Old Sayings : I

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice. - Abraham Lincoln
Idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. - unknown
If evils come not then our fears are in vain; and if they do, fear but augments the pain. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
If God wants people to suffer, he sends them too much understanding. - Yiddish (on balance and moderation)
If God were not willing to forgive sin, heaven would be empty. - German proverb
If I keep my character, I’ll be rich enough. - Plutonius
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. - American Saying
If it were not for hope, the heart would break. - Greek (on attitude)
If not today–when? - Kashmiri (on permanence and change)
If passion drives, let reason hold the reins. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
If someone gives you advice, it is in his own interest. - Tunisian Proverb
If the bird hadn’t sung, it wouldn’t have been shot. - Japanese (on prudence)
If the eyes didn’t see, the hands wouldn’t take.- Yiddish (on opportunity)
If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. - Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
If the rich could hire people to die for them, the poor could make a nice living. - Yiddish (on wealth and poverty)
If the shoe fits, wear it. - Nicholas Breton (c.1545-1626)
If the townspeople are happy, look to the chief.- Liberian (on leadership)
If you are afraid of something, you give it power over you. - Moroccan (on courage and fear)
If you are going a long way, go slowly.- Ilocano (Filipino) (on journeys)
If you are hiding, don’t light a fire. - Ghanaian (on common sense)
If you are not a fish, how can you tell if the fish are happy? - Chinese (on experience)
If you are not good for yourself, how can you be good for others. - Spanish (on character and virtue)
If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow. - Chinese Proverb
If you believe everything you read, better not read. - Japanese (on books and writers)
If you buy things you don’t need, you will soon be selling things you do need. - Pampango - Filipino (on buying and selling)
If you buy what you don’t need, you steal from yourself. - Swedish (on thrift)
If you call one wolf, you invite the pack. - Bulgarian (on caution and care)
If you can’t bite, better not show your teeth. - Yiddish (on common sense)
If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
If you can’t serve, you can’t rule.- Bulgarian (on leadership)
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. - Harry Truman (1884-1972)
If you don’t have a plan for yourself, you’ll be part of someone else’s. - American (on planning)
If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. - unknown
If you don’t scale the mountain, you can’t view the plain. - Chinese (on rewards and consequences)
If you don’t see the bottom, don’t wade. - Scottish (on prudence)
If you don’t want trouble, don’t go looking for it. - unknown
If you fail to practice your art, it will soon disappear. - German (on art and creativity)
If you follow a fool, you are a fool yourself. - Jamaican (on foolishness)
If you foolishly ignore beauty, then you will soon find yourself without it. - Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959)
If you ford a river in a crowd, the crocodiles won’t get you. - Malagasy (on strength and weakness)
If you give orders and leave, the work won’t get done. - Portuguese (on business)
If you have, give; if you lack, seek. - Malay (on generosity)
If you have nothing to lose, you can try everything. - Yiddish (on business)
If you kick a stone in anger you will hurt your foot. - Korean (on anger)
If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
If you make yourself into a doormat, people will wipe their feet on you. - Belizean (on character and virtue)
If you pray for another, you will be helped yourself. - Yiddish (on prayer)
If you think your bundle of clothes too heavy, try picking up your neighbor’s. - Virgin Islander (on comparable worth)
If you want something done right, do it yourself. - unknown
If you want to lift yourself up, lift someone else up.- Booker T. Washington (1856-1915)
If you want your eggs hatched, sit on them yourself. - Haitian (on self-reliance)
If you would be rich in a year, you may be hanged in six months. - Italian (on business)
If you would get ahead, be a bridge. - Welsh (on ambition)
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
If you would live long, open your heart.- Bulgarian (on health and wellness)
If you would rise in the world, veil ambition with the forms of humanity.- Chinese (on hypocrisy)
If you’ld have a servant that you like, serve yourself. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
If you’ve never run aground, you’ve never been anywhere! - unknown sailor .
If youth knew, if age could. - Henri Estienne (1531-1598)
If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. - unknown
Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune. - unknown
Ignorance is bliss. - Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
Ignorance is the seed of intimidation. - D. Hiser
Ill gotten goods never thrive. - Cicero (106-43 BC)
Ill weeds grow fast. - John Heywood (c.1497-1580)
Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert Einstein
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. - Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780-1832)
Implementation beats oration. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
In a crisis, give help first and then advice. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
In bad luck, hold out; in good luck, hold in.- German (on luck)
In bad things be slow; in good things be fast. - Afghan (on time and timeliness)
In for a penny, in for a pound. - E. Ravenscroft (1695)
In night there is counsel. - Greek (on advice)
In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. - Desiderius Erasmus (1465-1536)
In time we hate that which we often fear. - Seneca (8 BC-AD 65)
Industry pays debts, despair encreases them. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Industry, perseverance & frugality make fortune yield. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Instead of seeking new landscapes, develop new eyes. - Marcel Proust (1871-1922)
Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone. - Moroccan (on education)
Interest on debt grows without rain.- Yiddish (on indebtedness)
Into every life a little rain must fall. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) “into each life some rain must fall.”
It ain’t over til it’s over. - Yogi Berra
It is a fool’s sheep that breaks loose twice. - Ashanti (West African) (on foolishness)
It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf its confessor. - Italian (on common sense)
It is a long lane that has no turns.James Ray (1670)
It is as cheap sitting as it is standing. - Italian Proverb
It is better to be born a beggar than a fool. - Spanish Proverb
It is better to be the head of a chicken than the rear of an ox. - Japanese (on relative worth)
It is better to enjoy the cool breeze of others waving your flag, than to suffer the sweat of doing it yourself. - L.D. Seese (1992) thanks to J. Martin
It is better to give than to receive. - Jesus
It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. - Chinese Proverb
It is better to prevent than to cure. - Peruvian (on common sense)
It is better to return a borrowed pot with a little something you last cooked in it. - Omaha (Native American) (on the conduct of life)
It is better to suffer for truth than to prosper by falsehood. - Danish (on comparable worth)
It is better to take many injuries than to give one. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
It is better to wear out one’s shoes than one’s sheets. - Genovese (Italian)(on work)
It is easier to believe than to go and ask.- Serbian (on idleness)
It is easier to criticize than to do better. - Swiss (on criticism)
It is easier to dam a river than to stop gossip. - Moro (Filipino) (on gossip)
It is easy to advise the wise. - Serbian (on advice)
It is easy to be brave from a distance. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It is easy to despise what you cannot get. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It is easy to kick a person when he is down. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It is far easier to start something than to finish it. - unknown
It is foolish to try to imitate the skills of others. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It is hard for an ex-king to become a nightwatchman. - Kashmiri (on habit)
It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself. - Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
It is often easier to fight for your principles than to live up to them. - Adlai Stevenson
It is possible to have too much of a good thing. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It is said that you can’t take it with you; I say there are two things you can take with you: the things you do for others and the things you do to others - (harold h. cornett, jr.)
It is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. - Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
It is useless attacking the insensible. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It is wise not to seek a secret and honest not to reveal it. - Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
It never rains but it pours. - unknown
It pays to be content with your lot. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It pays to be nice. - unknown
It pays to be prepared. - Aesop (c.620-560 BC)
It takes a heap of licks to hit a nail in the dark. - African American (on common sense)
It takes a village to raise a child. - unknown
It takes all kinds to make a world go round. - T. Shelton
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. - Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
It takes one to know one. - unknown
It takes two to tangle. - unknown
It’s a small world. - unknown
It’s all in how you look at things. - unknown
It’s an ill bird that fouls his own nest. - Latin Proverb
It’s an ill wind that blows no good. - John Heywood (c.1497-1580)
It’s better to be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. - Bible
It’s better to find a whole worm in your apple than half a worm. - unknown
It’s but little good you’ll do a-watering the last year’s crop. - George Eliot (1819-1880)
It’s never too late. - unknown
It’s no use closing the barn door after the horse is gone. - John Heywood (c.1497-1580)
It’s not enough to know how to ride- one must also know how to fall. - Mexican (on success and failure)
It’s not the end of the world. - unknown
It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. - American mothers (thanks to J. Martin)
It’s okay to make a mistake, as long as you learn from it. - unknown
It’s six of one, half dozen of another. - unknown
It’s the little things that count. - unknown