Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Poor
A fallen rich man may make a good master, but not an enriched poor man.Italian.
A lamb is as dear to a poor man as an ox to the rich.
A north wind has no corn and a poor man no friend.Spanish.
A poor man can gain nothing by contending with the great.Sri Lankan.
A poor man has few acquaintances.Danish.
A poor man has no friends.Ashantees (Africa).
A poor man has not many marks for fortune to shoot at.
A poor man is all schemes.Spanish.
A poor man is hungry after eating.Portuguese.
A poor man’s joy has much alloy.Danish.
A poor man’s shilling is but a penny.
A poor man wants something, a covetous man all things.
A poor man’s debt makes a great noise.
A ragged sack holds no grain, a poor man is not taken into counsel.Italian.
As long as there are some poorer than you, praise God even if you are unshod.Gipsy.
Be considerate toward the poor.
For poor people, small coin.
Every poor man is counted a fool.
He is not poor that hath not much, but he that craves much.
He is not poor who has a competency.Horace.
He is poor indeed who can promise nothing.
He is too poor to buy a rope to hang himself.German.
He who devours the substance of the poor, will find at length a bone to choke him.French.
If poor, act with caution.
Look on the poor with gentle eyes, for in such habits often angels desire alms.Massinger.
Much wisdom is lost in poor men’s mouths.German.
Much wisdom is smothered in a poor man’s head.Dutch.
Much wit is lost in a poor man’s purse.German.
No one is poor but he who thinks himself so.Portuguese.
No one so hard upon the poor as the pauper who has got into power.Danish.
Not he who has little, but he who wishes for more, is poor.Seneca.
Poor and content is rich and rich enough.Shakespeare.
Poor folks are glad of pottage.
Poor folks say “thank you” for a little.
Poor folk’s wisdom goes for little.Dutch.
Poor men do penance for rich men’s sins.Italian.
Poor men have no souls. (So think the rich.)
Poor men seek meat for their stomachs, rich men stomach for their meat.
Poor men’s money and cowards’ weapons are often flourished.Italian.
Poor men’s tables are soon spread.
Poor men’s words have little weight.Greek.
Poor people’s words go many to the sackful.German.
Poor, what he can; rich, what he will.Modern Greek.
Poor without debt is better than a prince.Turkish.
That man is not poor who has the use of things necessary.Horace.
The dainties of the great are the tears of the poor.
The devil wipes his tail with the poor man’s pride.
The impartial earth is open to the poor as well as the sons of kings.Horace.
The pleasures of the mighty are the terrors of the poor.
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies,
For who not needs, shall never lack a friend.Shakespeare.
The poor ye always have with you.New Testament.
The poor are rich when they are satisfied.German.
The poor do penance for the follies of their superiors.Italian.
The poor can live in one house together when two kings cannot in a kingdom.German.
The poor cannot, the rich will not.German.
The poor live secure.German.
The poor must dance as the rich pipe.German.
The poor man’s honor is worth more than the rich man’s gold.German.
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the force of the crown.William Pitt.
The poor man eats at double cost.Danish.
The poor man has his crop destroyed by hail every year.Spanish.
The poor is aye put to the worst.Scotch.
The poor pay for all.
The poor man’s budget is full of schemes.Spanish.
The poor man’s coin always grows thin.Danish.
The poor man seeks for food, the rich man for appetite.Danish.
The poor man’s penny unjustly obtained is a coal of fire in the rich man’s purse.
The poor man’s wisdom is as useless as a palace in a wilderness.Gaelic.
The poor man turns his cake and another comes and takes it away.
The poor man wants much, the miser everything.
The poor man must keep his word, and the rich when it suits him.German.
The poor pour, and the rich drink, the wine.German.
The poor rich man is emphatically poor.
The poor sing free throughout the world.German.
The poor sit in Paradise on the first benches.German.
The poor trying to imitate the powerful perish.Phædrus.
The wise discourses of a poor man go for nothing.
There are many things that may not be uttered by men in threadbare coats.Juvenal.
There is God’s poor, and the devil’s poor; the first from Providence, the other from vice.
To contemn the poor because of his poverty is to affront God’s providence.
We give the rich, and take from the poor.German.
What the poor are to the poor none know but themselves and God.Charles Dickens.
When poor, liberal; when rich, penurious.Spanish.
When the poor become rich they sink the village.German.
When you eat think of the poor.Sri Lankan.
Wherever a poor man is, there is his destiny.Modern Greek.
Who closes his ear to the poor, Peter will not hear when he knocks.German.
Whoso stoppeth his ear at the cry of the poor, shall cry himself and not be heard.Hebrew.
Withhold not the wages of the poor.