English proverbs (P)
Proverbs are popularly defined as short expressions of popular wisdom. Efforts to improve on the popular definition have not led to a more precise definition. The wisdom is in the form of a general observation about the world or a bit of advice, sometimes more nearly an attitude toward a situation.
P
- Paddle your own canoe.
- Pain is only weakness leaving the body.
- U.S. Marines proverb
- The pain of the little finger is felt by the entire body.
- A paragraph should be like a lady's skirt: long enough to cover the essentials but short enough to keep it interesting.
- A Pasoly in the eye is worth several in the shins.
- A good shot is worth many bad ones
- Patience is a virtue.
- Peace Sells, but who's Buying?
- The pen is mightier than the sword.
- A penny earned is a penny lost; a penny shared is a penny well-spent.
- A penny saved is a penny earned.
- Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, but actually 17th c. English
- A penny spent is a penny earned.
- In contrast to spending on the poor people.
- Interpretation: capitalist alteration of Ben Franklin's original saying ["A penny saved is a penny earned"]. The concentration on spending rather than saving promotes the contemporary capitalist economic theory of putting money back into the economy (rather than hoarding it) to create more wealth.
- Penny wise, pound foolish.
- People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
- Variation: Whose house is of glasse, must not throw stones at another.
- George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640; cited in "Proverbs 120". The Yale Book of Quotations. 2006. pp. p. 613. ISBN 0-300-10798-6.*** George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 1651, number 196
- Meaning: Don't criticize other people when you yourself have faults and weaknesses.
- Variation: Whose house is of glasse, must not throw stones at another.
- Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. (a.k.a The six P's)
- Persistence becomes Reality.
- "A person who laughs may not be happy, but he's hide the sadness in his heart". (Al Sagheer, Suhail)
- A picture is worth a thousand words.
- An instant sight may save a thousand words.
- A snap of sight may describe much more than a thousand words.
- A pint of plain is yer only man.
- The pitcher which goes too often to the well gets broken.
- Please don’t retouch my wrinkles. It took me so long to earn them.
- POETIS MENTIRI LICET. - Latin for "Poets are allowed to lie." Has to do with rhetoric (hyperbole) and poetic and/or litarary license.
- Meaning: You need to make the initial step if you are ever to complete a task.
- Politeness cost nothing and gains everything.
- Politics makes strange bedfellows.
- Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
- Attributed to Lord Acton
- Practice before you preach.
- Meaning: Before asking others to do something, make sure you are following it yourself.
- Practice make man perfect.
- Prevention is better than cure.
- Variation: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
- Pride comes before a fall
- Prior preparation prevents poor performance.
- The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
- Procrastination is the thief of time.
- Proverbs are long life experiences, told in one short sentence.
- Proverbs run in pairs.
- Meaning: Every proverb seems to be contradicted by another proverb with an opposed message, such as "too many cooks spoil the broth" and "many hands make light work."
- Put a beggar on horseback and he'll ride it to death.
- Put a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil.
- Put a cat amongst the pigeons.
- Put it in song, put it in drink; but never, ever put it in ink!
- Reportedly said by Earl K. Long, Governor of Louisiana
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