English in everyday life
Proverbs
Explore English sayings from most to least frequent in a published American English corpus. Alternate forms are collected together.
About these frequency groups
Groups use full-form occurrence counts in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), recorded in 2016–2017. For a proverb with several forms, we use the highest individual count, since adding overlapping forms could count the same occurrence twice.
These are historical American English corpus counts, not estimates of how often everyone uses a saying today. A zero means no full-form match was recorded. The source’s separate familiarity ratings are retained in the data but do not determine this ordering.
We grouped variants, merged reviewed duplicate entries, and preserved existing editorial wording. The source includes historical and dated sayings; inclusion is not an endorsement.
Expressions containing man, including its inflections. Clear word filter
73 entries
Less common
1–9 recorded occurrences
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven
Never hit a man when he's down
No man can serve two masters
One man's loss is another man's gain
There's no such thing as a perfect man
When a dog bites a man, that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news
Not observed in this corpus
No full-form matches recorded; this does not mean the proverb is never used
A boy's best friend is his mother
Matching variant: A man's best friend is his mother
A drowning man will clutch at a straw
A man is as old as he feels
A man is known by the company he keeps
A man is not a camel
A man without a woman is like a fish without a bicycle
A man without a woman is like a ship without a sail
A man without faith is like a fish without a bicycle
A man's got to do what a man's got to do; a woman must do what he can't
A young man married is a young man marred
Don't send a boy to do a man's job
Each man kills the thing he loves
Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts
Every man must skin his own skunk
Every man to his own poison
Every man to his own taste
Every man to his trade
Give a man a horse he can ride
If you want something done, ask a busy person
Matching variant: If you want work well done, select a busy man
Imprisoned in every fat man is a thin one wildly signalling to be let out
Man's extremity is God's opportunity
Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel
Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins
No man is above the law, and no man is below it
One man's floor is another man's ceiling
Opportunity never knocks twice
Matching variant: Opportunity never knocks twice at any man's door
Praise no man before his death
The best man for the job may be a woman
The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else
Matching variant: The best way to get over a man is to get under another one