分類: Proverbs

Vice

Men’s evil manners live in brass.
—Alexandre Dumas Fils (1824-1895 French novelist and playwright)
The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.
—Socrates (ca. 470-399 B.C. Greek philosopher)
One sin opens the door for another.
—German proverb
When you choose the lesser of two evils, always remember that it is still an evil.
—Max Lerner (1902-1992 American journalist)
A flattering friend is your worst enemy.
—Danish proverb
The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.
—William Sharespear (1564-1616 British playwright and poet)
A friend that frowns is better than a smiling enemy.
—Suraine
A liar is not believed even though he tells the truth.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C. Roman statesman and orator)
Wealth is like seawater, the more we drink, the thirstier we become.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860 German philosopher)
As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion.
—Antisthenes (445-365 B.C. Greek philosopher)
An irritable man is like a hedgehog rolled up the wrong way, tormenting himself with his own prickles.
—Thomas Hood (1799-1845 British poet)
Anger is seldom without an argument, but seldom with a good one.
—Edward Frederick Hulifax (1881-1959 British politician)
The greater the man, the more restrained his anger.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso 43 B.C. – A.D.17 Roman poet)
Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.
—William Shakespeare (1564-1616 British playwright and poet)
Golden opportunities are nothing to laziness, but industry makes the commonest chance golden.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924 American author)

Virtue Ⅱ

No legacy is so rich as honesty.
—William Shakespeare (1564-1616 British playwright and poet)
To make your children capable of honesty is the beginning of education.
—John Ruskin (1819-1900 British writer and art critic)
We must make the world honest before we can honestly say to our children that honesty is the best policy.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950 British playwright)
He that hath lost his credit is dead to the world.
—George Herbert (1593-1633 British priest and poet)
Courage without conscience is a wild beast.
—Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899 American politician)
Physical bravery is an animal instinct, moral bravery is a much higher and truer courage.
—Stephen Phillips (1868-1915 British poet and dramatist)
Often the test of courage is not to die but to live.
—Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803 Italian dramatist and poet)
It is always time to do good.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931 American poet)
People must help one another; it is nature’s law.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695 French fabulist)
True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one’s own the suffering and joys of others.
—Andre Paul Guillaume Gide (1869-1951 French novelist and essayist)
The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.
—Homer (9th Century B.C. Greek poet)
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862 American author)
He that does good for good’s sake seeks neither praise nor reward, though sure of both at last.
—William Penn (1644-1718 British philosopher)
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
—Mother Teresa (1910-1997 Indian Roman Catholic nun)
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
—Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871 British astronomer)

Virtue Ⅰ

The sum of behaviour is to retain a man’s own dignity, without intruding upon the liberty of others.
—Francis Bacon (1561-1626 British philosopher and author)
Respect yourself if you would have others respect you.
—Gratian (359-383 Roman Emperor)
He who allows himself to be insulted, deserves to be.
—Frances Crofts Cornford (1886-1960 British poetess)
They can do all because they think they can.
—Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro 70-19 B.C. Roman poet)
It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability.
—Samuel Johnson (1709-1784 British poet and essayist)
Without self-confidence we are as babies in the cradles.
—Virginia Woolf (1882-1941 British writer)
Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.
—Socrates (469-399 B.C. Greek philosopher)
Content is more than a kingdom.
—English proverb
A man who finds no satisfaction in himself, seeks for it in vain elsewhere.
—La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680 French writer)
Only those who have the patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things.
—Friedrich Shiller (1759-1805 German poet and playwright)
Forgive thyself little, and others much.
—Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881 British satirist)
To err is human; to forgive divine.
—Alexander Pope (1688-1744 British poet)
Pride goes before a fall.
—Old Testament
Wherever true valour is found, true modesty will there abound.
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911 British poet and dramatist)
No matter in what high esteem you are held, always have the courage to say to yourself: “I am always ignorant.”
—Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936 Russian physiologist)

Morality and Character

Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.
—William Shakespeare (1564-1616 British playwright and poet)
Labour to keep alive in your breast that spark of celestial fire, called conscience.
—George Washington (1732-1799 American 1st President)
Virtue alone is true nobility.
—Homer (9th Century B.C. Greek poet)
Fortune is the companion of virtue.
—Thomas Hardy (1840-1928 British novelist and poet)
Happiness is not the end of life, character is.
—Henry Word Beecher (1813-1887 American clergyman)
Morality is not really the doctrine of how to make ourselves happy but of how we are to be worthy of happiness.
—Immanuel Kant (1724-1804 German philosopher)
Character is what you are in the dark.
—Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899 American evangelist)
Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832 German poet and playwright)
True merit is like a river, the deeper it is the less noise it makes.
—Edsard Frederick Halifax (1881-1959 British politician)
Virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed.
—Francis Bacon(1561-1626 British philosopher and author)
Not the whiteness of years, but of morals, is praiseworthy.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805 German poet and playwright)
Character contributes to beauty. It fortifies a woman as her youth fades.
—Jacqueline Bisset (1944- British actress)
No morality can be founded on authority, even if the authority were divine.
—Alfred Jules Ayer (1910-1989 British philosopher)
Character builds slowly, but it can be torn down with incredible swiftness.
—Faith Baldwin (1893-1978 American novelist)
Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the oftener and more steadily we reflect on them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.
—Immanuel Kant (1724-1804 German philosopher)

Speech

Language is the dress of thought.
—Anonymous
You are not skilled at speaking: you are only incapable of keeping silent.
—Epicharmus (ca. 540-450 B.C. Greek dramatist)
A bad meal can be redeemed by good conversation, but a good meal can be irretrievably ruined by bad conversation.
—Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762 British writer)
Kind words are the music of the world.
—Frederick Fabre (1814-1863 British theologian)
Kind words don’t wear the tongue.
—Anonymous
Good words cost nothing but are worth much.
—Thomas Fuller (1608-1661 British churchman)
Plain speech is better than much wit.
—Anonymous
From hearing comes wisdom, and from speaking repentance.
—Italian proverb
Least said, soonest mended.
—Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832 British historical novelist and poet)
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790 American politician and scientist)
We have two ears and only one tongue in order that we may hear more and speak less.
—Alexander Pope (1688-1744 British poet)
There are two kinds of cleverness, and both are priceless. One consists of thinking of a bright remark in time to say it. The other consists of thinking of it in time not to say it.
—The English Digest
He knows most who speaks least.
—Anonymous
A wise man thinks before he speaks, but a fool speaks and then thinks of what he has been saying.
—French proverb
It often shows a fine command of language to say nothing.
—The Irish Digest

Age

Educators say that the character of a child is determined between the ages of two and five. It certainly is.
—Rodman
Childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day.
—John Milton(1608-1674 British poet)
What is learned in the cradle is carried to the grave.
—John Ruskin(1819-1900 British writer and art critic)
If you do not learn to think when you are young, you may never learn.
—Thomas Alva Edison(1847-1931 American inventor)
Youth, once gone, is gone; deeds, let escape, are never to be done.
—Robert Browning(1812-1889 British poet)
Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay.
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow(1807-1882 American poet)
Young a gambler old beggar.
—John Ruskin(1819-1900 British writer, art critic)
Youth lives on hope, old age on remembrance.
—Oliver Goldsmith(1728-1774 British writer)
At 20 years of age the will reigns; at 30 the wit; at 40 the judgement.
—Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790 American politician and scientist)
Middle age is when your narrow waist and broad mind begin to change places.
—Ben Klitzner
Oh, only a free soul will never grow old.
—Burton Richter(1931- American physicist)
A man is not old as long as he is seeking something. A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.
—John Barrymore(1882-1942 American actor)
My old age judges more charitably and thinks better of mankind than my youth ever did.
—George Santayana(1863-1952 American philosopher and essayist)
In youth the days are short and the years are long, in old age the years are short and the days are long.
—Nikita Ivanovich Panin(1718-1783 Russian politician)
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero(106-43 B.C. Roman statesman and orator)

Time

Time and tide wait for no man.
—Alexander Pope(1688-1744 British poet)
Seize the day.
—Horace(65-8 B.C. Roman poet)
He who neglects the present moment throws away all he has.
—Friedrich Schiller(1759-1805 German poet and playwright)
The little minutes, humble they be, make the mighty ages of eternity.
—Robert Fletcher(British writer)
One today is worth two tomorrows.
—Francis Quarles(1592-1644 British poet)
Gather your rosebuds while you may, /Old time is still a-flying; /And this same flower that smiles today, /Tomorrow will be dying.
—Robert Herrick(1591-1674 British poet)
Write it on your heart that every day is the best of the year.
—Rolph Waldo Emerson(1830-1882 American essayist and poet)
Procrastination is the thief of time.
—Edward Young(1683-1765 British poet)
Our costliest expenditure is time.
—Theophrastus(370-287 B.C. Greek philosopher and naturalist)
Remember that time is money. Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.
—Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790 American politician and scientist)
Age is a matter of feeling, not of years.
—Glenn Curtiss(1878-1930 American aviation pioneer and inventor)
Ordinary people merely think how they shall spend their time; a man of talent tries to use it.
—Arthur Schopenhauer(1788-1860 German philosopher)
Let bygones be bygones.
—Homer(9th Century B.C. Greek poet)
When all else is lost, the future still remains.
—Christian Nestell Bovee(1820-1904 American author)
The golden age is before us, not behind us.
—Mark Twain(Samuel Langhorne Clemens 1835-1910 American author)

Wealth and Money

The love of money is the root of all evil.
—New Testament
Men do not desire merely to be rich, but to be richer than other men.
—John Stuart Mill(1806-1873 British philosopher and economist)
The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweet.
—John Gay(1865-1732 British poet and dramatist)
Economy is in itself a source of great revenue.
—Lucius Annaeus Seneca(ca. 4 B.C. – A.D. 65 Roman philosopher and statesman)
I would rather have my people laugh at my economies than weep for my extravagance.
—Oscar II(1829-1907 the King of Sweden and Norway)
There are only two families in the world, as a grandmother of mine used to say, the haves and the have-nots.
—Miguel Cervantes(1547-1616 Spanish novelist)
Creditors have better memories than debtors.
—Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790 American politician and scientist)
Money makes the mare go.
—James Sanford(1917-1998 American politician and educationist)
Few rich men own their property. The property owns them.
—Robert Ingersoll(1833-1899 American lawer and “the Great Agnostic”)
Riches serve a wise man but command a fool.
—Pierre Charron(1541-1603 French philosopher)
If your Riches are yours, why don’t you take them with you to the other world?
—Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790 American politician and scientist)
All good things are cheap, all bad things are very dear.
—Henry David Thoreau(1817-1862 American author)
All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.
—Voltaire(Francois Marie Arouet 1694-1778 French writer)
Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace of happiness.
—Henrik Ibsen(1828-1906 Norwegian playwright and poet)
The wealth of the mind is the only true wealth.
—Hesiod(8th Century B.C. Greek poet)

Health

The first wealth is health.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson(1830-1882 American essayist and poet)
Health is better than wealth.
—John Ray(1627-1705 British naturalist)
He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.
—Arabic proverb
A healthy mind is in a healthy body.
—Juvenal(ca. 60-140 Roman poet and author of the Satires)
Health is like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.
—Josh Billings(1818-1885 American humorist)
Sickness is felt, but health not at all.
—Thomas Fuller(1608-1661 British churchman)
Good health is a crollary of having good habits.
—Anonymous
Early to bed and early to rise. makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
—Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790 American politician and scientist)
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
—Anonymous
Bitter pills may have blessed effects.
—Anonymous
Diseases of the soul are more dangerous than those of the body.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero(106-43 B.C. Roman statesman and orator)
One cannot help being old, but one can resist being aged.
—Herbert Samuel(1870-1963 British politician)
Cheerfulness is the promoter of health.
—Joseph Addison(1672-1719 British poet and essayist)
A light heart lives long.
—William Shakespeare(1564-1616 British playwright and poet)
None so old that he hopes not for a year of life.
—John Ray(1627-1705 British naturalist)

 

Men, Women and Marriage

Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman is always looking for a shoulder to put her head on.
—Henry Mencken(1880-1956 American writer and scholar of American English)
Women are born with more sensitivity and intuition than men.
—Marion Hilliard(1902-1958 Canadian doctor)
Women are perfectly well aware that the more they seem to obey the more they rule.
—Jules Michelet(1798-1874 French historian)
It is God who makes woman beautiful, it is the devil who makes her pretty.
—Victor Marie Hugo(1802-1885 French poet, novelist and dramatist)
The more women look in their glass, the less they look to their house.
—Pythagoras(ca. 572-497 B.C. Greek philosopher and mathematician)
Frailty, thy name is woman.
—William Shakespeare(1564-1616 British playwright and poet)
Love is the dawn of marriage, and marriage is the sunset of love.
—French proverb
Hasty marriage seldom proves well.
—William Shakespeare(1564-1616 British playwright and poet)
Marriage may be compared to a cage: the birds outside despair to get in and those within despair to get out.
—Michel Eyguem Montaigne(1533-1592 French essayist)
They dream in courtship, but in wedlock wake.
—Alexander Pope(1688-1744 British poet)
Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards.
—Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790 American politician and scientist)
It takes two to make marriage a success and only one a failure.
—Herbert Samuel(1870-1963 British politician)
If you fight for yourself, only you can win; when you fight for your marriage, you both win.
—Saint Paul(ca. 5-67 Jesus’ apostle who preaches the Christianity to the non-jews.)
Marriage resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them.
—Sydney Smith(1771-1845 British writer)
Marriage is meant to be a permanent union of two unselfish people.
—Saint Paul(ca. 5-67 Jesus apostle who preaches the Christianity to the non-Jews.)