Internet Archive Book: English Proverbs, with Origins and Explanations

Here's a very user-friendly book of English proverbs: A Book of English Proverbs, with Origins and Explanations by Vere Collins.

This book contains 456 proverbs, each with a brief paragraph by way of explanation. This is not a scholarly reference book; instead, it offers commentary for a general audience, explaining something about the meaning about the proverb and its history in English.

If you find a proverb you want to know even more about, you can turn to a more complete reference book, like the Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs.

A Book of English Proverbs,

with Origins and Explanations

by Vere Collins