Short Proverbs about Life: Best Proverbs from around the World

Proverbs and sayings about life are deeply rooted in every culture. People, in every society, use a variety of short proverbs about life. What are some proverbs about life? What are some good sayings about life?

In this post, we’ll list different short proverbs about life as well as some short wise sayings about life. These good sayings and proverbs about life are inspirational deep proverbs that will inspire you in the course of your life.

What are Some Short Proverbs about Life?

Generally, proverbs cover different aspects of human life. The following most famous proverbs about life are useful to students who are interested in proverbs and sayings, in particular, and inspiring to people in general.

Here is a list of short proverbs about life:

Life is more precious than all treasures.
Life is sweet.
Life has its ups and downs.
Life is but a short span.
Life is but an empty dream.
Life is full of uncertainties.
Life does not end. It goes on and on.
We learn not at school, but in life.
We learn not for school, but for life.
Life’s a gamble: you win or lose.
There is a crook in the life of everyone.
Life teaches everything.
Life is not all clear sailing in calm waters.
Life is a stage, so learn to play your part.
Life is made up of little things.
Variety is the spice of life.
Life is not a bed of roses.
Charity begins at home.
Life is but a span.
The business of life is to go forward.
The patient knows the pain. (Kenyen proverb)
To lengthen your life, lessen your meals.

Life Proverbs

Live and let live.
Without learning life is but the image of death.
A faithful friend is a medicine of life.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Life is not all cakes and ale.
Lose a leg than life.
Better a glorious death than a shameful life.
Business is the salt of life.
While there is life, there is hope.
Take away my good name, take away my life.
Life has given nothing great to mortals without labor.
It is better for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it.
A life of leisure, and a life of laziness, are two things.
Life and death are providential.

Short Proverbs about Life with Meaning

A lot of deep proverbs about life with meaning offer uplift as well as some advice.

Life Proverbs	Life Proverbs’ Meaning
Variety is the spice of life.	Changes and differences make life interesting and enjoyable.
The best things in life are free.	The things that give people the most happiness do not cost anything.
Man does not live by bread alone.	Both people’s psychological and physiological needs should be satisfied if they are to live.
Loveless life is living death.	Life is difficult without affection.
Where there is life, there is hope.	As long as a person is breathing, there is hope for recovery.
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.	You should not criticize other people for faults similar to yours and risk retaliation.

Short proverbs about life with meaning

Short Life Proverbs from around the World

Below is a list of some famous and short proverbs about life from around the world.

Examples of Proverbs in English	Nationalities/Cultures
A man’s life is evaluated only after the coffin is closed.	Korean
Everyone’s life is dark to himself.	Roman
Every day of your life is a page of your history.	Arabian
Good or bad we must all live.	Italian
He lives long who lives well.	German
He lives twice who lives well.	Roman
Life is changeable.	Roman
Life, if you know how to use it, is long enough.	Roman
He lives well who lives industriously.	Roman
Human life is as the morning dew.	Japanese
He who lives a long life must pass through much evil.	Spanish
It is one life, whether we spend it laughing or weeping.	Japanese
The life of a man vanishes like the morning dew.	Japanese
Life begins at forty.	Danish
Life is a road with a lot of signs.	Jamaican
Life is worth more than gold.	Jamaican
Life is sweet.	Irish
Life is short; the road is long; hurry.	American
The simple things in life are best.	American
Nothing in life is free.	American
Life is half spent before one knows what life is.	French
Birth, old age, disease, bitterness and death: who can avoid these?	Chinese
Love all life.	Chinese
One man’s death is another man’s life.	Maltese

Short proverbs about life from around the world

African Proverbs about Life

What does African proverb mean?

African proverbs are well-known phrases or sentences by African wise people which offer advice or state that something is generally true in the African culture.

Chinua Achebe, the famous Nigerian author, defines proverbs as the palm oil with which words are eaten.

Here is a list of African short proverbs about life:

Better to live alone than live with an angry wife.
Examine what is said, not who is speaking.
Resless feet might walk you into a snake pit.
However long the night, the dawn will break.
To try and to fail is not laziness.
Seeing is different than being told.

Other Short Proverbs about Life

Although the following proverbs about life are short, they are inspirational, deep, and the best proverbs about life.

2 Lists of short proverbs about life

Great deeds live.
He that fears lives not.
He that lives with wolves learns to howl.
Those who live on lies choke on truth.
Live not to eat, but eat to live.
He that lives a knave will hardly die an honest man.
Work as if you were to live a hundred years.
Art is long and life is short.

He that lives with cripples learns to limp.
Live and learn.
Live and let live.
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones
We live in deeds, not years.
Whilst I live, let me not live in vain.
As a man lives, so shall he die.
Life is not all beer and skittles.
Life begins at forty.

Famous Idioms about Life

The table below displays some beautiful and famous idioms about life along with their meaning. These idioms will help you enrich your English vocabulary.

Idioms about life	Idioms meaning
Full of life/beans	Having a lot of energy
Life’s too short	Used to mean that it is not worth wasting time doing unimportant things or things you don’t like.
That’s life	You can use this idiomatic expression when you are disappointed about something but you know that you must accept it.
Take someone’s life	Kill someone.
Take your own life	Kill yourself.
Make life difficult for someone	Cause problems for someone.
Life after death	The belief that people continue to exist after they die.
A matter of life and death	This idiom is used to describe a situation that is very important or serious.
A walk of life	Background. (I have friends from all walks of life.)
Variety is the spice of life	Variety is the spice of life means that doing different things, meeting new people, and having new experiences make life enjoyable and interesting.