men.
Weapons, women, and locks must be guarded at all times.
Wear no sword at kinsman's board.
Wear not boots too big for your feet.
Wear not out your welcome.
Weather, husbands, and sons come as you take them.
Weather, wind, women, and fortune change like the moon.
Weave in faith and God will find the thread.
Weaving a net is better than praying for fish at the edge of the water.
Wedlock is a padlock.
Wedlock rides in the saddle and repentance on the crupper.
Weeds grow fast.
Weeds last the season.
Weeds never die out.
Weeds never die.
Weeds never perish.
Weeds want no sowing.
Weeping bride, laughing wife, laughing bride, weeping wife.
Weeping does not help at the marketplace.
Weeping makes the heart grow lighter.
Weeping washes the face.
Weeping will follow a long delight.
Weight and measure save a man toil.
Weighty work must be done with few words.
Welcome is the best cheer.
Welcome, misfortune, if you come alone.
Well begun is half done.
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Well fed but ill taught.
We'll never know the worth of water till the well go dry.
Well started is half won.
Well water is not an enemy of spring water.
Well-being through harmony.
Well-done outlives death.
Well-married is when you have no mother-in-law and no sister-in-law.
Well-regulated charity begins with one's self.
Went in one ear and out the other.
Went to get wool, but returned sheared.
Went to the government's treasury.
Were a woman rules the house, the devil is serving-man.
We're alive for the lack of shroud.
We're all in the same boat.
Were everyone to sweep in front of his own house, every street would be clean.
Were fools silent they would pass for wise.
Were fools silent, they would pass for wise.
We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.
Were I a hatter, men would come into the world without heads.
Were if not for 'if' and 'but,' we should all be rich for ever.
We're in the same boat.

Were it a wolf it would spring at your throat.
Were it not for hope the heart would break.
Were the sky to fall, not an earthen pot would be left whole.
Wet fingerwork/With the wet finger' (cfr. Germ. 'Fingerspitzengef?hl').
Wet kisses are the messengers of the heart.
We've arrived, and to prove it we're here.
We've qualified for the World Cup, Go and compete.
What a cow eats a calf drinks.
What a fool can spoil, ten wise men cannot repair.
What a fool does in the end, the wise do in the beginning.
What a fool does in the end, the wise man does in the beginning.
What a man does by the agency of another is his own act.
What a man suffers is the punishment of his tongue.
What a man thinks up for himself, his worst enemy couldn't wish for him.
What a monk thinks he dares to do.
What a neighbor gets is not lost.
What a prostitute earns she calls presents from her husband's friends.
What a story these old walls could tell.
What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. (A lie will always spawn a bigger lie.).
What a woman wills God wills.
What an elder sees sitting; the young can't see standing.
What belongs to the ravens is never drowned.
What bird so white as mine? says the crow.
What blossoms beautifully, withers fast.
What breaks in a moment may take years to mend.
What burns, cures and what is tight, holds.
What can a beautician do for a stern face?!.
What can you do with a good cow that gives a lot of milk and then kicks the bucket over?.
What can you expect from a pig but a grunt?.
What cannot be cured must be endured.
What can't be alter'd must be borne, not blamed.
What can't be cured, must be endured.
What children hear their parents say by the fireside, they repeat in the highway.
What Christ does not take the exchequer takes.
What comes from The Ever Living One will go to him.
What comes from the fife goes back to the drum.
What comes from the heart, goes to the heart.
What comes out of one mouth goes into a hundred others.
What comes out of the mouth has lost its master.
What comes seldom, comes sharp.
What comes singing, leaves whistling.
What costs little is little esteemed.
What costs nothing is worth nothing.
What cures Sancho makes Martha sick.
What cures the liver harms the spleen.
What does a donkey know about the life of a nightingale?.
What does not happen in a year may happen in a moment.
What does not kill, fattens.
What does not poison, fattens.
What does one hand have? Two hands make a sound. (You can't get a clapping sound by a single hand).
What does the blind man know of the beauty of the tulip?.
What does the moon care if the dogs bay at her?.
What does the tortoise care for flies?.
What doesn't have any remedy is no longer a problem.
What doesn't kill, fattens.
What doesn't kill, hardens.
What else would the cat's son do, except kill a mouse?.
What everybody says must be true.
What eyes don't see, heart doesn't hurt.
What fell off the cart, is as good as gone.
What fills the eye fills the heart.
What flares up fast, extinguishes soon.
What force cannot do ingenuity may.
What forgets is the axe, but the tree that has been axed will never forget.
What God haith joined together, let no man put asunder.
What goes around comes around.
What goes around, comes around.
What goes down usually comes up.
What goes up must come down.
What good is a golden gallows if they are going to hang you.
What good is giving sugar to the dead?.
What good is honor when you're starving?.

What good serve candle and glasses, if the owl does not want to see.
What greater crime than loss of time?.
What grows makes no noise.
What H?nschen (diminutive, little Hans) didn't learn, (grown-up) Hans will never learn.
What harm is there in a good word? It costs nothing.
What harm is there in making a trial?.
What has been blown away, cannot be found again.
What has been is gone.
What has benefited one has destroyed others.
What has horns must not be hid in a sack.
What has horns will gore.
What has not been, may be.
What has this to do with the matter?.
What have you learned young, you'll find useful when you are old.
What have you to hide from someone who shows you his arse?.
What I believe in is all that is mine.
What I do against my will cannot be said to be my own act.
What I do not know will not keep me warm.
What I see with my eyes I can guess with my fingers.
What I wished for happened not -- What God willed happened to a dot.
What in the heart that on the tongue.
What is a big shot except a little shot that kept on shooting.
What is acquired easily is lost easily.
What is another's always pines for its master.
What is another's always sighs for its master.
What is bad for one is good for another.
What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.
What is born crooked, late ou never gets straightened.
What is bought is cheaper than a gift.
What is bred in the bone won't out of the flesh.
What is brought by the wind will be carried away by the wind.
What is cheap is costly.
What is cooked home is eaten home.
What is done cannot be undone.
What is done no longer needs to be done.
What is done, is done for this time.
What is enough was never little.
What is given by the land should return to the land.
What is good ends quickly.
What is good for the buffalo is good for the cow.
What is good is not necessarily beautiful.
What is good to know is difficult to learn.
What is good to Russian, is death for German(Chinese).
What is got by begging is dearly bought.
What is gotten over the devil's back is spent under his belly.
What is hidden in snow, is revealed at thaw.
What is impossible to change is best to forget.
What is in the marrow is hard to take out of the bone.
What is in the stomach carries what is in the head.
What is in use, wants no excuse.
What is inflated too much, will burst into fragments.
What is it to be a gentleman? Firstly it is to be thankful and secondly to complain.
What is learned in the cradle is carried to the grave.
What is learned in the cradle lasts till the grave.
What is learned in the cradle lasts to the grave.
What is learned in youth is carved in stone.
What is learnt in the cradle lasts to the grave.
What is lighter than a feather? The wind! Lighter than the wind? The spirit! Lighter than the spirit? The woman! Lighter than the woman? Nothing at all!.
What is long spoken of happens at last.
What is lost in the fire must be sought in the ashes.
What is medicine to some, is bitter poison to others.
What is mine is my own; my brother Juan's is his and mine.
What is much desired is not believed when it comes.
What is new cannot be true.
What is new is always fine.
What is new is pleasing and what is old is satisfying.
What is no sin, is no shame.
What is not in the documents does not exist' (From Roman Law).
What is not taken by the Church is taken by the Exchequer.
What is not urgent must be done quickly in order to take care of the urgent things calmly.
What is not yours always chirps for its master.
What is now top of the mast, will be firewood soon.
What is ours comes to our hands.
What is past is dead.
What is permitted us we least desire.
What is play to the cat is death to the mouse.
What is play to the strong is death to the weak.
What is right for the one is reasonable for the other.
What is said is said, and no sponge can wipe it out.
What is said over the dead lion's body could not be said to him alive.
What is said over the dead lion's body, could not be said to him alive.
What is salt to tasteless food, what is a word to a foolish head?.
What is Saul doing among the prophets?' (a fifth wheel).
What is seldom is wonderful.
What is sport to the boy is the death of the bird.
What is sport to the cat is death to the mouse.
What is sweet in the mouth is not always good in the stomach.
What is sweet never tastes sour.
What is taken for oneself is usually not a small piece.
What is the connection with Alexander's moustache?.
What is the use of a big wide world when your shoes are too small?.
What is the use of running when we are not on the right road?.
What is the use of running when we are on the wrong road?.
What is the use of running when you're on the wrong road?.
What is the world to a man when his wife is a widow.
What is there that love will not achieve?.
What is to be, can't be avoided.
What is told in the ear of a man is often heard a hundred miles away.
What is told into a man's ear is often heard a hundred miles away.
What is too high, that let fly.
What is too much is not good even with bread.
What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight.
What is true is no more sure than the probable.
What is true is not always probable.
What is truth?' Pontius Pilate to Jesus.
What is unclearly said is unclearly thought.
What is useful cannot be base.
What is viler than to be laughed at?.
What is whispered in your ear is often heard a hundred miles off.
What is whispered in your ear tell not to your husband.
What is worth receiving is worth returning.
What is worthwhile must needs be difficult.
What is wrong today won't be right tomorrow.
What is wrong to-day won't be right to-morrow.
What isn't yet can still become.
What itches in the daughter's skirt, itches also in her mother's.
What keeps out the cold keeps out the heat.
What lay hidden under the snow cometh to light at last.
What limit is there in love?.

What little Hans didn't learn, big Hans doesn't know.
What little Jack does not learn, big John will never.
What little Johnny has not learned, big John will not know.
What lowers itself is ready to fall.
What Manchester says today, the rest of England says tomorrow.
What Master Jacky does not learn, Mr. John never knows.
What Nature do not concede Salamanca will not provide for.

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


Full list:
A  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  B  2  3  4  C  2  D  2  3  E  2  3  4  F  2  3  G  2  H  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  I  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  J  K  L  2  M  2  3  N  2  3  4  O  2  3  4  P  2  Q  R  S  2  3  T  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  U  V  W  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  Y  2  Z