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 god, including its inflections. Clear word filter
36 entries
Most common
100 or more recorded occurrences
Common
10–99 recorded occurrences
Less common
1–9 recorded occurrences
Making a way out of no way
Matching variant: God can make a way out of no way
Only God can make a tree
Your arms are too short to box with God
God doesn't make junk
God doesn't play dice
Kill 'em all. Let God sort 'em out
Man proposes, God disposes
There but for the grace of God goes
God gives all things to industry
Let go; let God
The voice of the people is the voice of God
Not observed in this corpus
No full-form matches recorded; this does not mean the proverb is never used
"Take what you want," says God, "and pay for it"
A man without faith is like a fish without a bicycle
Matching variant: A man without God is like a fish without a bicycle
God gives us relatives; thank God, we can choose our friends
God hates a quitter
God is above the law
God is good, but never dance in a small boat
God made dirt, dirt don't hurt
God sends no cross that you cannot bear
God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb
God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts
God's help is nearer than the door
In the end God grinds the miller
Man's extremity is God's opportunity
One cannot serve God and Mammon
The best friend is God
The gods send nuts to those who have no teeth
The nearer the church, the farther from God
To love another person is to see the face of God
Trust in God, but lock your car
When a door closes, a window opens
Matching variant: When God shuts a door, he opens a window