English proverbs (P)

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.
• 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