Proverbs

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

A cat in gloves catches no mice.

Actions speak louder than words.

A drowning man will catch at a straw.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

A good beginning makes a good ending.

All is not gold that glitters.

All is well that ends well.

A man can die but once.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Appearances are deceitful.

Appetite comes with eating.

A stitch in time saves nine.

As well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.

As you make your bed, so you must lie on it.

Bad news travels fast.

Better late than never.

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Business before pleasure.

Care killed the cat.

Catch the bear before you sell his skin.

Curiosity killed a cat.

Custom is a second nature.

Cut your coat according to your cloth.

Deeds, not words.

Don’t count chickens before they are hatched.

Don’t cross a bridge before you come to it.

Don’t halloo till you are out of the wood.

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Don’t trouble trouble until trouble troubles you.

East or West, home is best.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Every dog has his day.

Everything is good in its season.

First think, then speak.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Fortune favors the brave.

Great boast, small roast.

Half a loaf is better than no bread.

Handsome is as handsome does.

He laughs best who laughs last.

Honesty is the best policy.

Hunger is the best sauce.

If the cap fits, wear it.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

It is no use crying over spilt milk.

It is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.

It never rains but it pours.

Jack of all trades and master of none.

Let bygones be bygones.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Little strikes fell great oaks.

Live and learn.

Look before you leap.

Make hay while the sun shines.

Murder will out.

Neck or nothing.

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

Never say die.

No news is good news.

No pains, no gains.

Nothing venture, nothing have.

One good turn deserves another.

One man’s meat is another man’s poison.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Practise what you preach.

Pride goes before a fall.

Rome was not built in a day.

Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.

Second thoughts are best.

So many men, so many minds.

Still waters run deep.

Talk of the devil and he will appear.

Tastes differ.

The devil is not so black as he is painted.

The early bird catches the worm.

The least said, the soonest mended.

The leopard cannot change his spots.

RHYMES

1. There was a little girl, and she had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very, very good,

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

2. Three wise men of Gotham,

They went to sea in a bowl,

And if the bowl had been stronger

My song had been longer.

3. Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee,

The fly shall marry the humble-bee.

They went to the church, and married was she:

The fly has married the humble-bee.

4. A sailor went to sea

To see what he could see.

And all he could see –

Was sea, sea, sea.

5. Doctor Foster went to Gloucester

In a shower of rain.

He stepped in a puddle,

Right up to his middle

And never went there again.

6. Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater

Had a wife and couldn’t keep her.

He put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well.

7. Dame Trot and her cat Puss, says the Dame,

Sat down for to chat. Can you catch a rat,

The Dame sat on this side Or a mouse in the dark?

And puss sat on that. Purr, says the cat.

8. I had a little wife, She went to the mill

The prettiest ever seen; To fetch me some flour,

She washed up the dishes, And always got home

And kept the house clean. In less than an hour.

She baked me my bread,

She brewed me my ale,

She sat by the fire

And told many a fine tale.

9. Little girl, little girl, What did she give you?

Where have you been? Milk in a can.

I’ve been to see my grandmother What did you say for it?

Over the green. Thank you, Grandam.

10. Robin the Bobbin, the big fat Ben,

He ate more meat than fourscore men;

He ate a cow, he ate a calf,

He ate a butcher and a half,

He ate a church, he ate a steeple,

He ate the priest and all the people!

A cow and a calf,

An ox and a half,

A church and a steeple,

And all the good people,

And yet he complained that his stomach wasn’t full.

11. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses,

And all the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

12. Hickory, dickory, dock,

The mouse ran up the clock.

The clock struck one,

The mouse ran down,

Hickory, dickory, dock.

13. Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?

I’ve been to London to look at the queen.

Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?

I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

14. Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.

15. Sing a song of sixpence, When the pie was opened,

A pocket full of rye; The birds began to sing;

Four and twenty blackbirds, Was not that a dainty dish

Baked in a pie. To set before the king.