100 AWESOME Sayings To Use For Social Media Or Artwork

I grew up in the land of sayings. The good german folk of Northwestern Pennsylvania seemed to have a saying for everything and my parents and grandparents where full of them! What I found though, is that there are are a lot of truths in those sayings and that many folks have a visceral response to them that works well for quotes and social media postings.

Here are my favorite sayings, idioms, call them what you will…

I have separated them out according to how I will use them, please let me know in the comments below if I have missed one of your favorites! Also, Dad-isms may not actually be sayings, it is possible that they are ones he made up…but had to include them!

Inspirational Sayings

• A rising tide lifts all the little boats
• To the victor go the spoils
• If at first you don't succeed try, try again
• Tomorrow is another day
• Look before you leap
• The longest journey starts with a single step
• Carpe Diem – Sieze The Day
• If a job is worth doing it is worth doing well
• Doubt is the beginning not the end of wisdom
• Fortune favors the brave
• All's fair in love and war
• A rolling stone gathers no moss
• All good things come to those who wait
• Faith will move mountains
• Good things come to those who wait
• The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
• Little hinges swing big doors
• Little strokes fell great oaks
• Where there is a will, there is a way
• Great minds think alike
• Many hands make light work

Cautionary Sayings

• It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness
• He who hesitates is lost
• Beggars should not be choosers
• He who pays the piper calls the tune
• A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
• Jack of all trades, master of none
• It ain't over until the fat lady sings
• No man can serve two masters
• You can't have your cake and eat it too
• You can't get blood out of a stone
• Many a true word is spoke in jest
• Penny wise, pound foolish
• Once bitten, twice shy
• Out of sight, out of mind
• Pride goes before a fall
• When in Rome, do as the Romans do
• Actions speak louder than words
• He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword
• There's no smoke without fire
• Better to be silent and thought the fool that to speak and remove all doubt
• The bigger they are, the harder they fall
• The price of liberty is eternal vigilance
• The end justifies the means
• Rome wasn't built in a day
• Strike while the iron is hot
• Misery loves company
• The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

Animal Sayings

• Tail wagging the dog
• Let sleeping dogs lie
• Barking up the wrong tree
• If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
• Don't change horses in midstream
• You can't run with the hair and hunt with the hounds
• If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas
• A leopard cannot change his spots
• One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb
• Hold your horses
• Big fish in a small pond
• The early bird catches the worm
• The worm will turn
• Every dog has its day
• As happy as a clam
• Pull the wool over your eyes
• Birds of a feather flock together
• You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear
• Don't count your chickens before they are hatched
• Bats in the belfry
• Why keep a dog and bark yourself?
• You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink
• Never look a gift horse in the mouth
• There's more than one way to skin a cat

Insect Sayings

• Bee's knees
• Birds and the bees
• Make a bee-line for it
• You catch more bees with honey than with vinegar

Literary Sayings

• Never judge a book by its cover
• A word to the wise is enough
• The pen is mightier than the sword
• Pearls of wisdom

Artistic Sayings

• Paint the town red
• Red letter day
• Back to the drawing board
• A picture paints a thousand words

Devil and Angel Sayings

• No rest for the wicked
• Better the devil you know than the devil you don't
• Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
• Needs must when the devil drives
• Tell the truth and shame the devil
• The devil is in the details
• Between the devil and the deep blue sea
• The devil finds work for idle hands to do
• Revenge is a dish best served cold
• Let the punishment fit the crime
• The road to hell is paved with good intentions (Dad-ism)
• People in hell want ice water (Dad-ism)
• It will be a cold day in hell (Dad-ism)

I am just noticing that while we were not a particularly religious family, there was a lot of hell talk at our house!

Nautical Sayings

• Shiver my timbers
• Hand over fist
• Time and tide wait for no man
• Any port in a storm

Death Sayings

• Dead men tell no tales
• Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die
• Old soldiers never die, they just fade away
• The wages of sin is death

Weather Sayings

• Into every life a little rain must fall
• Every cloud has a silver lining
• It never rains but it pours
• The darkest hour is just before the dawn
• Make hay while the sun shines

Miscellaneous Sayings

• Smoke and mirrors
• Heavens to Murgatroyd
• The whole nine yards
• Climb/Jump on the bandwagon
• Close, but no cigar
• Get down to brass tacks
• Gild the lily
• Talk through one's hat
• Go haywire
• Hissy fit
• In spades
• The whole shebang
• Whoops-a-daisy
• Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
• In for a penny, in for a pound
• It takes two to tango
• No use crying over spilled milk

Things You Say To Your Kids

• Money doesn't grow on trees (Dad-ism)
• Were you born in a barn? (Dad-ism)
• Another country heard from

While many of these came off the top of my head, I did check for the correct usage at The Phrase Finder…a truly epic site for this kind of thing. Also, if you would like to learn what makes an idiom…check out the wikipedia!