Classic proverbs

Answers in this topic

• What does ‘don't cry over spilt milk’ mean?
• What does ‘you can't teach an old dog new tricks’ mean?
• What does ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ mean?
• What does ‘he who laughs last laughs best’ mean?
• What does ‘look before you leap’ mean?
• What does ‘haste makes waste’ mean?
• What does ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed’ mean?
• What does ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mean?
• What does ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ mean?
• What does ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ mean?
• What does ‘many hands make light work’ mean?
• What does ‘all that glitters is not gold’ mean?
• What does ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’ mean?
• What does ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ mean?
• What does ‘two wrongs don't make a right’ mean?
• What does ‘practice makes perfect’ mean?
• What does ‘don't judge a book by its cover’ mean?
• What does ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ mean?
• What does ‘beggars can't be choosers’ mean?
• What does ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ mean?

Questions

Where do the origins for classic proverbs come from?

Origins on this page are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898). Where the origin is disputed or unknown, the entry says so plainly.

Are these idioms still in modern use?

Most are in everyday English; a few are chiefly literary or old-fashioned, and those are flagged in the usage notes.