VOCABULARY AND VERBOSITY: ARE YOU UP TO IT?

This is a test about vocabulary and verbosity. Can you rephrase these verbose proverbs to their original wording?  I managed to get them all after a little head scratching.

(Answers are given at the end, but no peeking until you try to figure these out!)

1. Members of an avian species of identical plumage congregate.

2. Scintillate, scintillate, steroid minific.

3. Surveillance should precede saltation.

4. Neophyte's serendipity.

5. Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.

6. It is fruitless to become lachrymose over precipitately departed lacteal fluids.

7. The stylus is more potent than the dirk.

8. It is fruitless to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.

9. The temperature of the aqueous content of an unremittingly ogled culinary vessel does not reach 212 degrees.

10. All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.

11. Where there are visible vapors in ignited carbonaceous materials, there is conflagration.

12. A plethora of individuals with expertise in culinary techniques vitiate the potable concoction produced by steeping certain comestibles.

13. Eleemosynary deeds have their incipience intramurally.

14. Male cadavers are incapable of yielding testimony.

15. Individuals who make their abode in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting projectiles.

16. Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders John a hebetudinous fellow.

17. A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no congeries of minuscule verdant bryophyte.

18. The person presenting the finial cachinnation possesses thereby the primary cachinnation.

19. Missiles of ligneous or petrous consistency have the potential of fracturing my osseous structure, but appellations will remain sempiternally innocuous.


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Answers
1. Birds of a feather flock together.
2. Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
3. Look before you leap.
4. Beginner's luck.
5. Beauty is only skin deep.
6. Don't cry over spilled milk.
7. The pen is mightier than the sword.
8. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
9. A watched pot never boils.
10. All that glitters is not gold.
11. Where there's smoke, there's fire.
12. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
13. Charity begins at home.
14. Dead men tell no tales.
15. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
16. All work and no play makes John a dull boy.
17. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
18. He who laughs last, laughs best.
19. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.