Fish

There are plenty more fish in the sea.

Meaning: There are many other people or possibilities, especially when one person or thing has been unsuitable or unsuccessful.

Origin:

Slovak Counterpart: Bez jednej lastovičky bude ešte leto. Keď nebude jedno, bude druhé.

Fly

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Meaning: You can win people to your side more easily by gentle persuasion and flattery than by hostile confrontation.

Origin: Slovak Counterpart:

Goose

What is good for goose is good for the gander.

Meaning: What is good for a man is equally good for a woman; or, what a man can have or do, so can a woman have or do.

Origin: This comes from an earlier proverb, “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.”

Slovak Counterpart:

Horse

Don´t change horses in the middle of the stream.

Meaning: Don't change your leader or your basic position when part-way through a campaign or a project.

Origin: From an 1864 speech by Abraham Lincoln, in reply to Delegation from the National Union League who were urging him to be their presidential candidate.„An old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that it was not best to swap horses when crossing streams“

Slovak Counterpart: Neprepriahaj vola, keď ide dolu kopcom. Nemeň názory v nevhodnej chvíli.

Don´t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Meaning: When given something don't be ungrateful.

Origin: By counting the teeth you can tell the age of a horse. Checking whether a present of a horse was old would be considered impolite.

Slovak Counterpart: Darovanému koňovi na zuby nepozeraj.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can not make him drink.

Meaning: An animal, and by implication a person, will only do what it/he wants to do

Origin: This is one of the older proverbs in the language and dates back to at least 1546 when it was included in John Heywood's 'A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue': "A man maie well bring a horse to the water, But he can not make him drinke without he will."

Slovak Counterpart: Možete priviesť koňa k vode, ale nemožete ho donútiť, aby pil.

It is too late to close the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Meaning: It's too late to protect yourself after something bad has happened; take appropriate precautions

Origin:

Slovak Counterpart: Je neskoro plakať nad rozliatym mliekom.

It does no good to beat/flog a dead horse.

Meaning: To waste time doing something that has already been attempted.

Origin:

Slovak Counterpart: robiť zbytočnú robotu, plytvať energiou, starať sa o lanský sneh

Don´t put the cart before the horse.

Meaning: Begin at the proper place; do things in their proper order.

Origin:Slovak Counterpart:

Leopard

A leopard can not change its spots.

Meaning: One can't change one's essential nature.

Origin: The phrase about leopards is descended from the Bible, in the book of Jeremiah: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" (Jer 13:23)

Slovak Counterpart:

Sheep

There is a black sheep in every flock / It is a small flock that has not a black sheep

Meaning: A worthless or disgraced member of a family, group.

Origin: The first record in print is from Charles Macklin's, 'The man of the world, a comedy', 1786: "O, ye villain! you - you - you are a black sheep; and I'll mark you." It isn't entirely clear why black sheep were selected to symbolize worthlessness. Possibly it is just the linking of black things with bad things, which is a long standing allusion in English texts - black mood, black looks etc. It may also be because shepherds disliked black sheep as their fleeces weren't suitable for dying and so were worth less than the fleeces of white sheep.

Slovak Counterpart: V každom stáde sa prašivá ovca nájde.

You may /might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb.

Meaning: Something we say when we are going to be punished for something and so we decide to do something even worse because our punishment will not be any more severe.

Origin:

Slovak Counterpart: Keď už máš sedieť pre jahňa, prečo by si nevzal aj ovcu. Každý zomrie len raz.

Sow

You can not make a silk purse out of a sow´s ear.

Meaning: You can not make a good quality product using bad quality materials.

Origin: It's generally attributed to 18th century Irish writer Jonathon Swift. However, in the 16th century you can find others saying the same or a similar thing like "None can make goodly silk of a goat's fleece."

Slovak Counterpart: Nebude zo psa slanina, ani z vlka baranina.