English idioms about success and failure.
Idioms about goals, effort, risk, success and what failure teaches.
Idioms
- A miss is as good as a mile
- Calamity is man's true touchstone
- Diligence is the mother of good luck
- Discretion is the better part of valour
- Don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear
- Every day is not Sunday
- Fortune favours fools
- Good watch prevents misfortune
- In for a penny, in for a pound
- Neck or nothing
- Never say die
- Shut the stable door after the horse has bolted
- The end justifies the means
- The first step is always the hardest
- What goes up must come down
- When the tree is fallen, every man goes to it with his hatchet
- A good beginning makes a good ending
- Better luck next time
- Diamond cut diamond
- Failure is the mother of success
- Grasp all, lose all
- He laughs best who laughs last
- If you run after two hares, you'll catch none
- It never rains but it pours
- Man proposes, God disposes
- Misfortunes never come singly
- Nothing ventured, nothing gained
- One drop of poison infects the whole of wine
- One swallow does not make a summer
- Run before you can walk
- So far, so good
- When the going gets tough, the tough get going
- On its last legs
- The writing is on the wall
- Throw caution to the wind
- A slap on the wrist
- Sink or swim
- Second to none
- Push your luck
- Lose your touch
- Get out of hand
- No use crying about it now
- Take the bull by the horns
- Paint yourself into a corner
- In the nick of time
- Pick up the pieces
- Close but no cigar
- Fair and square
- The last laugh
- A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
- Back to square one
- Add insult to injury
- In hot water
- Jump the gun
- If you can't beat them, join them
- Caught red-handed
- Don't cry over spilled milk
- Hit rock bottom
- He who laughs last laughs longest
- Eat humble pie
- Fortune favours the bold
- Put your best foot forward
- Barking up the wrong tree
- Better safe than sorry
- Bite the bullet
- Break a leg
- By the skin of your teeth
- Don't put all your eggs in one basket
- Every dog has its day
- Haste makes waste
- Miss the boat
- Once bitten, twice shy
- The best of both worlds
- The last straw
- The tip of the iceberg
- Throw in the towel
- Add fuel to the fire
- Don't count your chickens before they hatch
- Face the music
- Look before you leap
- No pain, no gain
- Out of the frying pan into the fire
- Practice makes perfect
- Rome wasn't built in a day
- Slow and steady wins the race
- The early bird catches the worm
- Where there is a will, there is a way