• Aan iemands lippen hangen
  • Literal Translation: Clinging onto someone’s lips
  • Meaning: Being very attentive to someone’s storytelling

• Aan lager wal raken
  • Literal Translation: To arrive on the downwind side of the lake
  • Meaning: To fall into poverty
  • English equivalent: “To go downhill, to be thrown on one’s beam-ends.”

• Achter het net vissen
  • Literal Translation: “To fish behind the net”
  • Meaning: “to be too late for having success, doing things without result”

• Als de kat van huis is, dansen de muizen (op tafel).
  • Literal Translation: “When the cat is away from home, the mice dance (on the table)”
  • Meaning: “Grabbing the opportunity when nobody watches”.
  • English equivalent: “While the cat’s away, the mice will play”.

• Als een kip zonder kop.
  • Literal Translation: “Like a chicken without a head”
  • Meaning: “To act like a fool”

• Beter één vogel in de hand dan tien in de lucht
  • Literal Translation: “Better one bird in the hand than ten in the sky”
  • English equivalent: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.

• Beter een goede buur dan een verre vriend
  • Literal Translation: “Better a good neighbour than a distant friend”
  • Meaning: It is better to be friendly with a neighbour, than having a friend who is too far away to be there for you”

• Beter laat dan nooit.
  • Literal translation: “Better late than never”
  • Meaning: It’s better to arrive late than never.
  • English equivalent: “Better late than never”

• Beter ten halve gekeerd dan ten volle gedwaald.
  • Literal translation: “It’s better to turn around halfway, than to get lost completely”
  • Meaning: It’s better to correct ones mistakes than to persevere stubbornly.

• Bezint eer gij begint.
  • Literal translation: “Think before you begin”
  • Meaning: Think before you act.
  • Alliterative English equivalent: “Look before you leap”.

• Blaffende honden bijten niet
  • Literal Translation: “Barking dogs don’t bite”.
  • Meaning: If people have a big mouth doesn’t mean they’re a threat.
  • English equivalent: “His bark is worse than his bite.”
• Dat kan het daglicht niet verdragen.
  • Literal Translation: “That cannot bear the daylight.”
  • Meaning: This is unethical/illegal.
  • English Equivalent: “This couldn’t stand the light of day.”

• Dat slaat als een tang op een varken
  • Literal Translation: “It hits like a grip on a pig”
  • Meaning: “It makes no sense at all.

• De appel valt niet ver van de boom
  • Literal Translation: “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
  • Meaning: Offspring behaves like (one of) the parents.
  • English equivalent: “A chip off the old block”

• De beste stuurlui staan aan wal
  • Literal Translation: “The best helmsmen stand on shore”
  • Meaning: “The watchers always know better than the doers”
  • English equivalent: “Bachelors’ wives and maidens’ children are well taught.”

• De wal zal het schip keren
  • Literal Translation: “The shore will stop the ship.”
  • Meaning: The course of things will take a different turn automatically.

• De druppel die de emmer doet overlopen
  • Literal translation: “The drop that floods the bucket”
  • Meaning: “The last (tiny) thing that makes you snap”
  • English equivalent: “The straw that broke the camel’s back”

• De een z’n dood is de ander z’n brood”.
  • Literal translation: “One person’s death is another’s bread”.
  • Meaning: “The disadvantage of someone is the advantage of another”.

• De hond in de pot vinden
  • Literal Translation: “To find the dog in the jar”
  • Meaning: “Being too late for your treat”
  • English: “Go without one’s dinner.” or “Dining with Duke Humphrey.”

• De huik naar de wind hangen
  • Literal Translation: To hang the sail-covers to the wind
  • Meaning: To adapt ones behavior to circumstances

• De kost gaat voor de baat uit
  • Literal Translation: Cost goes before the profit
  • Meaning: You have to invest time, effort or money before you can expect anything

• De laatste loodjes wegen het zwaarst
  • Literal Translation: The last pieces of lead are heaviest
  • Meaning: The last few things are the most difficult ones

• De ochtendstond heeft goud in de mond
  • Literal translation: The sunrise hour has gold in its mouth
  • Meaning: When getting out of bed early, you have more time to do things
    • Scottish version: Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Source: http://en.wikiquote.org/