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Title: Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of all ages
Date of first publication: 1893
Author: Robert Christy
Date first posted: Jan. 29, 2021
Date last updated: Jan. 29, 2021
Faded Page eBook #20210179
This eBook was produced by: David Edwards, David T. Jones, Marcia Brooks & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
The compiler does not venture to claim for his work either completeness or perfection; he hopes, however, that it may be found, what he has conscientiously endeavored to make it, useful and instructive.
In offering a book to the world of letters, it is fair to assume that the author, or as in this case the compiler, claims for it a right to exist on the ground of superiority in some particulars over existing works in the same department of literature.
The great value as instructors, of inspired and uninspired proverbs has long been recognized.
It may be safely affirmed of all notable collections of proverbs hitherto published, that they include very many tainted with impurity, and others, the wit of which does not redeem their coarseness. All such have been excluded from the present compilation. Even the learned Ray marred his celebrated work, that great storehouse of proverbs liberally drawn upon by succeeding collectors, by admitting “a mass of revolting coarseness”—“ineffectually veiled by putting initial letters for uncleanly words.”
Proverbs merely local, or consisting of allusions of a temporary character, or to individuals not historic were not deemed worthy of insertion.
So far as the compiler's researches have extended he has found no considerable collection of proverbs, English or foreign, that was not arranged alphabetically,—a perplexing labyrinth without a clew; so that in order to find a desired proverb it was necessary to know the initial words, at least; the topical arrangement of the present work, it is believed, overcomes this difficulty as far as may be practicable.
The compiler lays claim simply to industry in gathering, taste in selecting and patience in arranging his collections; but feels also some pride in having brought to the notice of the modern reader many literary gems that lay buried in the writings of once famous but now forgotten or neglected authors.
All available collections have been laid under contribution, and due credit to the same is given in the body of the work.
The London Punch has been freely preyed upon. Punch the inimitable, whose wit if sometimes severe is never impure. Any careful reader of Punch has not failed to observe his liberal use of proverbs. Some of the most delightful pleasantries of Punch are grave proverbs masquerading in merry attire; for example, the Chinese proverb, “Patience, and the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown,” is humorously transformed into, “Patients, patients, and the physician's pill-box become a brougham.”
The reader will find that Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine stored with literary jewels of all kinds, has also been frequently referred to.
The Tamil proverbs were taken from the collection numbering more than six thousand, translated by P. Percival.
The compiler had no hesitation in giving credit to Shakespeare for the numerous felicitous sayings selected from the dramas that bear his name, confident that one who had disgracefully deserted his benefactor living, and basely defamed him dead, could not and would not have written such lines as these,
A dishonored lord chancellor would never have perpetuated his self-confessed infamy in immortal verse,
The compiler may have brought himself within the condemnation of a well-known proverb, by admitting into his work, so many proverbs fiercely denouncing his own profession, the law. If the censures are baseless,—they are harmless; if well founded, the profession should amend itself.
None are so severe however as the recent published utterances of the eloquent modern Pagan. “The lawyer is merely a sort of intelligent strumpet; a burglar in the realm of mentality.”
The ancient Pagan is less severe: he contents himself with saying of the lawyers of his day “Iras et verba locant.”
But “Law has her seat in the bosom of God, her voice is the harmony of the world;” if her disciples guide their footsteps by this noble sentiment, they will regain the confidence and respect of the world, if they have ever lost it.
Many proverbs cruelly unjust to woman will be found, which the compiler did not feel at liberty to exclude. To the poison of these, other proverbs furnish the antidote, “What cares lofty Diana for the barking dog;”—“Slander, foulest whelp of sin, expires at a good woman's door.” None of these however are nearly so atrocious as those to be found in “The Hitopadesa,” translated from the Sanskrit by Charles Wilkins. The following, which is much less severe than many others, will serve as an example. “In infancy the father should guard her, in youth her husband, in old age her children, for at no time is a woman proper to be trusted with liberty.”
However “as the people, so the proverb.”
WASHINGTON,Bea. | Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield. |
Cing. | Cingalese. |
Dan. | Danish. |
Fr. | French |
Ger. | German. |
Ital. | Italian. |
Kurd, often spelled Curd. | |
Maga. | Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. |
M. Greek. | Modern Greek. |
Por. | Portuguese. |
Shaks. | William Shakespeare. |
Sp. | Spanish. |
Syrus. | Publius Syrus. |
Turk. | Turkish. |
Abilities. | ||
1. | There are many rare abilities in the world that fortune never brings to light. | |
Absence. | ||
1. | A little absence does much good. | Fr. |
2. | Absence doth but hold off a friend to make one see him the more truly. | Pope. |
3. | Absence makes the heart grow fonder. | J. H. Bailey. |
4. | Absence cools moderate passions but inflames violent ones. | |
5. | Absence of occupation is not rest, A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed. | Cowper. |
6. | Absence is love's foe, far from the eyes, far from the heart. | Sp. |
7. | Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens. | |
8. | Absent or dead still let a friend be dear, A sigh the absent claim, the dead a tear. | Pope. |
9. | Absent none without blame, present none without excuse. | Fr., Sp. |
10. | Conspicuous by its absence. | Tacitus. |
11. | Far from the eyes, far from the heart. | |
12. | He that is absent will not be the heir. | |
13. | Long absence changes friends. | Fr. |
14. | Long absent soon forgotten. | |
15. | The absent are always in the wrong. | Fr., Dutch. |
16. | The absent one will not be the heir. | Latin. |
17. | Whoso absents himself his share absents itself. | Arabian. |
Absent Minded. | ||
1. | He looks for his ass and sits upon his back. | Fr. |
2. | The butcher looked for his knife while he had it in his mouth. | |
3. | You look for the horse you ride on. | Russian. |
Abstinence. | ||
1. | Abstinence is the best medicine. | Tamil. |
2. | Abstinence is the mother of competence. | Stilson Hutchins. |
Absurd. | ||
1. | He calls for a shoeing horn to help on his gloves. | |
2. | He catches the wind with a net. | |
3. | He chastises the dead. | |
4. | He cleaves the clouds. | |
5. | He draws water with a sieve. | M. Greek. |
6. | He gives grass to the lion—meat to the horse. | Turk. |
7. | He gives straw to his dog—and bones to his ass. | |
8. | He hides the sun with a sieve. | M. Greek. |
9. | He is building a bridge over the sea. | |
10. | He is making clothes for fishes. | |
11. | He is making ropes of sand. | |
12. | He numbers the waves. | |
13. | He ploughs the air. | |
14. | He pounds water in a mortar. | |
15. | He seeks water in the sea. | |
16. | He seeks wool on an ass. | |
17. | He sees a glow-worm and thinks it a conflagration. | Turk. |
18. | He takes a spear to kill a fly. | |
19. | He takes oil to extinguish the fire. | |
20. | He tries to support an egg upon his nose. | M. Greek. |
21. | To commit as many absurdities as a clown in eating an egg. | |
22. | To dig a well to put out a house on fire. | Tamil. |
23. | To dig a well with a needle. | Turk. |
24. | To drink from a colander. | Latin. |
25. | To swim a river with a bridge close by. | |
26. | To the dog straw and to the ass bones. | M. Greek. |
27. | To throw oil on the fire. | Dutch. |
28. | To throw pearls before swine. | |
29. | To twist a rope of sand. | |
30. | You ask an elm tree for pears. | |
31. | You dance in a net and think nobody sees you. | |
32. | You go to a goat to buy wool. | |
33. | You look for hot water under the ice. | |
34. | You use a lantern at noon day. | Latin. |
Abundance. | ||
1. | Abundance begets indifference. | |
2. | Abundance is trouble but competency brings delight. | |
3. | Abundance like want ruins many. | |
4. | Abundance maketh poor. | |
Abuse. | ||
1. | A man who is not spoken of is not abused. | |
2. | Are you not accustomed to look at home when you abuse others? | Plautus. |
3. | He who abuses others must not be particular about the answers he gets. | |
Accepting. | ||
1. | Who accepts from another sells his freedom. | Ger. |
2. | Who accepts nothing has nothing to return. | Ger. |
3. | Who accepts sells himself. | Ital. |
Accident. | ||
1. | Accident is a word not to be found in the divine vocabulary. | |
2. | Accident is commonly the parent of disorder. | Gibbon. |
3. | No accidents are so unlucky but that the prudent may draw some advantage from them. | Rochefoucauld. |
4. | Accidents do not threaten like rain. | Haytian. |
5. | Nothing with God is accidental. | Longfellow. |
6. | The greatest events often arise from accidents. | Greek. |
Accomplice. | ||
1. | He sins as much who holds the bag as he who puts into it. | Fr. |
2. | He that hides it is no better than he that steals. | Dan. |
3. | He that holds is no better than he that scourges. | Dan. |
4. | He who holds the ladder is as bad as the thief. | Ger. |
5. | The accomplice is as bad as the thief. | Por. |
Accusation. | ||
1. | Even doubtful accusations leave a stain behind them. | |
Accuser. | ||
1. | Woe be to him whose advocate becomes his accuser. | |
Accusing. | ||
1. | Accusing is proving when malice and force sit as judges. | |
2. | Accusing the times is only accusing yourselves. | |
3. | He who accuses too many accuses himself. | |
4. | It is honorable to be accused by those who deserve to be accused. | Latin. |
Achieving. | ||
1. | Who faints not achieves. | |
Acquaintances. | ||
1. | The more acquaintances the more danger. | |
Acquiring. | ||
1. | That which we acquire with most difficulty we retain the longest. | Colton. |
Action. | ||
1. | Act honestly and act boldly. | Dan. |
2. | Action is eloquence and the eyes of the ignorant more learned than the ear. | Shaks. |
3. | Action is the proper fruit of knowledge. | |
4. | Action must be founded on knowledge. | Bea. |
5. | Actions measured by time, seldom prove bitter by repentance. | |
6. | Act so in the valley that you need not fear those who stand on the hill. | Dan. |
7. | Brave actions never want a trumpet. | |
8. | Good actions carry their warrant with them. | |
9. | Great and good are the actions done by many whose worth is never known. | Hans Andersen. |
10. | For the sake of one good action a hundred evil ones should be forgotten. | Chinese. |
11. | Men boast of their great actions but they are oftener the effect of chance than design. Men's actions are not to be judged of at first sight. | Rochefoucauld. |
12. | Only the actions of the great smell sweet and blossom in the dust. | |
13. | That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers. | Hutchinson. |
14. | 'Tis not the action but the intention that is good or bad. | |
15. | 'Tis not your posterity, but your actions, that will perpetuate your memory. | |
16. | We should consult three things in all our actions, justice, honesty and utility. | |
Action (United). | ||
1. | By the hands of many a great work is made light. | |
2. | By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. | |
3. | Three helping one another bear the burthen of six. | |
4. | Three if they unite against a town will ruin it. | Arabian. |
5. | Weak things united become strong. | |
Advancing. | ||
1. | He who does not advance recedes. | Latin. |
2. | Not to advance is to recede. | |
Advantage. | ||
1. | A finger's length in a sword and a palm in a lance are a great advantage. | Dan. |
2. | Advantage is a better soldier than rashness. | |
3. | Every advantage has its disadvantage. | Latin. |
Adversity. | ||
1. | Adversity borrows its sharpest stings from our impatience. | Bishop Horne. |
2. | Adversity flattereth no man. | |
3. | Adversity has no friends. | Tacitus. |
4. | Adversity is easier borne than prosperity forgot. | |
5. | Adversity is not without comfort and hopes. | Bacon. |
6. | Adversity is the parent of virtue. | Plutarch. |
7. | Adversity is the true scale to weigh friends in. | |
8. | Adversity makes men, prosperity monsters. | Fr. |
9. | Adversity makes wise though not rich. | |
10. | Adversity may suspend our fondness for life but a single glance from prosperity recalls it. | |
11. | Adversity often leads to prosperity. | |
12. | Adversity reminds men of religion. | Livy. |
13. | Adversity, sage useful guest, severe instructor but the best. | Somerville. |
14. | Adversity successfully overcome is the highest glory. | |
15. | Adversity's sweet milk philosophy. | Shaks. |
16. | Adversity tries virtue. | Arabian. |
17. | Adversity willingly undergone is the highest glory. | |
18. | Adversity will not last forever. | |
19. | He that was never acquainted with adversity has seen the world but one side and is ignorant of half the scenes of nature. | Seneca. |
20. | He who does not tire tires adversity. | Fr. |
21. | He who swells in prosperity will shrink in adversity. | |
22. | In prosperity caution, in adversity patience. | Por. |
23. | It is more difficult for a man to behave well in prosperity than adversity. | Rochefoucauld. |
24. | Many can bear adversity but few contempt. | |
25. | Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which like the toad ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head. | Shaks. |
26. | There is no education like adversity. | Bea. |
Advice, Advisers, Advising. | ||
1. | Advice after mischief is like medicine after death. | Dan. |
2. | Advice given in the midst of a crowd is loathsome. | Arabian. |
3. | Advice is not a popular thing to give. | |
4. | Advice is not compulsion. | Ger. |
5. | Advice like water takes the form of the vessel it is poured into. | Punch. |
6. | Advice should precede the act. | Ger. |
7. | Advice to a fool goes in at one ear and out at the other. | Dan. |
8. | Advice to all, security for none. | |
9. | Advice whispered is not worth a pea. | Sp. |
10. | Advise no one to go to the wars or to marry. | Sp. |
11. | Advise not what is most pleasant, but what is most useful. | Solon. |
12. | Advisers are not givers. | Dutch. |
13. | Advisers are not the payers. | Fr. |
14. | Advising is easier than helping. | Ger. |
15. | Advising is often better than fighting.[10] | Ger. |
16. | A good advice is as good as an eye in the hand. | Fr. |
17. | Ask advice of your equals, help of your superiors. | Dan. |
18. | Good advice can be given, a good name cannot be given. | Turk. |
19. | He asks advice in vain who will not follow it. | Fr. |
20. | He who follows his own advice must take the consequences. | Sp. |
21. | He who will not take advice gets knowledge when trouble overtakes him. | Kaffir. |
22. | He who will not take advice, will have to buy dear repentance. | |
23. | He who won't be advised can't be helped. | Ger. |
24. | If you wish good advice consult an old man. | |
25. | It is better to seek advice at the beginning than the end. | Ger. |
26. | It is easy to give advice when all goes well. | Ital. |
27. | Less advice and more hands. | Ger. |
28. | Let the meritorious and defective mutually advise. | Hindoo. |
29. | Man gives nothing so willingly as advice. | |
30. | Many persons take advice as they do physic, to fling aside the moment the doctor's back is turned. | Punch. |
31. | Never advise a man to go to the wars nor to marry. | Sp. |
32. | Never give advice unasked.[11] | Ger. |
33. | No advice like a father's. | |
34. | Nothing is given so freely as advice. | Fr. |
35. | One piece of good advice is better than a bag full. | Dan. |
36. | Out of evils advice is easy. | M. Greek. |
37. | Take advice of a red-bearded man and begone. | Dan. |
38. | The advice of many persons is requisite in great affairs. | Coke. |
39. | The worst men often give the best advice. | Bailey. |
40. | There is nothing we receive so reluctantly as advice. | Spectator. |
41. | Though old and wise be still advised. | |
42. | To prescribe physic for the dead and advice to the old is the same thing. | Diogenes. |
43. | We are casting our words in a leaky cask. (Throwing away our advice.) | Plautus. |
44. | We may give advice but we cannot give conduct. | Franklin. |
45. | We receive nothing with such reluctance as advice. | Latin. |
46. | We should never be too proud to take advice even from the lowly. | Ger. |
47. | Whatever advice you give, be short. | Horace. |
48. | When a thing is done advice comes too late. | Fr. |
49. | When advice will not correct the rod will not. | M. Greek. |
50. | When error is committed good advice comes too late.[12] | Chinese. |
51. | When the rabbit has escaped comes advice. | Sp. |
52. | When they tell you you are drunk hold by the wall and go on. (Take advice.) | M. Greek. |
53. | When things go well it is easy to advise. | Dutch. |
54. | Worthless is the advice of fools. | Latin. |
55. | Write down the advice of him that loves you though you like it not at present. | |
Affairs. | ||
1. | Affairs are lost when one stands looking at another. | M. Greek. |
2. | Affairs like salt fish ought to be a good while a soaking. | |
3. | Affairs sleep soundly when fortune is present. | Ger. |
4. | Affairs that are done by degrees are soon ended. | |
5. | Make your affairs known in the market place and one will call them black and another white. | Sp. |
6. | One cannot manage too many affairs: Literal: Like pumpkins in the water, one pops up while you pop down the other. | Chinese. |
Affectation. | ||
1. | Affectation is a greater enemy to the face than small-pox. | |
2. | Affected superiority mars good fellowship. | |
Affection. | ||
1. | Affection is the broadest basis of a good life.[13] | George Eliot. |
2. | Our domestic affections are the most salutary basis of all good government. | Bea. |
3. | Instinctive, unlike rational affection, has no favorite. | Bulwer. |
Affliction. | ||
1. | Affliction is the wholesome soil of virtue. | |
2. | Affliction like the iron-smith shapes as it smites. | |
3. | Afflictions are the best blessings in disguise. | |
4. | Afflictions are the good man's shining time. | Emmons. |
5. | Afflictions are the good man's treasure. | Dodd. |
6. | Affliction's sons are brothers in distress. A brother to relieve how exquisite the bliss. | Burns. |
7. | Are afflictions aught but mercies in disguise? | Mallet. |
8. | Nothing would be more unhappy than a man that had not known affliction. | Demetrius. |
9. | One affliction is better than a thousand exhortations. | Turk. |
10. | The afflicted person is sacred. | Ovid. |
11. | The angels of affliction spread their toils alike for the virtuous and the wicked, for the mighty and the mean. | Dr. Johnson. |
12. | The best remedy of affliction is submitting to Providence. | |
13. | There is mercy in affliction's smart. [14] It heals those wounds of sin which mock all human art. | Canter. |
Africa. | ||
1. | Africa always brings something new. | Latin. |
Age. | ||
1. | Age is a sorry travelling companion. | Dan. |
2. | Age is venerable in man and would be in woman if ever she became old. | Punch. |
3. | Age makes many a man white but not better. | Dan. |
4. | Few persons know how to be old. | |
5. | Good-morrow, spectacles; farewell, lasses. | Fr. |
6. | Gray beard and red lip seldom remain good friends. | Ger. |
7. | He that would be long an old man must begin early to be one. | Spectator. |
8. | He that would be old long must begin betimes. | Por. |
9. | He wrongs not an old man who steals his supper from him. | |
10. | In telling the age of another, multiply by two; in telling your own, divide by two. | Punch. |
11. | It has been a great misfortune to many a one that he lived too long. | |
12. | It is difficult to grow old gracefully. | |
13. | It is the common failing of old men to attribute all wisdom to themselves. | Fielding. |
14. | Let me play the fool. With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come. | Shaks. |
15. | Most old men are like old trees, past bearing[15] themselves, will suffer no young plants to flourish beneath them. | Pope. |
16. | No man is so old but thinks he may live another day. | Pythagoras. |
17. | No old age agreeable but that of a wise man. | |
18. | Old age brings companions with it. | Ger. |
19. | Old age comes uncalled. | Ger. |
20. | Old age is a troublesome guest. | Ger. |
21. | Old age is honorable. | |
22. | Old age has deformities enough of its own, do not add the deformity of vice. | Cato. |
23. | Old age itself is a disease. | Terence. |
24. | Old age, though despised, is coveted by all. | |
25. | Old men are twice children. | |
26. | Old men do not readily form friendships because they are not easily susceptible of pleasure. | Aristotle. |
27. | Old men who have loved young company have been of long life. | Bacon. |
28. | Old people see best in the distance. | Ger. |
29. | Poverty and age suit very ill together. | Burke. |
30. | Save for the man on the white horse. (For old age.) | |
31. | Secure the three things, virtue, wealth and happiness, they will serve as a staff in old age. | Tamil. |
32. | The old have every day something new. | Ger. |
33. | The old man who dances furnishes the devil fine sport.[16] | Ger. |
34. | The old man who is loved is winter with flowers. | Ger. |
35. | The old man's counsel is half deed. | Ger. |
36. | The old man's staff is the rapper at death's door. | |
37. | The oldest man that ever lived died at last. | Gaelic. |
38. | 'Tis late ere an old man comes to know he is old. | |
39. | What the old man does is always right. | Hans Andersen. |
40. | When an old man cannot drink prepare his grave. | Sp. |
41. | When an old man dances he raises a great dust. | Ger. |
42. | When an old man plays tenpins the balls make a great clatter. | Ger. |
43. | When men grow old they become more foolish and more wise. | Fr. |
44. | When old men are not upright they teach their sons and grandsons to be rogues. | Chinese. |
45. | Who honors not age is unworthy of it. | |
Youth, Age. | ||
1. | A worm is in the bud of youth and at the root of age. | Cowper. |
2. | A young man negligent, an old man necessitous. | |
3. | Action from youth, advice from middle age, prayers from the aged. | Hesiod. |
4. | Age but tastes, youth devours.[17] | Dryden. |
5. | Better eat gray bread in your youth than in your age. | Scotch. |
6. | Better poor, young and wise, than rich, old and a fool. | Ger. |
7. | Better under the beard of the old than the whip of the young. | Polish. |
8. | Consult with the old and fence with the young. | Ger. |
9. | Crabbed age and youth cannot live together. | Shaks. |
10. | Heavy work in youth is quiet rest in old age. | Ger. |
11. | He that corrects not youth controls not age. | Fr. |
12. | If the young knew, if the old man could, there is nothing but would be done. | Ital. |
13. | If you lie upon roses when young, you'll lie upon thorns when old. | |
14. | If youth knew what age would crave, It would both get and save. | |
15. | Intemperate youth ends in an age imperfect and unsound. | Denham. |
16. | In the lexicon of youth which fate reserves for a bright manhood there is no such word as fail. | Bulwer. |
17. | It is hard to put old heads on young shoulders. | |
18. | It is less painful to learn in youth than to be ignorant in age. | |
19. | No one so old that he may not live a year, none so young but he may die to-day.[18] | Ger. |
20. | Of young men die many, of old escape not any. | |
21. | Old age is a tyrant which forbids the pleasures of youth on pain of death. | Rochefoucauld. |
22. | Old boys have playthings as well as young ones, the difference is only in the price. | Franklin. |
23. | Old head and young hand. | |
24. | Old men for counsel, young men for war. | |
25. | Old men go to death, but death comes to young men. | |
26. | Old men when they scorn young, make much of death. | |
27. | Old young and old long. | |
28. | Reckless youth makes rueful age. | Scotch. |
29. | The aged in council, the young in action. | Dan. |
30. | The blunders of youth are preferable to the triumphs of manhood or the success of old age. | Bea. |
31. | The old effect more by counsel than the young by action. | Ger. |
32. | The old for want of ability and the young for want of knowledge let things be lost. | Sp. |
33. | The old forget, the young don't know. | Ger. |
34. | The old have death before their face, the young behind their backs. | Ger. |
35. | The old man at home and the young abroad lie after the same fashion. | Sp. |
36. | The old ones sing, the young ones pipe. | |
37. | The old see better behind than the young before.[19] | Ger. |
38. | The warnings of age are the weapons of youth. | |
39. | The young are slaves to novelty, the old to custom. | |
40. | The young man's wrath is like straw of fire, But like red hot steel is the old man's ire. | Byron. |
41. | The young may die, the old must die. | Ger., Dutch. |
42. | They who would be young when they are old, must be old when they are young. | |
43. | We expiate in old age the follies of our youth. | Latin. |
44. | What youth learns age does not forget. | Dan. |
45. | When old age is evil youth can learn no good. | |
46. | Where the old are foolish the child learns folly. | Ger. |
47. | Who follow not virtue in youth cannot fly sin in old age. | Ital. |
48. | Who would be young in age, must in youth be sage. | Ger. |
49. | Young folk, silly folk, old folk, cold folk. | Dutch. |
50. | Young men soon give and soon forget affronts, old age is slow at both. | Byron. |
51. | Young men's knocks, old men feel. | |
52. | Young people must be taught, old ones be honored. | Dan. |
53. | Young men are made wise, old men become so.[20] | |
54. | Young men should be learners when old men are actors. | |
55. | Young men think old men are fools, and old men know young men to be so. | |
56. | Youth is a garland of roses, age is a crown of thorns. | Hebrew. |
57. | Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret. | Bea. |
Agree. | ||
1. | They agree like bells, they want nothing but hanging. | |
2. | They agree like cats and dogs. | |
3. | They agree like harp and harrow. | |
4. | They agree like the clocks of London. | |
5. | They agree like pickpockets in a fair. | |
6. | Where they do agree on the stage their unanimity is wonderful. | Sheridan. |
Ague. | ||
1. | A quartan ague kills old men and heals young. | |
2. | Agues come on horseback but go away on foot. | |
3. | An ague in spring is physic for a king. | |
Air. | ||
1. | Foul air slays like a sword. | Dr. Angus Smith. |
2. | It is a great act of life to sell air well. | |
3. | The air of a window is as the stroke of a cross-bow. | |
Alchemist. | ||
1. | Beware of a poor alchemist. | Ital. |
2. | The foolish alchemist sought to make gold of iron and made iron of gold.[21] | Ital. |
Alchemy. | ||
1. | It is approved alchemy to have an income and spend nothing. | Sp., Por. |
Ale. | ||
1. | Ale sellers should na be tale tellers. | |
2. | Ale that would make a cat to speak. | |
3. | Good ale is meat, drink and cloth. | |
4. | He mends like sour ale in summer. | |
5. | He that buys land buys many stones, He that buys flesh buys many bones. He that buys eggs buys many shells, But he that buys good ale buys nothing else. | |
Alexander. | ||
1. | Alexander himself was once a crying babe. | |
2. | Alexander was below a man when he affected to be a god. | |
“All But.” | ||
1. | “All but” saves many a man. | Dan. |
“Almost.” | ||
1. | “Almost” kills no man. | Dan. |
2. | “Almost” never killed a fly. | Ger. |
3. | “Almost” was never hanged. | |
Alms. | ||
1. | A friar who asks alms for God's sake begs for two. | Sp. |
2. | Alms are the golden key that opens the gates of heaven. | |
3. | Alms are the salt of riches.[22] | Hebrew. |
4. | Alms do not empty the purse and a mass does not exhaust a day's duty. | Dan. |
5. | Almsgiving never made a man poor, nor robbery rich, nor prosperity wise. | |
6. | Almsgiving secures heavenly bliss. | Tamil. |
7. | Better give nothing than stolen alms. | Ger. |
8. | Give not thy alms to the poor with grudging. | Phyoclides, 540 years before Christ. |
9. | Give not your alms to a sound limbed beggar. | M. Greek. |
10. | Giving alms never lessens the purse. | Sp. |
11. | He steals a goose and gives the giblets in alms. | |
12. | He who gives alms makes the best use of his money. | |
13. | He who gives alms should do it with discretion. | Cing. |
14. | It is small alms one beggar gives to another. | Ger. |
15. | No one becomes poor through giving alms. | Ital. |
16. | Steal a pig and give the trotters for God's sake. | Sp. |
17. | Steal my goose and stick me down a feather. | |
18. | The door that is not opened to him who begs our alms will be opened to the physician. | |
19. | The little alms are the good alms. | Fr. |
20. | To give alms is better than to take alms. | Ger. |
Altar. | ||
1. | Who lives by the altar must serve the altar.[23] | Ger. |
Ambergris. | ||
1. | Many stop their noses at Ambergris. | Ital. |
Ambition. | ||
1. | All are desirous to win the prize. | |
2. | Ambition has no rest. | Bulwer. |
3. | Ambition hath one heel nailed in hell, Though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens. | Lilly. |
4. | Ambition is as hollow as the soul of an echo. | |
5. | Ambition is no cure for love. | Scott. |
6. | Ambition is the last infirmity of noble minds. | |
7. | Ambition is the mind's immodesty. | Davenant. |
8. | Ambition is the soldier's virtue. | Shaks. |
9. | Ambition is the way in which a vulgar man aspires. | Beecher. |
10. | Ambition is torment enough for an enemy. | |
11. | Ambition knows no gorge but the grave. | Carl Seelbach. |
12. | Ambition like a torrent ne'er looks back. | Ben Jonson. |
13. | Ambition, thou powerful source of good or ill. | Young. |
14. | Blind ambition quite mistakes her road. | Young. |
15. | Blood only serves to wash ambition's hands. | Byron. |
16. | Black ambition stains a public cause. | Pope. |
17. | By jumping at the stars you may fall in the mud.[24] | |
18. | Climb not too high lest the fall be the greater. | |
19. | Earth's worst tempters, gold and ambition. | Bulwer. |
20. | Fling away ambition, by that sin fell the angels. | Shaks. |
21. | He cannot see the river, his heart is set on leaping the dragon gate. | Chinese. |
22. | He has gone in search of the (fabulous) birds of the sea.(Said of an ambitious person.) | Kaffir. |
23. | He that cuts above himself will get splinters in his eye. | |
24. | He that heweth above his height may have a chip in his eye. | |
25. | He who would rise in the world should veil his ambition with the forms of humanity. | Chinese. |
26. | He would fain fly but wants feathers. | |
27. | He would open his hand in order to grasp the moon in the heavens, he would plunge into the sea to grasp leviathan. | Chinese. |
28. | In heaven ambition cannot dwell, Nor avarice in the vaults of hell. | Southey. |
29. | It is a mean ambition to be the 'squire of the company. | |
30. | Proud ambition is but a beggar. | Daniel. |
31. | The trap to the high born is ambition. | |
32. | There is no eel so small but it hopes to become a whale. | Ger. |
33. | There is no fir tree so small it does not expect to become a cedar.[25] | Ger. |
34. | There is nothing humbler than ambition when it is about to climb. | Franklin. |
35. | Thriftless ambition, that wilt ravin up Thine own life's means. | Shaks. |
36. | To take ambition from a soldier is to rob him of his spurs. | |
37. | Vaulting ambition o'erleaps itself. | Shaks. |
Amends. | ||
1. | It argues an ignorant mind where we have wronged to higgle and dodge in the amends. | Hale. |
Amnesty. | ||
1. | Amnesty, that noble word, the genuine dictate of wisdom. | Chinese. |
Amusement. | ||
1. | Amusement to an observing mind is study. | Bea. |
Ancestors. | ||
1. | To forget one's ancestors, is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root. | Chinese. |
Anchor. | ||
1. | “Allah is Allah, but I have two anchors astern.” (Turkish admiral speaking to Lady Hester Stanhope.) | |
2. | Good riding at two anchors, for if one break the other may hold. | |
3. | He is like the anchor that is always in the sea yet does not learn to swim. | Ital. |
4. | It is best to trust to two anchors.[26] | Latin. |
Angel. | ||
1. | Angel visits, few and far between. | Campbell. |
2. | Angels are bright still though the brightest fell. | Shaks. |
3. | Angels hear the humblest human cry. | Bulwer. |
4. | Like angel's visits, few and far between. | |
5. | They talk like angels but live like men. | Dr. Johnson. |
6. | Write on the devil's horns “good angel,” and many will believe it. | |
Anger. | ||
1. | A hasty man never wants woe. | |
2. | A man in a passion rides a horse that runs away with him. | |
3. | A man is a stark fool all the while he is angry. | |
4. | A state's anger should not take knowledge either of fools or women. | Ben Jonson. |
5. | An angry man cannot see right. | Ger. |
6. | An angry man heeds no counsel. | Por. |
7. | An angry man is again angry with himself when he returns to reason. | Syrus. |
8. | An angry man opens his mouth and shuts his eyes. | Cato. |
9. | An irritable and passionate man is a downright drunkard. | Sp. |
10. | Anger and haste hinder good counsel. | |
11. | Anger and love give bad counsel. | |
12. | Anger assists hands however weak.[27] | Ovid. |
13. | Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance. | Pythagoras. |
14. | Anger cannot stand without a strong hand. | |
15. | Anger dieth quickly with a good man. | |
16. | Anger edges valor. | |
17. | Anger ends in cruelty. | Tamil. |
18. | Anger first and pity afterwards. | Tamil. |
19. | Anger increases love. | Ital. |
20. | Anger is a short madness. | Dutch. |
21. | Anger is a sworn enemy. | |
22. | Anger is as useless as the waves of the ocean without wind. | Chinese. |
23. | Anger is often more hurtful than the injury that caused it. | |
24. | Anger is one of the sinews of the soul. | Fuller. |
25. | Anger is the fever and frenzy of the soul. | |
26. | Anger is to be avoided in inflicting punishment. | Cicero. |
27. | Anger last of all becomes old. | M. Greek. |
28. | Anger makes a rich man hated and a poor man scorned. | |
29. | Anger manages everything badly. | Statius. |
30. | Anger may glance into the breast of a wise man, but rests only in the bosom of fools. | |
31. | Anger occasioned by a trifle may extend to the sky before it ceases. | |
32. | Anger punishes itself. | Tamil. |
33. | Anger rendereth the man insane and the prophet dumb.[28] | Hebrew. |
34. | Anger resteth in the bosom of fools. | Bible. |
35. | Anger without power is folly. | Ger. |
36. | Base terms are bellows to a slackening fire. | |
37. | Be master of thy anger. | Periander of Corinth. |
38. | Be not choleric, it will make you look old. | |
39. | Dread the anger of the dove. | |
40. | He best keeps from anger who remembers that God is always looking upon him. | Plato. |
41. | He looks as angry as if he were vexed. | Irish. |
42. | He overcomes a stout enemy who overcomes his own anger. | Chilo. |
43. | He that can reply calmly to an angry man is too hard for him. | |
44. | He that is angry is seldom at ease. | |
45. | He that is angry without a cause, must be pleased without amends. | |
46. | He who has been angry becomes cool again. | M. Greek. |
47. | He who overcomes his anger subdues his greatest enemy. | Syrus. |
48. | If you be angry you may turn the buckle of your girdle behind you. | |
49. | Ruling one's anger well is not so good as preventing it. | |
50. | Striking and not making it felt is anger lost. | |
51. | Take this remark from Richard, poor and lame, [29]Whate'er is begun in anger ends in shame. | Franklin. |
52. | That anger is not warrantable that has seen two suns. | |
53. | The anger of a good man is the hardest to bear. | Syrus. |
54. | The discretion of a man deferreth his anger and it is glory to overlook a transgression. | Bible. |
55. | The pain of anger punishes the fault. | Homer. |
56. | The physician of anger is reason. | M. Greek. |
57. | The sun should never set on our anger. | |
58. | There is not in nature a thing that makes a man so deformed, so beastly, as intemperate anger. | John Webster. |
59. | To be angry is to punish myself for another's fault. | |
60. | Two things a man should never be angry at: What he can help, and what he cannot help. | |
61. | Two to one in all things against the angry man. | |
62. | We all know that anger cannot look at anger without laughing. | Buckminster. |
63. | When a man grows angry his reason rides out. | |
64. | When anger rushes unrestrained to action, like a hot mettled steed, it stumbles on its way. | Savage. |
65. | When angry, count ten; when very angry, a hundred. | Jefferson. |
Angler, Angling. | ||
1. | All that are lovers of virtue, be quiet and go angling.[30] | Izaak Walton. |
2. | Always keep your hook in the water, where you least expect one the fish will be found. | Ovid. |
3. | An angler eats more than he gets. | |
4. | Angling is somewhat like poetry, men must be born so. | Izaak Walton. |
5. | No angler can be a good man. | Byron. |
6. | To angle with a silver hook. | |
Annoyances. | ||
1. | He puts up with small annoyances to gain great results. | Latin. |
Another's. | ||
1. | What is another's always pines for its master. | Sp., Por. |
Answer. | ||
1. | A sober man—a soft answer. | |
2. | A soft answer bids a furioso to put up his sword. | |
3. | A soft answer is a specific cure for anger. | Ger. |
4. | A soft answer turneth away wrath. | Bible. |
5. | No answer is also an answer. | Dan. |
6. | Not all words require an answer. | Ital. |
7. | The shortest answer is doing the thing. | |
8. | There is no answer for, “Get out of my house,” and, “What do you want with my wife?” | Sp. |
9. | To answer one in his own language. | |
10. | Who answers for another pays. | Fr. |
11. | Who answers suddenly knows little. | |
Ant. | ||
1. | A cocoanut-shell full of water is an ocean to an ant.[31] | Tamil. |
2. | An emmet (ant) may work its heart out, but cannot make honey. | |
3. | Ants never bend their course to an empty granary. No friend will visit departed wealth. | Ovid. |
4. | Even an emmet may seek revenge. | |
5. | Even an ant is eight spans long as measured by its own hand. | Tamil. |
6. | None preaches better than the ant, and she says nothing. | Franklin. |
7. | The ant has wings to its hurt. | Don Quixote. |
8. | What would the ant do if it had the head of a bull. | Ger. |
Ancients, Antiquity. | ||
1. | All that is ancient is beautiful. All that is rich is wise. | M. Greek. |
2. | Ancient time was the youth of the world. | Bacon. |
3. | Antiquity cannot privilege an error, nor novelty prejudice a truth. | |
4. | Antiquity is not always a mark of verity. | |
5. | The living shun modern perfection for mouldering antiques. | Scribleomania. |
6. | We extol the productions of the ancients but are wholly unmindful of contemporary merit. | Tacitus. |
Anvil. | ||
1. | The anvil fears no blows. | |
2. | The anvil is used to noise. | |
3. | When many strike upon an anvil they must strike by measure.[32] | |
Anvil, Hammer. | ||
1. | A good anvil does not fear the hammer. | Ital. |
2. | If the hammer strikes hard the anvil lasts the longer. | |
3. | If thou art an anvil then suffer: if a hammer, then strike. | Roumanian. |
4. | If you are an anvil be patient; if you are a hammer strike hard. | Ger. |
5. | It is better to be the hammer than the anvil. | Fr. |
6. | One must be either anvil or hammer. | |
7. | Some men are born anvils, some are born hammers. | |
8. | The anvil lasts longer than the hammer. | Ital. |
9. | When you are an anvil bear, when you are a hammer strike. | Sp. |
Ape. | ||
1. | An ape may chance to sit among the doctors. | |
2. | An ape's an ape, a varlet's a varlet, Though he be dressed in silk or scarlet. | |
3. | An ape's an ape, though he wear a gold ring. | |
4. | An ape is ne'er so like an ape, As when he wears a doctor's cape. | |
5. | An old ape hath an old eye. | |
6. | An old ape never made a pretty grimace. | Fr. |
7. | As fond of it as an ape is of a ball or whip. | |
8. | The ape claspeth her young so long that at last she killeth them. | |
9. | The higher the ape climbs the more he shows his bald haunches.[33] | Fr., Ger. |
Aphorisms. | ||
1. | Aphorisms are portable wisdom, the quintessential extracts of thought and feeling. | W. R. Alger. |
Apothegms. | ||
1. | Apothegms are the most infallible mirror to represent a man truly what he is. | Plutarch. |
Appear, Appearance. | ||
1. | A grave and majestic outside is as it were the palace of the soul. | Chinese. |
2. | A man is not always known by his looks, nor is the sea measured with a bushel. | Chinese. |
3. | Always appear what you are and a little below it. | M. Greek. |
4. | Anxious about the shoe but disregarding the foot. (Careful about external appearance but regardless of the culture of the mind.) | |
5. | Appearances are deceitful. | Ger. |
6. | Be what you appear to be. | Latin. |
7. | Be what you seem to be. | |
8. | Do not always judge by appearances. | La Fontaine. |
9. | There is no trusting to appearances. | Latin. |
10. | What wretched shifts are they obliged to make use of who would support the appearance of a fortune they have not. | Fielding. |
Appetite. | ||
1. | A good appetite does not want sauce. | Ital. |
2. | Appetite comes with eating.[34] | Fr., Ital. |
3. | He who cheats his appetite avoids debt. | Chinese. |
4. | Let appetite yield to reason. | |
5. | New dishes beget new appetites. | |
6. | No sauce like appetite. | Fr. |
7. | The cattle know when to leave their pasture, but a foolish man knows not the measure of his own appetite. | Hans Andersen. |
8. | Where reason rules appetite obeys. | |
Applause. | ||
1. | Applause is the root of abuse. | Japanese. |
2. | Applause is the spur of noble minds. | |
3. | Mankind bestows more applause on her destroyers than her benefactors. | Gibbon. |
4. | Men seek less to be instructed than applauded. | |
5. | The applause of the people is a blast of air. | |
Application. | ||
1. | It is for want of application rather than of means that men fail of success. | Rochefoucauld. |
April. | ||
1. | A cold April bread and wine. | Sp. |
2. | A cold April the barn will fill. | |
3. | April flood carries away the frog and her brood. | |
4. | April and May are the key of all the year. | |
5. | April borrows three days from March and they are ill. | |
6. | April cling good for nothing. | |
7. | April showers bring forth May flowers.[35] | |
8. | The first day of April you may send a fool whither you will. | |
Archer. | ||
1. | A good archer is not known by his arrow but his aim. | |
2. | If you have no arrows in your quiver go not with archers. | Ger. |
3. | The archer that shoots badly has a lie ready. | Sp., Por. |
Architect. | ||
1. | One may live in a house without being an architect. | Goethe. |
2. | The name of the architect who builds most of the castles in the air is “to-morrow,” and hope lays the foundation. | Punch. |
Architecture. | ||
1. | Architecture is frozen music. | Mme de Stael. |
Argument. | ||
1. | Argument makes three enemies to one friend. | |
2. | Argument seldom convinces any one against his inclination. | |
3. | The arguments of the strongest have always the most weight. | Fr. |
4. | When either side grows warm with argument the wisest man gives over first. | |
Arms. | ||
1. | Arms and money require good hands. | Sp. |
2. | Arms carry peace. | Ital. |
3. | Arms, women, and books should be looked at daily.[36] | Dutch. |
4. | Let arms give place to the gown. | Cicero. |
5. | Let arms revere the robe, the warrior's laurel yield to the palm of eloquence. | Cicero. |
6. | The frailty of noble minds is love of arms and military glory. | Gibbon. |
Army. | ||
1. | A headless army fights badly. | Dan. |
2. | The army that comes off best loses some. | |
3. | What's an army without a general? | |
Arrogance. | ||
1. | Arrogance is a weed that grows mostly on a dunghill. | |
2. | Arrogance is the obstruction of wisdom. | Bion. |
3. | Supple knees feed arrogance. | |
Arrow. | ||
1. | A man does not use one finger to take out an arrow. | Calabar. |
2. | Not every sort of wood is fit to make an arrow. | Fr. |
3. | One arrow does not bring down two birds. | Turk. |
4. | The polished surface throws back the arrow. | |
5. | When the arrow is in the spring it must go. | Chinese. |
6. | Why blame the arrow letting the archer go free? | Tamil. |
Art, Artist. | ||
1. | A man may be an artist though he have not his tools about him.[37] | |
2. | A thousand artisans a thousand plans. | Chinese. |
3. | An artist lives everywhere. | |
4. | An art requires a whole man. | Fr. |
5. | Art and hope are twin brothers and they die together. | Maga. |
6. | Art and knowledge bring bread and honor. | Dan. |
7. | Art helps nature and experience art. | |
8. | Art holds fast when all else is lost. | Ger. |
9. | Art is art even though unsuccessful. | Dan. |
10. | Art is long—life is short. | |
11. | Art is power. | Longfellow. |
12. | Art may err but nature cannot miss. | Dryden. |
13. | Art must be deluded by art. | |
14. | By deceit and art men live half a year, and by art and deceit the other half. | |
15. | He that sips many arts drinks none. | |
16. | He tries to match a grace beyond the reach of art. | Dutch. |
17. | He who has an art has everywhere a part. | Ital. |
18. | It is a poor art that maintains not the artisan. | Ital. |
19. | The perfection of art is to conceal art. | Quintillian. |
20. | To whiten ivory by ink is to spoil nature by art. | Latin. |
Arts. | ||
1. | By hammer and hand all arts do stand.[38] | |
Ashes. | ||
1. | A man never appreciates ashes until he slips on the ice. | |
2. | Ashes always fly back in the face of him that throws them. | Yoruba. |
3. | Ashes are medicine for the sores of a bull. | Tamil. |
4. | Under white ashes are often glowing embers. | Ital., Dan. |
Asking. | ||
1. | A gude asker should hae a good nay—say. | |
2. | Ask for an inch and take an ell. | |
3. | Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no fibs. | Goldsmith. |
4. | Ask my chum if I am a thief. | |
5. | Ask my comrade who is as great a liar as myself. | Fr. |
6. | Ask not after a good man's pedigree. | Sp. |
7. | Ask the host if he have good wine. | Ital. |
8. | Ask the mother if the child be like the father. | |
9. | Ask the seller if the ware be bad. | |
10. | Ask the sick man if he wishes for a bed. | Turk. |
11. | Ask which was born first the hen or the egg. | Ital. |
12. | Asking costs little. | Ital. |
13. | Better ask than go astray. | Ital. |
14. | Better ask twice than lose your way once.[39] | Dan., Ger. |
15. | Do not ask which is the right way from a blind man. | Ger. |
16. | He denies himself who asks what it is impossible to grant. | |
17. | He that asketh faintly beggeth a denial. | |
18. | He who is afraid of asking is ashamed of learning. | Dan. |
19. | He'll never get a pennyworth that is afraid to ask the price. | |
20. | Lose nothing for asking. | |
21. | Never ask of him who has, but of him who wishes you well. | Sp. |
Ass. | ||
1. | A braying ass eats little hay. | Ital. |
2. | A dull ass near home needs no spur. | |
3. | A goaded ass must needs trot. | Fr., Ital. |
4. | A living ass is better than a dead doctor. | Ital. |
5. | A low ass is easy to ride on. | Turk. |
6. | A thistle is a fat salad for an ass's mouth. | |
7. | All asses do not go on four feet. | Ger. |
8. | All asses have not long ears. | Ger. |
9. | An ass covered with gold is more respected than a good horse with a pack saddle. | |
10. | An ass does not hit himself twice against the same stone. | Dutch. |
11. | An ass is but an ass though laden with gold. | |
12. | An ass is cold even in the summer solstice. | |
13. | An ass is the gravest beast, an owl the gravest bird. | |
14. | An ass let him be who brays at an ass.[40] | |
15. | An ass loaded with gold climbs to the top of a castle. | |
16. | An ass must be tied where the master will have him. | |
17. | An ass's tail will not make a sieve. | Ital. |
18. | An ass that carries a load is better than a lion that devours men. | |
19. | An ass that kicketh against the wall receiveth the blow himself. | |
20. | An ass to an ass is a beauty. | Latin. |
21. | An ass's trot does not last long. | Ital. |
22. | An ass was never cut out for a lap-dog. | |
23. | An ass with her colt goes straight to the mill. | Sp. |
24. | Asses' bridge. | The fifth proposition of Euclid. |
25. | Asses carry the oats and horses eat them. | Dutch. |
26. | Asses die and wolves bury them. | |
27. | Asses must not be tied up with horses. | Fr. |
28. | Asses sing badly because they pitch their voices too high. | Ger. |
29. | Asses that bray most eat least. | |
30. | Better an ass that carries me than a horse that throws me. | Ger., Por. |
31. | Better be killed by robbers than by the kick of asses. | Por. |
32. | Better have a bad ass than be your own ass. | Sp., Por. |
33. | Better strive with an ill ass than carry the wood one's self.[41] | |
34. | Die not, mine ass, for the spring-time is coming and with it clover. | Turk. |
35. | Either the ass will die or he that goads it. | Sp. |
36. | Even an ass will not fall twice in the same quicksand. | |
37. | Even an ass loves to hear himself bray. | |
38. | For a stubborn ass a hard goad. | Fr. |
39. | For a stubborn ass a stubborn driver. | Fr. |
40. | For an ass buffoon is the best teacher. | Ger. |
41. | Give an ass oats and he runs after thistles. | Dutch. |
42. | Good, good, but God keep my ass out of his rye. | Sp. |
43. | Hay is more acceptable to an ass than gold. | Latin. |
44. | He that is good for something is the ass of the public. | Ital. |
45. | He that makes himself an ass must not take it ill if men ride him. | |
46. | Horses run after benefices and asses get them. | Fr. |
47. | If any one say that one of thine ears is the ear of an ass regard it not; if he say so of them both procure thyself a bridle. | |
48. | If one, two, three say you are an ass put on a bridle. | Sp. |
49. | It is better to strive with a stubborn ass than to carry the wood on one's back. | Sp. |
50. | Lay the burden on the slow-paced ass.[42] | Latin. |
51. | Make yourself an ass and every one will lay a sack on you. | Ger. |
52. | Many guests matter little to the ass of the inn. | Wolofs.—(Africa.) |
53. | Nothing passes between asses but kicks. | Ital. |
54. | One ass among monkeys is grinned at by all. | Sp. |
55. | One ass nicknames another long-ears. | Ger. |
56. | One ass scratches another. | Latin. |
57. | One's own ass is better than his neighbor's stallion. | Ger. |
58. | Out of a little grass comes a great ass. | Ger. |
59. | Put not an embroidered crupper on an ass. | |
60. | Rather an ass that carries than a horse that throws. | Ital. |
61. | “Rough as it runs,” as the boy said when his ass kicked him. | |
62. | She was a neat dame that washed the ass's face. | |
63. | The ass and his driver do not think alike. | Ger., Dutch. |
64. | The ass boasted there was no voice equal to his, And no gait equal to that of his elder sister. | Tamil. |
65. | The ass brays when he pleases. | |
66. | The ass calls the cock big-headed. | M. Greek. |
67. | The ass carries corn to the mill and gets thistles.[43] | Ger. |
68. | The ass does not know the worth of his tail until he has lost it. | Ital. |
69. | The ass embraced the thistle, and they found themselves relations. | Por. |
70. | The ass even eating oats dreams of thistles. | Ger. |
71. | The ass is not learned though he be loaded with books. | Ger. |
72. | The ass knows well in whose face he brays. | Sp. |
73. | The ass loaded with gold still eats thistles. | Ger. |
74. | The ass of many owners is eaten by wolves. | Sp. |
75. | The ass of a king is still but an ass. | Ger. |
76. | The ass that brays most eats least. | |
77. | The ass that carrieth wine drinketh water. | |
78. | The ass that is common property is always the worst saddled. | |
79. | The ass that is hungry eats thistles. | Por. |
80. | The ass that trespasses on a stranger's premises will leave them laden with wood; i.e., well cudgelled. | Por. |
81. | The ass's hide is used to the stick. | Sp. |
82. | The ass's son brays one hour daily. | Por., Latin. |
83. | The braying of an ass does not reach heaven. | Ital. |
84. | The golden ass passes everywhere. | |
85. | The golden covering does not make the ass a horse.[44] | Ger. |
86. | The mountaineer's ass carries wine and drinks water. | Fr. |
87. | The starving ass does not count the blows. | M. Greek. |
88. | There are more asses than carry sacks. | Ital. |
89. | There goes more than one ass to market. | |
90. | There is no ass but brays. | Turk. |
91. | What good can it do an ass to be called a lion? | |
92. | What's the use of putting honey in an ass's mouth? | Ger. |
93. | When all men say you are an ass, it is time to bray. | |
94. | When the ass bears too light a load, he wants to lie down. | Russian. |
95. | When the ass is too happy, he begins dancing on the ice. | Dutch. |
96. | Wherever an ass falleth, there will he never fall again. | |
97. | Wherever an ass is crowned to fame, Both town and country bear the blame. | Ger. |
98. | Who is in great haste should not ride an ass. | Ger. |
99. | Who would save an ass against his will? | Horace. |
Assassination. | ||
1. | Assassination has never changed the history of the world. | Bea. |
Assertion. | ||
1. | Assertion is no proof.[45] | Ger. |
Assisting. | ||
1. | In this world it is necessary that we assist one another. | La Fontaine. |
Association. | ||
1. | A calf that goes with a pig will eat excrement. | Tamil. |
2. | A wise man associating with the vicious becomes an idiot; a dog travelling with good men becomes a rational being. | Arabian. |
Atheist. | ||
1. | An atheist is one point beyond the devil (devils, for they believe and tremble). | |
2. | An atheist's laugh is a poor excuse for deity offended. | Burns. |
3. | By night an atheist half believes a God. | Young. |
4. | Health chiefly keeps an atheist in the dark, A fever argues better than a clark. | Young. |
5. | He became an infidel remaining between two mosques. | Turk. |
6. | If you sit down a mere philosopher, you will rise almost an atheist. | |
7. | Men work themselves into an atheistical judgment by atheistical practices. | Whichcote. |
8. | Some are atheists only in fair weather. | |
9. | When men leave religion and turn atheists, their own abilities leave them. | Massinger. |
At Last. | ||
1. | At last all things come to be known. | |
2. | At last the fox turns monk.[46] | |
3. | At last the foxes all meet at the furrier's. | Ital. |
4. | At last the wolf's cub becomes a wolf. | |
Attainable. | ||
1. | Whatever has been attained is attainable. | Sir Wm. Jones. |
Attempting. | ||
1. | Attempt nothing beyond your strength. | Latin. |
2. | Attempt not or accomplish. | Latin. |
Auction. | ||
1. | At an auction keep your mouth shut | Sp. |
Augur-Holes. | ||
1. | Many men continually attempt to make augur-holes with a gimlet. | Franklin. |
Augurs. | ||
1. | They got the ill name of augurs because they were bores. | Lowell. |
August. | ||
1. | A wet August never brings dearth. | Ital. |
2. | When it rains in August, it rains honey and wine. | Sp. |
Author. | ||
1. | Among authors, jealousy and envy are incurable diseases. | Wharton's “Life of Pope.” |
2. | Choose an author as you choose a friend. | Roscommon. |
3. | Fear the worst from an enraged author. | Fr. |
4. | Like author like book. | |
5. | Most authors steal their works or buy. | Pope. |
6. | No author ever spares a brother.[47] | John Gay. |
Avarice. | ||
1. | Avarice and fidelity cannot dwell together in the same house. | Grimm's Fairy Tales. |
2. | Avarice blinds our eyes. | |
3. | Avarice bursts the bag. | Fr. |
4. | Avarice disposes men to fraud. | |
5. | Avarice increases with wealth. | Ital. |
6. | Avarice is always poor, but poor by her own fault. | Johnson. |
7. | Avarice is both knave and fool. | Greville. |
8. | Avarice is insatiable, and is always pushing for more. | L'Estrange. |
9. | Avarice is never satisfied. | |
10. | Avarice is the basest and most selfish of human passions. | |
11. | Avarice is the parent of all wickedness. | Claudianus. |
12. | Avarice is the parent of evil deeds, but frugality is the sure guardian of our virtues. | Ancient Brahmin. |
13. | Avarice loses all in seeking to gain all. | La Fontaine. |
14. | Avarice rarely finishes its day without weeping. | La Fontaine. |
15. | Avarice sheds a blasting influence over the fairest and sweetest of mankind. | Washington. |
16. | Gold and silver were mingled with dirt till avarice parted them. | |
17. | Great honors and avarice fly one another. | |
18. | He would sell even his share of the sun.[48] | Ital. |
19. | If you wish to remove avarice you must remove its mother luxury. | Cicero. |
20. | It is not want but abundance that makes avarice. | |
21. | No vice like avarice. | |
22. | Pour an ocean of melted gold down the throat of avarice, and it would still cry “Give, give.” | C. C. Baldwin's “Moral Maxims.” |
23. | The avaricious man is always in want. | Latin. |
24. | The older the colder; the more avaricious, the more vicious. | Ger. |
25. | The wretch who avarice bids to pinch and spare, Starves, steals, pilfers to enrich an heir. | Franklin. |
26. | When all other sins are old, avarice is still young. | Fr. |
Avenging. | ||
1. | He who will avenge every affront means not to live long. | |
2. | If I had avenged every wrong, I had not worn my shirt so long. | |
3. | It is often better not to see an insult than to avenge it. | Seneca. |
4. | The avenging gods have their feet clothed in wool. (Noiseless is the approach of the avenging deities.)[49] |
Babblers. | |||
1. | The great church bells rarely sound, the full cask returns no sound. (A proverb of the Chinese directed against babblers for whom they have a great aversion.) | ||
Babe. | |||
1. | A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure. | Tupper. | |
2. | A babe is a mother's anchor. She cannot swing far from her moorings. | Beecher. | |
3. | A babe is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase. | Fr. | |
4. | A bairn maun creep ere it gang. | ||
5. | At first babes feed on the mother's bosom, but always on her heart. | Beecher. | |
6. | None of us like the crying of another person's baby. | Punch. | |
7. | Too many nurses spoil the broth of a boy. | Punch. | |
8. | To the well-bred doctor all babies are angels. | Punch. | |
9. | Where God sends babies he sends penny loaves. | ||
Bacchus. | |||
1. | Bacchus hath drowned more than Neptune. | ||
2. | Bacchus kills more than Mars. | Ger. | |
3. | Bacchus loves freedom.[50] | Ger. | |
4. | If you make Bacchus your God, Apollo will not keep you company. | ||
5. | When Bacchus pokes the fire, Venus sits by the oven. | Ger. | |
Bachelor. | |||
1. | Bachelor, a peacock, betrothed a lion, married an ass. | Sp. | |
2. | A bachelor's bed is the pleasantest. | Cicero. | |
3. | An old bachelor is only the half of a pair of scissors. | Ben. Franklin. | |
4. | Bachelors' wives and maids' children are well taught. | ||
5. | Commend a wedded life, but keep thyself a bachelor. | ||
6. | Hold your hands off other folks' bairns till you get some of your own. | ||
7. | If you trust a man let him be a bachelor; let him be a bachelor. | George Eliot. | |
8. | Marriage has its pains, but a bachelor's life has no pleasures. | Wolofs.—(Africa.) | |
9. | Praise a wife, but remain a bachelor. | Ital. | |
10. | Who would avoid all strife, should be a bachelor. | ||
11. | Wisely I say, I am a bachelor. | Shaks. | |
12. | Whoever is free from wrangling is a bachelor. | St. Jerome. | |
Back. | |||
1. | The back is shaped to the burden. | ||
Backbiting. | |||
1. | Backbiting oftener proceeds from pride than malice.[51] | ||
Bad. | |||
1. | A bad bush is better than the open field. | ||
2. | A bad knife cuts one's fingers instead of the stick. | Por. | |
3. | A bad padlock invites a picklock. | ||
4. | A bad reaper never gets a good sickle. | Gaelic. | |
5. | A bad shift is better than no shift. | ||
6. | A bad thing never dies. | ||
7. | A bad tree does not yield good apples. | Dan. | |
8. | A bad vessel breaks not easily. | Hungarian. | |
9. | A bad vessel is seldom broken. | Latin. | |
10. | All bad alike. Literal, putrid flesh is all of a flavor. | Chinese. | |
11. | Bad is never good until worse happens. | Dan. | |
12. | Bad is the sack that will not bear patching. | Ital. | |
13. | Bad is the wool that cannot be dyed. | Ital. | |
14. | Bad mind bad heart. | Terence. | |
15. | He who has a bad name is half hanged. | Ital. | |
16. | Nothing so bad as not to be good for something. | ||
17. | Nothing so bad but it finds its master. | Dutch. | |
18. | There is no man so bad but has a secret respect for the good. | ||
19. | There is nothing so bad but may be of some use.[52] | Ger. | |
20. | Those who are once found to be bad are presumed to be so forever. | Latin. | |
21. | What is bad for one is good for another. | Fr. | |
22. | Where bad's the best naught must be the choice. | ||
23. | You may keep yourself safe from fire but not from a bad man. | Por. | |
24. | Bad men leave their mark wherever they go. | Chinese. | |
25. | Who is bad to his own is bad to himself. | Ital. | |
Bag. | |||
1. | An empty bag cannot stand upright. | ||
Bag-pipe. | |||
1. | Bring not a bag-pipe to a man in trouble. | ||
2. | He's like a bag-pipe, you never hear him till his belly's full. | ||
3. | The bag-pipe never utters a word till its belly's full. | Fr. | |
Bailiff's Cow. | |||
1. | The bailiff's cow and another's cow are two different cows. | Ger. | |
Baker. | |||
1. | Be not a baker if your head be of butter. | Sp. | |
2. | He is not fit to be a baker whose head is made of butter. | Dan. | |
Balance. | |||
1. | The balance distinguishes not between gold or lead. | ||
2. | The balance in doing its office knows neither gold or lead.[53] | Fr. | |
Bankrupt. | |||
1. | A bankrupt and a usurer do not disagree, i.e., they easily conclude a bargain. | Arabian. | |
2. | A bankrupt Jew searches his old accounts. | Modern Greek. | |
Bankruptcy. | |||
1. | Men of their broken debtors take a third, A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again. | Shaks. | |
Banishment. | |||
1. | Blood-thirsty is the man who returns from banishment. | Ancient Proverb. | |
Banquet. | |||
1. | There never was a banquet so sumptuous but some one dined ill at it. | Fr. | |
Barber. | |||
1. | He is a sorry barber that has but one comb. | Ital. | |
2. | Neither a dumb barber nor a deaf singer. | Por. | |
3. | On a fool's beard the barber learns to shave. | Fr., Ital. | |
4. | One barber shaves another. | Fr. | |
5. | One barber shaves not so close but another finds work. | ||
6. | Softly, barber, the water scalds. | Ital. | |
7. | The bad barber leaves neither hair nor skin.[54] | Sp. | |
8. | The barber learns to shave on the orphan's face. | Arabian. | |
9. | There is no beard so well shaven but another barber will find something more to shave from it. | Ital. | |
Bargain. | |||
1. | A bargain is a bargain. | ||
2. | A good bargain is a pick purse. | ||
3. | A man loseth his time that comes early to a bad bargain. | ||
4. | Bargains are costly. | Ger., Sp. | |
5. | Bargaining is as necessary to a trade as poleing to a vessel. | Chinese. | |
6. | Good cheap is dear at long run. | ||
7. | He who hunts after bargains will scratch his head. | Catalan. | |
8. | It is a bad bargain where both are losers. | ||
9. | It is a silly bargain where nobody gets. | ||
10. | It is only good bargains that ruin. | ||
11. | It takes two to make a bargain. | ||
12. | Make the best of a bad bargain. | ||
13. | Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths. | ||
14. | More words than one go to a bargain. | ||
15. | No one will get a bargain he does not ask for. | Fr. | |
16. | On a good bargain think twice. | ||
17. | One word will not settle a bargain, though prices vary from morning to night. | Chinese. | |
18. | They spit upon the same stone.[55] (A custom practised in the north of England when concluding a bargain.) | ||
19. | Twa words maun gang to that bargain. | ||
(Rash) Bargain. | |||
1. | It is a rash bargain to sell the bird on the bough. | Ital. | |
2. | The man that once did sell the lion's skin Was killed in hunting him. | Shaks. | |
Barley Corn. | |||
1. | The barley corn is the heart's key. | ||
Base. | |||
1. | Incline to nothing base. | ||
2. | It is a base thing to betray a man because he trusted you. | ||
3. | It is a base thing to tear a dead lion's beard off. | ||
4. | It is a base thing to tread upon a man who is down. | ||
Bashfulness. | |||
1. | A scoff is the reward of bashfulness. | ||
2. | At table bashfulness is out of place. | ||
3. | Bashfulness is an enemy to poverty. | ||
4. | Bashfulness is an ornament to youth but a reproach to old age. | Aristotle. | |
5. | Bashfulness is no use to the needy. | Dutch. | |
6. | He that wants should not be bashful. | Ital. | |
7. | His bashful mind hinders his good intent. | ||
8. | It is only the bashful that lose. | Fr. | |
9. | To cast a sheep's eye at one.[56] | ||
Basle. | |||
1. | It takes nine Jews to cheat a native of Basle. | ||
Bath. | |||
1. | The bath has sworn not to whiten the blackamoor. | Sp. | |
Battle. | |||
1. | It is a hard battle where none escape. | ||
2. | Many walk into a battle and are carried out of it. | Fielding. | |
3. | Nothing but a battle lost can be so melancholy as a battle won. | Wellington. | |
4. | The battle is over when the foe hath fallen. | Ovid. | |
5. | The battle is weak that is waged with one hand. | Euripides. | |
6. | The danger is great if thy foot stumble when thou goest to battle. | Volsunga Saga. | |
7. | The winds and the waves in a naval battle are always on the side of the ablest navigator. | Gibbon. | |
Bazaar. | |||
1. | The bazaar knows neither father nor mother. | Turk. | |
Bear. | |||
1. | An old bear is slow in learning to dance. | Ger. | |
2. | Catch the bear before you sell his skin. | ||
3. | Don't play with the bear if you don't want to be bit. | Ital. | |
4. | He must have iron nails that scratches with a bear.[57] | ||
5. | He that hath eaten a bear pie will always smell of the garden. | ||
6. | If it were a bear it would bite you. (Applied to a person hunting for a thing mislaid, by a person observing him near to it.) | ||
7. | One cannot teach a bear to dance in a day. | Ger. | |
8. | One must catch the bear before he draws a ring through his nose. | Ger. | |
9. | One must not play on the nose of the sleeping bear. | Ger. | |
10. | One must not reach his hand to the hungry bear. | Ger. | |
11. | Savage bears agree with one another. | Juvenal. | |
12. | The bear wants a tail and cannot be lion. | ||
13. | The she bear thinks her cubs pretty. | Ital. | |
Beard. | |||
1. | Beard was never the true standard of brains. | T. Fuller. | |
2. | If the beard were all the goat would be the winner. | Dan. | |
3. | If my beard is burnt others try to light their pipes at it. | Turk. | |
4. | Little beard little modesty. | Sp. | |
5. | Red beard and black head catch him with a good trick and take him dead. | ||
6. | The beard does not make the philosopher. | Ital. | |
7. | To beards with money cavaliers pay respect.[58] | Sp. | |
8. | Where there is no beard there is no understanding. | Ger. | |
9. | Whoever hath a divided beard the whole world will not prevail against him. | ||
10. | You can scarcely pull a hair from a thin beard. | M. Greek. | |
Bearing. | |||
1. | A man may bear till his back breaks. | ||
2. | Bear and blame not what you cannot change. | Syms. | |
3. | Bear and forbear. | Ovid. | |
4. | Bear the best humbly and the worst resigned. | Homer. | |
5. | Bear with a soul resigned the will of Jove. | Homer. | |
6. | Bear with evil and expect good. | ||
7. | To bear is to conquer our fate. | Campbell. | |
8. | You must bear that which hurts that you may gain that which profits. | Syrus. | |
Beast. | |||
1. | In order to manage an ungovernable beast he must be stinted in his provender. | Queen Elizabeth. | |
2. | The beast dead the venom dead. | Fr., Ital. | |
3. | The beast is more savage than man when he is possessed of power equal to his passion. | Plutarch. | |
4. | The beasts are by instinct their own physicians. | Fr., Ital. | |
5. | The beast that goes well is never without some one to try his paces.[59] | Sp., Por. | |
6. | There is no beast so savage but it sports with its mate. | Sp. | |
7. | There is no beast that does not roar in its den. | Kaffir. | |
Beauty. | |||
1. | A fair face may be a foul bargain. | ||
2. | A fair face may hide a foul heart. | ||
3. | A fair face is half a portion. | ||
4. | A fair face will get its praise though the owner keep silent. | Dan. | |
5. | A pretty face is as good as a drummer. | Ger. | |
6. | A pretty face is half a dowry. | Ger. | |
7. | A thing of beauty is a joy forever. | Keats. | |
8. | All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth. | Shaks. | |
9. | All that's fair must fade. | Ital. | |
10. | Beauties without fortune have sweethearts plenty but husbands none at all. | ||
11. | Beauty and charity have always a mortal quarrel between them. | ||
12. | Beauty and folly are often companions. | Fr., Ital. | |
13. | Beauty and folly are sisters. | Ger. | |
14. | Beauty and understanding go rarely together. | Ger. | |
15. | Beauty blemished once forever's lost. | Shaks. | |
16. | Beauty carries its dower in its face. | Dan. | |
17. | Beauty comes not by forcing. | Turk. | |
18. | Beauty doth varnish age. | Shaks. | |
19. | Beauty draws more than oxen.[60] | ||
20. | Beauty draws us with a single hair. | Pope. | |
21. | Beauty in the unworthy is poison in a casket of gold. | Tamil. | |
22. | Beauty is a frail advantage. | Ovid. | |
23. | Beauty is a good letter of introduction. | Ger. | |
24. | Beauty is a witch against whose charms faith melteth into blood. | Shaks. | |
25. | Beauty is as good as ready money. | Ger. | |
26. | Beauty is but dross if honesty be lost. | Dutch. | |
27. | Beauty is but skin deep. | ||
28. | Beauty is worse than wine; it intoxicates both the holder and the beholder. | Zimmerman. | |
29. | Beauty is no inheritance. | ||
30. | Beauty is one of God's gifts. | Lewes. | |
31. | Beauty is potent but money is more potent. | ||
32. | Beauty is the eye's food and the soul's sorrow. | Ger. | |
33. | Beauty is the subject of a blemish. | ||
34. | Beauty is the wife's best dowry. | ||
35. | Beauty is truth, truth beauty. | Keats. | |
36. | Beauty lives with kindness. | Shaks. | |
37. | Beauty may have fair leaves but bitter fruit. | ||
38. | Beauty opens locked doors. | Ger. | |
39. | Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold. | ||
40. | Beauty—the fading rainbow's pride. | Halleck. | |
41. | Beauty vanishes, virtue endures. | Ger. | |
42. | Beauty will buy no beef. | ||
43. | Beauty without bounty avails not. | ||
44. | Beauty without modesty is infamous.[61] | Ger. | |
45. | Beauty without understanding is vain talk. | Ger. | |
46. | Beauty without virtue is a curse. | ||
47. | Beauty without virtue is a rose without fragrance. | Ger., Dan. | |
48. | Beauty's tears are lovelier than her smiles. | Campbell. | |
49. | Good looks buy nothing in the market. | ||
50. | Health and wealth create beauty. | ||
51. | How goodness brightens beauty. | Hannah Moore. | |
52. | It is not the greatest beauties that inspire the most profound passion. | Fr. | |
53. | Man cannot divide beauty into dollars. | Polish. | |
54. | One cannot live on beauty. | Ger. | |
55. | One does not put beauty in the kettle. | Ger. | |
56. | Over the greatest beauty hangs the greatest ruin. | ||
57. | She that is born a beauty is half married. | ||
58. | She who is born a beauty is born betrothed. | Ital. | |
59. | She who is born handsome is born married. | ||
60. | The beautiful are never desolate, but some one always loves them. | Bailey. | |
61. | The beautiful is always true. | Fr. | |
62. | The beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother. | African Negro. | |
63. | The very autumn of a form once fine retains its beauties.[62] | Euripides. | |
64. | We seize the beautiful and reject the useful. | La Fontaine. | |
65. | Without the smile from partial beauty won, Say what were man? a world without a sun. | ||
Becoming. | |||
1. | That best becomes every man, which he is by nature intended to perform. | Scribleomania. | |
2. | What is becoming is honorable and what is honorable is becoming. | Cicero. | |
Bee. | |||
1. | A drone is one who does not labor. | Bea. | |
2. | A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay, But a swarm in July is not worth a fly. | ||
3. | Bees do not become hornets. | ||
4. | Better two drones be preserved than one good bee perish. | ||
5. | Drones suck not eagles' blood but rob bee-hives. | Shaks. | |
6. | From the same flower the bee extracts honey and the wasp gall. | Ital. | |
7. | Good bees never turn drones. | ||
8. | He has a bee in his bonnet lug. | ||
9. | I want no drones in my bee-hive. | Ger. | |
10. | Old bees yield no honey. | ||
11. | One bee is better than a handful of flies. | Ger., Sp. | |
12. | The bee from his industry in the summer eats honey all the winter. | ||
13. | Whatever the bee sucks turns to honey and whatever the wasp sucks turns to venom.[63] | Por. | |
14. | When bees are old they yield no honey. | ||
15. | When the bee sucks it makes honey, when the spider, poison. | Sp. | |
16. | Where bees are there is honey. | ||
Beer. | |||
1. | Better weak beer than an empty cask. | Dan. | |
2. | Beware: froth is not beer. | Dan. | |
3. | Hops, reformation and beer, Came to England all in one year. | ||
4. | Small beer comes the last. | Dan. | |
5. | The beer's of your own brewing and you must drink it. | Dutch. | |
6. | What two ideas are more inseparable than beer and Britannia? | Sidney Smith. | |
Beggar. | |||
1. | A beggar is never out of his road. | Fr. | |
2. | A beggar nowhere suffers from famine. | Tamil. | |
3. | A beggar's estate lies in all lands. | Dutch. | |
4. | A beggar's hand is a bottomless basket. | Dutch. | |
5. | A beggar's wallet empty is heavier than a full one. | Ger. | |
6. | A beggar's wallet is never full. | Por. | |
7. | A lordly taste makes a beggar's purse. | ||
8. | A lord's heart and a beggar's purse agree not. | ||
9. | A prince wants a million, a beggar but a groat. | ||
10. | A shameless beggar must have a short denial. | ||
11. | Ae beggar is wae that anither by the gate gae. | ||
12. | Bare gentry—braggart beggars.[64] | ||
13. | Beggars and borrowers must not be choosers. | ||
14. | Beggars breed and rich men feed. | ||
15. | Beggars can never be bankrupt. | ||
16. | Beggars fear no rebellion. | ||
17. | Beggars mounted run their horse to death. | Shaks. | |
18. | Better die a beggar than live a beggar. | ||
19. | Even the beggar envies the beggar. | ||
20. | He makes a beggar first that first relieves him. | Heywood. | |
21. | He'll soon be a beggar that canna say na. | ||
22. | I know him as well as the beggar knows his dish. | ||
23. | If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite. | ||
24. | If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. | ||
25. | If wishes were thrushes beggars would eat birds. | ||
26. | It is a grief to the beggar that another stands by the door. | Dutch. | |
27. | One beggar likes not that another has wallets. | Dan. | |
28. | One day a beggar the next a thief. | Ger. | |
29. | Neither beg of him, who has been a beggar, nor serve him who has been a servant. | Sp. | |
30. | Set a beggar on horseback and he won't trot but gallops. | Dutch. | |
31. | Set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil. | ||
32. | She loves the poor well but cannot abide beggars.[65] | ||
33. | Small invitation will serve a beggar. | ||
34. | So soon as the beggar's sack warms in one's hands, he never does good any more. | Ger. | |
35. | The beggar is never out of his way. | ||
36. | The beggar is the enemy of the hound and the hound of the beggar. | Ger. | |
37. | The beggar may sing before the thief. | ||
38. | The beggar stands sure, he cannot become bankrupt. | Ger. | |
39. | The beggar's sack never cries “hold enough.” | Ger. | |
40. | The beggar's wallet has no bottom. | Ital., Ger. | |
41. | There is no pride like that of a beggar grown rich. | Fr. | |
42. | 'Tis one beggar's woe to see another by the door go. | ||
43. | To see a beggar's brat in riches flow, Adds not a wrinkle to my even brow. | Dryden. | |
44. | When it rains porridge the beggar has no spoon. | Dan. | |
Begging. | |||
1. | All do not beg for one saint. | Sp. | |
2. | Beggary is valiant. | Shaks. | |
3. | Begging a courtesy is selling liberty. | ||
4. | Better beg than steal. | Dutch. | |
5. | Better leave to my foes than beg frae my friends. | ||
6. | Better to beg than steal, but better to work than beg.[66] | Russian. | |
7. | Better to beg than to borrow. | ||
8. | He begs at them who borrowed at him. | ||
9. | He buys very dear who begs. | Por. | |
10. | He who beggeth for others is contriving for himself. | ||
11. | He who begs timidly courts a refusal. | Seneca. | |
12. | He who knows how to beg may leave his money at home. | Dan. | |
13. | I would rather buy than beg. | Latin. | |
14. | Let them talk of me and beg of me. | Sp. | |
15. | Many trades begging the best. | Ger. | |
16. | That costs dear which is bought with begging. | Ital. | |
17. | The Friar who begs for God's sake begs for two. | Sp. | |
18. | What is got by begging is dearly bought. | Dan. | |
19. | Who is not ashamed to beg soon is not ashamed to steal. | Ger. | |
Beginning. | |||
1. | A bad beginning makes a good ending. | Ger. | |
2. | A beginner is always a good man. | Martial. | |
3. | A good beginning is half the work. | Ger. | |
4. | A good beginning makes a bad ending. | ||
5. | A good beginning makes a good ending. | ||
5½. | All beginnings are easy, said the ragpicker. | Ger. | |
6. | All beginnings are hard, said the thief, and began by stealing an anvil. | Dutch. | |
7. | Begin in time to finish without hurry.[67] | Ger. | |
8. | Beginning and ending shake hands. | Ger. | |
9. | Begun is half done. | Ger. | |
10. | Better not begin than not end. | Ger. | |
11. | Everything must have a beginning. | Fr., Ital., Por., Ger. | |
12. | For a web begun God sends thread. | Fr., Ital. | |
13. | From small beginnings come great things. | Dutch. | |
14. | Good to begin well, better to end well. | ||
15. | He is not done who is beginning. | Fr. | |
16. | He is half done who has made a beginning. | Horace. | |
17. | He who begins and does not finish loses his labor. | Fr. | |
18. | He who begins badly ends badly. | Sp. | |
19. | He who begins much finishes little. | Ger. | |
20. | If you know the beginning well the end will not trouble you. | Wolofs.—(Africa.) | |
21. | If you wish to reach the highest begin at the lowest. | Syrus. | |
22. | Ill begun ill done. | Dutch. | |
23. | It is better to begin in the evening than not at all. | ||
24. | Mischief lurks in the beginning, a good beginning is half the task. | Euripides. | |
25. | No beginnings of things however small are to be neglected because continuance makes them great. | Plutarch. | |
26. | Right beginning makes right ending.[68] | Ger. | |
27. | So begun, so done. | Dutch. | |
28. | Some think they are done when they are only beginning. | Fr. | |
29. | The beginning and the end are seldom alike. | Ger. | |
30. | The beginning and the end extend hands to each other. | Ger. | |
31. | The beginning hot, the middle lukewarm, the end cold. | Ger. | |
32. | The beginning is half the whole. | Hesiod. | |
33. | The beginning is no masterpiece. | Ger. | |
34. | The beginning of excellence is to be free from error. | Quintillian. | |
35. | The beginning of the dollar is the bank shilling. | Ger. | |
36. | The golden rule in life is “make a beginning.” | ||
37. | The merit belongs to the beginner should his successor do even better. | Egyptian. | |
38. | To men who would be fortunate the beginning is everything. | Don Quixote. | |
39. | Well begun is half done. | Fr., Ital., Ger., Sp., Por., Dan., Dutch. | |
40. | What raging rashly is begun, challengeth shame before half done. | ||
41. | Who begins amiss ends amiss. | Ger. | |
42. | Who begins too much accomplishes little. | Ger. | |
43. | Everything is difficult at first.[69] | Chinese. | |
Beg Pardon. | |||
1. | Beg pardon is the best penitence. | Ger. | |
2. | It is for those who have done an injury to beg pardon. | Cato the Younger. | |
3. | Never ask pardon before you are accused. | ||
Beguiling. | |||
1. | He that seeks to beguile is overtaken in his wile. | ||
Belief. | |||
1. | Believe no man in his own cause. | Dr. Johnson. | |
2. | Believe no woman though she is dead. | Ger. | |
3. | Believe one who has tried it. | Virgil. | |
4. | Believe only half you hear of a man's wealth and goodness. | ||
5. | Believe that and drink some water (to wash it down). | ||
6. | Believe well and have well. | ||
7. | Better believe it than go where it was done to prove it. | ||
8. | Don't believe what you see but only what I tell you. | Sp. | |
9. | For they can conquer who believe they can. | Virgil. | |
10. | He does not believe who does not live according to his belief. | ||
11. | He will never prosper who readily believes. | Latin. | |
12. | I would not believe such a thing though affirmed by Cato.[70] | Latin. | |
13. | It is always safer to believe nothing you hear. | Hans Andersen. | |
14. | Men are prone to believe what they least comprehend. | Pliny. | |
15. | Men willingly believe what they wish to be true. | Cæsar. | |
16. | That which is easily done is soon believed. | ||
17. | We are apt to believe what we wish for. | ||
18. | What a man desires he easily believes. | ||
19. | Who are ready to believe are easy to deceive. | Ger. | |
20. | Who believe all can easily come to harm. | Ger. | |
21. | Who believes does not reason. | Ger. | |
22. | Who does not believe must feel in the end. | ||
23. | Who neither believes heaven or hell The devil heartily wishes well. | Ger. | |
24. | Who quick believes late repents. | Ger. | |
Believers. | |||
1. | Quick believers need broad shoulders. | ||
Bell. | |||
1. | A cracked bell can never be sound. | ||
2. | Bells call others to church but go not themselves. | ||
3. | Every one thinks that all the bells echo his own thoughts. | Ger. | |
4. | Fear not the loss of the bells more than the loss of the steeple. | ||
5. | He is like a bell that will answer every pull.[71] | ||
6. | If you love not the sound of bells why pull the ropes? | ||
7. | One bell serves a parish. | Ital. | |
8. | People make the bells say what they please. | Ger. | |
9. | The bell does not go to mass and yet calls every one to it | Ital., Sp. | |
10. | The higher the bell is hung the shriller it sounds. | Ger. | |
11. | They are like bells every one in a several note. | ||
12. | While the great bells are ringing no one hears the little ones. | Dan. | |
13. | Who hears but one bell, hears but one sound. | Fr. | |
Belly. | |||
1. | A belly full of gluttony will never study willingly. | ||
2. | A fat belly did not invent gun powder. | M. Greek. | |
3. | A full belly counsels well. | Fr. | |
4. | A full belly neither fights nor flies well. | ||
5. | An empty belly hears nobody. | ||
6. | Full bellies make empty sculls. | ||
7. | If it were not for the belly the back might wear gold. | ||
8. | Ill befall the belly that forgets eaten bread. | Por. | |
9. | The back an' the belly haud every one busy. | ||
10. | The belly does not accept bail. | Por. | |
11. | The belly gives no credit.[72] | Dan. | |
12. | The belly hates a long sermon. | ||
13. | The belly hath no cares. | ||
14. | The belly is a bad adviser. | Ger. | |
15. | The belly is not filled with fair words. | ||
16. | The belly (hunger) is the bestower of genius. | Latin. | |
17. | The belly is the commanding part of the body. | Homer. | |
18. | The belly is the teacher of art and the bestower of genius. | Persius. | |
19. | The belly overreaches the head. | Fr. | |
20. | The belly teaches all arts. | ||
21. | The belly that's full may well fast. | ||
22. | The belly thinks the throat cut. | ||
23. | The belly warm—the foot at rest. | Por. | |
24. | When the belly is full the bones are at rest. | ||
Bend. | |||
1. | Bend the willow while it is young. | Ital., Dan. | |
2. | Best to bend it while a twig. | ||
3. | Better bend than break. | ||
4. | Better bend the neck than bruise the forehead. | ||
5. | Better is the branch that bends than the branch that breaks. | Dan. | |
6. | It is a good blade that bends well. | ||
7. | It is better to bend than break. | Fr. | |
8. | Oaks may fall when reeds brave the storm. | ||
Benefactors. | |||
1. | The benefactor engraves his name in the hand that receives the benefit.[73] | ||
Benefits. | |||
1. | Benefits grow old betimes, but injuries are long livers. | ||
2. | Benefits like flowers please most when they are fresh. | ||
3. | Benefits oblige, and obligation is thraldom and unrequited obligation perpetual thraldom, which is hateful. | Hobbs. | |
4. | Benefits turn poison in bad minds. | Byron. | |
5. | He is more noble that deserves than he who confers benefits. | ||
6. | He that requites a benefit pays a great debt. | ||
7. | Let him who has bestowed a benefit be silent, let him who has received it tell of it. | Seneca. | |
8. | The last benefit is the most remembered. | ||
9. | There is no benefit so small that a good man will not magnify it. | Seneca. | |
10. | There is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers. | ||
11. | To receive a benefit is to sell one's liberty. | ||
Best. | |||
1. | Best is best cheap, if you hit the nail on the head. | ||
2. | The best always goes first. | Ital. | |
3. | The best armor is to keep out of gunshot. | Horace. | |
4. | The best brewer sometimes makes bad beer. | Ger. | |
5. | The best cloth has uneven threads.[74] | Sp. | |
6. | The best cloth may have a moth in it. | ||
7. | The best is cheapest. | Ital., Ger. | |
8. | The best is what one has in his hand. | Ger. | |
9. | The best manure is under the farmer's shoe. | Dan. | |
10. | The best medals lose their lustre unless brightened by use. | ||
11. | The best metal is iron, the best vegetable wheat, the worst animal man. | ||
12. | The best pears fall into the pig's mouth. | ||
Betray. | |||
1. | He alone won't betray in whom none will confide. | Congreve. | |
2. | Who betrays me once wrongs me, who betrays me twice serves me just right. | Ger. | |
3. | Who last betrays is master. | Ger. | |
4. | Who will betray must spin fine threads. | Ger. | |
5. | Who will betray pipes sweet. | Ger. | |
Better. | |||
1. | A better seldom comes after. | Ger. | |
2. | Better a bare foot than none at all. | ||
3. | Better a beast sold than bought. | ||
4. | Better a blind horse than an empty halter. | Dutch. | |
5. | Better a distant good than a near evil. | ||
6. | Better a friendly denial than unwilling compliance. | Ger. | |
7. | Better a lame horse than an empty saddle.[75] | Ger. | |
8. | Better a lean jade than an empty halter. | ||
9. | Better a leg broken than the neck. | Ger. | |
10. | Better a little fire to warm us than a great one to burn us. | ||
11. | Better a little good than much bad. | Ger. | |
12. | Better a little in peace with right than much with anxiety and strife. | Dan. | |
13. | Better a little with honor than much with shame. | ||
14. | Better a mischief than an inconvenience. | ||
15. | Better a red face than a black heart. | Por. | |
16. | Better a salt herring on your own table than a fresh pike on another's. | Dan. | |
17. | Better a tooth out than always aching. | ||
18. | Better abridge petty charges than stoop to petty gettings. | ||
19. | Better an upright Turk than a false Christian. | Ger. | |
20. | Better anticipate than be anticipated. | Por. | |
21. | Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one. | ||
22. | Better be stung by a nettle than pricked by a rose. | ||
23. | Better be the head of a cat than the tail of a lion. | Ital. | |
24. | Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion. | Fr. | |
25. | Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the gentry. | ||
26. | Better be unmannerly than troublesome.[76] | ||
27. | Better be up to the ankles than over head and ears. | ||
38. | Better blow hard than burn yourselves. | Dan. | |
29. | Better coarse cloth than the naked thighs. | Dan. | |
30. | Better come at the latter end of a feast than the beginning of a fray. | ||
31. | Better deny at once than promise long. | Dan. | |
32. | Better fall from the window than the roof. | Ital. | |
33. | “Better fed than taught” said the churl to the parson. | ||
34. | Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. | Tennyson. | |
35. | Better go about than fall in the ditch. | ||
36. | Better go away longing than loathing. | ||
37. | Better good afar off than ill at hand. | ||
38. | Better half an egg than an empty shell. | ||
39. | Better in the dust than crawl near the throne. | Ger. | |
40. | Better is a handful with quietness than both the hands full and vexation of spirit. | Bible. | |
41. | Better is an enemy to good. | Ital., Ger. | |
42. | Better is rule than rent. | ||
43. | Better kills good. | Ger. | |
44. | Better lang something than soon naething. | ||
45. | Better late ripe and bear than early blossom and blast. | ||
46. | Better late than never.[77] | Fr., Ital., Sp., Por., Dutch, Dan. | |
47. | Better late thrive than never do well. | Scotch. | |
48. | Better leave than lack. | ||
49. | Better leave undone than by your deed acquire too high a fame when him we serve's away. | Shaks. | |
50. | Better make a short circuit than wet your hose. | Dutch. | |
51. | Better master one than engage with ten. | ||
52. | Better once than never. | Ital. | |
53. | Better one eye-witness than two hear-say witnesses. | Dutch. | |
54. | Better reap two days too soon than one too late. | Dutch. | |
55. | Better repair the gutter than the whole house. | Por. | |
56. | Better say nothing than nothing to the purpose. | ||
57. | Better see a clout than a hole out. | ||
58. | Better some of a pudding than none of a pie. | ||
59. | Better something on the arm than all in the stomach. | Dan.. | |
60. | Better something than nothing at all. | Ger. | |
61. | Better straw than nothing. | Por. | |
62. | Better stretch your hand than your neck. | Dutch. | |
63. | Better the harm I know than the harm I know not. | ||
64. | Better there should be too much than too little. | Ger. | |
65. | Better they should say, “There he ran away,” than “There he died.”[78] | ||
66. | Better to rule than be ruled by the rout. | ||
67. | Better to say, “Here it is” than “There it was.” | ||
68. | Better to wear out than to rust out. | ||
69. | Better too little than too much devotion. | Ger. | |
70. | Better twice remembered than once forgotten. | Dutch. | |
71. | Better unborn than unbred. | ||
73. | Better untaught than ill-taught. | ||
73. | Better walk before than behind an ox. | Dutch. | |
74. | Better walk leisurely than lie abroad all night. | ||
75. | Better walk on wooden legs than be carried on a wooden bier. | Dan. | |
76. | Better walk unshackled in a green meadow than be bound to a thorn bush. | Dan. | |
77. | Better wear out shoes than sheets. | ||
78. | Better where birds sing than where irons ring. | ||
79. | If better were in better would come out. | Dutch. | |
80. | Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. | ||
81. | This and better may do but this and worse will never do. | ||
Be True. | |||
1. | Be true to your word, your work, and your friend. | John Boyle O'Reilly. | |
Beware. | |||
1. | Beware of him whom God hath marked. | ||
2. | Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a ship. | Franklin. | |
3. | Beware of no man more than thyself.[79] | ||
Bible. | |||
1. | How many read the Word (Bible), and yet from vice are not deterred. | Ger. | |
Bide. | |||
1. | Bide your time. | ||
2. | Biding makes thriving. | Dutch. | |
Bind. | |||
1. | Safe bind—safe find. | Shaks. | |
2. | Sure bind—sure find. | ||
Bird. | |||
1. | A bird can roost but on one branch. A mouse can drink no more than its fill from a river. | Chinese. | |
2. | A bird is known by its note, and a man by his talk. | ||
3. | A bird may be caught with a snare that will not be shot. | Dan. | |
4. | A bird may be ever so small yet it always seeks a nest of its own. | Dan. | |
5. | A little bird wants but a little nest. | ||
6. | A rare bird upon the earth, something like a black swan. | ||
7. | A sly bird is often caught by two feet. | M. Greek. | |
8. | According to his pinions the bird flies. | Dan. | |
9. | An old bird is not caught with chaff. | ||
10. | Bird never flew so high but it had to come to the ground. | Dutch. | |
11. | Birds of prey do not flock together.[80] | Por. | |
12. | Birds of prey do not sing. | Ger. | |
13. | Birds pay equal honors to all men. | ||
14. | Each bird loves to hear himself sing. | ||
15. | Early birds pick up the crumbs (worms). | ||
16. | Every bird is known by its feathers. | ||
17. | Every bird likes its own nest best. | ||
18. | Every bird must hatch its own eggs. | ||
19. | Every bird needs its own feathers. | Dan. | |
20. | Every bird sings as it is beaked. | Dutch. | |
21. | Every hooked beak is maintained by prey. | Fr. | |
22. | Every shot does not bring down a bird. | Dutch. | |
23. | Fine birds are commonly plucked. | ||
24. | Fine feathers make fine birds. | ||
25. | He that will take the bird must not scare it. | ||
26. | He will ill catch a flying bird that cannot keep his own in a cage. | ||
27. | However high a bird may soar, it seeks its food on earth. | Dan. | |
28. | If every bird take back its own feathers, you'll be naked. | ||
29. | If the partridge had the woodcock's thigh, It would be the best bird that ever did fly. | ||
30. | If you be false to both beasts and birds, you must like the bat fly only at night. | ||
31. | If you can't get the bird, get one of its feathers. | Dan. | |
32. | Ill fares the young bird in the urchin's hand.[81] | Por. | |
33. | It is a dirty bird that fouls her own nest. | ||
34. | It is a foolish bird that stays the laying salt upon her tail. | ||
35. | It is a lazy bird that will not build its own nest. | Dan. | |
36. | It is hard to catch birds with an empty hand. | Ger. | |
37. | It is rash to sell the bird on the bough. | ||
38. | Let no shovel beaked bird ever enter your yard. | Sp. | |
39. | Little bird, little nest. | Sp. | |
40. | Little by little the bird builds its nest. | Fr. | |
41. | Old birds are hard to pluck. | Ger. | |
42. | Old birds are not caught with cats. | Dutch. | |
43. | Old birds are not caught with chaff. | ||
44. | Old birds are not caught with new nets. | ||
45. | One beats the bush, another catches the bird. | Ger., Dutch. | |
46. | Small birds must have meat. | ||
47. | The bird feels not its wing heavy. | Turk. | |
48. | The bird once out of hand is hard to recover. | Dan. | |
49. | The bird that can sing and won't sing must be made sing. | ||
50. | The bird that offers itself to the net is fair game to the fowler. | Oriental. | |
51. | The first bird gets the first grain. | Dan. | |
52. | The fowler's pipe sounds sweet until the bird is caught. | ||
53. | The nest made, the bird dead.[82] | Por. | |
54. | The nest of a blind bird is made by God. | Turk. | |
55. | The noisy fowler catches no bird. | ||
56. | Though the bird may fly over your head let it not make its nest in your hair. | Dan. | |
57. | Two birds of prey do not keep company with each other. | Sp. | |
58. | When the cage is ready the bird is flown. | ||
59. | Where the bird was hatched it haunts. | Dutch. | |
60. | You cannot catch old birds with chaff. | ||
Birth. | |||
1. | He that is born under a three-penny planet will never be worth a groat. | Irish. | |
2. | He that was born under a three half-penny planet shall never be worth two pence. | ||
3. | High birth is a poor dish at table. | Ital. | |
4. | It matters less to a man where he is born, than where he can live. | Turk. | |
5. | No man can help his birth. | Hans Andersen. | |
6. | No one is born with an axe in his hand. | Ger. | |
7. | Our birth is nothing but our death begun, As tapers waste that instant they take fire. | Young. | |
8. | Our birth made us mortal, our death will make us immortal. | ||
Biting. | |||
1. | A gaunt brute bites sore. | Fr. | |
2. | Because the cur has bitten shall I bite the cur?[83] | ||
3. | Better a friendly bite than an enemy's caress. | Dan. | |
4. | Bite not the dog that bites. | Dan. | |
5. | Don't bite till you know whether it is bread or a stone. | Ital. | |
6. | Don't make two bites of a cherry. | ||
7. | He who can lick can bite. | Fr. | |
8. | If you cannot bite never show your teeth. | ||
9. | Keep to the little ones and the big ones will not bite you. | Dan. | |
10. | One must not make the bite larger than the mouth. | Ger. | |
11. | Take two bites if one is too large. | Ger. | |
12. | The biter is sometimes bit. | Fr., Ital. | |
13. | The greatest barkers are not the greatest biters. | ||
14. | Though I am bitten I am not all eaten. | ||
Bladder. | |||
1. | The bladder may be dipped but never drowned. | Sibyl prophecy of Athens. | |
Blade. | |||
1. | The blade of the sultan's sabre grows until it overtakes the offender. | Turk. | |
2. | The blade wears out the sheath. | ||
Blame. | |||
1. | Blame is the lazy man's wages. | Dan. | |
2. | He must be pure who would blame another.[84] | Dan. | |
3. | Who lends his lips to naught but blame, Has in his heart no love of fame. | Ger. | |
Bleeding. | |||
1. | According to the arm be the bleeding. | ||
2. | I may see him need but I'll not see him bleed. | ||
Blessed. | |||
1. | Blessed be St. Stephen, there is no fast upon his even. | ||
2. | Blessed is he that considereth the poor. | Bible. | |
3. | Blessed is the peacemaker, not the conqueror. | ||
4. | He begs a blessing of a wooden god. | ||
5. | If you wish for any blessing, look for it yourself. | Arrian. | |
6. | Nothing on earth is completely blessed. | Horace. | |
Blessings. | |||
1. | Blessings are not valued until they are gone. | ||
2. | Blessings brighten as they take their flight. | ||
3. | Blessings on his head that said, “Face about.” | Sp. | |
4. | They have need of a blessing that kneel to a thistle. | ||
5. | Ye dinna ken whar a blessing may light. | ||
Blind. | |||
1. | A blind hen can sometimes find corn. | Fr. | |
2. | A blind horse goes straight forward. | Ger. | |
3. | A blind man is no judge of colors.[85] | Ital. | |
4. | A blind man leaned against a wall;—“This is the boundary of the world,” he said. | M. Greek. | |
5. | A blind man may sometimes shoot a crow. | Dutch. | |
6. | A blind man shouldn't attempt to catch fleas. | Punch. | |
7. | A blind man's stroke which raises a dust from beneath water. | Sp. | |
8. | A blind man will not thank you for a looking-glass. | ||
9. | A blind man wishes to show the road. | Latin. | |
10. | A blind man would be glad to see it. | ||
11. | A blind pigeon may sometimes find a grain of wheat. | Dan. | |
12. | A man were better half blind than have both his eyes out. | ||
13. | A pebble and a diamond are alike to a blind man. | ||
14. | Among the blind close your eyes. | Turk. | |
15. | Better be one-eyed than quite blind. | Por. | |
16. | Better squinting than blind. | Dutch. | |
17. | Blind man's holiday; i.e., twilight, almost quite dark. | ||
18. | Blind men must not run. | ||
19. | Blind men should not judge of colors. | ||
20. | He does as the blind man when he casts his staff. | ||
21. | He has the greatest blind side who thinks he has none. | Dutch. | |
22. | He is blind enough who sees not through a sieve.[86] | Don Quixote. | |
23. | He is very blind who cannot see the sun. | Ital. | |
24. | He that governs well leads the blind, but he that teaches him gives him eyes. | ||
25. | If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch. | New Testament. | |
26. | In the land of the blind the one-eyed is a king. | Dutch. | |
27. | It is a blind man's question to ask why those things are loved that are beautiful. | ||
28. | None so blind as those who won't see. | ||
29. | One blind man leads another into the ditch. | Fr. | |
30. | That would I fain see, said blind George of Hallowee. | ||
31. | The blind do not desire anything beyond two eyes. | Turk. | |
32. | The blind eat many a fly. | ||
33. | The blind man has picked up a coin. | Por. | |
34. | The blind man sought for a needle in the straw-loft, and the man with a lame hand made a basket to put it in. | M. Greek. | |
35. | The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it. | Dan. | |
36. | There are none so blind as they who wilfully shut their eyes. | Arabian. | |
37. | What matters it to a blind man, that his father could see? | ||
38. | When blind leads blind both fall into the ditch. | ||
39. | When the blind man carries the banner, woe to those who follow.[87] | Fr. | |
Black. | |||
1. | A black hen will lay a white egg. | ||
2. | A black man is a jewel in a fair woman's eye. | ||
3. | A black man is a pearl in a fair woman's eye. | Shaks. | |
4. | A black plum is as sweet as a white. | ||
5. | Black cows give white milk. | Ger. | |
6. | Black plums may eat as sweet as white. | ||
7. | Black will take no other hue. | ||
8. | Two blacks make no white. | ||
Blood. | |||
1. | All blood is ancient. | ||
2. | As falls the dew on quenchless sands, Blood only serves to wash ambition's hands. | Byron. | |
3. | Blood boils without fire. | Sp. | |
4. | Blood is inherited and virtue acquired. | Don Quixote. | |
5. | Blood is thicker than water. | Ger. | |
6. | France got drunk on blood to vomit crime. | Byron. | |
7. | Good blood will never lie. | Fr. | |
8. | Human blood is all of one color. | ||
9. | Human blood is heavy, that man that has shed it cannot run away. | Western African Negro. | |
10. | I renounce the gold basin in which I have to spit blood. | Por. | |
11. | Noble and ignoble blood is of the same color.[88] | Ger. | |
12. | Send your noble blood to market and see what it will buy. | ||
13. | The blood of the people flowing in sounding torrents. (Metaphor applied to the Mongol conquest of China.) | ||
14. | The cold in clime are cold in blood. | Byron. | |
15. | There is no difference of bloods in a basin. | ||
16. | What ennobles sots, or slaves, or cowards! Alas, not all the blood of all the Howards. | Pope. | |
17. | You come of good blood and so does a black pudding. | ||
Blot. | |||
1. | A blot is not a blot unless it be hit. | ||
2. | A common blot is held no stain. | ||
3. | Cleaning a blot with blotted fingers maketh a greater. | ||
Blow. | |||
1. | A blow with a reed makes a noise but hurts not. | ||
2. | Better be convinced by words than blows. | Dan. | |
3. | Blows are not given on conditions. | ||
4. | If you don't succeed with one blow don't hesitate to deliver two. | Chinese. | |
5. | That is a blow of your own seeking. | North American Indian. | |
6. | The blow falls more lightly when anticipated. | Latin. | |
7. | The first blow is as good as two. | Fr., Ital. | |
8. | The second blow makes the fray.[89] | ||
Blowing. | |||
1. | Blow first and sip afterward. | ||
2. | Blow not against the hurricane. | ||
3. | Blow thy own pottage and not mine. | ||
4. | Blow your horn if you don't sell a fish. | Boston Shad Pedler. | |
5. | He that blows best takes awa' the horn. | ||
6. | He that blows in the dust fills his own eyes. | ||
7. | He that blows in the fire must get sparks in his eyes. | Ger. | |
8. | He who blows upon dust fills his eyes with it. | Ital. | |
9. | It is better to blow than burn your mouth. | Dutch. | |
Blunder. | |||
1. | It is not allowed in war to blunder twice. | Latin. | |
Blush. | |||
1. | A blush on the face is better than a blot on the heart. | Don Quixote. | |
2. | Blushing is virtue's color. | ||
3. | Blush like a black dog. | ||
4. | He blushes, all is safe. | Terence. | |
5. | He that blushes not at his crime, but adds shamelessness to shame has nothing left to restore him to virtue. | Taylor. | |
6. | In all her veins no conscious drop to form a blush remains. | ||
7. | The man that blushes is not quite a brute.[90] | Young. | |
Boaster, Boasting, Braggart. | |||
1. | A boaster if he die, cannot return to life. | Tamil. | |
2. | All my goods are of silver and gold, even my copper kettle, says the boaster. | Dutch. | |
3. | Better one braggadocio than two fighters. | ||
4. | Boasting is but an art our fears to blind. | Homer. | |
5. | Boast not thyself of to-morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. | ||
6. | Boasting renders one ridiculous. | ||
7. | Believe a boaster as you would a liar. | Ital. | |
8. | Every braggart shall be found an ass. | Shaks. | |
9. | God and men think him a fool who brags of his own great wisdom. | ||
10. | Great boast and little roast make unsavory mouths. | ||
11. | Great braggers, little doers. | ||
12. | He that boasteth of himself affronts his company. | ||
13. | He that boasteth of his ancestors confesseth he hath no virtue of his own. | ||
14. | He that boasts of his own knowledge proclaims his ignorance. | ||
15. | He who boasts of his descent boasts of that which he owes to others. | Seneca. | |
16. | He who killeth a lion when absent feareth a mouse when present. | ||
17. | None more apt to boast than those who have least real worth.[91] | ||
18. | They can do least who boast loudest. | Latin. | |
19. | They who boast most, generally fail most, for deeds are silent. | ||
20. | Throw not your axe so far you can't get it back. | Grimm's Fairy Tales. | |
21. | Who takes a lion at a distance fears a mule present. | Ital. | |
Boat. | |||
1. | Light boats sail swift, though greater bulks draw deep. | Shaks. | |
2. | Little boats must keep the shore, large ships may venture more. | ||
3. | Old as is the boat it may cross the ferry. | Sp. | |
4. | Say what we will, do what we will, the boat goes but sorrily without oars. | Ital. | |
5. | Vessels large may venture more. But little boats should keep near shore. | ||
Bold. | |||
1. | A bold attempt is half success. | Dan. | |
2. | A bold fellow is the jest of wise men and the idol of fools. | ||
3. | A bold man has luck in his train. | Dan. | |
4. | A bold onset is half the battle. | Ger. | |
5. | Be bold but not too bold. | ||
6. | Nothing so bold as a blind man. | ||
Boldness. | |||
1. | Boldness is ever blind, therefore it is ill in counsel but good in execution.[92] | Bacon. | |
Bone. | |||
1. | At an old bone not even a dog gnaws. | Roumanian. | |
2. | The nearer the bone the sweeter the flesh. | Ger., Dutch. | |
3. | What is bred in the bone won't out of the flesh. | Dutch. | |
4. | What is bred in the bone will out of the flesh. | ||
Book. | |||
1. | A book's a book although there's nothing in it. | ||
2. | A book that remains shut is but a block. | ||
3. | A good book is the best of friends, the same to-day and forever. | Tupper. | |
4. | A good book praises itself. | Ger. | |
5. | A great book is a great evil. | Greek, Dutch. | |
6. | A library is a repository of medicine for the mind. | Greek. | |
7. | A wicked book is the wickeder because it cannot repent. | ||
8. | According to the mercantile code the best book is a profitable ledger. | Gibbon. | |
9. | Beware of the man of one book. | Latin. | |
10. | Book-keeping taught in one lesson,—don't lend them. | Punch. | |
11. | Books are for company, the best friends and counsellors. | Writer of the Sixteenth Century. | |
12. | Books can never teach the use of books.[93] | Bacon. | |
13. | Books cannot always please, however good, Minds are not ever craving for their food. | Crabbe. | |
14. | Books don't tell when de bee-martin an de chicken-hawk fell out. | American Negro. | |
15. | Books like proverbs receive their value from the stamp and esteem of ages through which they have passed. | Sir Wm. Temple. | |
16. | Books should to one of these four ends conduce, For wisdom, piety, delight or use. | Denham. | |
17. | Books were only invented to aid the memory. | Petrarch. | |
18. | Books will speak plain when counsellors blanch. | Bacon. | |
19. | Good books like good friends are few and chosen, the more select the more enjoyable. | Alcott. | |
20. | Have thy study full of books rather than thy purse full of money. | Lilly. | |
21. | He that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. | Isaac Barrow. | |
22. | He who has published an injurious book sins in his very grave, corrupts others while he is rotting himself. | Robert South. | |
23. | I never knew more sweet and happy hours than I employed upon my books. | James Shirley. | |
24. | It is vain to fish without a hook or learn to read without a book. | Dan. | |
25. | Judge not a book by its cover. | ||
26. | Like the parson of Saddleworth who could read in no book but his own.[94] | ||
27. | No book is so bad but that something may be learned from it. | Pliny. | |
28. | Oh! that mine enemy would write a book. | ||
29. | Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read. | Alonzo of Aragon. | |
30. | Something is learned every time a book is opened. | Chinese. | |
31. | The best books are those which the reader thinks he could have written himself. | ||
32. | The fountain of wisdom flows through books. | Greek. | |
33. | The learning of books that you do not make your own wisdom is money in the hands of another in time of need. | Sanscrit. | |
34. | There is no friend so faithful as a good book. | ||
35. | There is no worse robber than a bad book. | Ital. | |
36. | We are as liable to be corrupted by books as by companions. | Fielding. | |
37. | Word by word the great books are made. | Fr. | |
38. | Years know more than books. | ||
Boor. | |||
1. | A boor remains a boor though he sleep on silken bolsters. | Dan. | |
2. | “With all my heart,” says the boor, when he must. | Ger. | |
Borderers. | |||
1. | Borderers are either thieves or murderers. | Ital. | |
2. | If they come, they come not; if they come not, they come. (If the robbers on the northern border of England came not, the cattle returned to their stables, and if they came the cattle did not return.) | ||
Bores. | |||
1. | There are two bores in society, the man who knows too much and the man who knows too little. | Punch. | |
Borrowing. | |||
1. | A borrowed cloak does not keep one warm. | Arabian. | |
2. | Better buy than borrow. | ||
3. | Beware of borrowing: it bringeth care by night and disgrace by day. | Hindoo. | |
4. | Borrowed garments never fit well. | ||
5. | Borrowing brings care. | Dutch. | |
6. | Borrowing does well only once. | Ger. | |
7. | Borrowing is the canker and the death of every man's estate. | Sir Walter Raleigh. | |
8. | Borrowing is the mother of trouble. | Hebrew. | |
9. | Borrowing makes sorrowing. | ||
10. | Borrow not too much on time to come. | ||
11. | Don't borrow from a poor man. | M. Greek. | |
12. | Don't borrow on interest. | ||
13. | Have a horse of thine own and thou mayst borrow another's. | Welsh. | |
14. | He that borrows must pay again with shame or loss. | ||
15. | He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.[96] | ||
16. | He who is quick at borrowing is slow at paying. | Ger. | |
17. | He who let go his hold after climbing a tree, and he who borrowed money to lend came to grief. | Tamil. | |
18. | If you want to know what a ducat is worth try to borrow one. | Sp., Fr. | |
19. | In borrowing an angel, in repaying a devil. | Fr. | |
20. | It is a fraud to borrow what we are unable to repay. | Syrus. | |
21. | Long borrowed is not given. | Ger. | |
22. | Much borrowing destroys the credit. | ||
23. | Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loseth both itself and friend. And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. | Shaks. | |
24. | Scratching and borrowing do well enough but not for long. | ||
25. | The borrower is a slave to the lender, the debtor to the creditor. | Franklin. | |
26. | When one borrows one cannot choose. | Fr. | |
27. | Who borrows easily? He who pays punctually. | M. Greek. | |
28. | Who readily borrows, readily lies. | Ger. | |
29. | Who would borrow when he hath not let him borrow when he hath. | ||
Boston. | |||
1. | Solid men of Boston banish strong potations, [97]Solid men of Boston make no long orations. | ||
Bottle. | |||
1. | It is only the first bottle that is dear. | Fr. | |
Boughs. | |||
1. | The boughs that bear most hang lowest. | ||
Bounty. | |||
1. | Bounty being free itself thinks all others so. | ||
2. | Bounty that makes gods does still mar men. | Shaks. | |
3. | He does bounty an injury who shows her so much as to be laughed at. | ||
Bow. | |||
1. | A bow long bent waxeth weak. | ||
2. | A bow o'erbent will weaken. | ||
3. | Draw not your bow until your arrow is fixed. | ||
4. | Have two strings to your bow. | ||
5. | He has two strings to his bow. | ||
6. | He's overshot his bow. | ||
7. | I've shot my arrow and hung up my bow. | Turk. | |
8. | It is always good to have two strings to your bow. | Ital. | |
9. | Strain not your bow beyond its bent lest it break. | Dutch. | |
10. | The bow that is always bent slackens or breaks. | Sp. | |
11. | When the bow is too much bent it breaks.[98] | Sp. | |
Boy. | |||
1. | A hober-de-hoy, half a man and half a boy. | ||
2. | As the boy so the man. | Ger. | |
3. | Boys avoid the bees that stung 'em. | ||
4. | Boys will be boys. | ||
5. | Boys will be men. | ||
6. | De boy what thinks his father a fool will arter awhile complain of de roughness ob de fare in de penitentiary. | American Negro. | |
7. | He's an ill boy that goes like a top only while he's whipped. | ||
8. | If you play with boys you must take boy's play. | ||
9. | Let nothing offensive to eye or ear be seen or heard under a roof where a boy resides. | Latin. | |
10. | Of all the plagues none can compare with climbing boys. | ||
11. | Once a man, twice a boy. | Latin. | |
12. | One boy is better than three girls. | Ger. | |
13. | School-boys are the most remarkable people in the world, they care not how little they have for their money. | ||
14. | When the boy is growing he has a wolf in his belly. | Ger. | |
Brahmins. | |||
1. | When the Brahmins cease to be good they begin to do evil. | Cing. | |
Brain. | |||
1. | All the brains are not in one head. | Ital. | |
2. | Business and action strengthen the brain but too much study weakens it.[99] | ||
3. | Every one gives himself credit for more brains than he has and less money. | Ital. | |
4. | Fat paunches make lean pates. | ||
5. | Half a brain is enough for him who says little. | Ital. | |
6. | He who deals with a block-head will have need of much brains. | Sp. | |
7. | If the brain sows not corn it plants thistles. | ||
8. | Persons often increase in size at the expense of their brains. | Swift. | |
9. | The brains don't lie in the beard. | ||
Branch. | |||
1. | A young branch takes on all the bends that one gives it. | Chinese. | |
2. | The branch is seldom better than the stem. | Dan. | |
3. | The branch must be bent early that makes a good crook. | Dan. | |
4. | The highest branch is not the safest roost. | ||
5. | The old branch breaks if bent. | Dan. | |
Brand. | |||
1. | A brand burns him who stirs it up. | Kaffir. | |
2. | Let him who would reach another a brand, Beware that he do not burn his own hand. | Dan. | |
3. | The man who has been beaten by a firebrand runs away at the sight of a fire-fly. | Cing. | |
Brandy. | |||
1. | Brandy is lead in the morning, silver at noon, gold at night.[100] | Ger. | |
2. | Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men, but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. | Boswell, Life of Johnson. | |
Brave. | |||
1. | How sleep the brave who sink to rest; By all their country's wishes blest. | Collins. | |
2. | Many are brave when the enemy flies. | Ital. | |
3. | None but the brave deserve the fair. | Dryden. | |
4. | Nothing is invincible to the brave nor impregnable to the bold. | Alexander. | |
5. | Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away. | ||
6. | The brave are born from the brave and good. | Latin. | |
7. | The brave man bears no malice but forgets at once in peace the injuries of war. | Cowper. | |
8. | The brave man may fall but cannot yield. | (Motto of the Irish Earl of Drogheda.) | |
9. | The brave man's word is a coat of mail. | Turk. | |
10. | To a brave man every soil is his country. | Ovid. | |
11. | With houses and gold, men are rarely bold (or brave). | Ger. | |
12. | The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring. | ||
Bread. | |||
1. | Another's bread costs dear. | Sp., Por. | |
2. | Better half a loaf than no bread. | ||
3. | Bread at pleasure drink by measure.[101] | Fr. | |
4. | Bread in one hand and a stone in the other. | Ger. | |
5. | Bread is better than the song of birds. | Dan. | |
6. | Bread is the staff of life. | Swift. | |
7. | Bread of a day, ale of a month, and wine of a year. | ||
8. | Do you want any better bread than wheaten? | Fr. | |
9. | Half a loaf is better than no bread. | ||
10. | He is as good as good bread. | Don Quixote. | |
11. | He that has store of bread may beg his milk merrily. | ||
12. | He who has no bread has no authority. | Turk. | |
13. | He who has teeth has no bread, and he who has bread has no teeth. | Ital. | |
14. | I know well what I say when I ask for bread. | Sp. | |
15. | In default of bread meal cakes are good. | Por. | |
16. | It is hard to pay for bread that has been eaten. | Dan. | |
17. | Let every man look to the bread upon which he must depend. | Por. | |
18. | Let him that earns the bread eat it. | ||
19. | Never fall out with your bread and butter. | ||
20. | Others' bread has seven crusts. | Ital. | |
21. | Others' bread is too salt. | Ital. | |
22. | Salt and bread make the cheeks red. | Ger. | |
23. | Some have bread who have no teeth left. | Fr. | |
24. | The bread eaten—the company departed.[102] | Sp., Por. | |
25. | 'Tis a long day, a day without bread. | Fr. | |
26. | When bread is wanting oaten cakes are excellent. | Sp. | |
27. | When there's little bread at table put plenty on your plate. | Ital. | |
28. | When you eat new bread don't drink water. | Sp. | |
29. | Where there is little bread cut first. | Por. | |
30. | Whose bread I eat his song I sing. | Ger. | |
Breed. | |||
1. | Although you take a reptile and place it on a cushion it will seek a heap of dried leaves. | Tamil. | |
2. | An ox remains an ox, even if driven to Vienna. | Hungarian. | |
3. | Bad bird—bad egg. | Ger. | |
4. | Bad egg—bad chick. | Dutch. | |
5. | Bad the crow and bad the egg. | Greek. | |
6. | Beware of breeds; i.e., an ill breed. | ||
7. | Birth is much, but breeding is more. | ||
8. | Do not rear a bird of a bad breed. | Por. | |
9. | Hatched in the same nest. | ||
10. | He that is born of a hen must scrape for a living. | ||
11. | No magpie hatches a pigeon. | Ger. | |
12. | No matter how much you feed a wolf he will always return to the forest. | Russian. | |
13. | That that comes of a cat will catch mice. | ||
14. | Vipers breed vipers. | ||
15. | We may not expect a good whelp from an ill dog.[103] | ||
16. | What is born of a cat will catch mice. | Ital. | |
17. | What is born of a hen will scrape. | Ital. | |
18. | What is born of the serpent never loses its poison. | Ger. | |
19. | Young cats will mouse, young apes will louse. | Dan. | |
Brevity. | |||
1. | Brevity is a great praise of eloquence. | Cicero. | |
2. | Brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes. | Shaks. | |
3. | For brevity is very good, when we are or are not understood. | Butler. | |
Brief. | |||
1. | 'Tis better to be brief than tedious. | Shaks. | |
Brewing. | |||
1. | If you brew well you may drink well. | ||
Brier. | |||
1. | Nip the brier in the bud. | ||
Bribe. | |||
1. | A bribe I know is a juggling knave. | ||
2. | A greased mouth cannot say no. | Ital. | |
3. | A jack fish does more than a letter of recommendation. | Fr. | |
4. | Bribery and theft are first cousins. | ||
5. | Bribes throw dust into cunning men's eyes. | ||
6. | Bribes will enter without knocking. | ||
7. | He refuseth the bribe but putteth forth his hand.[104] | ||
Bride. | |||
1. | A bonny bride is soon buskit. | Scotch. | |
2. | A rich bride goes young to the church. | Ger. | |
3. | A sad bride makes a glad wife. | Dutch. | |
4. | All is well, for if the bride has not fair hair she has a fair skin. | Dutch. | |
5. | At the wedding feast the least eater is the bride. | Sp. | |
6. | Happy is the bride the sun shines on, And the corpse the rain rains on. | ||
7. | He that has luck leads the bride to church. | Dutch. | |
8. | He that is an enemy of the bride does not speak well of the wedding. | Sp. | |
9. | He who has the luck brings home the bride. | Ger. | |
10. | How shall the enemy of the bride speak well of the wedding. | Sp. | |
11. | The weeping bride makes a laughing wife. | Ger. | |
12. | There's no handsome woman on the wedding day except the bride. | Por. | |
Bridge. | |||
1. | Safe over the bridge one laughs at Nepomach. (This saint is the peculiar guardian of bridges.) | ||
2. | That is a bad bridge that is shorter than the stream. | Ger. | |
3. | To make a bridge of one's nose.[105] | ||
Bringing. | |||
1. | Whoever brings finds the door open for him. | Ital. | |
Broom. | |||
1. | A bad broom leaves a dirty room. | ||
2. | A new broom is good for three days. | Ital. | |
3. | A new broom sweeps clean. | ||
4. | An old broom comes to the stable. | Roumanian. | |
5. | New brooms sweep clean. | Ital., Ger., Dutch., Dan. | |
Brother. | |||
1. | A brother offended is harder to be won than a strange city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. | Bible. | |
2. | A brother's sufferings claim a brother's pity. | Addison. | |
3. | A landmark is well placed between two brothers' fields. | Fr. | |
4. | Between two brothers two witnesses and a notary. | ||
5. | He has made a younger brother of him. | ||
6. | Own brothers keep careful accounts. | Chinese. | |
7. | The brother had rather see the sister rich than make her so. | ||
8. | The wrath of brothers is fierce and devilish. | ||
9. | The wrath of brothers is the wrath of devils. | Sp., Por. | |
10. | The younger brother hath the more wit.[106] | ||
11. | The younger brother is the ancient gentleman. | ||
12. | The younger brother, the better gentleman. | ||
13. | Though they are brothers their pockets are not sisters. | Turk. | |
14. | Three brothers, three castles. | Fr., Ital., Por. | |
15. | Two brothers are one trunk; they should mutually support each other. | M. Greek. | |
16. | He that obliges me in a strange country maketh himself my brother. | Turkish Spy. | |
Brother-in-Law. | |||
1. | Of brothers-in-law and red dogs few are good. | Ger. | |
Broth. | |||
1. | Much broth is sometimes made of little meat. | Dan. | |
Buckets. | |||
1. | The bucket goes so often to the well that it leaves its handle there. | Ital. | |
2. | The buckets take to fighting with the well and leave their handles there. | Ital. | |
Buddha. | |||
1. | Even Buddha was once a cart-horse and carried the loads of others. | Hindoo. | |
Bug. | |||
1. | Would you let a bug escape you because it did not bite you? | Tamil. | |
Building. | |||
1. | Building castles in the air. | ||
2. | Building is a sweet impoverishing.[107] | ||
3. | Do not build a great house. | Cing. | |
4. | First build your house and then think of your furniture. | Hebrew. | |
5. | He that buildeth on the highway hath many admirers. | Ger., Dutch. | |
6. | He that buildeth a house by the highway side, it is either too high or too low. | ||
7. | He that builds a house in the market builds either too high or too low. | Ital. | |
8. | He who builds a house or marries is left with a lank purse. | Sp. | |
9. | He who builds according to every man's advice will have a crooked house. | Dan. | |
10. | He who builds by the roadside has many masters.(Surveyors.) | Ger., Dutch. | |
11. | He who builds on another's ground loses his stone and mortar. | Ital. | |
12. | He who builds on the public highway must let the people have their say. | Ger. | |
13. | Make a model before thou buildest. | ||
14. | The man that builds and wants wherewith to pay, Provides a house from which to run away. | Young. | |
15. | The spirit of building is come upon him. | ||
16. | They who love building will soon ruin themselves and need no other enemies. | Crassus. | |
Bullies. | |||
1. | Bullies, coward-hearted, attack in public to be parted.[108] | Gay. | |
2. | For men are found the stouter hearted, The surer they are to be parted. | Butler. | |
3. | The bully is always a coward. | The fable of the stag and the fawn. | |
Burlesque. | |||
1. | A burlesque is the refuge of destitute jokes. | Punch. | |
Burthen. | |||
1. | A burthen becomes light when well borne. | ||
2. | A burthen of one's choice is not felt. | ||
3. | A voluntary burthen is no burden. | Ital. | |
4. | Another man's burden is always light. | Dan. | |
5. | Every man thinks his own burthen the heaviest. | Seneca. | |
6. | Every one feels his own burden heavy. | Fr. | |
7. | He who carries one burden will soon carry a hundred. | Fr. | |
8. | Impose not a burthen on others which thou canst bear thyself. | Laberius. | |
9. | It is a sad burthen to carry a dead man's child. | ||
10. | It is not the burthen but the overburthen that kills the beast. | Sp. | |
11. | It is other people's burdens that kill the ass. | Don Quixote. | |
12. | Light burdens borne far become heavy. | Fr., Ger. | |
13. | Light burdens brak nae banes. | ||
14. | None knows the weight of another's burthen. | ||
15. | The burthen which was thoughtlessly got must be patiently borne. [109] | Gaelic. | |
16. | The burden is light on the shoulder of another. | Russian. | |
17. | The greatest burdens are not the gainfullest. | Fr. | |
Bush. | |||
1. | He that examines every bush will hardly get into the wood. | Ger. | |
2. | He that fears every bush must never go a-birding. | ||
3. | There is no bush so small but casts its shadow. | Fr. | |
Business. | |||
1. | A fair exchange brings no quarrel. | Dan. | |
2. | A good customer won't change his shop, nor a good shop lose its customer once in three years. | Chinese. | |
3. | A man should sell his ware at the rates of the market. | ||
4. | A man without a smiling face must not open a shop. | Chinese. | |
5. | A nimble sixpence is better than a slow shilling. | Pawnbroker's Maxim. | |
6. | A stock once gotten wealth grows up of its own accord. | ||
7. | A tradesman who gets not loseth. | ||
8. | Able to buy, don't so buy as to frighten the seller: Able to sell, don't so sell as to frighten the buyer. | Chinese. | |
9. | Ask but enough and you may lower the price as you like.[110] | ||
10. | Ask too much to get enough. | ||
11. | At a great bargain make a pause. | ||
12. | At market prices do your trade, And mutual wrangling you'll evade. | Chinese. | |
13. | At the first hand buy, at the third let lie. | ||
14. | Bad ware is never cheap. | Fr. | |
15. | Bad ware must be cried up. | Ger. | |
16. | Be not too hasty to outbid another. | ||
17. | Better sell for small profits than fail in business. | Chinese. | |
18. | Better sell than live poorly. | ||
19. | Boldness in business is the first, second and third thing. | ||
20. | Business before pleasure. | ||
21. | Business is the salt of life. | ||
22. | Business makes a man as well as tries him. | ||
23. | Business may be troublesome, but idleness is pernicious. | ||
24. | Business neglected is business lost. | ||
25. | Business sweetens pleasure, and labor sweetens rest. | ||
26. | Business to-morrow. (An exclamation of Archias that passed into a proverb, because he lost his life by delaying to open a letter warning him of a conspiracy against his life.) | ||
27. | Business with a stranger is title enough. | Bea. | |
28. | Buy and sell and live by the loss. | ||
29. | Buy at a market, but sell at home.[111] | ||
30. | By entering all that's sold or bought, You'll escape much anxious afterthought. | Chinese. | |
31. | Despatch is the soul of business. | Chesterfield. | |
32. | Do business, but be not a slave to it. | ||
33. | Drive thy business, let not that drive thee. | Franklin. | |
34. | Entreat the churl and the bargain is broken off. | Ital. | |
35. | Everybody's business is nobody's business. | ||
36. | Every man as his business lies. | ||
37. | Every man doth his own business best. | ||
38. | For the buyer a hundred eyes are too few, for the seller one is enough. | Ital. | |
39. | From small profits and many expenses, Come a whole life of sad consequences. | Chinese. | |
40. | Fuel is not sold in a forest, nor fish on a lake. | Chinese. | |
41. | Having capital to open an eating-house, I dread not the most capacious stomachs. | Chinese. | |
42. | He fattens the mule and starves the horse; i.e., one partner gets rich at the expense of another. | Chinese. | |
43. | He has an eye to business. | ||
44. | He has more business than English ovens at Christmas. | ||
45. | He hath made a good progress in a business that hath thought well of it beforehand. | ||
46. | He that doeth his own business hurteth not his hand.[112] | ||
47. | He that minds his business at home will not be accused of taking part in the fray. | Sp. | |
48. | He that mindeth not his own business shall never be trusted with mine. | Sp. | |
49. | He that thinks his business below him will always be above his business. | ||
50. | He that will sell lawn must learn to fold it. | ||
51. | He who does his own business does not soil his fingers. | ||
52. | If a little does not go much cash will not come. | Chinese. | |
53. | If you would not be cheated ask the price at three shops. | Chinese. | |
54. | In business one must be perfectly affable. | Chinese. | |
55. | It is easy to open a shop but hard to keep it open. | Chinese. | |
56. | It is the very life of merchandise to buy cheap and sell dear. | Chinese. | |
57. | Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee. | Franklin. | |
58. | Let every man mind his own business and the cows will be well tended. | Fr. | |
59. | Liked gear is half bought. | ||
60. | Long choosing and cheapening ends in buying nothing or bad wares. | Ger. | |
61. | Mind no business but your own. | Dr. Johnson. | |
62. | Mind your own business. | ||
63. | One cannot live by selling ware for words. | ||
64. | Pity and compassion spoil business.[113] | Meran the Hindoo. | |
65. | That which is everybody's business is nobody's business. | ||
66. | To do a good trade wants nothing but resolution; to do a large one nothing but application. | Chinese. | |
67. | Use both such goods and money as suit your market. | Chinese. | |
68. | We can deal with ready money customers: those who want credit may spare their breath. | Chinese. | |
69. | What is every man's business is no man's business. | ||
70. | When one cheats up to heaven in the price he asks, you come down to earth in the price you offer. | Chinese. | |
71. | Whenever you go about to trade, Of showing your silver be afraid. | Chinese. | |
72. | Where much pushing must be made, There cannot be a lively trade. | Chinese. | |
73. | Who does not ready money clutch, Of business has not much. | Chinese. | |
74. | Who drives not his business, his business drives. | Ger. | |
75. | Without business debauchery. | ||
76. | Without capital. Literal: A farmer without an ox, a merchant without capital. | Chinese. | |
Busy. | |||
1. | Busy will have hands. | ||
2. | Some are always busy and never do anything. | ||
3. | The world's busy man is the grand impertinent.[114] | ||
4. | Who more busy than they that have the least to do. (The Italians liken such a person to a pig's tail that is going all day and by night has done nothing.) | ||
Busy-body. | |||
1. | A busy-body is always malevolent. | Latin. | |
2. | Busy-bodies never want a bad day. | ||
3. | Busy folks are always meddling. | ||
Butter. | |||
1. | Boil stones in butter and you may sip the broth. | ||
2. | Butter is gold in the morning, silver at noon and lead at night. | ||
3. | Butter spoils no meat and moderation no cause. | Dan. | |
4. | Butter's once a year in the cow's horn. | ||
5. | He must have plenty of butter who would stop everybody's mouth. | Dan. | |
6. | He who has plenty of butter may put some in his cabbage. | Dan. | |
7. | It is dear bought butter that is licked off a wool comb. | Dan. | |
8. | No butter will stick to his bread. | ||
9. | She looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth. | ||
10. | They that have good store of butter may lay it thick on their bread. | ||
11. | What is a pound of butter among a kennel of hounds?[115] | ||
Buy. | |||
1. | Buy the bed of a great debtor. | Ital. | |
2. | Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries. | Franklin. | |
3. | Buy when it is market time. | Ger. | |
4. | Buy your greyhound, don't rear him. | Por. | |
5. | Buy your neighbor's ox and woo your neighbor's daughter. | Ger. | |
6. | Buyers and sellers dispute over a single cash. | Chinese. | |
7. | Buyers are esteemed, good men dross are deemed. | Chinese. | |
8. | Buying a thing too dear is no bounty. | ||
9. | Buying and selling is but winning and losing. | ||
10. | Buying fresh fish and vegetables, examine them first, then fix the price. | Chinese. | |
11. | He who disparages wants to buy. | Fr., Ital., Ger., Sp. | |
12. | Do not buy a red-haired person; do not sell one either, if you have one in the house, drive him away. | Turk. | |
13. | Do not buy of a huckster or be negligent at an inn. | Sp. | |
14. | Don't buy a cat in a bag. | Ger., Dutch. | |
15. | Don't buy a pig in a poke. | ||
16. | Don't buy everything that's cheap, and you'll escape being taken in. | Chinese. | |
17. | He buys well who is not called a donkey.[116] | Sp. | |
18. | He that buys by the pennyworth keeps his own house and another man's. | Ital. | |
19. | He that buys lawn before he can fold it, Shall repent him before he has sold it. | ||
20. | He who buys a house gets many a plank and nail for nothing. | Ger. | |
21. | He who buys betimes buys cheaply. | Ital. | |
22. | He who buys the broom can also buy the handle. | Ital. | |
23. | He who buys what he don't want will sell what he does want. | Ital., Ger. | |
24. | It is good to buy when another wants to sell. | Ital. | |
25. | It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way then he boasteth. | Bible. | |
26. | No man buys yams while they are yet in the ground. | Tropics. | |
27. | There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers. | ||
28. | They buy gude cheap that bring naething hame. | ||
29. | When you buy genuine articles, and you must lose, lose as little as possible. | Chinese. | |
30. | When you buy one fine thing you must buy ten more that your appearance may be all of a piece. | ||
31. | Who always buys and sells, feels not what he spends. | ||
32. | Who buys had need of eyes, but one's enough to sell the stuff.[117] | ||
33. | Who buys wants a hundred eyes; Who sells need have but one. | Dutch. | |
34. | Who buys without discretion buys to sell. | Martial. | |
“By-and-by.” | |||
1. | By the street of “By-and-By” one arrives at the house of Never. | ||
2. | “By-and-by” is easily said. |
Cabbage-stalks. | ||
1. | He is equal to any task that can subsist on cabbage-stalks. | Chinese. |
Cæsar. | ||
1. | Fear nothing, thou carriest Cæsar and his fortune. | (Cæsar encouraging the pilot in a storm.) |
2. | I came, I saw, I conquered. | (Cæsar's announcement of his victory over Pharnaces.) |
3. | Imperial Cæsar, dead and turned to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away. | Shaks. |
4. | Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's. | New Testament. |
Cage. | ||
1. | A fine cage won't feed the bird. | |
Cain. | ||
1. | The instinct of the first Cain ever lurks somewhere in human hearts. | |
Cake. | ||
1. | I had rather my cake burn than you should turn it.[118] | |
2. | There is no cake but there is like of the same make. | |
3. | Your cake is dough. | |
Calamity. | ||
1. | Calamity is man's true touchstone. | Beaumont and Fletcher. |
2. | Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind. | |
3. | Calamity's virtue's opportunity. | Seneca. |
4. | The deliberations of calamity are rarely wise. | Burke. |
5. | What appear to be calamities are often the sources of fortune. | Bea. |
Calf. | ||
1. | A change of pasturage makes fat calves. | Sp. |
2. | A lean calf forgets to skip. | |
3. | The greatest calf is not the sweetest veal. | |
4. | When the calf gets a fortune he expects to be called Mr. Bull. | Ger. |
5. | When they give you the calf be ready with the halter. | Sp. |
Calling. | ||
1. | He that is ashamed of his calling ever liveth shamefully in it. | |
Calm. | ||
1. | A calm is welcome after a storm. | |
2. | A calm portends a storm. | Ital. |
3. | After a storm comes a calm. | |
Calms. | ||
1. | Mightiest powers by deepest calms are fed.[119] | |
Calumny. | ||
1. | A probable story is the first weapon of calumny. | |
2. | Backwounding calumny the whitest virtue strikes. | Shaks. |
3. | Be thou as chaste as ice and pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. | Shaks. |
4. | Calumniate strongly and some of it will stick. | Latin. |
5. | Calumny and conjecture may injure innocence itself. | |
6. | Calumny will soil virtue itself. | Shaks. |
7. | It is better to play the role of an assassin than that of calumniator; the assassin inflicts death but once, the other a thousand times. | Chinese. |
8. | Neglected calumny soon expires, show that you are hurt and you give it the appearance of truth. | Tacitus. |
9. | Nothing in its progress is so rapid as calumny, nothing more widely spread, nor more readily received. | Cicero. |
10. | Taught by calumny I pity the unfortunate. | |
11. | There are calumnies against which even innocence loses courage. | Fr. |
12. | We cannot control the tongues of others, but a good life enables us to despise calumnies. | Cato. |
Camel. | ||
1. | A camel in Media dances in a little cab. | |
2. | A mangy camel bears the load of many camels.[120] | M. Greek. |
3. | Even a mangy camel will carry more than a herd of asses. | Latin. |
4. | Everything with a crooked neck is not a camel. | Ger. |
5. | If the camel once get his nose in the tent his body will soon follow. | Arabian. |
6. | Mangy old camels carry the skins of the young ones to the market. | |
7. | The camel carries sugar but eats thorns. | Kurd. |
8. | The camel going to seek horns lost his ears. | Turk. |
9. | The camel has his own opinion and the camel driver has his. | African. |
10. | The camel is dancing. (Said of one out of his element.) | Latin. |
11. | The camel that travels often to Mecca will return lame at last. | Arabian. |
12. | The kick of a camel is soft but stunning. | Turk. |
13. | “Why is your neck crooked?” was asked of the camel. “What have I straight?” was the reply. | Turk. |
Can. | ||
1. | The old find strength in the can. | |
Candle. | ||
1. | A candle lights others and consumes itself. | |
2. | A candle under a bushel: i.e., unrevealed merit. | Latin. |
3. | A good candle holder proves a good gamester.[121] | |
4. | A good candle snuffer may come to a good player. | |
5. | At the foot of the candle it is dark. | Persian. |
6. | He that is worst may still hold the candle. | |
7. | Never light your candle at both ends. | |
8. | The candle does not give light to itself. | Turk. |
9. | The candle that goes before gives the best light. | Dutch. |
10. | Neither women nor linen by candle light. | Ital. |
11. | The game is not worth the candle. | Fr. |
12. | You may light another candle by your own without loss. | Dan. |
Candor. | ||
1. | Candor breeds hatred. | Latin. |
2. | Candor is a great virtue. | Bea. |
Cap. | ||
1. | If the cap fits you, wear it. | |
Capital. | ||
1. | Credit is capital. | |
2. | To get on without capital. Literal: He picks up a grain and opens a mill. | Chinese. |
3. | You cannot trade without some capital. Literal: You must have a couple of grains of rice to catch fowls. | Chinese. |
Caprice. | ||
1. | Vain man runs headlong to caprice resigned, [122]Impelled by passion and with folly blind. | Juvenal. |
Carcass. | ||
1. | Where the carcass is, the eagles will be gathered together. | |
Care. | ||
1. | Another's care hangs by a hair. | Sp. |
2. | Biting cares do not disperse otherwise than by vessels of wine. | Horace. |
3. | Care and diligence bring luck. | |
4. | Care and not fine stables makes a good horse. | Dan. |
5. | Care brings on gray hairs and age without years. | Ger. |
6. | Care follows the increase of wealth. | Horace. |
7. | Care is an enemy to life. | Shaks. |
8. | Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye. | Shaks. |
9. | Care will kill a cat, yet there's no living without it. | |
10. | Cast all your care on God, that anchor holds. | Tennyson. |
11. | “Don't care” has no house. | American Negro. |
12. | He that taketh no care of himself must not expect it from others. | |
13. | How foolish is the toil of trifling cares. | Martial. |
14. | Light cares speak—great ones are dumb. | Seneca. |
15. | Little goods—little care. | |
16. | Little property—little care.[123] | |
17. | Much coin, much care. | |
18. | Other folk's cares kill the ass. | Sp. |
19. | Take care of your tin (or money). | |
20. | Too much care does more harm than good. | |
21. | Too much care is as bad as downright negligence. | |
22. | Want of care admits despair. | |
23. | Want of care does us more harm than want of knowledge. | Franklin. |
Cares. | ||
1. | And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs And as silently steal away. | Longfellow. |
2. | Many cares make the head white. | M. Greek. |
3. | 'Tis the vile daily drop on drop which wears The soul out (like the stone) with petty cares. | Byron. |
Carelessness. | ||
1. | A careless watch invites the vigilant foe. | |
2. | Careless men let their end steal upon them unawares and unprovided. | |
3. | Careless shepherds make many a feast for the wolf. | |
4. | “I thought I had given him rope enough,” said Pedley when he hanged his mare. | |
5. | One stroke on the nail and a hundred on the horseshoe. | Sp. |
6. | Such as are careless of themselves can hardly be mindful of others. | Thales. |
7. | Throw not the child out with the bath. | Dan. |
Carrion. | ||
1. | No carrion will kill a crow. | |
2. | The carrion which the eagle has left feeds the crow. | Latin. |
Cart. | ||
1. | An old cart well used—a new one abused. | |
2. | An unhappy man's cart is eith to tumble. | |
3. | Creaking carts last the longest. | Dutch. |
4. | The best cart may overthrow. | |
5. | To make the cart go you must grease the wheels. | Ital. |
Cask. | ||
1. | A cask is easily set rolling. | |
2. | A poor cask often holds good wine. | Latin. |
3. | Every cask smells of the wine it contains. | Sp., Por. |
4. | The cask always smells of the herring. | Fr. |
5. | The cask can give no other wine than what it contains. | Ital. |
6. | The cask full, the mother-in-law drunk. | |
7. | The full cask makes no noise. Ital. | |
8. | The fuller the cask, the duller the sound. | Ger. |
Castle-in-the-air. | ||
1. | He means to erect a castle-in-the-air and make his fly an elephant to carry it. | Ben Jonson. |
2. | He that buildeth castles-in-the-air will soon have no land.[125] | |
Castle. | ||
1. | Easy to keep the castle that was never besieged. | Scotch. |
2. | He who has not seen a castle looks at a furnace and admires. | M. Greek. |
3. | It is easy to keep a castle that was never assaulted. | |
Cat. | ||
1. | A baited cat may grow as fierce as a lion. | |
2. | A bawbee cat may look at a king. | |
3. | A blate cat makes a proud mouse. | |
4. | A cat may look at a king. | Ger., Dutch. |
5. | A cat pent up becomes a lion. | Ital. |
6. | A cat that licks the spit is not to be trusted with roast meat. | Ital. |
7. | A cat that meweth much catcheth but few mice. | Dutch. |
8. | A mewing cat is never a mouser. | Sp. |
9. | A mittened cat was never a good hunter. | |
10. | All cats are alike gray in the night. | |
11. | All cats are not to be set down for witches. | Fr. |
12. | An old cat laps as much as a young kitten. | |
13. | An old cat likes young mice. | M. Greek. |
14. | Cat after cat kind. | |
14½. | Cats eat what hussies spare. | |
15. | Cats hide their claws. | |
16. | Don't look for five feet on a cat.[126] | Don Quixote. |
17. | He is like a cat, he always falls on his feet. | |
18. | He who puts by for the night puts by for the cat. | |
19. | He's like a singed cat, better than he's likely. | |
20. | Honest is the cat when the meat is out of reach. | |
21. | How can the cat help it if the maid be a fool. | Ital. |
22. | I will keep no more cats than will catch mice. | |
23. | It is the cat and the dog that go where they are not called. | Turk. |
24. | It takes a good many mice to kill a cat. | Dan. |
25. | Keep no more cats than will catch mice. | |
26. | Muffled cats are not good mousers. | |
27. | Neither red-haired cat or dog is good. | Sp. |
28. | Never was a mewing cat a good mouser. | Ital. |
29. | Never was cat or dog drowned that could but see the shore. | |
30. | No one gives a cat to a hyena to keep. | Western Africa. |
31. | Singed cats live long. | Ger. |
32. | The cat always leaves her mark upon her friend. | Sp. |
33. | The cat and dog may kiss yet are none the better friends. | |
34. | The cat broke the china.[127] | |
35. | The cat hath eaten her count. | |
36. | The cat in gloves catches no mice. | |
37. | The cat invites the mouse to a feast. | |
38. | The cat is a good friend but scratches. | Sp., Por. |
39. | The cat is absent, the mice dance. | M. Greek. |
40. | The cat is hungry when a crust contents her. | |
41. | The cat is in the cream pot. | |
42. | The cat is in the dove house. | Sp. |
43. | The cat knows whose lips she licks. | |
44. | The cat loves fish but is loth to wet her feet. | Ital., Ger. |
45. | The cat sees not the mouse ever. | |
46. | The cat steals the rice and the dog comes and eats it. | Chinese. |
47. | The cat well knows whose beard she licks. | Por. |
48. | The cat's curse hurts the mice less than her bite. | Livonian. |
49. | The cats that drive away mice are as good as those that catch them. | Ger. |
50. | The liquorish cat gets many a rap. | |
51. | The more you stroke the cat's back the more she sets up her tail. | Ital. |
52. | The scalded cat (or dog) dreads cold water. | Ital., Sp. |
53. | There is a cat in the meal tub. | |
54. | They that bourd wi' cats, maun count upo' scarts. | |
55. | They whip the cat if our mistress does not spin. | Sp[128]. |
56. | Though the cat wink awhile, yet sure she is not blind. | |
57. | Thou wilt get nae mair o' the cat but the skin. | |
58. | To a good cat a good rat. | Fr. |
59. | To buy a cat in a poke. | Fr. |
60. | Wanton kittens make sober cats. | |
61. | “We are all well placed” said the cat, when she was seated on the bacon. | Dan. |
62. | Well might the cat wink when both her eyes were out. | |
63. | When cat and mouse agree the farmer has no chance. | Dan. |
64. | When cats are mousing they don't mew. | Dutch. |
65. | When the cat's away the mice will play. | Fr., Ger., Sp., Dan., Por. |
66. | When the cat sleeps the mice play. | Dutch. |
67. | When the cat's away it's jubilee to the mice. | Dutch. |
68. | When the cat winketh, little wots the mouse what the cat thinketh. | |
69. | When the weasel and a cat make a marriage it is a very ill presage. | |
70. | Which is the cat and which the rat? Hassan, Rajah of Borneo asked this question of Mr. Brooke, referring to the relative strength of England and Holland. | |
71. | Who is born of a cat will run after mice. | |
72. | Who will not feed the cats, must feed the mice and rats.[129] | Ger. |
Cat's Paw. | ||
1. | He beat the bushes and another caught the birds. | Fr. |
2. | He has given him the bag to hold. | |
3. | It is good to strike the serpent's head with your enemy's hand. | |
4. | To draw the snake out of the hole with another's hand. | Sp. |
5. | To start the hare for another's profit. | |
6. | To take out a burning coal with another's hand. | Sp. |
7. | To do like the monkey, take the chestnuts out of the fire with the cat's paw. | |
Catching. | ||
1. | When we think to catch, we are sometimes caught. | Sp. |
Cause. | ||
1. | A good cause makes a stout heart and a strong arm. | |
2. | A good cause needs help. | Fr. |
3. | Everything must have a cause. | Chinese. |
4. | For it is a duty, all the learned think, To espouse his cause by whom you eat and drink. | |
5. | He who hath an ill cause let him sell it cheap. | |
6. | If you grease a cause well it will stretch. | |
7. | It is a bad or ill cause that none dare speak in.[130] | Scotch. |
8. | Lidford law: first hang and draw, then hear the cause. | |
9. | The best cause requires a good pleader. | Dutch. |
10. | The cause finds arms. | |
11. | There is a cause for all things. | Ital. |
12. | 'Tis a sign of an ill cause to rail at your adversary. | |
13. | Tis the cause makes all: Degrades or hallows courage in its fall. | Byron. |
14. | When the cause is lost words are useless. | Ital. |
15. | Where the cause is just, the small conquers the great. | Greek. |
Caution. | ||
1. | Abundant caution does no harm. | Coke. |
2. | Be cautious what you say, of whom and to whom. | Fielding. |
3. | Be first at a feast and last at a fight. | Tamil. |
4. | Caution is the mother of tender beer glasses. | Dutch. |
5. | Fortunate is he whom the dangers of others have rendered cautious. | Latin. |
6. | If thou canst not see the bottom wade not. | |
7. | It is always well to have hold of your horse's bridle. | Fr. |
8. | Lock the stable door before the steed is stolen. | |
9. | Much caution does no harm.[131] | Por. |
10. | We know not which stone the scorpion lurks under. | |
11. | Who sees not the bottom let him not pass the water. | Ital. |
Celerity. | ||
1. | Celerity is never more admired than by the negligent. | Shaks. |
Censure. | ||
1. | Censure and scandal are not the same. | |
2. | Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent. | |
3. | Censure pardons the ravens but rebukes the doves. | Juvenal. |
4. | First look at home, then censure me. | |
5. | Let thy pride pardon what thy nature needs, The salutary censure of a friend. | Young. |
Ceremony. | ||
1. | Ceremonious friends are so, as far as compliment will go. | |
2. | Ceremony is the smoke of friendship. | Chinese. |
3. | Excess of ceremony shows want of breeding. | |
Certainty. | ||
1. | Certainty is the father of right and mother of justice. | Pope. |
2. | He that leaves certainty and trusts to chance, When fools pipe he may dance. | |
3. | I will not change a cottage in possession for a kingdom in reversion.[132] | |
4. | Nothing is certain in this world but death and taxes. | |
5. | Nothing is certain in this world; the wheel of fortune is forever in motion. | Petrarch. |
6. | Quit not certainty for hope. | |
Chaff. | ||
1. | There is no wheat without chaff. | |
Chains. | ||
1. | Chains of gold are stronger than chains of iron. | |
Chair. | ||
1. | A rickety chair will not long serve as a seat. | Dan. |
2. | Chair folk are never paid enough. | |
3. | Chairs sink and stools rise. | Por. |
Change. | ||
1. | Change of pasture makes fat calves. | |
2. | People often change and seldom do better. | |
3. | Pressed with their wants, all change was ever welcome. | Ben Jonson. |
4. | Too great and sudden changes, though for the better, are not easily borne. | |
5. | Who often changes, suffers. | Fr. |
Channel. | ||
1. | If the channel's too small the water must break out. | |
Characteristic. | ||
1. | Each has his characteristic whether it is honor or courage.[133] | Hans Andersen. |
Character. | ||
1. | A character, like a kettle, once mended always wants mending. | |
2. | A single sentence sometimes casts an odium on a man's character that years of integrity will not efface. | Rousseau. |
3. | That ought to be called a loss that is gained by the sacrifice of character. | Syms. |
4. | The labor of a day will not build up a virtuous habit on the ruins of an old and vicious character. | Buckminster. |
5. | To a bad character good doctrine avails nothing. | Ital. |
6. | Your character cannot be essentially injured but by your own acts. | |
Charity. | ||
1. | A charitable man is the true lover of God. | |
2. | Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days. | Bible. |
3. | Catholic charity makes us members of the Catholic church. | |
4. | Charity and pride have different aims, yet both feed the poor. | |
5. | Charity begins at home yet should not end there. (When your own courtyard thirsts do not pour the water abroad.) | M. Greek. |
6. | Charity covereth a multitude of sins. | |
7. | Charity doth not adopt the vice of its object.[134] | Fielding. |
8. | Charity excuseth not cheating. | |
9. | Charity gives itself rich, covetousness hoards itself poor. | Ger. |
10. | Charity is the scope of all God's commands. | |
11. | Charity seldom goes out of her own house and ill-nature is always rambling abroad. | Fielding. |
12. | Charity shall cover the multitude of sins. | New Testament. |
13. | Charity should visit Where hopeless anguish pours her moan and lonely want retires to die. | |
14. | Charity will rather wipe out the score than inflame the reckoning. | |
15. | First relieve the needy, then if need be question them. | Rule of the Benedictines. |
16. | He hangs a lantern on a pole, which is seen from afar but gives no light below. (Applied to those who spend their charity on remote objects and neglect their families.) | Chinese. |
17. | He that feeds upon charity, has a cold dinner and no supper. | |
18. | He that has no charity deserves no mercy. | |
19. | He who defers his charities till his death is rather liberal of another man's than of his own. | |
20. | In faith and hope the world will disagree, But all mankind's concern is charity. | Pope. |
21. | It is better to misplace our charity on nine unworthy persons than to deny alms to one that is really in need. | Turkish Spy. |
22. | The charitable give out at the door, and God puts in at the window.[135] | |
23. | Well regulated charity begins at home (or with one's self). | Fr. |
Chastising. | ||
1. | I chastise thee not out of hatred but out of love. | |
2. | Chasten thy son while there is hope. | |
3. | Chastise a good child that it may not grow bad, and a bad one that it may not grow worse. | Dan. |
4. | Chastise one that is worthless and he will presently hate you. | Sp. |
5. | Chastise the good and he will mend, chastise the bad and he will grow worse. | Ital., Por. |
6. | He that chastiseth one amendeth many. | |
7. | He who chastises one threatens a hundred. | Ital. |
8. | Who chastises his child will be honored by him; who chastises him not will be ashamed. | Dutch. |
Chastity. | ||
1. | A greater injury cannot be offered to innocent chastity than unjust suspicion. | Massinger. |
2. | Chastity once tarnished can be restored by no art. | Ovid. |
3. | Dear to heaven is saintly chastity. | Milton. |
4. | The most cautious passes for the most chaste. | Sp. |
5. | 'Tis chastity, my brother, chastity; [136]She that has that is clad in complete steel. | Milton. |
6. | When a woman has lost her chastity, she will shrink from no crime. | Tacitus. |
Chattering. | ||
1. | Chattering will not make the pot boil. | Turk. |
2. | Much chatter, little wit. | Por. |
Cheap. | ||
1. | Cheap bargains are dear. | Sp. |
2. | Cheap things are not good, good things are not cheap. | Chinese. |
3. | Cheaply bought, dear in the end. | Sp. |
4. | Dear is cheap—cheap is dear. | Por. |
5. | Do you want to buy cheap, buy of a needy fool. | Sp. |
6. | He is never likely to have a good thing cheap who is afraid to ask the price. | |
7. | Sell cheap and you will sell as much as four others. | |
8. | That which is bought cheap is the dearest. | |
9. | The cheap buyer takes bad meat. | |
10. | The dearer is the cheaper to me for I shall buy the less. | |
Cheat, Cheating. | ||
1. | A skilful cheat does not fear the open eye. | Ger. |
2. | A skilful cheat needs no assistant. | Ger. |
3. | Cheating is more honorable than stealing. | Ger. |
4. | Cheating is the chapman's cart and plough. | Ger. |
5. | Cheating play never thrives.[137] | |
6. | Cheat me in the price but not in the goods. | |
7. | Doubtless the pleasure is as great Of being cheated as to cheat. Butler. | |
8. | He is most cheated who cheats himself. | Dan. |
9. | He that cheateth in small things is a fool, but in greater things is a rogue. | |
10. | He that cheats me anes shame fa' him, if he cheat me twice, shame fa' me. | |
11. | He that would cheat a Jew must be a Jew. | Ger. |
12. | He that is cheated twice by the same man is an accomplice with the cheater. | |
13. | He who cheats a cheat and robs a thief, earns a dispensation for a hundred years. | Ger. |
14. | It is fair and just to cheat the cheater. | Sp. |
15. | Ye cannot cheat one in trade. | Chinese. |
Cheerfulness. | ||
1. | Cheerful company shortens the miles. | Ger. |
2. | Cheerfulness and good-will make labor light. | |
3. | Continual cheerfulness is a sign of wisdom. | |
Cheese. | ||
1. | Cheese and bread make the cheek red. | Ger. |
2. | Cheese from the ewe, milk from the goat, butter from the cow. | Sp. |
3. | Cheese is gold in the morning, silver at noon and lead at night. | Ger. |
4. | Cheese is a peevish elf, it digests all things but itself.[138] | |
Cherries. | ||
1. | Those that eat cherries with great persons shall have their eyes squirted out with the stones. | |
2. | When you hear of many cherries carry but a small basket. | M. Greek. |
Chicken. | ||
1. | A capon eight months old is fit for a king's table. | Sp., Por. |
2. | A cock is crouse on his own midden. | |
3. | A cock is valiant on his own dunghill. | Dutch, Por., Fr., Ger. |
4. | A good cock was never fat. | Por. |
5. | A large cock does not suffer a small one to crow. | Yoruba. |
6. | A laying hen is better than a standing mill. | Scotch. |
7. | A setting hen never grows fat. | |
8. | All cocks must have a comb. | Dutch. |
9. | Black hens lay white eggs. | Dutch. |
10. | Even clever hens sometimes lay their eggs among nettles. | Dan. |
11. | Every cock scratches toward himself. | |
12. | Every hen knows how to tread on her own chickens. | Negro Africans of the West Indies. |
13. | Fat hens lay few eggs. | Ger. |
14. | He who feeds the hen ought to have the egg. | Dan. |
15. | Hens are free of horse corn. | Dutch. |
16. | Hens like to lay where they see an egg.[139] | Dutch. |
17. | If the hen had not cackled, we should not know she had laid an egg. | Ital. |
18. | In cold weather cocks crow at midnight. | Chinese. |
19. | It is a bad hen that eats at your house and lays at another's. | Sp. |
20. | It is a sairy hen that cannot scrape for one bird. | |
21. | It is not easy to guard the hen that lays her eggs abroad. | Dan. |
22. | It is not the hen that cackles most that lays the most eggs. | |
23. | Knowing hens lay even in nettles. | Ger. |
24. | Large fowls will not eat small grain. | Chinese. |
25. | Let the hen live though it be with the pip. | Don Quixote. |
26. | Prepare a nest for the hen and she will lay eggs for you. | Por. |
27. | She holds up her head like a hen drinking water. | |
28. | The chicken gives advice to the hen. | |
29. | The chicken is the country's but the city eats it. | |
30. | The cock often crows without a victory. | Dan. |
31. | The cock shuts his eyes when he crows because he knows it by heart. | Ger. |
32. | The cock that sings untimely must have its head cut off. | Turk. |
33. | The hen flies not far unless the cock flies with her.[140] | Dan. |
34. | The hen is ill off when the egg teaches her how to cackle. | |
35. | The hen lays upon an egg. | Sp. |
36. | The hen likes to lay in a nest where there are eggs already. | Ger. |
37. | The hen lives by pickings as the lion by prey. | Dan. |
38. | The hen ought not to cackle in presence of the cock. | Fr. |
39. | The hen sits if it be but one egg. | Don Quixote. |
40. | The hen that stays at home picks up the crumbs. | |
41. | The hen's eyes are with her chickens. | Fr. |
42. | The hen's eyes follow her eggs. | Galician. |
43. | The scraping hen will get something, the crouching hen nothing. | |
44. | To force a hen to hatch chickens. | Chinese. |
45. | To get the chicks, one must coax the hen. | Fr. |
46. | Where the cock is the hen does not crow. | Por. |
47. | You are as busy as a hen with one chick. | |
48. | Young cocks love no cooks. | |
Child. | ||
1. | A child of a year old sucks milk from the heel. (By running round in the open air.) | Sp. |
2. | A child's back must be bent early. | Dan. |
3. | A child's sorrow is short lived. | Dan. |
4. | A child may have too much of his mother's blessing.[141] | |
5. | A child that can walk is a Jama (god) to the child in the cradle. | Tamil. |
6. | A chip of the old block. | |
7. | A naughty child must be roughly rocked. | |
8. | A pet child has many names. | Dan. |
9. | A Sunday's child never dies of the plague. | Fr. |
10. | A suspicious parent makes an artful child. | Haliburton. |
11. | As each one wishes his children to be, so they are. | Terence. |
12. | Better the child cry than the old man. | Dan. |
13. | Children and chicken must ever be picking. | |
14. | Children and drunken men speak the truth. | Dan. |
15. | Children and fools are prophets. | Fr. |
16. | Children and fools have merry lives. | |
17. | Children and fools tell truth. | |
18. | Children are certain cares but uncertain comforts. | |
19. | Children are poor men's riches. | |
20. | Children are to be cheated with cockles and men with oaths. | Lysander. |
21. | Children are what the mothers are. | Landor. |
22. | Children are what they are made. | Fr. |
23. | Children cry for nuts and apples, and old men for silver and gold. | |
24. | Children, fools, and drunkards tell the truth. | Ger. |
25. | Children have wide ears and long tongues.[142] | |
26. | Children increase the cares of life but mitigate the remembrance of death. | |
27. | Children like tender osiers take the bow, And as they first are fashioned always grow. | Juvenal. |
28. | Children married, cares increase. | Sp. |
29. | Children must be circumvented with words, men with oaths. | Lysander. |
30. | Children pick up words as pigeons pease, And utter them again as God shall please. | |
31. | Children should be seen, not heard. | |
32. | Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they grow up. | |
33. | Children tell in the highway what they hear by the fireside. | Por. |
34. | Children when little make parents fools, when great, mad. | |
35. | Child's pig, father's hog. | |
36. | Every man is to be envied who is fortunate with his children. | Euripides. |
37. | From children expect childish acts. | Dan. |
38. | From many children and little bread good Lord deliver us. | |
39. | Give a child till he craves and a dog while his tail doth wag and you'll have a fair dog but foul knave. | |
40. | Give a child his will and a whelp his fill and neither will thrive. | |
41. | Give to a pig when it grunts and to a child when it cries, and you'll have a fine pig and a bad child.[143] | Dan. |
42. | Gold must be beaten and a child scourged. | |
43. | Gude bairns get broken brows. | |
44. | Happy is the child whose father went to the devil; i.e., died rich. | |
45. | He knows not what love is that has not children. | Ital. |
46. | He remembers his ancestors but forgets to feed his children. | |
47. | He that does not beat his child will afterwards beat his own breasts. | Turk. |
48. | He that loves his child chastises him. | Dutch. |
49. | He who hath children hath neither kindred nor friends. | |
50. | How did you rear so many children? By being fondest of the little ones. | Por. |
51. | How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child. | Shaks. |
52. | I hate all children of precocious talent. | Cicero. |
53. | If the child cries let the mother hush it, if it will not be hushed, let it cry. | Sp. |
54. | If the child does not cry, the mother does not understand it. | Russian. |
55. | If the child does not cry they give him not suck. | M. Greek. |
56. | If you have wicked children of what use is money, and if good, again what use is it. | Turk. |
57. | Ill bairns are ay best heard at hame. | |
58. | It is a wise child that knows its own father.[144] | Ger., Sp., Dan. |
59. | Let a child have its will and it will not cry. | Dan. |
60. | Little children and headaches, great children and heartaches. | Ital. |
61. | Little children, little sorrows; big children, great sorrows. | Ital. |
62. | Male children are the pillars of a house. | Greek. |
63. | Many children and little bread is a painful pleasure. | Sp. |
64. | Married life without children is as the earth deprived of the sun's rays. | Latin. |
65. | No ape but swears he has the handsomest children. | |
66. | Of glasses and children one never has too many. | |
67. | Of listening children have your fears, For little pitchers have great ears. | Dutch. |
68. | One is always somebody's child, that is a comfort. | |
69. | Our neighbor's children are always the worst. | Ger. |
70. | Pretty children sing pretty songs. | Dan. |
71. | Quickly toothed and quickly go, Quickly will mother have woe. | |
72. | Spare the rod and spoil the child. | |
73. | The best horse needs breaking and the aptest child needs teaching. | |
74. | The burnt child dreads the fire. | |
75. | The child is father to the man.[145] | Wordsworth. |
76. | The child names the father, the mother knows him. | Livonian. |
77. | The child saith nothing but what he heard at the fireside. | |
78. | The child should be instructed in the arts that will be useful to the man. | Spartan King. |
79. | The child that trembles at a rod will never dare to look upon a sword. | Theoderic. |
80. | The child who gets a step-mother also gets a step-father. | Greek. |
81. | The dearer the child, the sharper must be the rod. | Dan. |
82. | The eternal child dwells in fine natures. | De Quincey. |
83. | The two best books to a child are a good mother's face and life. | |
84. | There are no children now-a-days. | Fr. |
85. | There is not so much comfort in having children as there is sorrow in parting with them. | |
86. | Thy child that is no child leave upon the water and let him swim. | |
87. | 'Tis better to bind your children to you by gentleness than fear. | |
88. | To save a father is a child's chief honor. | Byron. |
89. | Train up a child in the way he should go. | |
90. | What children hear at home soon flies abroad. | |
91. | What the parents spin the children must reel. | Ger[146]. |
92. | When children stand quiet they have done some harm. | |
93. | When the child cuts its teeth death is on the watch. | Sp. |
94. | When the child is man we burn the rod. | |
95. | When the child is christened come god-fathers enough. | Fr. |
Chimney. | ||
1. | A smoking chimney in a great house is a good sign. | |
2. | A smoky chimney and a scolding wife are two bad companions. | |
3. | A sooty chimney costs many a beefsteak. | |
4. | There is not always good cheer where the chimney smokes. | |
5. | Where the chimney smokes the meal is being cooked. | Hans Andersen. |
Chips. | ||
1. | The worse the carpenter, the more the chips. | Dutch. |
Choler. | ||
1. | Choler hates a counsellor. | |
2. | Choler is the only unruly passion that justifies itself. | |
3. | Choleric men are blind and mad. | |
Choleric. | ||
1. | The choleric drinks, the melancholic eats, the phlegmatic sleeps.[147] | |
Choice. Choosing. | ||
1. | Choose rather to be the tail of lions than the head of foxes. Hebrew. | |
2. | Choose what is most fit, custom will make it the most agreeable. | |
3. | Choose what you are, no other state prefer. | Elphinston. |
4. | Hard is the choice when one is compelled either by silence to die with grief or by speaking to live with shame. | Ben Jonson. |
5. | He that chooses takes the worst. | |
6. | He that has a choice has trouble. | Dutch. |
7. | Hobson's choice; i.e., the next or nothing. | |
8. | No choice among stinking fish. | |
9. | There is but bad choice where the whole stock is bad. | |
10. | There is small choice in rotten apples. | Don Quixote. |
Christian. | ||
1. | A Christian is God Almighty's gentleman. | I. C. Hare. |
2. | A Christian is the highest style of man. | Young. |
3. | To be a humble Christian is no disparagement to a prince or nobleman. | |
Christianity. | ||
1. | Christianity is completed Judaism or it is nothing. | Bea. |
Christmas. | ||
1. | After Christmas comes Lent.[148] | |
2. | Another year will bring another Christmas. | Dan. |
3. | At Christmas play and make good cheer, For Christmas comes but once a year. | Tusser. |
4. | Christmas is talked of so long it comes at last. | Fr. |
5. | Green Christmas, a white Easter. | |
Church. | ||
1. | A church debt is the devil's salary. | Beecher. |
2. | A church stone drops gold. | Galician. |
3. | A great church and little devotion. | Ital. |
4. | A man may be good in the camp, yet bad in the church. | |
5. | Better come late to church than never. | Dan. |
6. | Big churches, little saints. | Ger. |
7. | Early to the church—late to the court. | |
8. | He that goes to church with an ill intention, goes to God's house on the devil's errand. | |
9. | Let the church stand in the church-yard. | |
10. | Many come to bring their clothes to church rather than themselves. | |
11. | New churches and new taverns are seldom empty. | Ger. |
12. | Old churches have dark windows. | Ger. |
13. | The church has no fear of just reasoners. | Bea. |
14. | The church is not so large but the priest may say service in it.[149] | |
15. | The church is out of temper when charity waxeth cold and zeal hot. | |
16. | The Gypsy church was made of bacon, and the dogs ate it. | Gypsy. |
17. | The nearer to church, the farther from God. | Fr., Ger. |
18. | What the soul is to man, the church is to the world. | Bea. |
19. | When there is nothing, the church loses. | Ital. |
20. | Who builds a church to God and not to fame Will never mark the marble with his name. | Pope. |
Churl. | ||
1. | Beat the churl and he will be your friend. | |
2. | The churl knows not the value of spurs. | |
3. | Grease a churl's boots and he'll say you're burning them. | Fr. |
Circumstances. | ||
1. | Circumstances alter cases. (Lord Brougham once said, “I wish I had the cases to alter circumstances.”) | |
2. | Circumstances are beyond the control of man, but his conduct is in his own power. | Bea. |
3. | 'Tis circumstances make conduct: life's a ship, the sport of every wind. | Bea. |
4. | To circumstances and custom the law must yield. | Dan. |
City. | ||
1. | A great city—a great solitude. | |
2. | That city cannot prosper where an ox is sold for less than a fish.[150] | |
3. | The air of cities to unaccustomed lungs is fatal. | Bea. |
4. | The disgrace of the city is the fault of the citizens. | M. Greek. |
Civil Broils, Civil War. | ||
1. | In civil broils the worst of men may rise to honor. | Plutarch. |
2. | The worst absolute government is preferable to civil war. | Favonius. |
3. | The wounds of civil war are deeply felt. | Lat. |
Civility. | ||
1. | Civil gates stand open to the bad as well as the good. | |
2. | Civility costs nothing. | |
3. | He that is more civil than usual either wants to cozen you or has need of you. | Sp. |
4. | It is not a chargeable thing to salute civilly. | |
5. | The usual forms of civility oblige no man. | |
6. | There is nothing that costs less than civility. | Don Quixote. |
Civilizers (of Man). | ||
1. | Increased means and increased leisure are the two civilizers of man. | Bea. |
Claimant. | ||
1. | We do hate a claimant worse than a murderer. | |
Clay. | ||
1. | Clay and lime conceal much evil. | Sp. |
2. | If the clay is not beat, it does not become potter's clay. | M. Greek[151]. |
3. | Unless the clay be well pounded, no pitcher can be made. | Lat. |
4. | We are clay in the hands of the potter. | |
5. | You can imitate anything with moist clay. | |
Cleanliness. | ||
1. | Cleanliness is next to godliness. | Wesley. |
2. | Cleanliness is the key of prayer. | Arabian. |
Clemency. | ||
1. | Clemency alone makes us equal to the gods. | Claudianus. |
2. | Clemency and virtue assimilate to God. | Petrarch. |
3. | 'Tis clemency makes the absolute conquest. | |
Clerk. | ||
1. | The clerk wishes the priest to have a fat dish. | Gaelic. |
2. | The clock goes as it pleases the clerk. | |
3. | When it pours upon the parson it drops upon the clerk. | Dan. |
4. | When the curate licks the knife, it must be bad for the clerk. | Sp. |
Clever. | ||
1. | A clever man turns great troubles into little ones and little ones into none at all. | Chinese. |
2. | A clever man's inheritance is found in every country. | Dan. |
3. | All clever men are birds of prey.[152] | Maga. |
4. | He is called clever who cheats and plunders his friend. | Fr. |
5. | If you are not very clever be conciliatory. | Bea. |
Climbing. | ||
1. | Fain would I climb but that I fear to fall. | Raleigh. |
2. | He that climbs high falls heavily. | Ger. |
3. | He who climbs too high is near a fall. | Ital. |
4. | He who would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom. | Ger. |
5. | He who would drive another over three dikes must climb over two himself. | |
6. | If thy heart fail thee do not climb at all. | |
7. | Nothing is too high for a man to reach, but he must climb with care and confidence. | Hans Andersen. |
8. | The chamois climbs and gets caught. | Ger. |
9. | Those who climb high often have a fall. | Dan. |
10. | To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first. | Shaks. |
11. | Where you cannot climb over you must creep under. | Dan. |
12. | Who cannot climb the mountain must remain in the valley. | Ger. |
13. | Who never climbed never fell. | |
Cloak. | ||
1. | A cloak is not made for a single shower of rain.[153] | Ital. |
2. | An old cloak makes a new jerkin. | Shaks. |
3. | Arrange your cloak as the wind blows. | Fr. |
4. | Fie upon a cloak in fair weather. (Ingratitude.) | |
5. | From a praying young man and a fasting old one God preserve my cloak. | Sp. |
6. | Have not thy cloak to make when it begins to rain. | |
7. | There is no making a good cloak of bad cloth. | Sp. |
8. | Though the sun shines leave not your cloak at home. | |
9. | Under a good cloak may be a bad man. | Sp. |
10. | Under a shabby cloak may be a smart thinker. | Por., Sp. |
11. | Under my cloak I command (or kill) the king. | Sp. |
12. | When clouds are seen wise men put on their cloaks. | Shaks. |
13. | Where you lost your cloak, seek it. | Sp. |
Cloud. | ||
1. | All clouds bring not rain. | Dutch. |
2. | Every cloud engenders not a storm. | Shaks. |
3. | Every cloud has a silver lining. | |
4. | If there were no clouds we should not enjoy the sun. | |
5. | One cloud is enough to eclipse all the sun. | |
6. | When the clouds are on the hills, they'll come down by the mills.[154] | |
Clown. | ||
1. | A hint for a gentleman, a club for a clown. | Pashto. |
2. | The more you court a clown the statelier he grows. | Sp. |
Coat. | ||
1. | One must cut his coat according to his cloth. | Ger. |
2. | When a man's coat is threadbare it is easy to pick a hole in it. | |
Cobblers. | ||
1. | Cobblers and tinkers are the best ale-drinkers. | |
2. | Cobbler's law: He that takes money must pay the shot. | |
3. | Sherry-cobblers mend no shoes. (Americanism.) | Punch. |
Cockroach. | ||
1. | The cockroach is always wrong when arguing with the chicken. | |
Cold. | ||
1. | A man may catch cold while his coat is a making. | Fielding. |
2. | An hour's cold will suck out seven years' heat. | |
3. | As cold as charity. | |
4. | Every one feels the cold according as he is clad. | Sp. |
5. | Let him that is cold blow the coal. | |
6. | What keeps out the cold keeps out the heat.[155] | Ital. |
Colt. | ||
1. | A colt is good for nothing if it does not break its halter. | Fr. |
2. | A colt you may break, but an old horse you never can. | |
3. | A kindly aver (colt) never makes a good horse. | |
4. | A ragged colt may make a good horse. | |
5. | A wild colt may become a sober horse. | |
6. | He has a colt's tooth yet in his old head. | |
7. | How can the foal amble when the horse and mare trot. | |
8. | Ragged colts may make fine horses. | |
9. | The best colt needs breaking. | |
10. | The colt's tooth is still in his mouth. | Massinger. |
11. | The tricks that a colt gets at his breaking Will, whilst he lives, ne'er be lacking. | |
12. | The wildest colts make the best horses when they come to be properly broke and handled. | Themistocles. |
13. | There is no colt but breaks some halter. | Ital. |
14. | You may break a colt but not an old horse. | |
Comfort. | ||
1. | It is poor comfort for one who has broken his leg that another has broken his neck. | Dan. |
Comforter. | ||
1. | The comforter's head never aches.[156] | Ital. |
Coming. | ||
1. | He that comes after sees with more eyes than his own. | |
2. | He that comes last makes all fast. | |
3. | He that comes unbidden goes unthanked. | Dutch. |
4. | He that comes unca'ed sits unserved. | |
5. | He who comes first grinds first. | Sp. |
6. | The late comer is ill lodged. | Ital. |
7. | What comes seldom, comes sharp. | |
Commanding. | ||
1. | He that commandeth well shall be obeyed well. | |
2. | He who cannot command himself, it is folly to think to command others. | Laberius. |
3. | He who demands does not command. | Ital. |
4. | It is a fine thing to command though it be but a herd of cattle. | Don Quixote. |
5. | Little is done where many command. | Dutch. |
6. | No affections and a great brain: these are the men to command the world. | Bea. |
7. | There is great force hidden in a sweet command. | |
8. | They that command the most enjoy themselves the least. | |
9. | To command many will cost much. | |
Commencing. | ||
1. | He who commences many things finishes but few.[157] | Ital. |
Commending. | ||
1. | It is safer to commend the dead than the living. | |
2. | To be commended by those who might blame without fear gives great pleasure. | Agesilaus. |
Commerce. | ||
1. | Commerce loves freedom. | Richardson. |
Common. | ||
1. | Whatever is common is despised. | Dr. Johnson. |
Common-sense. | ||
1. | A handful of common-sense is worth a bushel of learning. | |
2. | Common-sense is the growth of all countries. | |
3. | It takes ten pounds of common-sense to carry one pound of learning. | Persian. |
4. | There is seldom common-sense in high fortune. | Spectator. |
Company. | ||
1. | A boon companion halves the longest way. | Bulwer. |
2. | A man knows his companion in a long journey or a little inn. | |
3. | A man would not be alone even in paradise. | |
4. | A good companion makes a heaven out of hell. | Ger. |
5. | A good companion makes good company.[158] | Sp. |
6. | An agreeable companion on the road is as good as a coach. | |
7. | Bad companions quickly corrupt the good. | Ger. |
8. | “Bad company,” said the thief as he went to the gallows between the hangman and a monk. | |
9. | Better alone than in bad company. | |
10. | Better to be beaten than to be in bad company. | |
11. | Birds of a feather flock together. | |
12. | Company in distress makes trouble less. | Fr. |
13. | Company in misery makes it light. | |
14. | For a good companion good company. | Sp. |
15. | For want of company welcome trumpery. | |
16. | Go not to hell for company. | |
17. | Good company makes short miles. | Dutch. |
18. | He keeps his road well enough who gets rid of bad company. | |
19. | He that lies down with dogs will get up with fleas. | Fr., Ital., Sp., Dan. |
20. | He that walketh with the virtuous is one of them. | |
21. | He who goes with wolves learns to howl. | Sp. |
22. | If you sit down with a lame man you will learn to halt. | M. Greek. |
23. | If you sit with one who squints, before evening you will become cat-eyed. | M. Greek. |
24. | Ill company is like a dog who dirts those most whom he loves best. | Swift. |
25. | Keep good company and you shall be of the number.[159] | Por. |
26. | Keep company with good men and good men you'll imitate. | Chinese. |
27. | Keep company with good men and good men you'll learn to be. | Chinese. |
28. | Kend fowks nae company. | |
29. | Let men take heed of their company. | Shaks. |
30. | Never be with a bad man. | Chinese. |
31. | No road is long with good company. | Turk. |
32. | One takes the color of one's company. Literal: Near vermillion one gets stained pink, near ink one gets stained black. | Chinese. |
33. | One takes the odor of one's company. Literal: Near putrid fish you'll stink, near the epidendrum you'll be fragrant. | Chinese. |
34. | One rotten apple in the basket infects the rest. | Dutch. |
35. | Pleasant company alone makes this life tolerable. | Sp. |
36. | Present company is always excepted. | |
37. | Show me your company and I'll tell thee what thou art. | Don Quixote. |
38. | Tell me the company you keep and I'll tell you what you are. | Fr., Ital., Sp., Dutch. |
39. | Tell me with whom you go and I'll tell you your value. | M. Greek. |
40. | Tell me with whom thou goest, and I'll tell thee what thou doest. | |
41. | The best company must part as King Dagobert said to his hounds. | Fr. |
42. | The company keeper has almost as many snares as companions.[160] | |
43. | The later the evening the fairer the company. | |
44. | The rotten apple spoils its companions. | Sp. |
45. | The third person makes good company. | Dutch. |
46. | We should only associate with our equals. | La Fontaine. |
47. | When you are in vicious company you are among your enemies. | |
48. | Who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl. | |
49. | Wicked companions invite us to hell. | Fielding. |
50. | With the good we become good. | Dutch. |
51. | You may know him by the company he keeps. | |
Comparison. | ||
1. | Comparison is not proof. | Fr. |
2. | Comparison more than reality makes men happy or wicked. | |
3. | Comparisons are odious. | Fr., Ital. |
4. | If you would compare two men you must know them both. | |
5. | Nothing is good or bad but by comparison. | |
6. | 'Tis comparison that makes men happy or miserable. | |
Compensation. | ||
1. | I broke my leg perhaps for my good. | Sp. |
2. | If I have lost the ring I still have the fingers. | Ital., Sp. |
3. | There is no evil without its compensation.[161] | |
Complaining. | ||
1. | Make it a point never to complain. | Bea. |
2. | Constant complaints never get pity. | |
Compliance. | ||
1. | Much compliance, much craft. | |
Compliments. | ||
1. | Compliments cost nothing, yet many pay dear for them. | Ger. |
2. | In society compliments are loans which the lenders expect to be repaid with heavy interest. | Punch. |
Condemning. | ||
1. | Men condemn because they do not understand. | Cicero. |
Conduct (Rules of). | ||
1. | Be with a man deaf and hearing, silent and speaking. | Hebrew. |
2. | Bind so as you may unbind. | |
3. | Boldly nominate a spade a spade. | Ben Jonson. |
4. | Cast not away what you have for what you are not sure of. | |
5. | Cast not the helve after the hatchet. (Don't despair.) | |
6. | Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance. | |
7. | Clear and round dealing is the honor of man's nature.[162] | |
8. | Commend not your wife, wine, nor house. | |
9. | Conceal thy domestic ills. | Thales. |
10. | Conquer thyself. | Chinese. |
11. | Cry no herring till you have it in the net. | Dutch. |
12. | Cultivate a chaste imagination. | |
13. | Deride not the unfortunate. | |
14. | Do all you can to be good and you'll be so. | |
15. | Do evil and look for the like. | |
16. | Do good and care not to whom. | Ital., Por. |
17. | Do good and then do it again. | |
18. | Do good if you expect to receive it. | |
19. | Do good to a knave and pray God he may not do the same to thee. | Dan. |
20. | Do not abandon the substance for the shadow. | |
21. | Do not all you can, spend not all you have, believe not all you hear, tell not all you know. | |
22. | Do not carry too much sail. | |
23. | Do not change what you have said. | Hindoo. |
24. | Do not look upon the vessel but upon that which it contains. | |
25. | Do not make fish of one and flesh of another. | |
26. | Do not meddle with clandestine affairs. | Hindoo. |
27. | Do not neglect your own field and plough your neighbor's. | Hindoo. |
28. | Do not publish people's defects. | Hindoo. |
29. | Do not put in more warp than you can weave. | Dan. |
30. | Do not rake up old grievances.[163] | |
31. | Do not rip up old sores. | |
32. | Do not sail too near the wind. | |
33. | Do not say go, but go thyself. | |
34. | Do not take hold of a nettle, but if you do, grasp it tight. | Afghan. |
35. | Don't fall into the fire to be saved from the smoke. | Turk. |
36. | Don't get so anxious that you kill yourself. | North American Indian. |
37. | Don't have too many irons in the fire or some will be sure to burn. | |
38. | Don't make yourself poor to one who won't make you rich. | Dan. |
39. | Don't pull hard enough to break the rope. | Por. |
40. | Don't put your finger in too tight a ring. | Fr., Ital. |
41. | Don't rely on the label of the bag. | Fr. |
42. | Don't scald your tongue in other people's broth. | |
43. | Don't scuffle with the potter for he makes money by the damage. | Sp. |
44. | Don't send away your cat for being a thief. | Sp. |
45. | Don't shiver for last year's snow. | |
46. | Don't show your teeth if you can't bite. | Fr. |
47. | Don't speak to the man at the wheel. | |
48. | Don't take too big a chip on a saplin'. | American Negro. |
49. | Don't throw the handle after the bill. (Despair.)[164] | Dutch. |
50. | Don't wake a sleeping dog. | |
51. | Don't wake the drunken man. | Ger. |
52. | Don't yoke the plough before the horses. | Dutch. |
53. | Drive not away what never came near you. | Dan. |
54. | Drown not thyself to save a drowning man. | |
55. | Either a man or a mouse. | |
56. | Either Cæsar or nobody. | |
57. | Either make a spoon or spoil a horn. | |
58. | Employ thy time well, and since thou art not sure of a minute throw not away an hour. | Franklin. |
59. | Hide not your light under a bushel. | |
60. | However exalted our position, we should still not despise the powers of the humble. | Phædrus. |
61. | If you cannot say it point to it with your finger. | Fr. |
62. | If you cannot take it by the head take it by the tail. | Arabian. |
63. | If you can't get it in bushels take it by spoonfuls. | Ger. |
64. | If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully. | |
65. | If you do wrang mak amends. | |
66. | If you intend to do a mean thing, wait until to-morrow; if a noble one, do it now. | |
67. | If you pursue two hares both will escape from you. | M. Greek. |
68. | If you stir up the mire you must bear the smell.[165] | |
69. | If you wish a thing done, go; if not, send. | |
70. | In a matter of life and death trust not even your mother, she might mistake a black bean for a white one. | Alcibiades. |
71. | In a wood don't walk behind another. | |
72. | It is absurd for a man either to commend or depreciate himself. | Plutarch. |
73. | Ne'er scad your lips in other fowk's kale. | |
74. | Ne'er tell your fae when your feet sleeps. | |
75. | Never apologize for showing feeling. | |
76. | Never be ashamed to eat your meat. | |
77. | Never be too much elated. | Lat. |
78. | Never be weary of well doing. | |
79. | Never cast dirt into that fountain of which thou hast sometime to drink. | |
80. | Never count four unless you have three in your bag. | |
81. | Never cross a bridge until you come to it. | |
82. | Never cry hallo till you are out of the woods. | |
83. | Never deny your assistance, nor ever do anybody any hurt. | French peasant. |
84. | Never descend to vulgarity even in joking. | Latin. |
85. | Never do anything of which you are ashamed. | |
86. | Never do by proxy what you can do yourself. | Ital. |
87. | Never give the skin when you can pay with the wool. | Ger. |
88. | Never grieve over spilt milk. | |
89. | Never insult people in distress.[166] | Fable of the wanton calf. |
90. | Never lose a tub for a ha'p-worth of tar. | |
91. | Never make a mountain of a mole-hill. | |
92. | Never mourn over the past nor mope over the future. | Rev. Dr. Crowley. |
93. | Never neglect an opportunity for improvement. | Sir Wm. Jones. |
94. | Never neglect small matters or expenses. | Ital. |
95. | Never order a man to do what you are afraid to do yourself. | Chinese Gordon. |
96. | Never praise a ford till you are over. | |
97. | Never put your arm out further than you can draw it back again. | Baillie Jarvis. |
98. | Never put your thumb between your grinders. | |
99. | Never quit certainty for hope. | |
100. | Never refuse a good offer. | Latin, Ital. |
101. | Never repent a good action. | Dan. |
102. | Never revenge a private injury and hazard your life for the public. | Henry, Prince of Condé, to his son. |
103. | Never rub against the grain. | |
104. | Never say, Fountain, I will not drink of thy water. | |
105. | Never sigh but send. | |
106. | Never spread your corn to dry before the door of a saintly man. | Sp. |
107. | Never take anything for granted. | Bea. |
108. | Never tread on a sore toe. | |
109. | Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.[167] | |
110. | Never venture out of your depth till you can swim. | |
111. | Never howl till you're hit. | Ulster. |
112. | Not many things imperfectly but a few well. | |
113. | Of what does not concern you, nothing good or bad. | Ital. |
114. | One should always conciliate. | Ger. |
115. | One should break his arm to save his neighbor's neck. | Ger. |
116. | Order and do it and you'll be rid of anxiety. | |
117. | Produce much, consume little, labor diligently, speak cautiously. | Chinese. |
118. | Rather contend for valor with the brave, than for wealth with the rich, or in rapaciousness with the covetous. | Cato. |
119. | Rule lust, temper the tongue, and bridle the belly. | |
120. | Rule youth an' eild will rule itself. | |
121. | See that in avoiding cinders you step not on burning coals. | Latin. |
122. | Tell no one what you would have known only to yourself. | Dutch. |
123. | Tell not all you know, believe not all you hear, do not all you are able. | Ital. |
124. | Tell not all you know nor judge of all you see if you would live in peace. | Sp. |
125. | With your superiors, eat, drink, and rise fasting. | M. Greek. |
Confidence. | ||
1. | Confidence begets confidence. | Ger. |
2. | Confidence cannot be won in a day.[168] | |
3. | Confidence goes farther in company than good sense. | |
4. | Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom. | Chatham. |
5. | Confidence is the companion of success. | |
Connoisseur. | ||
1. | The connoisseur is one who knows, as opposed to the dilettante who thinks he knows. | Fairholt. |
Conquer. | ||
1. | They conquer who believe they can. | Virgil. |
2. | Would you be strong, conquer yourself. | |
3. | You will conquer more surely by prudence than by passion. | Syrus. |
Conquerors, Conquered. | ||
1. | Conquerors are like fires, the greater their brilliancy, the larger the ruin they leave behind them. | Punch. |
2. | Earth's law: The conquered are the wrong. Bulwer. | |
3. | He conquers who sticks in his saddle. | Ital. |
4. | He hath conquered that hath made his enemies fly. | |
5. | He is twice a conqueror, who can restrain himself in the hour of victory. | Syrus. |
6. | He that will conquer must fight. | |
7. | Let him live who conquers. | Don Quixote. |
8. | Long life to the conqueror. | Sp. |
9. | Most men cry, Long live the conqueror.[169] | |
10. | The conquered is never called wise nor the conqueror rash. | |
Conquest. | ||
1. | The honors of conquest are never wholly our own: fortune will claim her share in the success. | |
2. | It is no small conquest to overcome yourself. | |
Confession. | ||
1. | A fault confessed is half redressed. | |
2. | A fault once denied is twice committed. | |
3. | A generous confession disarms slander. | |
4. | A knavish confession should have a cane for absolution. | |
5. | Confess and be hanged. | |
6. | Confess and beg days. | |
7. | Confession of a fault makes half amends. | |
8. | Confession without repentance, friends without faith, prayer without sincerity, are mere loss. | Ital. |
9. | He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but who confesseth and forsakes them shall have mercy. | Bible. |
10. | Open confession is good for the soul. | |
Conscience. | ||
1. | A bad conscience flies from the light as the devil from the cross. | Ger. |
2. | A clear conscience can bear any trouble. | |
3. | A clear conscience is a good pillow. | Fr. |
4. | A clear conscience is a sure card. | |
5. | A clear conscience is a wall of brass.[170] | Latin. |
6. | A clear conscience laughs at false accusations. | |
7. | A good conscience is a soft pillow. | Ger. |
8. | A good conscience is God's eye. | Russian. |
9. | A good conscience is heaven, a bad one hell. | Ger. |
10. | A good conscience is the best divinity. | |
11. | A good conscience is the best looking-glass of heaven. | Cudworth. |
12. | A good conscience is the best law. | |
13. | A good conscience is wont to speak out. | Pausanias. |
14. | A good conscience knows no fear. | Ger. |
15. | A good conscience makes a joyful countenance. | Ger. |
16. | A grand eloquence, little conscience. | |
17. | A guilty conscience is an enemy that lives with its possessor. | Tamil. |
18. | A guilty conscience needs no accuser. | |
19. | A peace above all earthly dignities, A still and quiet conscience. | Shaks. |
20. | A pure conscience may defy city gossips. | Bea. |
21. | A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder. | |
22. | An approving conscience is a perpetual feast; a guilty conscience a ceaseless torment. | C. C. Baldwin's Moral Maxims. |
23. | Although invisible, there are always two witnesses present at our every action: God and our conscience.[171] | |
24. | An evil conscience breaks many a man's neck. | |
25. | An evil deed has a witness in the bosom. | Dan. |
26. | Conscience and wealth are not always neighbors. | Massinger. |
27. | Conscience cannot be compelled. | |
28. | Conscience does make cowards of us all. | Shaks. |
29. | Conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses. | Ital. |
30. | Conscience is the chamber of justice. | |
31. | Conscience is the champion of justice. | |
32. | Conscience may grant a truce to the guilty, but never makes a lasting truce. | Tacitus. |
33. | Conscience often stops at a mole-hill and leaps over a mountain. | Fielding. |
34. | You cannot purchase a good conscience. | |
35. | He hath a conscience like a cheveril's skin, that will stretch. | |
36. | It is always term-time in a court of conscience. | |
37. | Little conscience and great diligence make a great man. | |
38. | Man's conscience is the oracle of God. | Byron. |
39. | Nothing is more wretched than a guilty conscience. | Ben Jonson. |
40. | Put your hand in your conscience and see if it don't come out as black as pitch.[172] | Dutch. |
41. | Sell not thy conscience with thy goods. | |
42. | The great theater of conscience is virtue. | Cicero. |
43. | The indispensable requisite to happiness is a clear conscience. | Gibbon. |
44. | The most sensual man that ever was in the world never felt so delicious a pleasure as a clear conscience. | Tillotson. |
45. | The motions of passion and conscience are two things. | |
46. | There is a policeman in every man's conscience; you may not always find him on the beat. | Punch. |
47. | We do nothing but in the presence of two great witnesses, God and our conscience. | |
48. | You may often feel that heavily on your back which you took lightly on your conscience. | Dan. |
Consideration. | ||
1. | Consideration gets as many victories as rashness loses. | |
2. | Consideration is half conversion. | |
3. | Consideration is the parent of wisdom. | |
Consistency. | ||
1. | Consistency, thou art a jewel. | |
Conspiracies. | ||
1. | Conspiracies no sooner should be formed than executed. | Addison. |
2. | When the scabbards are broken we can no longer hide our sabres.[173] | Russian Conspirators. |
Constancy. | ||
1. | Constancy is the foundation of the virtues. | Latin. |
Constitution. | ||
1. | He keeps watch over a good castle who has guarded his own constitution. | |
Contemn. | ||
1. | To contemn a just condemnation is to kick at a kindness. | |
Contemplation. | ||
1. | He that contemplates on his bed has a day without a night. | |
Contempt. | ||
1. | Contempt is the sharpest reproof. | |
2. | Contempt is usually worse borne than real injuries. | |
3. | Contempt of a man is the sharpest reproof. | |
4. | Contempt will cause spite to drink of her own poison. | |
5. | Contempt will sooner kill an injury than revenge. | |
Content. | ||
1. | A competence is vital to content. | Young. |
2. | A contented man is always rich. | Latin. |
3. | A contented ass enjoys a long life. | Por. |
4. | A contented mind is a continual feast. | |
5. | A contented mind is a specific for making gold. | Tamil. |
6. | Be content, the sea hath fish enough.[174] | |
7. | Content can soothe where'er by fortune placed, Can rear a garden in the desert waste. | H. K. White. |
8. | Content is happiness. | |
9. | Content is an inexhaustible treasure. | Turk. |
10. | Content is more than a kingdom. | |
11. | Content is the philosopher's stone that turns all it touches into gold. | |
12. | Content lodges oftener in cottages than palaces. | |
13. | Content yourself with your own skin. (Fable of the ass dressed in the lion's skin.) | |
14. | Contentment gives a crown where fortune has denied it. | Ford. |
15. | Contentment is to the mind what a frame is to a cucumber, sunning it and lifting it even from a dunghill. | |
16. | Gnaw the bone which is fallen to thy lot. | |
17. | He has enough who is content. | Ital. |
18. | He may well be contented that need not lie nor flatter. | |
19. | He that is content with his poverty is wonderfully rich. | |
20. | He that can sit upon a stone and feed himself should not move. | Dan. |
21. | He that cannot get bacon must be content with cabbage. | Dan. |
22. | He who wants content can't find an easy chair. | |
23. | Let every one be content with what God has given him.[175] | Por. |
24. | Let us thank God and be content with what we have. | |
25. | No one is content with his own lot. | Por. |
26. | Nothing will content him who is not content with a little. | Greek. |
27. | Our content is our best having. | Shaks. |
28. | Since we have loaves let us not look for cakes. | Sp. |
29. | The noblest mind the best contentment has. | Spenser. |
30. | They need much whom nothing will content. | |
31. | To be content with little is true happiness. | Tacitus. |
32. | To be content to let twelve pennies pass for a shilling. | Ital. |
33. | What's an estate good for if it cannot buy content? | |
34. | Who is content is rich enough. | Ger. |
35. | Who is not satisfied with his condition is a great fool. | Ger. |
36. | Who is well seated should not budge. | Ger. |
37. | You must be content sometimes with rough roads. | |
38. | You must contrive to bake with the flour you have. | Dan. |
39. | You must plough with such oxen as you have. | |
Continuance. | ||
1. | Continuance becomes usage. | Ital. |
Contradiction. | ||
1. | Contradiction should awaken attention not passion.[176] | |
Contrivance. | ||
1. | Contrivance is better than force. | Fr. |
Conversation. | ||
1. | A man's conversation is the mirror of his thoughts. | Chinese. |
2. | Be not too brief in conversation lest you be not understood, nor too diffuse lest you be troublesome. | Protagoras. |
3. | Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius. | Gibbon. |
4. | Conversation teaches more than meditation. | |
5. | He who converses with nobody is either a brute or an angel. | |
6. | He who converses with nobody knows nothing. | |
7. | In conversation avoid the extremes of forwardness and reserve. | Cato. |
8. | In conversation dwell not too long on a weak side. | |
Convincing. | ||
1. | One may be confuted and yet not convinced. | |
Conviviality. | ||
1. | Conviviality reveals secrets. | |
Cook. | ||
1. | A good fire makes a good cook. | Dutch. |
2. | A hungry man has aye a lazy cook. | Scotch. |
3. | A lovelorn cook oversalts the porridge. | Ger. |
4. | All are not cooks who carry long knives.[177] | Ger., Dutch, Dan. |
5. | A march before day to dress one's dinner, and a light dinner to prepare one's supper, are the best cooks. | Alexander. |
6. | An ill cook should have a good cleaver. | |
7. | Better bid the cooks than the mediciners. | |
8. | But civilized man cannot live without cooks. | Owen Meredith. |
9. | Cooks are not to be taught in their own kitchens. | |
10. | Every cook praises his own broth. | |
11. | Many cooks spoil the broth. | |
12. | Salt cooks bear blame, but fresh bear shame. | |
13. | She will as soon part with the cook as the porridge. | |
14. | There is never enmity between the cook and the butler. | Ital. |
15. | 'Tis an ill cook cannot lick his own fingers. | Shaks. |
16. | When the cook and steward fall out, we hear who stole the butter. | Dutch. |
17. | When the cook is roasting for the butler, woe unto the master's wine cask. | Dan. |
18. | Where there are too many cooks the soup will be salt. | Ital. |
Cooking. | ||
1. | First catch your hare then cook it. | |
2. | With such cooking a monkey might eat his own father. | |
Coquette. | ||
1. | A coquette often loses her reputation while she possesses her virtue.[178] | Spectator. |
2. | If the men did not encourage coquettes so much there would not be so many of them. | Punch. |
3. | The greatest miracle of love is the reformation of a coquette. | Rochefoucauld. |
4. | Ye're o' sae mony minds, ye'll ne'er be married. | |
Coral. | ||
1. | Good coral needs no coloring. | |
Cork. | ||
1. | If you squeeze a cork you will get but little juice. | |
Corn. | ||
1. | Corn him well, he'll work the better. | |
2. | Corn in good years is hay, in ill years straw is corn. | |
3. | Corn is not good to be gathered in the blade but in the ear. | |
4. | He has eaten his corn in the blade. | Fr. |
5. | Much corn lies under the straw that is not seen. | |
6. | No corn without chaff. | Dutch. |
7. | The corn falls out of a shaken sheaf. | Fr. |
8. | There is plenty of corn in Castile but he who has none starves. | Por. |
9. | Very good corn grows in little fields. | Fr. |
Corporation. | ||
1. | A corporation has no soul to be damned nor body to be kicked. | Thurlow. |
2. | Corporations cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed nor excommunicated for they have no souls.[179] | Coke. |
Correction. | ||
1. | Correction bringeth fruit. | Dutch. |
2. | Correction is good when administered in time. | Dan. |
3. | Correction should not respect what is past so much as what is to come. | |
Corruption. | ||
1. | Corruption of the best becomes the worst. | |
2. | Corruption will never want a pretence. | Cato the younger. |
3. | Corruption wins not more than honesty. | Shaks. |
Corsair. | ||
1. | Corsair against corsair, nothing to win but empty casks. | Ital., Sp. |
2. | The galley is in a bad way when the corsair promises masses and candles. | Sp. |
Cost. | ||
1. | More cost, more worship. | |
2. | That which costs us little is lightly esteemed. | Don Quixote. |
3. | The cost ofttimes takes away the relish. | |
4. | The cost takes away the taste. | Fr. |
5. | The more cost the more honor. | |
6. | The more worship the more cost. | |
7. | There's a daily cost and all of it lost. | |
8. | Three things cost dear: the caresses of a dog, the love of a mistress and the invasion of a host. | |
9. | What costs little is little esteemed. | |
10. | What costs nothing is worth nothing. | Dutch. |
11. | With cost one may make good pottage of a stool. | |
Cottage. | ||
1. | The cottage is a palace to the poor. | Fr. |
Counsel. | ||
1. | A resolute heart endures no counsel. | Por. |
2. | After counsel is fool's counsel. | Ger. |
3. | Counsel after action is like rain after harvest. | Dan. |
4. | Counsel before action. | Dutch. |
5. | Counsel in wine seldom prospers. | |
6. | Counsel is irksome when the matter is past remedy. | |
7. | Counsel is no command. | |
8. | Counsel is nothing against love. | Ital. |
9. | Counsel is to be given by the wise, the remedy by the rich. | |
10. | Counsel must be followed, not praised. | |
11. | Counsel never out of date. | |
12. | Counsel over cups is crazy. | |
13. | Everybody knows good counsel except him that has need of it. | Ger. |
14. | Give neither counsel or salt until you are asked for it. | |
15. | Good counsel brings good fruit. | Ger. |
16. | Good counsel comes over-night. | Ger. |
17. | Good counsel has no price. | Ital. |
18. | Good counsel is better than a great army. | Ger. |
19. | Good counsel is better than a thousand hands. | Ger. |
20. | Good counsel is no better than bad counsel, if it be not taken in time. | Dan. |
21. | Good counsel is not to be paid with gold. | Ger. |
22. | Good counsel never comes too late. | Ger. |
23. | Good counsel will not rot if it be got in dry. | Dan. |
24. | Good counsel without good fortune is a wind-mill without wind. | Ger. |
25. | Happy counsels flow from sober feasts. | Homer. |
26. | He takes in good counsel like cold porridge. | |
27. | He that cannot be counselled cannot be helped. | |
28. | He that gives bad counsel suffers most by it. | Latin. |
29. | He that will not be counselled cannot be helped. | |
30. | If the counsel be good no matter who gave it. | |
31. | It is easier to give good counsel than to follow it. | Ger. |
32. | It is safer to hear and take counsel than to give it. | |
33. | It is well to take counsel of one's pillow. | |
34. | Keep your own counsel. | |
35. | No man is so foolish but may give another good counsel sometimes. [182] | Ben Jonson. |
36. | No price is good enough for good counsel. | |
37. | None goes to the gallows for giving good counsel. | |
38. | Swift in its march is evil counsel. | Sophocles. |
39. | Take counsel before it goes ill, lest it go worse. | Dutch. |
40. | There is none so simple but can give counsel. | |
41. | Though thou hast never so many counsellors, yet do not forsake the counsel of thy own soul. | |
42. | Though you are a prudent old man do not despise counsel. | Sp. |
43. | Three may keep counsel if two be away. | |
44. | To give counsel to a fool is like throwing water on a goose. | Dan. |
45. | Two may keep counsel putting one away. | |
46. | You give notable counsel but he's a fool that takes it. | |
Counsellor. | ||
1. | Neither a blind guide nor a stupid counsellor. | Don Quixote. |
2. | There may be such things as old fools and young counsellors. | |
Count. | ||
1. | Count cash as if it were gold and so avoid the least mistake. | Chinese. |
2. | Count like Jews and agree like brethren. | |
3. | Count not your chickens before they're hatched, Eat not your gudgeons before they're catched. | Butler. |
4. | Count siller after a' your kin. | |
5. | He that counts a' costs will ne'er put plough i' the ground. | |
6. | Wrong count is no payment. | |
Countenance. | ||
1. | A good countenance is a letter of recommendation. | Fielding. |
2. | A good presence is a letter of recommendation. | |
3. | An open countenance often conceals close thoughts. | Ital. |
4. | The countenance is the index of the mind. | Latin. |
Counterfeit. | ||
1. | Counterfeit coin passes current at night. | Por. |
Country. | ||
1. | Wheresoever we live, that is our country. | |
Courage. | ||
1. | A brave man will yield to a brave man. | Motto of the Irish Earl of Upper Ossory. |
2. | A brave man's country is wherever he chooses his abode. | Quintus Curtius Rufus. |
3. | A decent boldness ever meets with friends. | Homer. |
4. | A gallant man needs no drums to rouse him. | |
5. | A gallant man rather despises death than hates life. | |
6. | A man of courage never wants weapons. | |
7. | A short sword for a brave man. | Fr. |
8. | Add a step to it. (The Spartan mother's advice to her son who complained that his sword was too short.) | |
9. | All are brave when the enemy flies. | Ital. |
10. | Beasts and birds of prey To the last gasp defend their brood. | Massinger. |
11. | Before the time great courage, when at the point great fear. | Sp. |
12. | Bold in close ambush, base in open field. | Dryden. |
13. | Courage is the armed sentinel that guards liberty, innocence and right. | C. C. Baldwin's Moral Maxims. |
14. | Courage, conduct and perseverance conquer all before them. | |
15. | Courage consists not in hazarding without fear but in being resolute minded in a just cause. | |
16. | Courage in danger is half the battle. | Plautus. |
17. | Courage in war is safer than cowardice. | Hindoo. |
18. | Courage is fire, bullying is smoke. | Bea. |
19. | Courage leads to heaven, fear to death. | Seneca. |
20. | Courage mounteth with occasion. | Shaks. |
21. | Courage ought to have eyes as well as arms. | |
22. | Courage without fortune destroys a man. | |
23. | Every man will shoot at the enemy but few will fetch the shafts. | |
24. | Good courage breaks ill luck. | |
25. | He is master of another man's life, who is indifferent to his own. | Ital. |
26. | He makes me less bold who delivers me from the misery that made life a burthen to me. (The soldier speaking to Antigonous.)[185] | |
27. | Human courage should rise to the height of human calamity. | Genl. R. E. Lee. |
28. | If you do not enter a tiger's den you can't get his cubs. | Chinese. |
29. | In a slothful peace courage will effeminate. | Pope. |
30. | In doubtful matters courage may do much, in desperate, patience. | |
31. | Intrepid courage is the foundation of victory. | Plutarch. |
32. | It is courage that vanquishes in war and not good weapons. | Sp. |
33. | Man has the addition of courage and virtue to defend his rights. | Civilis the Batavian. |
34. | No man can answer for his courage who has never been in danger. | Rochefoucauld. |
35. | No exile or danger can fright a brave spirit. | Dryden. |
36. | Nothing recommends a man more to the female mind than courage. | Spectator. |
37. | Put off your armor and then show your courage. | |
38. | Rage avails less than courage. | Fr. |
39. | The courage of the soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature. | Gibbon. |
40. | The great point of honor in men is courage, in women chastity. | Spectator. |
41. | The more wit the less courage. | |
42. | There is a courage which grows out of fear. | |
43. | True courage grapples with misfortune. | Tacitus. |
44. | Who hath no courage must have legs. | Ital. |
Court. | ||
1. | A court is an assemblage of noble and distinguished beggars. | Talleyrand. |
2. | A petitioner at court that spares his purse angles without bait. | |
3. | A place at court is a continual bribe. | |
4. | At court every one for himself. | |
5. | At court there are many hands but few hearts. | Ger. |
6. | At court they sell a good deal of smoke without fire. | |
7. | Courts keep no almanacs. | |
8. | Far from court, free from care. | |
9. | He who would succeed at court must lie sometimes low, sometimes high. | Ger. |
10. | It is at courts as it is in ponds, some fish, some frogs. | |
11. | Leave the court ere the court leaves thee. | |
12. | Like King Petard's court where every one is master. | Fr. |
13. | The steps at court are slippery. | Dan. |
14. | There are nine holidays out of seven days. (Hindoo description of a luxurious court.) | |
15. | Who serves at court dies on straw. | Ital. |
Courtesy. | ||
1. | A courtesy much entreated is half recompensed. | |
2. | All doors open to courtesy. | |
3. | Courtesie is cumbersome to them that ken it not. | |
4. | Courtesy is the inseparable companion of virtue. | |
5. | Courtesy that is all on one side cannot last long. | Fr. |
6. | Full of courtesy, full of craft. | |
7. | He may freely receive courtesies who knows how to requite them. | |
8. | He that asketh a courtesy promiseth a kindness. | |
9. | In courtesy rather pay a penny too much than too little. | |
10. | It is a rank courtesy where a man is forced to give thanks for what is his own. | |
11. | Less of your courtesy and more of your purse. | |
12. | Lip courtesy avails (or pleases) much and costs little. | Sp. |
13. | One of those gentle ones that will use the devil himself with courtesy. | |
14. | Pluck not a courtesy in the bud before it is ripe. | |
15. | The courteous learns his courtesy from the discourteous. | Turk. |
16. | Too much courtesy—too much craft. | |
Courtier. | ||
1. | A courtier should be without feeling and without honor.[188] | Fr. |
2. | An old courtier, a young beggar. | |
3. | Better a field with the birds than hanging on lords. | Dutch. |
4. | Eye-service is the courtier's art. | Dan. |
5. | He has a veil upon a veil. (The Italians say, to make a mask with a natural face on the outside.) | Arabian. |
6. | Marble polished is neither less hard or less cold; so with courtiers. | Chinese. |
7. | The courtier is cringing and servile in adversity. | Chinese. |
8. | To be a perfect courtier it is necessary to be without honor and without temper. | Duke of Orleans. |
Covetousness. | ||
1. | A covetous abbot for one offering loses a hundred. | |
2. | A covetous man does nothing that he should till he dies. | |
3. | A covetous man has two sources of inquietudes: how to amass money and how to use it. | Cingalese. |
4. | A covetous man is a dog in a wheel that roasts meat for others. | |
5. | A covetous man makes a half-penny of a farthing and a liberal man makes sixpence of it. | |
6. | A covetous man makes no friend. | Cingalese. |
7. | A covetous woman deserves a swindling gallant. | |
8. | All covet, all lose. | Ital., Dutch. |
9. | Covet nothing over much. | Chilo. |
10. | Covetous men are condemned to dig in the mines for they know not who. | |
11. | Covetous men are neither clothed, fed nor respected. | |
12. | Covetous men live drudges to die wretches. | |
13. | Covetous men's chests are rich, not they. | |
14. | Covetousness as well as prodigality brings a man to a morsel of bread. | |
15. | Covetousness brings nothing home. | |
16. | Covetousness bursts the bag. | Sp. |
17. | Covetousness is always filling a bottomless vessel. | |
18. | Covetousness is never satisfied until its mouth is filled with dirt. | Dutch. |
19. | Covetousness is the father of unsatisfied desires. | Yorubas. (Africa.) |
20. | Covetousness starves other vices. | |
21. | Even covetous men have sometimes their intervals of generosity. | |
22. | That which we may live without, we need not much covet. | |
23. | The world is too small for the covetous. | Lat. |
24. | Those who covet much want much. | Horace. |
Cow. | ||
1. | A cow from afar gives plenty of milk. | Fr. |
2. | A cow is not called dappled unless she has a spot. | Dan. |
3. | A cow may catch a hare. | |
4. | A cursed cow has short horns. | |
5. | All is not butter that comes from a cow. | |
6. | An ill cow may have a good calf. | |
7. | Barley straw's good fodder when the cow gives water. | |
8. | Every cow licks her own calf. | Servian. |
9. | He that owns the cow goes nearest her tail. | Scotch. |
10. | He who recovers but the tail of his cow does not lose all. | Fr. |
11. | If you buy the cow take the tail into the bargain. | |
12. | If you sell the cow you sell her milk too. | |
13. | It is by the head the cow gi'es milk. (By good feeding.) | |
14. | It is not for the good of the cow when she is driven in a carriage. | Dan. |
15. | It is not until the cow has lost her tail that she discovers its value. | Ger. |
16. | It is the old cow's notion that she never was a calf. | Fr. |
17. | Let him who owns the cow take her by the tail. | |
18. | Like the cow that gives a good pail of milk and then kicks it over. | |
19. | Like Mrs. Peabody's cow that drank all the swill and gave no milk. | Gen. Jo. Geiger. |
20. | Loud in the loan was never a good milch cow. | |
21. | Many a cow stands in the meadow and looks wistfully at the common. | Dan. |
22. | Many a good cow has a bad calf.[191] | Ger. |
23. | Milk the cow but don't pull off the udder. | Dutch. |
24. | Of what use is it that the cow gives plenty of milk if she upset the pail. | Ger. |
25. | The beadle's cow may graze in the church-yard. | Ger., Dutch. |
26. | The cow gives good milk but kicks over the pail. | |
27. | The cow gives milk through her mouth. (As she is fed.) | Ger. |
28. | The cow is milked, not the ox; the sheep is shorn, not the horse. | Dan. |
29. | The cow licks no strange calf. | |
30. | The cow that does not eat with the oxen, either eats before or after them. | Galician. |
31. | The cows that low most give the least milk. | Ger. |
32. | The cow that's first up gets the first o' the dew. | |
33. | The day is sure to come when the cow will want her tail. | Dan. |
34. | The laggard cow gets the sour grass. | Dan. |
35. | 'Tis well that wicked cows have short horns. | Dutch. |
36. | To come home like the parson's cow with a calf at her foot. | |
Cowardice. | ||
1. | A coward calls himself cautious and a miser thrifty. | Seneca. |
2. | A coward often deals a mortal blow to the brave.[192] | Fr. |
3. | A coward's fear may make a coward valiant. | |
4. | A valiant man's look is better than a coward's sword. | Carl Seelbach. |
5. | Better be a coward than foolhardy. | Fr. |
6. | Better fight with a hero than play with a coward. | Ger. |
7. | Between two cowards, he has the advantage who first detects the other. | Ital. |
8. | But look for ruin when a coward wins, For fear and cruelty are ever twins. | Aleyn. |
9. | Coward against coward the assailant conquers. | Sp. |
10. | Cowards are cruel. | |
11. | Cowards are made to be trampled on unless their wit cover them. | |
12. | Cowards die many times before their death; The valiant never taste death but once. | Shaks. |
13. | Cowards falter, but danger is often overcome by those who nobly dare. | Queen Elizabeth. |
14. | Cowards have no luck. | Ger. |
15. | Cowards never use their might Except against such as will not fight. | Butler. |
16. | Cowards run the greatest danger of any men in battle. | |
17. | Cowards' weapons neither cut nor pierce. | Ital. |
18. | Cowardice is afraid to be known or seen. | |
19. | Cowardice leads to ingratitude and ungrateful sentiments to wicked actions.[193] | Arabian. |
20. | For whom sword and courage are not enough, corslet and lance will not be enough. | Sp. |
21. | Great cowardice is hidden by a bluster of daring. | Lucan. |
22. | He has acted with the spirit of a woman, i.e., without courage. | Hindoo. |
23. | Hidden valor is as bad as cowardice. | Latin. |
24. | It is cowardly to fly from a living enemy or to abuse a dead one. | Dan. |
25. | It is cowardly to quit the post assigned us by God before he permits us. | Pythagoras. |
26. | Many would be cowards if they had courage enough. | |
27. | Of two cowards, the one that attacks conquers the other. | Por. |
28. | One coward makes ten. | Ger. |
29. | Plenty and peace binds cowards. | Shaks. |
30. | Put a coward to his mettle and he'll fight the devil. | |
31. | Strength avails not a coward. | Ital. |
32. | Tears are no proof of cowardice. | Sterne. |
33. | The coward may begin hostilities, but the brave are left to shed their blood in the quarrel. | Julius Auspex. |
34. | When all the blandishments of life are gone, The coward sneaks to death, the brave live on. | Dr. Sewell. |
Coxcomb. | ||
1. | Once a coxcomb, always a coxcomb.[194] | |
Crab. | ||
1. | The crab has not learned to keep his legs straight. | M. Greek. |
2. | The crab has stuck fast between two stones. (Said of a person in difficulty.) | Kaffir. |
3. | The crab of the wood is sauce very good for the crab of the sea, But the wood of the crab is sauce for the drab, that will not her husband obey. | |
4. | The greatest crabs are not always the best meat. | |
5. | You can never bring a crab to walk straight. | |
6. | You look like a runner quoth the devil to the crab. | |
Cradle. | ||
1. | Better have one plough going than two cradles. | |
2. | Cast not thy cradle over thy head. | |
3. | No great work worthy of praise or memory but came out of a poor cradle. | Dr. Johnson. |
4. | What is learned in the cradle lasts to the grave. | Fr. |
Craft. | ||
1. | Be not ashamed of your craft. | Ger. |
2. | Every one is a thief in his own craft. | Dutch. |
3. | He who is of the craft can discourse about it. | Ital. |
4. | No man is his craft's master the first day. | |
5. | Of all crafts an honest man's the master craft. | |
6. | “Success to you. God speed the craft,” as the hangman said to the judge.[195] | Ger. |
7. | There is craft in daubing, or there is more craft in daubing than in throwing dirt on the wall. | |
Craft, Crafty. | ||
1. | A crafty fellow never has any peace. | |
2. | A crafty knave needs no broker. | |
3. | All the craft is in the catching. | |
4. | Craft borders on knavery; wisdom neither uses nor wants it. | |
5. | Craft, counting all things, brings nothing home. | |
6. | Craft must have clothes, but truth loves to go naked. | |
7. | Crafty evasions save not veracity. | |
8. | Crafty men deal in generals. | |
9. | Cunning craft is but the waste of wisdom. | |
10. | No man has a monopoly of craft to himself. | |
Crazy. | ||
1. | A crazy vessel never falls from the hand. | Sp. |
Credit. | ||
1. | A man has just so much credit as he has money in his possession. | Juvenal. |
2. | A pig on credit makes a good winter and a bad spring. | Por. |
3. | Better to take eight hundred than sell (on credit) for a thousand cash. | Chinese. |
4. | Better twenty per cent. on ready money than thirty per cent. on credit. | Chinese. |
5. | Credit cuts off customers. | Chinese. |
6. | Credit is better than ill won gear. | |
7. | Credit helps a man on the horse and sometimes under the ground. | Ger. |
8. | Credit is better than gold. | Ger. |
9. | Credit is better than ready money. | Ger. |
10. | Credit is dead, bad pay killed it. | Ital. |
11. | Credit keeps the crown o' the causeway. | |
12. | Credit lost is a Venice-glass broken which cannot be soldered. | |
13. | Credit lost is like a broken looking-glass. | |
14. | He getteth a great deal of credit who payeth but a small debt. | |
15. | He that has lost his credit is dead to the world. | Ger. |
16. | If any one wants to enjoy the good will of his kind let him sell on credit and never collect the money. | Chinese. |
17. | More credit can be thrown down in a moment than can be built up in an age. | |
18. | My capital small and profits slender, On credit my goods I can't surrender. | Chinese. |
19. | No man ever lost his credit but who had it not. | |
20. | Who sells upon credit has much custom but little money. | Ger. |
Creditors. | ||
1. | Creditors have better memories than debtors. | |
Credulity. | ||
1. | Credulity is the only vice that can ruin a happy prince. | Turkish Spy. |
2. | Credulity thinks others short-sighted. | |
Cricket. | ||
1. | In matters of cricket, the fault of the Dutch Is hitting too little and missing too much. | |
Crime. | ||
1. | A crime in which many are implicated goes unpunished. | Lucan. |
2. | A great crime is in a great man greater. | Massinger. |
3. | Be sparing of persons, speak of crimes. | Latin. |
4. | Crimes may be secret, yet not secure. | |
5. | Criminals are punished that others may be amended. | Ital. |
6. | Extraordinary crimes call aloud for extraordinary remedies. | Lord Molesworth. |
7. | He acts the third crime that defends the first. | Ben Jonson. |
8. | He that conceives a crime in thought, contracts the danger of an actual fault. | Dryden. |
9. | He who profits by a crime commits it. | Seneca. |
10. | One crime has to be concealed by another. | Seneca. |
11. | Petty crimes are punished: great, rewarded. | Ben Jonson. |
12. | Successful crime is called virtue. | Seneca. |
13. | The greater the man the greater the crime. | |
14. | The prince and even the people are responsible for the crimes they neglect to punish.[198] | Totilla. (See, Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.) |
15. | The success of a criminal is almost instantly followed by the loss of his prize. | Gibbon. |
16. | We easily forget crimes known only to ourselves. | Rochefoucauld. |
Cripple. | ||
1. | A cripple in the way out-travels a postman out of the way. | Ben Jonson. |
2. | A cripple may catch a hare. | |
3. | A lame man won't walk with one who is lamer. | Fr. |
4. | A lame traveller should get out betimes. | |
5. | Better to limp upon the right way than to ride upon the wrong. | |
6. | “Crooked Carlin” quoth the cripple to his wife. | Scotch. |
7. | Halt not before a cripple. | |
8. | I now see which leg you are lame of. | |
9. | It is hard to halt before a cripple. | |
10. | Never limp before the lame. | Fr. |
11. | The lame goeth as far as the staggerer. | |
12. | The lame returns sooner than his servant. | |
13. | We must wait for the lame man. | Fr. |
Critic. | ||
1. | A kindly critic is one who helps you at an awkward pass over the style. | Punch. |
2. | Critics are like brushers of other men's clothes. | |
3. | Critics are men who have failed in literature and art. | Bea. |
4. | Criticism is easy, art is difficult.[199] | Fr. |
5. | He who is busy criticising the faults of his friends has no friendship in his heart. | Cingalese. |
6. | It is much easier to be critical than to be correct. | Bea. |
Crooked. | ||
1. | A crooked log is not to be straightened. | Lat. |
2. | A crooked log makes a good fire. | Fr. |
3. | A crooked stick will have a crooked shadow. | |
4. | Crooked by nature is never made straight by education. | |
5. | Crooked iron may be straightened with a hammer. | Dan. |
6. | Crooked logs make straight fires. | |
Cross. | ||
1. | Crosses are ladders which lead to heaven. | |
2. | Crosses though not pleasant are wholesome. | |
3. | Each cross has its inscription. | |
4. | Every house has its cross. | Dutch. |
5. | Every one bears his own cross. | Fr. |
6. | Every one thinks his own cross the heaviest. | Ital. |
7. | He that bears the cross blesses himself first. | Dan. |
8. | No cross—no crown. | |
9. | The cross is the ladder of heaven. | |
10. | There grows no grass at the cross. | |
11. | To every one his own cross is heaviest. | Ital. |
12. | “We must bear our cross with patience,” said the man when he took his wife on his back.[200] | Dan. |
Crow. | ||
1. | A crow does not pick out a crow's eyes. | M. Greek. |
2. | A crow is never the whiter for often washing. | Dan. |
3. | An old crow croaks not for nothing. | Russian. |
4. | Crows are black all the world over. | Chinese. |
5. | Crows are never the whiter for washing themselves. | |
6. | Crows bewail the dead sheep and then eat them. | |
7. | Crows do not peck out crow's eyes. | Por. |
8. | It is ill killing a crow with an empty sling. | |
9. | It is not every hog that the crow will ride. | Dan. |
10. | Old crows are hard to catch. | Ger. |
11. | One crow does not make a winter. | Ger., Dutch. |
12. | The crow thinks his own bird fairest. | |
13. | The crow when stripped of her borrowed feathers excites our laughter. | Horace. |
14. | The crow will find its mate. | Dan. |
15. | When the crow flies her tail follows. | |
Crowd. | ||
1. | A crowd is not company. | |
2. | He who does not mix with the crowd knows nothing.[201] | Sp. |
3. | He who follows the crowd has many companions. | Ger. |
4. | Men whose counsels you would not take as individuals lead you with ease in a crowd. | Cato. |
Crown. | ||
1. | All laws are broken to obtain a crown. | Sp. |
2. | And fearless minds climb soonest unto crowns. | Shaks. |
3. | Cleave to the crown though it hang on a bush. | (Royal Proverbs) Lord Stanley. |
4. | The best man in the field is the most worthy of a crown. | Macedonian. |
5. | 'Tis the fairest flower in his crown. | |
6. | Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. | Shaks. |
Cruelty. | ||
1. | A cruel heart ill suits a manly mind. | Homer. |
2. | A man of cruelty is God's enemy. | |
3. | Cruelty is a tyrant that is always attended by fear. | |
4. | Cruelty is the attribute of the devil. | |
5. | I must be cruel only to be kind. | Shaks. |
6. | Men of cruelty are birds of the devil's hatching. | |
Cuckoo. | ||
1. | More crafty than the cuckoo. | (A cuckoo lays her eggs in the nests of other birds.) |
2. | You are like the cuckoo: you have but one song. | |
Cunning. | ||
1. | Cunning has but little honor.[202] | Dan. |
2. | Cunning is a sort of short-sightedness. | Addison. |
3. | Cunning is no burden. | |
4. | Cunning men's cloaks sometimes fall. | |
5. | The greatest cunning is to have none at all. | Fr. |
6. | The most cunning are the first caught. | Fr. |
7. | There is cunning in a pointed chin. | Ger. |
8. | Too much cunning undoes. | |
9. | You are so cunning you know not what weather it is when it rains. | |
Cup. | ||
1. | A full cup must be carried steadily. | |
2. | A man should not, while drinking from one cup, look into another. | Hebrew. |
3. | The cup finds not out its master's death. (Meaning, because it passes into others' hands.) | Wolofs. (Africa.) |
4. | When the cup is full, carry it even. | |
5. | You drink out of an old cup; i.e., are descended from an old family. | Kaffir. |
6. | You may silver scour a pewter-cup, It will be pewter still. | |
Cure. | ||
1. | Abstinence and fasting cure many a complaint. | Dan. |
2. | Good language cures great sores. | |
3. | It is part of the cure to wish to be cured.[203] | Seneca. |
4. | No cure no pay. | Chinese rule as to physicians. |
5. | That sick man is not to be pitied that has his cure in his sleeve. | |
6. | The cure is not always worth the pains. | Marius the Roman. |
7. | The cure may be worse than the disease. | |
8. | The purse of the patient protracts his cure. | Ger. |
9. | To cure every one with the same ointment. | |
10. | To fear the worst oft cures the worst. | |
11. | Ulcers cannot be cured that are concealed. | |
12. | What cannot be cured must be endured. | Ger., Dutch. |
Curiosity. | ||
1. | Babbling, foolish vanity, and vain curiosity have the same parentage. | La Fontaine. |
2. | Curiosity often brings its own punishment. | Hans Andersen. |
3. | He that peeps in at his neighbor's window may chance to lose his eyes. | Arabian. |
4. | He that pryeth into the clouds may be struck with a thunderbolt. | |
5. | He who peeps through a hole may see what will vex him. | |
6. | Her hands are on the wheel, but her eyes are in the street. | |
Curse. | ||
1. | A curse will not strike out an eye unless the fist goes with it. | Dan. |
2. | A sedgly curse light on him;[204] i.e., the devil ride through him booted and spurred with a scythe at his back. | Massinger. |
3. | A thousand curses never tore a shirt. | Syriac. |
4. | Curses are like processions; they return to whence they came. | Ital. |
5. | Curses are like young chickens and still come home to roost. | |
6. | Curses are the devil's language. | |
7. | Curses hurt not—prayers injure not. | Ger. |
8. | Curses sing the devil to mass. | Ger. |
9. | Cussin' de weather is mighty poo' farmin'. | American Negro. |
10. | He is pattering the devil's pater noster. | (Cursing.) |
11. | The curse on the hearth wounds the deepest. | Dan. |
12. | The curse sticks to no one but the curser. | Ger. |
13. | The lips that curse shall want bread. | Polish. |
14. | Who curses prays to the devil. | Ger. |
Cursed. | ||
1. | Cursed is he of whom all men speak well. | |
Curtain Lecture. | ||
1. | The chamber bell (curtain lecture) is the worst sound a man can have in his ears. | Ital. |
Custom. | ||
1. | A bad custom is like a good cake, better broken than kept. | |
2. | A cake and a bad custom ought to be broken.[205] | Fr. |
3. | Bad customs are better broken than kept up. | |
4. | Be a custom good or bad a peasant will have it continue in force. | Sp. |
5. | Break the legs of an evil custom (or habit). | |
6. | Conform to common custom and not to common folly. | |
7. | Custom does often reason overrule, And only serves for reason to the fool. | Rochester. |
8. | Custom in infancy becomes nature in old age. | |
9. | Custom is second nature. | Ital., Ger., Sp., Dutch. |
10. | Custom is the guide of the ignorant. | |
11. | Custom is the plague of wise men and the idol of fools. | |
12. | Custom makes all things easy. | |
13. | Custom without reason is but an ancient error. | |
14. | Every country has its custom. | Sp. |
15. | Every land has its own custom, every wheel its own spindle. | Por. |
16. | Follow the customs or fly the country. | Dan. |
17. | How much of injustice and depravity is sanctioned by custom. | Terence. |
18. | In each country, its custom. | Don Quixote. |
19. | It is a custom More honored in the breach than the observance. | Shaks. |
20. | National customs are national honors. | Dan. |
21. | Old custom without truth is but an old error.[206] | |
22. | Once an use and ever a custom. | |
23. | Once is no custom. | Fr., Dutch. |
24. | So many countries, so many customs. | Ital., Ger. |
25. | The empire of custom is most mighty. | Syrus. |
26. | Tyrant custom makes a slave of reason. | |
Cut-purse. | ||
1. | A cut-purse is a sure trade, for he hath ready money when his work is done. |
Dainties. | ||
1. | Who dainties love shall beggars prove. | |
Dam. | ||
1. | Where the dam is lowest the water first runs over. | |
Damage. | ||
1. | Damage suffered makes you wise (or knowing), but seldom rich. | Dan. |
Dancer, Dancing. | ||
1. | A man dances all the same though he may dance against his will. | Dan. |
2. | A pair of light shoes is not all that is wanting for dancing. | Dan. |
3. | Either dance well or quit the ball-room. | M. Greek. |
4. | Every one dances as he has friends in the ball-room. | Por. |
5. | He who dances well goes from wedding to wedding.[207] | Sp. |
6. | I will make him dance without a pipe. | |
7. | If the bear will learn to dance he must go to school early. | Ger. |
8. | If we pay for the music, we will join in the dance. | Fr., Ger. |
9. | It is no child's play when an old woman dances. | Ger., Dan. |
10. | It is good dancing on another man's floor. | Dutch. |
11. | Mary was fond of dancing and got a fiddler for her husband. | M. Greek. |
12. | More belongs to dancing than a pair of dancing shoes. | Dutch. |
13. | No longer pipe no longer dance. | |
14. | Not every one that dances is glad. | Fr. |
15. | The next time ye dance ken wha ye take by the hand. | |
16. | The willing dancer is easily played to. | Servian. |
17. | They love dancing well that dance among thorns. | |
18. | 'Tis safer to dance after a fiddle than a drum, though not so honorable. | Fielding. |
19. | To dance to every man's pipe or whistle. | |
20. | When the crane attempts to dance with the horse she gets broken bones. | Dan. |
21. | When you go to dance, take heed whom you take by the hand. | Dan. |
Danger. | ||
1. | A common danger produces unanimity. | Lat. |
2. | A danger foreseen is half avoided. | |
3. | Better face a danger once than be always in fear. | |
4. | Better pass a danger once than be always in fear. | |
5. | By a divine instinct men's minds mistrust ensuing danger. | Shaks. |
6. | Danger and delight grow on one stalk. | |
7. | Danger comes sooner when despised. | Latin. |
8. | Danger is next neighbor to security. | |
9. | Dangers are overcome by dangers. | |
10. | Dangers precede victories. | Maga. |
11. | Every man is bound by his duty to fly from a danger that threatens his life. | Sir Walter Raleigh. |
12. | For danger levels man and brute, And all are fellows in their need. | Byron. |
13. | Great dangers give also great honors. | M. Greek. |
14. | He is safe from danger who is on his guard even when safe. | Syrus. |
15. | He that always fears danger alway feels it. | |
16. | He that seeks danger perisheth therein unpitied. | |
17. | He who turns aside avoids danger. | Fr. |
18. | It is a dangerous thing to dig pits for other folks. | |
19. | One danger is seldom overcome without another. | |
20. | The danger past and God forgotten. | |
21. | The danger past and the saint cheated. | Ital. |
22. | The habitation of danger is on the borders of security. | Arabian. |
23. | Think of thy deliverance as well as of thy danger. | |
24. | Without danger, danger cannot be surmounted. | Syrus. |
Daring. | ||
1. | I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none. | Shaks. |
2. | Letting I dare not wait upon I would, Like the poor cat in the adage. | Shaks. |
Darkness. | ||
1. | Darkness has no shame. | West Indian Negro. |
2. | He who gropes in the dark finds what he would not. | |
Daughter. | ||
1. | A daughter is an embarrassing and ticklish possession. | Menander. |
2. | A daughter married is a daughter alienated. | Sp. |
3. | A house filled with daughters is a cellar full of sour beer. | Dutch. |
4. | Alas! another daughter is born to you. | Sp. |
5. | As the mother so the daughter. | Ger. |
6. | Between promising and performing a man may marry his daughter. | |
7. | Daughters and dead fish are no keeping wares. | |
8. | Daughters are easy to rear but hard to marry.[210] | Ger. |
9. | Daughters are brittle ware. | |
10. | Daughters can never take too much care of their fathers. | Plautus. |
11. | Daughters may be seen but not heard. | Dutch. |
12. | Dominies come for your wine and officers for your daughters. | |
13. | He who has daughters is always a shepherd. | Sp. |
14. | He who has daughters to marry let him give them silk to spin. | Sp. |
15. | If thy daughter be marriageable, set thy servant free and give her to him in marriage. | |
16. | It is harder to marry a daughter well than to bring her up well. | |
17. | Judge of the daughter by the mother. | Latin. |
18. | My son is my son, till he hath got him a wife, But my daughter's my daughter all the days of her life. | |
19. | One daughter helps to marry the other. | Ital. |
20. | Three daughters and a mother, four devils for the father. | Sp. |
21. | Three dear years will raise a baker's daughter to a portion. | |
22. | When a good offer comes for your daughter don't wait till her father returns from market. | Sp. |
23. | Whoever does not beat his daughters, will one day strike his knees in vain. | Turk. |
24. | Would you know your daughter see her in company.[211] | |
Daughter-in-law. | ||
1. | A clever daughter-in-law cannot cook without rice. | Chinese. |
2. | As long as I was a daughter-in-law, I never had a good mother-in-law, and as long as I was a mother-in-law, I never had a good daughter-in-law. | Sp. |
3. | Daughter-in-law hates mother-in-law. | Ger. |
4. | I say it to you, daughter, hear it, daughter-in-law. | Ital., Sp. |
5. | I see by my daughter-in-law's eyes when the devil takes hold of her. | Galician. |
6. | My daughter-in-law tucked up her sleeves and upset the kettle into the fire. | Sp. |
Day. | ||
1. | A bad day never had a good night. | |
2. | A day after the fair. | |
3. | A day that is not thine own do not reckon it as of thy life. | Arabian. |
4. | A day to come shows longer than a year that's gone. | |
5. | A fast-day is the eve of a feast-day. | Sp. |
6. | A single day grants what a whole year denies. | Dutch. |
7. | Every day a thread makes a skein a year. | Dutch. |
8. | Every day brings a new light. | |
9. | Every day cannot be a feast of lanterns.[212] | Chinese. |
10. | Every day hath its night, every weal its woe. | |
11. | Every day is not a holiday. | Ital., Dutch. |
12. | Every day in thy life is a leaf in thy history. | |
13. | Everything may be bought except day and night. | Fr. |
14. | He never broke his hour who kept his day. | |
15. | He that passeth a winter's day escapes an enemy. | |
16. | In the evening one may praise the day. | Ger. |
17. | Make the night night, and the day day, And you will live pleasantly. | Sp. |
18. | Many seek good nights and lose good days. | Dutch. |
19. | No day but has its evening. | Fr., Ital. |
20. | No day is wholly productive of evil. | Latin. |
21. | No day passes without some grief. | |
22. | No day should pass without something being done. | Latin. |
23. | One of these days is none of these days. | |
24. | One day is as good as two to him who does everything in its place. | Fr. |
25. | Open your door to a fine day, but make yourself ready for a foul one. | |
26. | Seize the present day, giving no credit to the succeeding ones. | Horace. |
27. | Seven hours to sleep, to healthful labor seven, Ten to the world and all to heaven. | |
28. | Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. | Bible. |
29. | The better the day the better the deed.[213] | Fr., Sp., Por. |
30. | The day has eyes, the night has ears. | |
31. | The day is never so holy that the pot refuses to boil. | Dan. |
32. | The day is short and the work is much. | |
33. | The day sees the workmanship of the night and laughs. | M. Greek. |
34. | The day that succeeds the downfall of a tyrant is always the best. | Curtius Montanus. |
35. | The day that you do a good thing there will be seven new moons. | |
36. | The days follow each other and are not alike. | Fr. |
37. | The longest day must have an end. | |
38. | The longest day is sure to have its night. | |
39. | The longest day soon comes to an end. | Pliny the Younger. |
40. | There is no day without its night. | Por. |
41. | There is no day without sorrow. | Seneca. |
42. | They had ne'er an ill day, that had a gude e'en. | |
43. | What a day may bring a day may take away. | |
To-day. | ||
1. | Be wise to-day, 'tis madness to defer. | Young. |
2. | Happy the man and happy he alone, Who can call to-day his own. | Dryden. |
3. | To-day is yesterday's pupil. | |
4. | To-day's egg is better than to-morrow's hen.[214] | Turk. |
To-day, To-morrow. | ||
1. | Better have an egg to-day than a hen to-morrow. | Ital. |
2. | Enjoy to-day, for to-morrow the first gray hairs may come. | Punch. |
3. | Have you somewhat to do to-morrow, do it to-day. | Franklin. |
4. | He who falls to-day may rise to-morrow. | Don Quixote. |
5. | If things look badly to-day, they may look better to-morrow. | |
6. | If to-day will not, to-morrow may. | |
7. | It is better to have a hen to-morrow than an egg to-day. | |
8. | Never defer till to-morrow that which you can do to-day. | |
9. | One hour to-day is worth two to-morrow. | |
10. | One to-day is worth two to-morrows. | Ger. |
11. | Rather the egg to-day than the hen to-morrow. | Dan. |
12. | To-day me, to-morrow thee. | |
13. | To-day must borrow nothing of to-morrow. | Ger. |
14. | To-day's sorrows will bring not to-morrow. | Dutch. |
15. | To-morrow's remedy will not ward off the evil of to-day. | Sp. |
16. | Use not to-day what to-morrow may want.[215] | Ancient Brahmin. |
17. | What is wrong to-day won't be right to-morrow. | Dutch. |
18. | What one loses to-day one may gain to-morrow. | Don Quixote. |
19. | What's my turn to-day, may be thine to-morrow. | |
20. | You saddle to-day and ride out to-morrow. | |
To-morrow. | ||
1. | Bad to care no more than for to-morrow. | |
2. | Every to-morrow brings its bread. | Fr. |
3. | From to-morrow to to-morrow time goes a long journey. | Fr. |
4. | It may be a fire—to-morrow it will be ashes. | Arabian. |
5. | Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die. | Bible. |
6. | No one has ever seen to-morrow. | |
7. | To-morrow comes never. | |
8. | To-morrow is never. | Arabian. |
9. | To-morrow morning I found a horseshoe. | |
10. | To-morrow to fresh fields and pastures new. | |
11. | To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise. | Congreve. |
Yesterday. | ||
1. | No man can call back yesterday. | |
2. | Each day is the scholar of yesterday. | Syrus. |
Deaf. | ||
1. | A deaf auditor makes a crazy answerer. | Dan. |
2. | Deaf men are quick-eyed and distrustful.[216] | |
3. | Deaf men go away with the injury. | |
4. | None so deaf as those who won't hear. | Fr., Ital., Sp., Dan. |
Dealer. | ||
1. | A dealer in onions is a good judge of scullions. | Fr. |
2. | A dealer in rubbish sounds the praise of rubbish. | Latin. |
Death. | ||
1. | A dead man does not make war. | Ital. |
2. | A dead man does not speak. | Por. |
3. | A dead man has neither relations nor friends. | Fr. |
4. | A dead mouse feels no cold. | |
5. | A death-bed's a detector of the heart. | Young. |
6. | A fly, a grape stone, or a hair can kill. | Pope. |
7. | A man has learned much, who has learned how to die. | Ger. |
8. | A sudden death is the best. | Cæsar. |
9. | All death is sudden to the unprepared. | |
10. | All men are born richer than they die. | Ger. |
11. | An escape from death is worth more than the prayers of good men. | Don Quixote. |
12. | An honorable death is better than an inglorious life. | Socrates. |
13. | As dead as a door nail. | |
14. | As dead as a herring. | |
15. | As soon as man, expert from time, has found the key of life, it opes the gates of death. | Young. |
16. | As soon as man is born he begins to die.[217] | Ger. |
17. | As soon dies the calf as the cow. | Fr. |
18. | As soon goes the lamb's skin to market as the old ewe's. | |
19. | Be still prepared for death, and death or life shall thereby be the sweeter. | Shaks. |
20. | Better once dead than all the time suffering in need. | Ger. |
21. | But kings and mightiest potentates must die; For that's the end of human misery. | Shaks. |
22. | Charon waits for all. | |
23. | Come soon or late death's undetermined day, This mortal being only can decay. | Ovid. |
24. | Dead dogs don't bite. | Ger., Dutch. |
25. | Dead folks can't bite. | |
26. | Dead men do not bite. | Theoditus. |
27. | Dead men pay no surgeons. | Fielding. |
28. | Dead men tell no tales. | |
29. | Death foreseen, never comes. | Ital. |
30. | Death always comes too early or too late. | Maga. |
31. | Death and life are in the power of the tongue. | Job. |
32. | Death and love are two wings which bear men from earth to heaven. | Michael Angelo. |
33. | Death defies the doctor. | |
34. | Death devours lambs as well as sheep. | |
35. | Death does not blow a trumpet. | Dan. |
36. | Death has a thousand doors to let out life. | Massinger. |
37. | Death hath nothing terrible in it, but what life hath made so.[218] | |
38. | Death is a black camel that kneels at every man's gate. | |
39. | Death is but what the haughty brave, The weak must bear, the wretch must crave. | Byron. |
40. | Death is in the pot. | Dutch. |
41. | Death is most unfortunate in prosperity. (Æsop however says it is then most happy to good men.) | Plutarch. |
42. | Death is never premature except to those who die without virtue. | Fr. |
43. | Death is shameful in flight, glorious in victory. | Cicero. |
44. | Death is the grand leveller. | |
45. | Death keeps no calendar. | |
46. | Death meets us everywhere. | |
47. | Death opens the gate to good fame and extinguishes envy. | Byron. |
48. | Death rather frees us from ills than robs us of our goods. | |
49. | Death's but a path that must be trod, If man would ever pass to God. | Parnell. |
50. | Death's-day is doom's-day. | |
51. | Death says to the man with his throat cut, “How ugly thou art.” (Hypocrisy.) | Sp. |
52. | Death spares neither pope nor beggar. | |
53. | Death to the wolf is life to the lamb. | |
54. | Death to us—liberty. | Caucasian battle cry. |
55. | Death will hear of no excuse. | Euripides. |
56. | Deep swimmers and high climbers seldom die in their beds.[219] | Dutch. |
57. | Do not speak ill of the dead, but deem them sacred who have gone into the immortal state. | Ancients. |
58. | Dread thought, that all the work man's life can have Is but to bear his coffin tow'r'd his grave. | |
59. | Every one must pay his debt to nature. | Ger. |
60. | Feign death and the bull will leave you. | Por. |
61. | Few have luck, all have death. | Dan. |
62. | Golden lads and girls, all must As chimney-sweepers come to dust. | Shaks. |
63. | Great body, great grave. | Ger. |
64. | He dies like a beast who has done no good while he lived. | |
65. | He hath lived ill that knows not how to die well. | |
66. | He hauls at a long rope that expects another's death. | Ital. |
67. | He should wear iron shoes that bides his neighbor's death. | |
68. | He that died half a year ago is as dead as Adam. | |
69. | He that dies pays all debts. | Shaks. |
70. | He that dies this year is quit of the next. | Shaks. |
71. | He that dies troubles his parents but once, but he that lives ill torments them perpetually. | |
72. | He that waits for dead men's shoes may go long enough barefoot. | |
73. | He waits long that waits for another man's death.[220] | Dutch. |
74. | He who dies not in his twenty-third year, drowns not in his twenty-fourth, is not slain in his twenty-fifth, may boast of good days. | Dutch. |
75. | He who waits for a dead man's shoes is in danger of going barefoot. | Fr., Dan. |
76. | He whom the gods love dies young. | Plautus. |
77. | He would be a good one to send for death. | Ital. |
78. | Heaven gives its favorites an early death. | Byron. |
79. | His candle burns within the socket. | |
80. | How wise in God to place death at the end of life. | Ger. |
81. | I know of nobody that has a mind to die this year. | |
82. | If death be terrible the fault is not in death, but thee. | |
83. | If you want to be dead wash your head and go to bed. | Sp. |
84. | It is a lightning before death. | |
85. | It is as natural to die as to be born. | |
86. | It is better to die an honest death than to live an infamous life. | Petrarch. |
87. | It is better to die once than to live always in fear of death. | Cæsar. |
88. | It is better to die with honor than to live in infamy. | Agricola. |
89. | It is hard even to the most miserable to die. | |
90. | It takes four living men to carry one dead man out of the house. | Ital. |
91. | Julius Cæsar lived in the midst of combats[221] and died in the midst of the Senate. | Turkish Spy. |
92. | Keep thine eye fixed on the end of life. | Solon. |
93. | Me dead, the world is dead. | Ital. |
94. | Men fear death as children to go in the dark. | |
95. | Never say die. | |
96. | No priority among the dead. | |
97. | Noble spirits war not with the dead. | Byron. |
98. | Of the great and of the dead, either speak well or say nothing. | Ital. |
99. | Pale death knocks at the cottage and the palace with an impartial hand. | Horace. |
100. | She is good and honored who is dead and buried. | Sp. |
101. | Six feet of earth makes all men equal. | |
102. | The actions of a dying man are void of disguise. | Turkish Spy. |
103. | The bitterness of death must be tasted by him who is to appreciate the sweetness of deliverance. | Maga. |
104. | The dead and absent have no friends. | |
105. | The dead are soon forgotten. | |
106. | The dead cannot defend, therefore speak well of the dead. | Latin. |
107. | The dead man is unenvied. | M. Greek. |
108. | The dead open the eyes of the living. | Por. |
109. | The evening praises the day, death the life. | Ger. |
110. | The first breath is the beginning of death. | |
111. | The greatest business of life is to prepare for death.[222] | |
112. | The heathen looked on death without fear, the Christian exulted. | Bulwer. |
113. | The quiet haven of us all. | Wordsworth. |
114. | The road of death must be travelled by all. | Horace. |
115. | The sight of death is as a bell that warns old age to a sepulchre. | Shaks. |
116. | The sun and death are two things we cannot stare in the face. | |
117. | The world's an inn and death the journey's end. | Dryden. |
118. | There is no medicine against death. | |
119. | There is no remedy for all evils but death. | |
120. | They never fail who die in a great cause. | Byron. |
121. | They that live longest must die at last. | |
122. | Time goes, death comes. | Dutch, Ger. |
123. | 'Tis ours to bear, not judge the dead. | |
124. | To die is nothing: 'tis but parting with a mountain of vexation. | Massinger. |
125. | To die is the fate of man, but to live with lingering anguish is generally his folly. | Rambler. |
126. | To insult the dead is cruel and unjust. | Homer. |
127. | To live in the hearts we leave behind us is not to die. | |
128. | To wrestle with ghosts; i.e., to speak ill of the dead. | Latin. |
129. | Until death there is no knowing what may befall.[223] | Ital. |
130. | We die as we live. | Turk. |
131. | We had better die at once than to live constantly in fear of death. | Dion. |
132. | When he's forsaken—withered and shaken, What can an old man do but die? | Hood. |
133. | When I'm dead everybody's dead and the pig too. | Ital. |
134. | When one is dead it is for a long time. | Fr. |
135. | When you die even your tomb shall be comfortable. | Russian. |
136. | When you die your trumpeter will be buried. | |
137. | Who dies in youth and vigor dies the best. | Homer. |
138. | Who thinks often of death does nothing worthy of life. | Ital. |
Debased. | ||
1. | I had rather die than be debased. | Latin. |
Debt. | ||
1. | A hog upon trust grunts till he's paid for. | |
2. | A hundred wagonfuls of sorrow will not pay a handful of debt. | Ital. |
3. | A hundred years of regret pay not a farthing of debt. | Fr., Ger. |
4. | A light debt makes a debtor; a heavy one an enemy. | Ital. |
5. | A loan should come laughing home. | |
6. | A man in debt is stoned every year. | Sp. |
7. | A pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt. | |
8. | A shut mouth incurs no debt.[224] | Gaelic. |
9. | A sick man sleeps but not a debtor. | Sp. |
10. | A small debt makes a debtor; a heavy one an enemy. | Syrus. |
11. | A thrush paid for is better than a turkey owing for. | |
12. | Afttimes the cautioner pays the debt. | |
13. | Better a coarse coat for a gulden than a fine one in debt. | Ger. |
14. | Better go to bed supperless than rise in debt. | |
15. | Debt hath a small beginning but a giant's growth and strength. | Bea. |
16. | Debt is an evil conscience. | |
17. | Debt is a bitter slavery to the free born. | Syrus. |
18. | Debt is the prolific mother of folly and crime. | Bea. |
19. | Debt is the worst poverty. | |
20. | Debts turn freemen into slaves. | Greek. |
21. | Happy is the man who is out of debt. | Latin. |
22. | He cannot pay his debts. Literal: If I kill him he has no skin, if I scrape him he has no flesh. | Chinese. |
23. | He has but a short Lent who must pay money at Easter. | |
24. | He that gets out of debt grows rich. | |
25. | He that has one hundred and one and owes one hundred and two the Lord have mercy on him. | |
26. | He who gets out of debt enriches himself. | Fr. |
27. | He who is without debt is without credit.[225] | Ital. |
28. | He who owes nothing fears not the sheriff's officer. | Latin. |
29. | He who oweth is all in the wrong. | |
30. | He who pledges or promises runs in debt. | Sp. |
31. | How happy is he that owes nothing but to himself. | |
32. | If you pay what you owe, what you're worth you'll know. | Sp. |
33. | It is better to pay and have but little left, than to have much and be always in debt. | |
34. | Keep out of debt. | |
35. | O' ill debtors men get aiths. | |
36. | Of bad debtors you may take spoilt herrings. | Dan. |
37. | Out of debt, out of danger. | |
38. | Rather check your appetite than get in debt, and though penniless be patient. | Chinese. |
39. | Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt. | |
40. | Say nothing of my debts unless you mean to pay them. | |
41. | Sins and debts are always more than we think them to be. | |
42. | The debts go to the next heir. | Ger. |
43. | The second vice is lying, the first being that of owing money. | |
44. | Who lives on the score has shame evermore. | Fr. |
45. | Who pays a debt creates capital. | Ital. |
46. | Without debt, without care.[226] | Ital. |
Debtor. | ||
1. | A debtor does not get angry. | Accra. |
2. | A debtor gets twice angry, i.e., when he is dunned and when he has to pay. | |
3. | From a bad debtor even a bag of straw is worth having. | M. Greek. |
4. | Early to rise and late to bed, lifts again the debtor's head. | Ger. |
5. | Happy is he who owes nothing. | Greek. |
6. | The bad debtor neither denies nor pays. | M. Greek. |
Decay. | ||
1. | All that rises sets, and everything which grows decays. | |
2. | Decay's effacing fingers Have sought the lines where beauty lingers. | |
Deceit, Deceiver. | ||
1. | Deceit and treachery make no man rich. | |
2. | Deceit is in haste, but honesty can wait a fair leisure. | |
3. | Deceiving a deceiver is no knavery. | |
4. | He that accomplishes his ends by deceit shall render up his soul with anguish. | Turk. |
5. | If a man deceive me once shame on him, if he deceive me twice shame on me. | |
6. | It is an ill thing to be deceived, but worse to deceive. | |
7. | It is my own fault if I am deceived by the same man twice.[227] | |
8. | Know how to deceive, do not deceive. | M. Greek. |
9. | Men are never so easily deceived as while they are endeavoring to deceive others. | Rochefoucauld. |
10. | No deceit like the world's. | |
11. | Nothing is more easy than to deceive ourselves, as our affections are subtle persuaders. | Demosthenes. |
12. | Oh! what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive. | |
13. | One deceit brings on another. | |
14. | The wretch that often has deceived, Though truth he speaks is ne'er believed. | Phædrus. |
15. | There is a twofold pleasure in deceiving the deceiver. | |
16. | There is no deceit in a brimmer. | |
17. | There is no deceit in a bag pudding. | |
18. | Who has deceived thee as often as thyself? | Franklin. |
19. | Who will not be deceived must have as many eyes as hairs on his head. | Ger. |
Deciding, Decision. | ||
1. | Decision destroys suspense and suspense is the charm of existence. | Bea. |
2. | Those that are quick to decide are unsafe. | Greek. |
3. | Who shall decide when doctors disagree. | |
4. | Who shall decide when doctors disagree? [228]Punch, who decides neither shall have fee. | Punch. |
5. | We ought to weigh well what we can only once decide. | Syrus. |
Decorum. | ||
1. | Observe decorum even in your sport. | Latin. |
Deeds. | ||
1. | A deed done has an end. | Ital. |
2. | A good deed bears a blessing for its fruit. | Hans Andersen. |
3. | Blessings ever wait on virtuous deeds. | Congreve. |
4. | Deeds are fruits, words are leaves. | |
5. | Deeds are love and not sweet words (or fine phrases). | Sp., Por. |
6. | Deeds are males and words are but females. | |
7. | Deeds, not words. | Beaumont and Fletcher. |
8. | Good deeds are ever in themselves rewarded. | Massinger. |
9. | Good deeds remain, all things else perish. | |
10. | Great deeds are reserved for great men. | Don Quixote. |
11. | Great soul, great deeds. | Ger. |
12. | He who is scared by words has no heart for deeds. | Dan. |
13. | How much more safe the good than evil deed. | Homer. |
14. | Ill deeds are doubled with an evil word. | Shaks. |
15. | Immodest deeds you hinder to be wrought, But we proscribe the least immodest thought. | Dryden. |
16. | 'Tis deeds must win the prize.[229] | Shaks. |
Defects. | ||
1. | They know not their own defects who search for the defects of others. | Sanscrit. |
Defence. | ||
1. | A combined defence is the safest. | |
2. | Millions for defence, not one cent for tribute. | |
Defer, Deferred. | ||
1. | Defer not till to-morrow to be wise, To-morrow's sun to thee may never rise. Congreve. | |
2. | Defer not till to-morrow what may be done to-day. | |
3. | Deferred is not annulled. | |
4. | What is deferred is not lost. | |
Defiance. | ||
1. | Defiance provokes an enemy. | |
Defile. | ||
1. | It is the narrowest part of the defile that the valley begins to open. | Persian. |
2. | Should you a cistern with rose-water fill, A dead dog would defile it still. | Oriental. |
Deformity. | ||
1. | A deformed body may have a beautiful soul. | |
2. | We hug deformities if they bear our name. | Glanville. |
Delay. | ||
1. | A delay is better than a disaster. | |
2. | All delay is irksome but it teaches us wisdom. | Syrus. |
3. | All is not lost that is delayed.[230] | |
4. | Away with delay! it always injures those that are prepared. | Lucan. |
5. | Away with delay! the chance of great fortune is short-lived. | Silius Atticus. |
6. | Delays are dangerous but they make things sure. | |
7. | Delays have dangerous ends. | Shaks. |
8. | Delays increase desires and sometimes extinguish them. | |
9. | Good is the delay which makes sure. | Por. |
10. | He who delays, gathers. | Sp. |
11. | That is a wise delay which makes the road safe. | |
12. | The Roman conquered by delay. | |
13. | There is danger in delay. | Latin. |
14. | To deliberate about useful things is the safest of all delay. | Syrus. |
15. | We hate delay and yet it makes us wise. | |
16. | What reason could not avoid has often been cured by delay. | Seneca. |
Deliberate, Deliberation. | ||
1. | Deliberate before you begin, then execute with vigor. | Sallust. |
2. | Deliberate slowly, execute promptly. | |
3. | Deliberation is not delaying. | |
Delights. | ||
1. | All unwarrantable delights have an ill farewell.[231] | |
Demagogues. | ||
1. | Demagogues try to keep their feet in both stirrups. | Hindoo. |
2. | The demagogue's pride licks the dust. | |
Demand. | ||
1. | To a hasty demand a leisurely reply. | |
Denials. | ||
1. | Denials make little faults great. | |
2. | He who denies all confesses all. | Ital., Sp. |
Dependence. | ||
1. | Dependence is a poor trade. | |
2. | Disdain the bitter bread of dependence. | C. C. Baldwin's Moral Maxims. |
3. | He who depends on another dines ill and sups worse. | |
4. | He who is fed by another's hand seldom gets enough. | Dan. |
5. | He who relies but on another's table is apt to dine late. | Ital. |
6. | Who dangles after the great is the last at table and the first to be cuffed. | Ital. |
Deprivation. | ||
1. | There is nothing like deprivation to excite content and gratitude for small mercies. | Sp. |
Descent. | ||
1. | No man is a thousand descents from Adam. | Hooker. |
2. | No one can disguise family descent.[232] | Hans Andersen. |
Desert. | ||
1. | Use every man after his desert and who should escape whipping? | Shaks. |
Deserter. | ||
1. | His shield is turned the wrong way. | Kaffir. |
Desire. | ||
1. | All men desire three things, honor, riches, pleasure. | |
2. | Desire beautifies what is ugly. | Sp. |
3. | Desire nothing that would bring disgrace. | |
4. | Desires are nourished by delays. | |
5. | Examine well the counsels that favor your desires. | |
6. | First deserve, then desire. | |
7. | He that desires but little has no need of much. | |
8. | He who desires to see, desires also to be seen. | Don Quixote. |
9. | If your desires be endless your cares will be so too. | |
10. | It is easier to suppress the first desire than to satisfy all that follow it. | Franklin. |
11. | Lack of desire is the greatest of riches. | Seneca. |
12. | No one can have all he desires. | Seneca. |
13. | Our desires may undo us. | |
14. | They that desire but few things can be crossed but in few. | |
15. | What is much desired is not believed when it comes.[233] | Sp. |
16. | You had better return home and make a net than go down to the river and desire to get fishes. | Chinese. |
17. | You have a desire to do whatever you see others doing. | Chinese. |
Despair. | ||
1. | Despair defies even despotism. | Byron. |
2. | Despair gives courage to a coward. | |
3. | Despair hath ruined some, but presumption multitudes. | |
4. | Despair is the conclusion of fools. | Bea. |
5. | It is the nature of despair to blind us to all means of safety. | Fielding. |
6. | Let us not throw the rope after the bucket. | Don Quixote. |
7. | To throw the halter after the ass. | Ital. |
8. | To throw the helve after the hatchet. | Fr., Sp. |
9. | To throw the rope after the bucket. | Ital. |
10. | To throw the house out of the windows. | |
11. | To what purpose should a person throw himself into the water before the bark is going to be cast away? | Chinese. |
Despising. | ||
1. | A man must make himself despicable before he is despised by others. | Chinese. |
2. | Despise not a small wound, a poor kinsman, or a humble enemy. | Dan. |
3. | Despise school and remain a fool. | |
4. | Despise your enemy and you will soon be beaten.[234] | Por. |
5. | Do not despise an insignificant enemy nor a slight wound. | Ger. |
6. | Do not despise your inferior. | Fielding. |
7. | None so despicable as those who despise others. | Fielding. |
Despot. | ||
1. | The despot's smile is the hope of fortune and his frown the messenger of death. | Gibbon. |
2. | The despot uproots the tree, the wiser master only prunes off the superfluities. | Alphonso X. |
Destiny. | ||
1. | As each goes on his way, destiny accompanies him. | Tamil. |
2. | Destiny leads the willing but drags the unwilling. | |
3. | He must stand high who would see the end of his own destiny. | Dan. |
4. | It is wise to submit to destiny. | Chinese. |
5. | One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it. | La Fontaine. |
6. | That which must be will be. | Dan. |
7. | There is no contending against destiny. | Massinger. |
8. | What will be, will be. | Ital. |
9. | Who can unravel the web of destiny? | Turkish Spy. |
Determination. | ||
1. | To him who is determined it remains only to act.[235] | Ital. |
Detesting. | ||
1. | Men love in haste, but they detest at leisure. | Byron. |
Detractor. | ||
1. | A detractor is his own foe and the world's enemy. | |
2. | Detraction is a weed that only grows on dunghills. | |
3. | Where curiosity is not the purveyor detraction will soon be starved. | |
Devil. | ||
1. | A customary railer is the devil's bag-pipe. | |
2. | As good eat the devil as the broth he is boiled in. | |
3. | At the end of the play the devil waits. | Ger. |
4. | Away goes the devil when he finds the door shut against him. | |
5. | Call not the devil, he will come fast enough unbidden. | Dan. |
6. | Cast a bone in the devil's teeth and it will save you. | |
7. | Devils must be driven out with devils. | Ger. |
8. | Devil's play and wine will together. | Ger. |
9. | Do not make two devils of one. | Fr. |
10. | Don't mention the cross to the devil. | Ital. |
11. | Don't tell the devil too much of your mind. | |
12. | Even the devil has rights. | Ger. |
13. | From a closed door the devil turns away. | Por. |
14. | Give even the devil his due.[236] | |
15. | Give the devil a finger and he'll take the whole hand. | |
16. | Give the devil rope enough and he'll hang himself. | |
17. | Great cry and little wool, quoth the devil when he sheared his hogs. | |
18. | He had need of a long spoon that supped with the devil. | |
19. | He is good as long as he is pleased and so is the devil. | |
20. | He is not so much of a devil as he is black. | Fr. |
21. | He knows one point more than the devil. | |
22. | He knows where the devil carries his tail. | Ital. |
23. | He must be a clever host that would take the devil into his hostelry. | Dan. |
24. | He must be ill favored who scares the devil. | Dan. |
25. | He must cry loud who would scare the devil. | Dan. |
26. | He must have iron fingers who would flay the devil. | Dan. |
27. | He must needs go whom the devil drives. | |
28. | He needs a long spoon that would eat out of the same dish with the devil. | Dan. |
29. | He that has swallowed the devil may swallow his horns. | Ital. |
30. | He that hath the devil on his neck must find him work.[237] | Dutch. |
31. | He that is afraid of the devil does not grow rich. | Ital. |
32. | He that is embarked with the devil must sail with him. | Dutch. |
33. | He that shippeth the devil must make the best of him. | |
34. | He that takes the devil in his boat must carry him over the sound. | |
35. | He that the devil drives, feels no lead at his heels. | |
36. | He that worketh journey-work with the devil shall never want work. | |
37. | He who has once invited the devil into his house will never be rid of him. | Ger. |
38. | Ill doth the devil preserve his servants. | |
39. | It costs the devil little trouble to catch a lazy man. | Ger. |
40. | It is a sin to belie the devil. | |
41. | It is an ill battle where the devil carries the colors. | |
42. | It is an ill procession where the devil holds the candle. | |
43. | It is easy to bid the devil be your guest, but difficult to get rid of him. | Dan. |
44. | It is good sometimes to hold a candle to the devil. | |
45. | It is not for nothing the devil lays down in the ditch. | Dan. |
46. | Let the devil get into the church and he will mount the altar.[238] | Ger. |
47. | Let the devil never find you unoccupied. | Latin. |
48. | Make not even the devil blacker than he is. | |
49. | Needs must when the devil drives. | |
50. | Never was hood so holy, but the devil could get his head in it. | Dutch. |
51. | One devil does not make hell. | Ital. |
52. | One devil drives out another. | Ital. |
53. | One devil knows another. | |
54. | One may understand like an angel and yet be a devil. | |
55. | One must sometimes hold a candle to the devil. | Dutch. |
56. | Open not your door when the devil knocks. | |
57. | Pulling the devil by the tail does not lead far young or old. | Fr. |
58. | Raise no more devils than you can lay. | Ger. |
59. | Renounce the devil and thou shall wear a shabby cloak. | Sp. |
60. | Resist the devil and he will flee from thee. | New Testament. |
61. | Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do. | Watts. |
62. | Satan now is wiser than before, And tempts by making rich, not making poor. | Pope. |
63. | Satan's friendship reaches to the prison door. | Turk. |
64. | Seldom lies the devil dead in a ditch. | |
65. | Talk of the devil and you hear his bones rattle.[239] | Dutch. |
66. | Talk of the devil and his imp appears. | |
67. | Talk of the devil and he'll either send or come. | |
68. | Tell everybody your business and the devil will do it for you. | Ital. |
69. | Tell the truth and shame the devil. | |
70. | The devil alone can cheat the Hebrew. | Polish. |
71. | The devil always leaves a stink behind. | |
72. | The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. | Shaks. |
73. | The devil cannot receive a guest more worthy of him than a slanderer. | Fielding. |
74. | The devil catches most souls in a golden net. | Ger. |
75. | The devil divides the world between atheism and superstition. | |
76. | The devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, the ambitious with power, the learned with false doctrine. | |
77. | The devil gathers up curses and obscenities. | Ger. |
78. | The devil gets into the belfry on the vicar's skirts. | Sp. |
79. | The devil goes shares in gaming. | |
80. | The devil has his martyrs among men. | Dutch. |
81. | The devil had no goats yet he sold cheese. | M. Greek. |
82. | The devil hath not in all his quiver's choice, An arrow for the heart like a sweet voice. | Byron. |
83. | The devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape. | Shaks. |
84. | The devil is a busy bishop in his own diocese. | |
85. | The devil is a most bad master. | |
86. | The devil is always ready at hand when called for. | Fielding. |
87. | The devil is bad because he is old. | Ital. |
88. | The devil is civil when he is flattered. | Ger. |
89. | The devil is fond of his own. | Galician. |
90. | The devil is good to some. | |
91. | The devil is good when he is pleased. | |
92. | The devil is in the dice. | |
93. | The devil is master of all arts. | Ger. |
94. | The devil is never nearer than when we are talking of him. | |
95. | The devil is not always at a poor man's door. | Fr. |
96. | The devil is not always at one door. | |
97. | The devil is not in the quality of the wine but in the excess. | Turkish Spy. |
98. | The devil is not so black (or ugly) as he is painted. | Ital., Ger., Por., Dutch. |
99. | The devil is so fond of his son that he put out his eyes. | Sp. |
100. | The devil is subtle yet weaves a coarse web. | Ital. |
101. | The devil leads him by the nose, who the dice too often throws. | Fr. |
102. | The devil lies brooding in the miser's chest. | |
103. | The devil likes to souse what is already wet.[241] | Ger. |
104. | The devil lurks (or sits) behind the cross. | Fr., Ger., Sp., Dutch. |
105. | The devil may die without my inheriting his horns. | Fr. |
106. | The devil often carries the standard of the living God. | Ancient saying. |
107. | The devil rebukes sin. | |
108. | The devil sleeps in my pocket: I have no cross to drive him from it. | Massinger. |
109. | The devil take the hindmost. | Spectator. |
110. | The devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil. | Ital. |
111. | The devil turns away from a closed door. | Ital., Sp. |
112. | The devil was handsome when he was young. | Fr. |
113. | The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be, The devil was well, the devil a monk was he. | |
114. | The devil when he grows poor becomes an excise man. | M. Greek. |
115. | The devil will not come into Cornwall (England) for fear of being put into a pie. | |
116. | The devil will play at small games rather than none at all. | |
117. | The devil will tempt Lucifer. | Ital. |
118. | The devil would have been a weaver but for the temple. | |
119. | The devil's behind the glass. | |
120. | The devil's children have the devil's luck. | |
121. | “The devil's in the cards” said Sam, “four aces and not a single trump.”[242] | |
122. | The devil's meal turns half to bran. | Fr., Ger. |
123. | There is no head so holy that the devil does not make a nest in it. | Ger. |
124. | They have begun a dispute which the devil will not let them end. | |
125. | They run fast whom the devil drives. | |
126. | They were both equally bad and the devil put them together. | |
127. | 'Tis an ill procession where the devil carries the cross. | |
128. | To crow well and scrape ill is the devil's trade. | |
129. | What is gotten over the devil's back is spent under his belly. | |
130. | What the wind gathers, the devil scatters. (Ill come goods never stay.) | M. Greek. |
131. | When every man gets his own the devil gets nothing. | Dan. |
132. | When the devil finds the door shut he goes away. | Fr., Sp. |
133. | When the devil gets into the church, he seats himself on the altar. | Dutch. |
134. | When the devil grows old he turns hermit. | Fr., Ital. |
135. | When the devil says his pater noster, he means to cheat you. | Fr., Sp. |
136. | When the devil was sick he thought to become a monk. | Ger. |
137. | When your devil was born mine was going to school.[243] | Ital. |
138. | Where none else will, the devil himself must bear the cross. | |
139. | Where the devil cannot put his head he puts his tail. | Ital. |
140. | Where the devil cannot go himself, he sends an old woman. | Ger. |
141. | Who serves God is the devil's master. | Ger. |
142. | You pious rogue, said the devil to the hermit. | Ger. |
143. | You would be little for God, if the devil were dead. | |
Dew-drop. | ||
1. | The law that rounds the world, the same Rounds the dew-drop's little frame. | Maga. |
Dexterity. | ||
1. | Dexterity comes by experience. | |
Diamond. | ||
1. | A barley corn is better than a diamond to a cock. | |
2. | A diamond is not so precious as a tooth. Don Quixote. | |
3. | A diamond is valuable though it lie on a dunghill. | |
4. | A diamond with a flaw is preferable to a common stone without any imperfection. | Chinese. |
5. | A fine diamond may be ill set. | |
6. | Diamonds cut diamonds. | |
7. | Diamonds dart their brightest lustre [244]From the palsy shaken head. | Wordsworth. |
8. | If a diamond be thrown into the mire, it is a diamond still. | Turk. |
Diana. | ||
1. | What cares lofty Diana for the barking dog? | Latin. |
Dice, Dicer. | ||
1. | Chance is a dicer. | |
2. | He hath not lost all who hath one throw to cast. | |
3. | The best cast at dice is not to play. | Sp. |
4. | The best throw of the dice is to throw them away. | |
5. | The die is cast. | Cæsar's exclamation on the banks of the Rubicon. |
Diet. | ||
1. | Diet cures more than the lancet. | |
2. | Every animal but man keeps to one dish. | Spectator. |
3. | Fresh pork and new wine, Kill a man before his time. | Sp. |
Difference. | ||
1. | It makes a difference whose ox is gored. | |
Different. | ||
1. | Different people take different views. | |
2. | Different sores must have different salves. | |
3. | Different times, different manners. | Ital. |
Difficulty. | ||
1. | Difficulty makes desire. | |
2. | Difficulties give way to diligence.[245] | |
Diffidence. | ||
1. | Diffidence is the right eye of prudence. | |
Difficult. | ||
1. | Nothing is difficult to a willing mind. | |
2. | Nothing so difficult but that man will accomplish it. | Horace. |
3. | The difficult thing is to get foot in stirrup. | |
4. | To the brave and faithful nothing is difficult. | Latin. |
5. | What one knows not how to do is difficult, what one knows how to do is not. | Chinese. |
Difficulties. | ||
1. | The wise and the active conquer difficulties by daring to attempt them. | Rowe. |
2. | Through difficulties to the stars. | Motto of the State of Kansas. |
Dignity. | ||
1. | Dignity does not consist in possessing honors but in deserving them. | Aristotle. |
2. | The easiest way to dignity is humility. | |
Dilemma. | ||
1. | A pond in front and a stream behind. (Between two evils.) | M. Greek. |
2. | A precipice in front, a wolf behind. | Latin. |
3. | Between hawk and buzzard. | |
4. | Between Scylla and Charybdis. | |
5. | Between the devil and the deep sea.[246] | |
6. | Between the hammer and the anvil. | Ger., Dutch. |
7. | Flying from the bull he fell into the river. | Sp. |
8. | I have a wolf by the ears, I can neither part with her nor keep her. | Terence. |
9. | In avoiding Charybdis he falls into Scylla. | |
10. | Like the boy with the bear, he couldn't hold on't and was afraid to let go. | |
11. | To be aground on the same rock. (To be in the same dilemma.) | Latin. |
12. | To be in the same hospital. | |
Diligence. | ||
1. | A man diligent in business shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. | Bible. |
2. | Diligence is the mother of good fortune. | |
3. | Diligence is the mother of success. | Don Quixote. |
4. | The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible, but the return to diligence is difficult. | Rambler. |
5. | To perfect diligence nothing is difficult. | Chinese. |
Diligent. | ||
1. | The diligent hand maketh rich. | |
2. | The diligent spinner has a large shift. | |
Dinner. | ||
1. | A dinner lubricates business. | Lord Stowell. |
Diplomatists. | ||
1. | Diplomatists are the Hebrews of politics.[247] | Bea. |
Dirt. | ||
1. | Dirt is the dirtiest upon the fairest spot. | |
2. | “Dirt is my brother” says the street sweeper. | Ger. |
3. | Dirt parts good company. | |
4. | He that deals in dirt has aye foul fingers. | |
5. | He that falls into the dirt the longer he lies the dirtier he is. | |
6. | He that flings dirt at another dirtieth himself most. | |
7. | It has been blowing hard; the dirt has been blowing into high places. | Dan. |
8. | When dirt comes to honor it knows not what to be. | Dan. |
9. | You stout and I stout, who shall carry the dirt out. | |
Disasters. | ||
1. | We are the authors of our own disasters. | Latin. |
Discipline. | ||
1. | Where there is discipline there is virtue, where there is peace there is plenty. | Dan. |
Discontent. | ||
1. | Discontents arise from our desires oftener than from our wants. | |
2. | The discontented man finds no easy chair. | Franklin. |
3. | What's more miserable than discontent?[248] | Shaks. |
Discord. | ||
1. | There stalks discord with her torn mantle. Virgil. | |
Discourse. | ||
1. | Little discourse is gold, too much is dirt. | Ger. |
2. | No discourse that is long can be pleasing. | Don Quixote. |
3. | Such is the man, such is his discourse. | |
4. | Sweet discourse makes short days and nights. | |
5. | The discourse of men always conforms to the temper of the times. | Tacitus. |
Discovers. | ||
1. | That which covers thee, discovers. | |
Discretion. | ||
1. | A dram of discretion is worth a pound of wisdom. | Ger. |
2. | An ounce of discretion is better than a pound of knowledge. | Ital. |
3. | Discretion in speech is more than eloquence. | |
4. | One ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit. | |
Diseases. | ||
1. | Diseases are the tax on ill pleasures. | |
2. | The disease a man dreads, that he dies of. | |
Disgrace. | ||
1. | That only is a disgrace to a man which he has deserved to suffer. | Phædrus. |
2. | When men disgraces share, the lesser is the care.[249] | |
Dishonest. | ||
1. | Nothing is profitable which is dishonest. | Cicero. |
Dishonorable. | ||
1. | What is dishonorable is always dangerous. | |
Dislike. | ||
1. | What you dislike for yourself do not like for me. | Sp. |
Disputations. | ||
1. | Disputations leave truth in the middle and party at both ends. | |
Disputing. | ||
1. | Dispute the price but don't dispute the weight. | Chinese. |
2. | Disputing and borrowing cause grief and sorrowing. | Ger. |
3. | Many get into a dispute well that cannot get out well. | |
4. | There is more disputing about the shell than the kernel. | Ger. |
5. | There is no disputing about tastes. | Sp. |
6. | There is no disputing against a person who denies a principle. | Coke. |
7. | To dispute about a donkey's shadow. | Latin. |
8. | When two men dispute you may be sure there is a fool upon one side or the other, and the man that interferes the biggest fool. | Punch. |
9. | Who disputes with the stupid must have sharp answers.[250] | Ger. |
Dissemblers. | ||
1. | Dissemblers oftener deceive themselves than others. | |
Dissensions. | ||
1. | Dissensions like small streams at first begun, Scarce seen they rise but gather as they run. | Garth. |
Distaff. | ||
1. | If it will not be spun bring it not to the distaff. | |
2. | She has other tow on her distaff. | |
Distance. | ||
1. | The farther away from the State the louder they cry, “California pears.” | |
2. | 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue. | Campbell. |
3. | What is seen at a distance is most respected. | Tacitus. |
Distrust. | ||
1. | Distrust is poison to friendship. | |
2. | Distrust is the mother of safety but must keep out of sight. | |
3. | Distrust is the mother of security. | La Fontaine. |
Ditch. | ||
1. | At the end of the ditch the summerset. | Fr. |
2. | It is better to leap over the ditch than trust to the pleadings of good men.[251] | Sp. |
Dividing, Sharing. | ||
1. | A Montgomery division: all on one side, none on the other. | |
2. | He who divides gets the worst share. | Sp. |
3. | He who shares has the worst share. | Sp. |
4. | He who shareth honey with the bear hath the least part of it. | |
5. | Who divides honey with the bear will be like to get the lesser share. | Ital. |
6. | Who divides with the lion gets but little. | Ger. |
Divine. | ||
1. | It is a good divine that follows his own teachings. | Shaks. |
Do. | ||
1. | And all may do what has by man been done. | Young. |
2. | As good do nothing as to no purpose. | |
3. | Better to do nothing than to do ill. | Pliny. |
4. | Command your man and do it yourself. | |
5. | Do and undo, the day is long enough. | |
6. | Do as little as you can to repent of. | |
7. | Do as most men do and men will speak well of thee. | |
8. | Do as others do and few will mock you. | |
9. | Do as the friar saith, not as he does. | |
10. | Do as the maids do, say no and take it. | |
11. | Do as you're bidden and you'll never bear blame. | |
12. | Do as you would be done by.[252] | |
13. | Do in the hole as thou wouldst do in the hall. | |
14. | Do it well that thou mayst not do it twice. | |
15. | Do the best and leave the rest. | |
16. | Do the likeliest and hope the best. | |
17. | Do thoroughly what you set about, Kill a pig, kill him out and out. | Chinese. |
18. | Do unto others as you would others should do to you. | |
19. | Do well and doubt nae man, do ill an' doubt a' men. | |
20. | Do well and dread nae shame. | |
21. | Do well and have well. | |
22. | Do well is better than say well. | |
23. | Do what I say well and not what I do ill. | Sp. |
24. | Do what the friar says, not what he does. | Sp. |
25. | Do what thou doest. (Age quod agis.) | |
26. | Do what you consider right whatever the people think of it, despise its censure and its praise. | Pythagoras. |
27. | Employed about many things and doing nothing. | |
28. | Do what you ought come what may. | Fr., Ital. |
29. | Do what your master bids you and sit down by him at table. | Don Quixote. |
30. | He doth much that doth a thing well. | |
31. | He slumbers enough who does nothing. | Fr. |
32. | He that doth most at once doth least. | |
33. | He that doth well wearieth not himself. | |
34. | He that is suffered to do more than is fitting will do more than is lawful.[253] | |
35. | He who cannot do always wants to do. | Ital. |
36. | He who does as he likes has no headache. | Ital. |
37. | He who does good to you either dies or goes away. | Sp. |
38. | He who does no more than another is no better than another. | Sp. |
39. | He who does nothing but sit and eat will wear away a mountain of wealth. | Chinese. |
40. | He who does what he likes, does not what he ought. | Sp. |
41. | He who is afraid of doing too much always does too little. | Ger. |
42. | How many things are ill done because they are done but once. | Petrarch. |
43. | I will do what I can and a little less to be able to continue at it. | Ital. |
44. | If things were to be done twice, all would be wise. | |
45. | If you would have a thing well done, do it yourself. | |
46. | It is easier to do many things and continue than to do one thing long. | Ben Jonson. |
47. | It is easier to know how to do a thing than to do it. | Chinese. |
48. | No man should live in the world who has nothing to do in it. | |
49. | No man can do nothing and no man can do everything. | Ger. |
50. | None so busy as those who do nothing. | Fr. |
51. | Nothing is done while something remains undone.[254] | Fr. |
52. | Nothing is done with a leap. | Bacon. |
53. | Once well done is better than twice ill done. | Turk. |
54. | Overdoing is doing nothing to the purpose. | |
55. | That is done soon enough which is well done. | Fr., Ital. |
56. | That which a man causes to be done he does himself. | |
57. | That which is well done is twice done. | |
58. | The dead and only they should do nothing. | |
59. | The thing that's done, is na to do. | |
60. | There is a right and wrong way to do everything. | |
61. | There is more trouble in having nothing to do, than in having much to do. | Ital. |
62. | There is nothing so well done but may be mended. | Fr. |
63. | They that do nothing learn to do ill. | |
64. | They who cannot as they would, must do as they can. | |
65. | To do one must be doing. | Fr. |
66. | Well doing is the best capital. | Turk. |
67. | Well done outlives death. | Ger. |
68. | What is done cannot be undone. | Ital., Dan. |
69. | What is done is done for this time. | Sp. |
70. | What may be done at any time will be done at no time. | |
71. | What you do, do quickly. | Ger. |
72. | What you do, do thoroughly. | Fr. |
73. | What you do yourself is well done.[255] | Dan. |
74. | What you have to do, do without delay. Literal: Wait until the Yellow River becomes clear and how old will you be? | Chinese. |
75. | What you would not have done to yourselves never do unto others. | Alexander Severus. |
76. | What's done cannot be undone. | |
77. | What's done can't be helped. | |
78. | Whatsoever a man findeth to do, do it with thy might. | Bible. |
79. | Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you even so do unto them. | Bible. |
80. | When a man goes out let him consider what he is to do, when he returns what he has done. | Cleobulus. |
81. | When a thing is done make the best of it. | Ger. |
82. | Wherever you are do as you see done. | Sp. |
83. | Who does all he may never does well. | Ital. |
84. | Who does no ill can have no foe. | |
85. | Who does the best his circumstance allows, does well, acts nobly; angels could do no more. | Young. |
86. | Who will have things done all right must be both master and servant. | Ger. |
Doctor (Physician). | ||
1. | A broken apothecary a new doctor. | |
2. | A disobedient patient makes an unfeeling physician. | Syrus. |
3. | A doctor is one who kills you to-day to prevent you from dying to-morrow.[256] | Punch. |
4. | A doctor's child dies not from disease but from medicine. | Tamil. |
5. | A half doctor near is better than a whole one far away. | Ger. |
6. | A loquacious doctor is successful. | Tamil. |
7. | A lucky physician is better than a learned one. | Ger. |
8. | A multitude of physicians have destroyed me. | (The Emperor Adrian directed these words to be inscribed on his tomb.) |
9. | A new doctor, a new grave digger. | Ger. |
10. | A physician is a man who pours drugs of which he knows little into a body of which he knows less. | Voltaire. |
11. | A physician is an angel when employed, but a devil when one must pay him. | Ger. |
12. | A physician is but a consoler of the mind. | Petronius Arbiter. |
13. | A wise physician is more than armies to the public weal. | Pope. |
14. | A wise physician never despises a distemper however inconsiderable. | Fielding. |
15. | A young physician should have three graveyards. | Ger. |
16. | An honest physician leaves his patient when he can no longer contribute to his health. | Temple. |
17. | An ignorant doctor is no better than a murderer. | Chinese. |
18. | Better wait on the cook than the doctor. | |
19. | Bleed him, purge him and if he dies bury him.[257] | Sp., Dutch. |
20. | By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death will seize the doctor too. | Shaks. |
21. | Do not dwell in a city whose governor is a physician. | Hebrew. |
22. | Each physician thinks his pills the best. | Ger. |
23. | Every man is a fool or a physician at forty. | |
24. | Every one ought to be his own physician. | M. Greek. |
25. | Feed sparingly and defy the physician. | |
26. | God healeth and the physician hath the thanks. | |
27. | God is the restorer of health and the physician puts the fee in his pocket. | Ital. |
28. | He who has suffered is the physician. | M. Greek. |
29. | Head cool, feet warm, make the doctor poor. | Ger. |
30. | Herring in the land, the doctor at a stand. | Dutch. |
31. | Honor a physician before thou hast need of him. | |
32. | Hussars pray for war and the doctors for fever. | Ger. |
33. | I die by the help of too many physicians. | Alexander the Great. |
34. | If doctors fail thee be these three thy doctors: rest, cheerfulness and moderate diet. | Latin. |
35. | If the doctor cures the sun sees it, but if he kills the earth hides it. | Scotch. |
36. | If you have a friend who is a physician send him to the house of your enemy.[258] | Por. |
37. | Little does the sick man consult his own interests who makes his physician his heir. | Syrus. |
38. | Many funerals discredit a physician. | Ben Jonson. |
39. | Most physicians as they grow greater in skill grow less in their religion. | Massinger. |
40. | Nature, time and patience are the three great physicians. | |
41. | New doctor—new church-yard. | Ger. |
42. | No good doctor ever takes physic. | Ital. |
43. | No man is a good physician who has never been sick. | Arabian. |
44. | No physician is better than three. | Ger. |
45. | No physician takes pleasure in the health even of his best friend. | Greek Comedian. |
46. | One physician is better than two but three are fatal. (Homeopathic globule.) | Punch. |
47. | Physician, heal thyself. | Ital., Ger. |
48. | Physicians alone are permitted to murder with impunity. | Petrarch. |
49. | Physicians' faults are covered with earth and rich men's with money. | |
50. | That city is in a bad case whose physician has the gout. | Hebrew. |
51. | That patient is not like to recover who makes the doctor his heir. | |
52. | The barber must be young and the physician old. | Ger. |
53. | The best physicians are Dr. Diet, Dr. Quiet, and Dr. Merryman.[259] | |
54. | The blunders of physicians are covered by the earth. | Por. |
55. | The disobedience of the patient makes the physician seem cruel. | |
56. | The doctor is often more to be feared than the disease. | Fr. |
57. | The doctor seldom takes physic. | |
58. | The earth hides as it takes the physician's mistakes. | Sp. |
59. | The first physicians by debauch were made, Excess began and doth sustain the trade. | Dryden. |
60. | The four best physicians, Dr. Sobriety, Dr. Jocosity, Dr. Quiet and Dr. Gold. | Ger. |
61. | The physician can cure the sick, but he cannot cure the dead. | Chinese. |
62. | The physician cannot drink the medicine for the patient. | Ger. |
63. | Time is the ablest of all mental physicians. | Fielding. |
64. | When the physician can advise the best the patient is dead. | Ger. |
65. | When you call the physician call the judge to make your will. | Ger. |
66. | Who has a physician has an executioner. | Ger. |
67. | With respect to the gout, the physician is but a lout. | |
68. | You need not doubt, you are no doctor. | |
Dog. | ||
1. | A bad dog never sees the wolf. | Geo. Herbert. |
2. | A barking dog was never a good hunter. | Por. |
3. | A bashful dog never fattens. | Ger. |
4. | A cursed cur should be short tied. | |
5. | A cur's tail grows fast. | Ital. |
6. | A dog has nothing to do and no time to rest. | Tamil. |
7. | A dog in the manger, that neither eats nor lets others eat. | Por. |
8. | A dog is a dog whatever his color. | Dan. |
9. | A dog is never offended at being pelted with bones. | |
10. | A dog is stout on his own dunghill. | Fr. |
11. | A dog knows his own master. | Turk. |
12. | A dog may look at a bishop. | Fr. |
13. | A dog never bit me but I had some of his hair. | Ital. |
14. | A dog of an old dog, a colt of a young horse. (Some say, a calf of a young cow and a colt of an old horse.) | |
15. | A dog's life, hunger and ease. | |
16. | A dog that bites silently. (An insidious traducer.) | Latin. |
17. | A dog will not cry if you beat him with a bone. | |
18. | A dog with a bone knows no friend. | Dutch. |
19. | A good bone never falls to a good dog. | |
20. | A good dog deserves a good bone. | |
21. | A good dog hunts by instinct. | Fr. |
22. | A good dog never barks at fault. | Fr. |
23. | A good hound hunts by kind. | Fr. |
24. | A hair of the dog cures the bite.[261] | Ital. |
25. | A hunting dog will at last die a violent death. | Chinese. |
26. | A kitchen dog was never good for the chase. | Ital. |
27. | A lean dog gets nothing but fleas. | Sp. |
28. | A man may provoke his own dog to bite him. | |
29. | A man's best friend is his dog, better even than his wife. | Esquimaux. |
30. | A man who wants to drown his dog says he is mad. | Fr. |
31. | A mastiff groweth the fiercer for being tied up. | |
32. | A mischievous cur must be tied short. | Fr. |
33. | A schock dog is starved and nobody believes it. | Sp. |
34. | A sorry dog is not worth the whistling after. | |
35. | A staff is quickly found to beat a dog. | Shaks. |
36. | A stranger's care makes old the dog. | M. Greek. |
37. | All bite the bitten dog. | Por. |
38. | Although dogs together fight they are very soon all right. | Chinese. |
39. | An ill hound comes halting hame. | |
40. | An ill-tempered dog has a scarred nose. | Dan. |
41. | An old dog biteth sore. | |
42. | An old dog cannot alter its way of barking. | |
43. | An old dog does not bark for nothing. | Fr., Ital. |
44. | An old dog does not grow used to the collar.[262] | Ital. |
45. | An old dog will learn no tricks. | |
46. | A waking dog barks from afar at a sleeping lion. | |
47. | Barking dogs don't bite. | Fr., Ger., Dutch. |
48. | Better have a dog fawn upon you than bite you. | |
49. | Better have a dog for your friend than your enemy. | Dutch. |
50. | Beware of a silent dog and still water. | Latin. |
51. | Beware the dog himself; his shadow does not bite. | Dan. |
52. | Beware of the dog that does not bark. | Por. |
53. | Brabbling curs never want sore ears. | |
54. | By gnawing skin a dog learns to eat leather. | Dan. |
55. | Cats and dogs do not go together without wounds. | Ger. |
56. | Cut off the dog's tail he remains a dog. | Ital. |
57. | Dogs are hard drove when they eat dogs. | |
58. | Dogs bark and the wind carries it away. | Russian. |
59. | Dogs bark as they are bred. | |
60. | Dogs bark at those they don't know. | Ital. |
61. | Dogs begin in jest and end in earnest. | |
62. | Dogs gnaw bones because they cannot swallow them. | |
63. | Dogs have more good in them than men think they have. | Chinese. |
64. | Dogs have teeth in all countries.[263] | Sp. |
65. | Dogs love no companion in the kitchen. | Latin. |
66. | Dogs never go into mourning when a horse dies. | |
67. | Dogs ought to bark before they bite. | |
68. | Dogs that hunt foulest scent the most faults. | |
69. | Dogs that put up many hares kill none. | |
70. | Dogs wag their tails not so much to you as your bread. | |
71. | Do not give a dog bread every time he wags his tail. | Ital. |
72. | Dumb dogs and still water are dangerous. | Ger. |
73. | Every dog hath its day, and every man his hour. | |
74. | Every dog is a lion at home. | |
75. | Every dog is not a lion at home. | Ital. |
76. | Flesh never stands so high but a dog will venture his legs for it. | |
77. | Give a dog an ill name and you may as well hang him. | |
78. | Have a care of a silent dog and still water. | |
79. | He fells twa dogs wi' ae stane. | |
80. | He is as good a Catholic as Duke Alva's dog who ate flesh in Lent. | |
81. | He that is bitten by a dog must apply some of its hair. | Dutch. |
82. | He that keeps another man's dog shall have nothing left him but the line. | |
83. | He that pelts every barking dog, must pick up a great many stones. | |
84. | He that wants to beat a dog is sure to find a stick. | Ital. |
85. | He that wants to hang a dog is sure to find a rope. | Dan. |
86. | He that wants to hang a dog says it bites the sheep. | Dan. |
87. | He that would hang his dog gives out at first that he is mad. | |
88. | He who has loaves has dogs. | Ital. |
89. | He who has not bread to spare should not keep a dog. | Sp. |
90. | He who would buy a sausage of a dog must give him bacon in exchange. | Dan. |
91. | Hold your dog in readiness before you start your hare. | Dutch. |
92. | Hungry dogs will eat dirty puddings. | |
93. | I had rather be a dog and bay the moon, Than such a Roman. | Shaks. |
94. | I will never keep a dog to bite me. | |
95. | “I will not bite any dog” says the shepherd's dog, “for I must save my teeth for the wolf.” | Ger. |
96. | I will not keep a dog and bark myself. | |
97. | If the bitch were not in such haste she would not litter blind puppies. | Ger. |
98. | If the dog bark go in, if the bitch bark go out. | |
99. | If the old dog bark he gives counsel. | |
100. | If you eat a pudding at home your dog shall have the skin. | |
101. | If you would have the dog follow you, you must give him bread. | Sp., Dutch. |
102. | In the mouth of a bad dog falls many a good bone. | |
103. | It grieveth one dog that another goeth into the kitchen. | Dutch. |
104. | It is a good dog that can catch anything. | |
105. | It is a hard winter when dog eats dog. | |
106. | It is all one whether you are bit by a dog or a bitch. | Fr. |
107. | It is an ill dog that deserves not a crust. | |
108. | It is bad coursing with unwilling hounds. | Dutch. |
109. | It is bad for puppies to play with cub bears. | Dan. |
110. | It is easy robbing when the dog is quieted. | Ital. |
111. | It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog. | Ital., Dutch. |
112. | It is ill to waken sleeping dogs. | |
113. | It is the nature of the greyhound to carry a long tail. | Ital. |
114. | Let a dog get a dish of honey and he will jump in with both legs. | |
115. | Let the dog bark so he does not bite me. | Sp. |
116. | Like dogs that snarl about a bone And play together when they've none. | Butler. |
117. | Little dogs start the hare but great ones catch. | |
118. | Mad dogs get their coats torn. | Dan. |
119. | Make the dog your companion but hold fast your staff.[266] | M. Greek. |
120. | Many dogs are the death of the hare. | Dan. |
121. | Many dogs soon eat up a horse. | |
122. | Many ways to kill a dog besides hanging him. | |
123. | Mastiff never liked greyhound. | Fr. |
124. | Never yet the dog our country fed, Betrayed the kindness or forgot the bread. | Bulwer. |
125. | No mad dog runs seven years. | Bulwer. |
126. | Not every dog that barks bites. | Fr. |
127. | Old dogs bark not for nothing. | |
128. | One dog growls to see another go into the kitchen. | Ger. |
129. | One must talk soothingly to the dog until he has passed him. | Fr. |
130. | On finding a stone we see no dog, on seeing a dog we find no stone. | Tamil. |
131. | Quarrelling dogs come halting home. | |
132. | Rear dogs and wolf cubs to rend you. | Latin. |
133. | Snarling curs never want sore ears. | Fr. |
134. | Spaniels that fawn when beaten will never forsake their master. | |
135. | Stones or bread—one must have something in hand for the dogs. | Ital. |
136. | That dog barks more out of custom than care of the house. | |
137. | The best dog leaps the stile first. | |
138. | The dog barks and the ox feeds. | Ital. |
139. | The dog barks and the caravan passes. | Turk. |
140. | The dog does not get bread every time he wags his tail.[267] | Ger. |
141. | The dog gets into the mill under cover of the ass. | Ital. |
142. | The dog guards the night, the cock rules the morn. | Chinese. |
143. | The dog has no aversion to a poor family. | Chinese. |
144. | The dog in his kennel barks at his fleas, the dog that hunts does not feel them. | Chinese. |
145. | The dog rages at the stone, not at him who throws it. | Ger. |
146. | The dog that starts the hare is as good as the one that catches it. | Ger. |
147. | The dog that barks much is never good for hunting. | Por. |
148. | The dog that bites does not bark in vain. | Ital. |
149. | The dog that has been beaten with a stick is afraid of its shadow. | Ital. |
150. | The dog that has his bitch in town never barks well. | Sp. |
151. | The dog that is forced into the wood will not hunt many deer. | Dan. |
152. | That dog that is idle never tires of running. | Turk. |
153. | The dog that is quarrelsome and not strong, woe to his hide. | Ital. |
154. | The dog that kills wolves is killed by wolves. | Sp., Por. |
155. | The dog that licks ashes is not to be trusted with flour. | Ital. |
156. | The dog wags his tail not for you but for your bread.[268] | Ital., Sp., Por. |
157. | The dog understands his master's mood. | Chinese. |
158. | The dog who hunts foulest hits at most faults. | |
159. | The dog will not get free by biting his chain. | Dan. |
160. | The dogs bite the hindermost. | Ger. |
161. | The dog's kennel is not a place to keep a sausage. | Dan. |
162. | The flitch hangs never so high but a dog will look out for a bone. | Dan. |
163. | The gardener's dog is neither full nor hungry. | Sp. |
164. | The greyhound that starts many hares kills none. | Sp., Por. |
165. | The hair of the dog is good for his bite. | (Similia similibus curantur.) |
166. | The hindmost dog may catch the hare. | |
167. | The honest watch-dog never barks when his own friends come round. | Sam. Randall. |
168. | The hound that lies in the kitchen is not hungry. | Ger. |
169. | The lean dog is all fleas. | Sp. |
170. | The leaner the dog the fatter the flea. | Ger. |
171. | The mad dog bites its master. | Por. |
172. | The watch-dog does not get sweet milk unless there be drowned mice in it. | Dan. |
173. | The well-bred hound if he does not hunt to-day will to-morrow. | Sp. |
174. | There are more ways to kill a dog than hanging.[269] | |
175. | There are good dogs of all sizes. | Fr. |
176. | There are more ways to kill a dog than to choke him to death on bread and butter. | |
177. | There is danger when a dog has once tasted flesh. | Latin. |
178. | There is never wanting a dog to bark at you. | Por. |
179. | There is no dog, be he ever so wicked, but wags his tail. | Ital. |
180. | There is no showing the wolf to a bad dog. | Fr. |
181. | Though the mastiff be gentle, yet bite him not on the lip. | Sp., Por. |
182. | Throw no stones at a sleeping dog. | Dan. |
183. | Throw that bone to another dog. | Sp., Por. |
184. | Timid dogs bark worse than they bite. | Latin. |
185. | Timid dogs bark most. | Ger. |
186. | 'Tis a good dog can catch anything. | |
187. | 'Tis an ill dog deserves not a crust. | |
188. | 'Tis sweet to hear the watch-dog's honest bark. | |
189. | To beat the dog in presence of the lion. | Fr. |
190. | Wash a dog, comb a dog, still a dog remains a dog. | Fr., Dan. |
191. | We'll bark ourselves ere we buy dogs so dear. | |
192. | What, keep a dog and bark myself! | Ger. |
193. | What matters the barking of the dog that does not bite. | |
194. | When a dog is drowning every one offers him water.[270] | Fr. |
195. | When a dog runs away, hit him! hit him! | |
196. | When a man will throw at a dog, he soon finds a stone. | Ger. |
197. | When an old dog barks, look out. | Ger., Dutch. |
198. | When mastiffs fight, little curs will bark. | |
199. | When the dog is awake the shepherd may sleep. | Ger. |
200. | When the dog is down every one is ready to bite him. | Dutch. |
201. | When the old dog barks he giveth counsel. | Sp., Por. |
202. | When two dogs fight for a bone the third runs away with it. | Dutch. |
203. | While the dogs growled at each other, the wolves devoured the sheep. | Fr. |
204. | While the dogs yelp the hares fly to the wood. | Dan. |
205. | While you trust to the dog the wolf slips into the sheepfold. | |
206. | Who has no bread to share should not keep a dog. | Sp. |
207. | Whoso is desirous of beating a dog will readily find a stick. | Latin. |
208. | With the hide of the dog its bite is cured. | |
209. | Yelping curs may anger mastiffs at last.[271] | |
Donkey. | ||
1. | He that is a donkey and believes himself a deer finds out his mistake at the leaping of the ditch. | Ital. |
2. | If you cannot drive an ox drive a donkey. | |
3. | My donkey is dead; let no more grass grow. | M. Greek. |
4. | The donkey dies on the mountain, his loss comes home. | Turk. |
5. | The horse and the mule kick each other; between the two the donkey dies. | Turk. |
6. | There is no making a donkey drink against his will. | Ital., Dutch. |
“Don't Care.” | ||
1. | “Don't care” has no house. | West Indian Negro. |
Door. | ||
1. | A creaking door hangs long on its hinges. | |
2. | A door must be either open or shut. | Fr. |
3. | At a deaf man's door it is all one whether you knock or not. | M. Greek. |
4. | Beware of a door that has many keys. | Por. |
5. | Every one sweeps before his own door. | Fr. |
6. | He that will make a door of gold must knock in a nail every day. | |
7. | Let every one sweep before his own door. | Ger. |
8. | One door never shuts but another opens.[272] | Ital. |
9. | Take care your tail don't get caught in the door. | Ital. |
10. | The back door robbeth the house. | |
11. | When one door shuts a hundred open. | Sp. |
12. | When the door is low one must stoop. | Fr. |
13. | When one door shuts another opens. | Sp. |
Door-sill. | ||
1. | The door-sill speaks not save what it heard from the hinges. | |
Dotage. | ||
1. | That folly of old age which is called dotage is peculiar to silly old men, not to age itself. | Cicero. |
Dower. | ||
1. | A great dower is a bed full of brambles. | |
2. | What one wins by marriage soon wastes away. | Ger. |
3. | Who wives for a dower resigns his own power. | |
4. | Bring something, lass, along with thee, If thou intend to live with me. | |
Doubt. | ||
1. | Doubt is the key of knowledge. | Persian Sceptic. |
2. | He doubts nothing who knows nothing. | Por. |
3. | He that casteth all doubts shall never be resolved. | |
4. | He who doubts nothing knows nothing. | Sp. |
5. | If you are in doubt of anything don't be ashamed to ask, or if you have committed an error, to be corrected.[273] | Erasmus. |
6. | In matters of doubt, boldness is of the greatest value. | Syrus. |
7. | Our doubts are traitors And make us lose the good we oft might win By fearing to attempt. | Shaks. |
8. | The end of doubt is the beginning of repose. | Petrarch. |
9. | There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds. | Tennyson. |
10. | 'Tis good to doubt the worst We may in our belief be too secure. Webster and Kowley. | |
11. | When in doubt decide for the sake of deciding. | |
12. | Who doubts errs not. | |
Dover Court. | ||
1. | Dover court: all speakers and no hearers. | |
Dragon. | ||
1. | A serpent unless it devour a serpent grows not to be a dragon. | |
Dream. | ||
1. | A Friday's dream on Saturday told, Will be sure to come true ere the day be old. | |
2. | After a dream of a wedding comes a corpse. | |
3. | Dreams are from Jove. | Homer. |
4. | Dreams are froth (or lies). | Fr., Ger. |
5. | Man is but an ass if he go about to expound his dreams. | Giles' Proverbs. |
6. | Who lies in a silver bed has golden dreams.[274] | Ger. |
Dress. | ||
1. | A good shape is in the shear's mouth. | |
2. | A smart coat is a good letter of introduction. | Dutch. |
3. | A slovenly dress betokens a careless mind. | Don Quixote. |
4. | A well-formed figure needs no cloak. | Por. |
5. | An affectation in dress implies a flaw in the understanding. | |
6. | An old ewe dressed lamb fashion. | |
7. | As a man dresses so is he esteemed. | Dan. |
8. | Clothes make the man. | Dutch. |
9. | Dress drains our cellar dry, And keeps our larder clean. | Cooper. |
10. | Dress slowly when you are in a hurry. | Fr. |
11. | Every one sees his smart coat, no one sees his shrunken belly. | Dan. |
12. | Fine clothes often hide a base descent. | |
13. | Fine clothes wear soonest out of fashion. | |
14. | Fine cloth is never out of fashion. | |
15. | Fine dressing is usually a foul house swept before the door. | |
16. | Fine linen often conceals a foul skin. | Dan. |
17. | Fond pride of dress is sure a very curse, Ere fancy you consult, consult your purse. | Franklin. |
18. | Foppish dressing tells the world the outside is the best of the puppet. | |
19. | Good clothes open all doors.[275] | |
20. | He that is proud of his fine clothes gets his reputation from his tailor. | |
21. | He who dresses in others' clothes will be undressed on the highway. | Sp. |
22. | He who has but one coat cannot lend it. | Sp. |
23. | I have a good jacket in France. | Sp. |
24. | In my own city my name, in a strange city my clothes procure me respect. | |
25. | In your own country your name, in other countries your appearance. | Hebrew. |
26. | It is not the gay coat that makes the gentleman. | |
27. | Many dressers put the bride's dress out of order. | |
28. | Mean clothes will keep out cold and ordinary meats satisfy hunger. | Turkish Spy. |
29. | More goes to the making of a fine gentleman than fine clothes. | |
30. | No fine clothes can hide the clown. | |
31. | Rich garments weep on unworthy shoulders. | Fr. |
32. | Showy clothes attract most. | Latin. |
33. | The coat does not make the man. | Ger. |
34. | The dress does not make the friar. | Sp. |
35. | The gown does not make the friar (or monk). | Fr., Ital. |
36. | The robe does not make the dervish. | Turk. |
37. | The swarthy dame dressed fine decries the fair one. | Sp. |
38. | The tailor makes the man.[276] | |
39. | The white coat does not make the miller. | Ital., Ger. |
40. | The worst clothed go to windward. | Fr. |
41. | That suit is best that best fits me. | |
42. | Though you see me with this coat I have another up the mountain. | Sp. |
Drink. | ||
1. | Drink and drouth come not always together. | |
2. | Drink in the morning staring, then all day be sparing. | |
3. | Drink little that ye may drink lang. | |
4. | Drink nothing without seeing it; sign nothing without reading it. | Por. |
5. | Drink upon salad costs the doctor a ducat, Drink upon eggs costs him two. | Ger. |
6. | Drink washes off the daub and discovers the man. | |
7. | Drink wine and have the gout, drink none and have it too. | |
8. | Drink wine and let the water go to the mill. | Ital. |
9. | Drink wine upon figs. | Sp. |
10. | Drinking kindness is drunken friendship. | |
11. | Good drink drives out bad thoughts. | Dutch. |
12. | Knock under the board; he must do so that will not drink his cup. | |
13. | Of all meat in the world drink goes down the best. | |
14. | Only what I drink is mine. | Polish Serf. |
15. | The first draught a man drinks ought to be for thirst, the second for nourishment, the third for pleasure, and the fourth for madness. | Anacharsis. |
16. | The smaller the drink the cooler the blood and the clearer the head. | |
17. | They that drink longest live longest. | |
18. | Thousands drink themselves to death before one dies of thirst. | Ger. |
19. | You must drink as much after an egg as after an ox. | |
Drowning. | ||
1. | A drowning man will catch at a rush. | |
2. | A drowning man will catch at a straw. | |
3. | A good swimmer is not safe against drowning. | Fr. |
4. | Better go about than be drowned. | Sp., Por. |
5. | Good swimmers are oftenest drowned. | |
6. | He came safe from the East Indies and was drowned in the Thames. | |
7. | The best swimmer is the first to drown himself. | Ital. |
8. | The best swimmers are oftenest drowned, and the best riders have the hardest falls. | Chinese. |
Drunkard. | ||
1. | A drunkard's purse is a bottle. | |
2. | A drunken man may soon be made to dance. | Dan. |
3. | An old dram drinker's the devil's decoy. | Berkley. |
4. | Drunkards have a fool's tongue and a knave's heart.[278] | |
5. | Drunken folk seldom take harm. | |
6. | He hurts the absent who quarrels with a drunken man. | Syrus. |
7. | He that kills a man when he is drunk must be buried under the gallows. | |
8. | He who has drunk will drink. | Fr. |
9. | He who likes drinking is always talking of wine. | Ital. |
10. | He would rather have a bumper in hand than the Bible. | Dutch. |
11. | Let the drunkard alone and he will fall of himself. | |
12. | Often drunk and seldom sober, falls like the leaves in October. | |
13. | Oh! that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brain. | Shaks. |
14. | The best cure for drunkenness is while sober to see a drunken man. | Chinese. |
15. | The drunkard and the glutton come to poverty and drowsiness that clothe a man with rags. | |
16. | The drunkard continually assaults his own life. | |
17. | The drunkard is discovered by his praise of wine. | |
18. | The drunken man's joy is often the sober man's sorrow. | Dan. |
19. | The drunken mouth reveals the heart's secrets. | Ger. |
20. | The wise drunkard is a sober fool. | Ger. |
21. | There are more old drunkards than old doctors.[279] | Fr., Ger. |
22. | What is in the heart of the sober man is on the tongue of the drunken man. | Lat. |
23. | What the sober man has in his heart, the drunken man has on his lips. | Dan. |
24. | What the sober man thinks the drunkard tells. | Fr., Dutch. |
25. | You drink out of the broad end of the funnel and hold the little one to me. | |
Drunkenness. | ||
1. | Drunkenness brutifies even the bravest spirits. | Feltham. |
2. | Drunkenness does not produce faults; it discovers them, for time does not change manners; it uncovers them. | Chinese. |
3. | Drunkenness is a bewitching devil, a pleasant poison and a sweet sin. | Augustine. |
4. | Drunkenness is a pair of spectacles to see the devil and all his works. | |
5. | Drunkenness is an egg from which all vices are hatched. | |
6. | Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness. | Seneca. |
7. | Drunkenness makes some men fools, some beasts and some devils. | |
8. | Drunkenness turns a man out of himself and leaves a beast in his room. | |
9. | Thought when sober, said when drunk. | Ger. |
10. | What soberness conceals drunkenness reveals. | |
11. | What you do when drunk you must pay for when sober.[280] | Scotch. |
Drop. | ||
1. | Drop by drop fills the tub. | Fr. |
2. | Drop by drop the lake is drained. | |
3. | The whole ocean is made up of little drops. | |
Dropping. | ||
1. | Constant dropping wears the stone. | |
2. | Dropping buckets into empty wells. And drawing nothing up. | |
3. | The gutter by dropping wears the stone. | Sp. |
Drum. | ||
1. | Got with the fife, spent with the drum. | |
2. | The noisiest drum has nothing in it but air. | |
3. | What comes by the fife comes back to the drum. | Fr. |
4. | Where drums speak out, laws hold their tongues. | |
Duck. | ||
1. | A duck will not always dabble in the same water. | |
2. | It is no sign of a duck's nest to see fedders on de fence. | American Negro. |
3. | Like the conversation of ducks, nothing but wah-wah. | Turk. |
4. | They follow each other like ducks in a gutter. | |
5. | Young ducks may be auld geese. | |
Due. | ||
1. | Who loseth his due getteth no thanks.[281] | |
Duel, Duellist. | ||
1. | The duel is a perfidious device, by means of which the cut-throat can securely assassinate an honest man. | Fr. |
2. | The duellist, in proving his bravery, shows that he thinks it suspected. | |
3. | The duellist values his honor above the life of his antagonist and the happiness of his family. | |
4. | Were the devil to come from hell to fight, there would forthwith be a Frenchman to challenge him. | Fr. |
Dull. | ||
1. | As dull as a beetle. | |
2. | As dull as the debates of Dutch burgomasters on cheese parings and candle ends. | |
Dung. | ||
1. | Dung is no saint, but where it falls it works miracles. | |
2. | There is never a great dunghill at a sportsman's door. | Sp. |
Duty. | ||
1. | Duty before pleasure. | |
Dwelling. | ||
1. | Do not dwell in a city where a horse does not neigh, nor a dog bark. (The meaning is, if we would be safe from danger we require the horse against the enemy, and the dog against thieves.)[282] | Hebrew. |
Eagle. | ||
1. | An old eagle is better than a young sparrow. | Ger. |
2. | An old eagle is better than a young crow. | Ger. |
3. | Eagles catch na flies. | |
4. | Eagles do not breed doves. | Ger., Dutch. |
5. | Eagles fly alone, but sheep flock together. | |
6. | The crow does not devour fowls: they are the prey of the eagle. | Chinese. |
7. | The eagle does not catch (or hunt) flies. | Fr., Ger. |
8. | The eagle does not war against frogs. | Ital. |
9. | The eagle loves the mountain. | Caucasian. |
10. | The eagle soars alone. | |
11. | The old age of an eagle. (Applied to old topers, the eagle being supposed to live by suction in its old age.) | Latin. |
12. | When the eagle is dead, the crows pick out his eyes. | Ger. |
Ear. | ||
1. | To a quick ear a half a word. | Ger. |
Early Rising. | ||
1. | Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise. | |
2. | For all one's early rising it dawns none the sooner.[283] | Sp. |
3. | Get a name to rise early and you may lie all day. | |
4. | Go to bed late, rise early, you will see your own harm and that of others. | Por. |
5. | Go to bed with the lamb and rise with the lark. | |
6. | He that will thrive must rise at five, He that hath thriven may lie till seven. | |
7. | He who does not rise with the sun does not enjoy the day. | Don Quixote. |
8. | He who does not rise early never does a good day's work. | |
9. | He who rises early will gather wisdom. | Dan. |
10. | If no profits he spies, Where's the man will early rise. | Chinese. |
11. | It dawns none the sooner for all the world's early rising. | Por. |
12. | It is better for him whom God helps than for him who rises early. | Don Quixote. |
13. | Let not the sun look down and say inglorious here he lies. | Franklin. |
14. | Out before day, in before night. | Dutch. |
15. | Rise early and watch, labor and catch. | Sp., Por. |
16. | The early riser is healthy, cheerful and industrious. | Fr. |
17. | The morning hour has gold in its mouth. | Ger., Dutch, Dan. |
18. | Who makes everything right must rise early.[284] | |
Earnestness and Sport. | ||
1. | Earnestness and sport are often neighbors. | Ger. |
2. | Earnestness and sport go well together. | Dan. |
Earnestness. | ||
1. | Earnestness is the soul of work. | Ger. |
Earth. | ||
1. | Earth is the best shelter. | |
2. | The earth is a host who murders his guests. | Haffiz. |
3. | The earth is always frozen to lazy swine. | Dan. |
4. | The earth produces all things and receives all again. | |
5. | What much is worth comes from the earth. | Sp. |
Earthen. | ||
1. | No wolf's bane is drunk out of earthen vessels; i.e., a peasant is in no danger of being poisoned. | Juvenal. |
2. | The earthen pan gains nothing by contact with the copper pot. | Dan. |
3. | The earthen pot must keep clear of the brass kettle. | |
Ease. | ||
1. | If we have not the world's wealth, we have the world's ease. | Scotch. |
2. | One may support any thing better than too much ease and prosperity.[285] | Ital. |
Easy. | ||
1. | It is easy to add to things that have once been invented. | |
2. | It is easy to be generous of another man's money. | |
3. | It is easy to be generous out of another man's purse. | Dutch, Dan. |
4. | It is easy to bowl down hill. | |
5. | It is easy to cut thongs from other men's leather. | Dutch. |
6. | It is easy to help him who is willing to be helped. | Ger. |
7. | It is easy to manage when fortune favors. | Dan. |
8. | It is easy to poke another man's fire. | Dan. |
9. | It is easy to rob an orchard when none keeps it. | |
10. | It is easy to stride a tree when it is down. | Dan. |
11. | It is easy to swim when another holds up your head. | Dan. |
12. | It is easy to take a man's part, but the matter is to maintain it. | Gaelic. |
13. | Nothing is easy to the unwilling. | |
Easier. | ||
1. | It is easier than to blow dust off any thing. | Chinese. |
2. | It is easier to bear what's amiss than go about to reform it.[286] | |
3. | It is easier to blame than to do better. | Ger. |
4. | It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel. | Franklin. |
5. | It is easier to build two hearths than always to keep a fire on one. | Ger. |
6. | It is easier to descend than ascend. | |
7. | It is easier to get away from the bank than the bottom. | Fr. |
8. | It is easier to pull down than build. | |
9. | It is easier to stem the brook than the river. | Dan. |
10. | It is easier to strike than defend well. | |
11. | 'Tis easier to hurt than to heal. | Ger. |
East. | ||
1. | Too far east is west. | |
2. | They who possess the highway to the East have the treasures of the world. | |
Eat. | ||
1. | A full man is no eater. | Por. |
2. | A man must eat though every tree were a gallows. | Dutch. |
3. | A man that has had his fill is no eater. | Sp. |
4. | A good eater must be a good man. | Bea. |
5. | A morsel eaten gains no friends. | |
6. | As a man eats so he works. | Ger. |
7. | Eat a bit before you drink. | |
8. | Eat and drink measurely and defy the mediciners. | |
9. | Eat and welcome, fast and heartily welcome.[287] | |
10. | Eat after your own fashion, clothe yourself as others do. | |
11. | Eat at pleasure, drink by measure. | |
12. | Eaten bread is soon forgotten. | |
13. | Eat bread that's light and cheese by weight. | Dutch. |
14. | Eat little at dinner, less at supper; Sleep aloft and you will sleep oft. | Sp. |
15. | Eat peas with the king and cherries with the beggar. | |
16. | Eat the fruit and don't inquire about the tree. | Turk. |
17. | Eat the present and break the dish (so as not to be reminded of the obligation). | Arabian. |
18. | Eat-well is Drink-well's brother. | |
19. | Eat with him and beware of him. | Por. |
20. | Eating and drinking make the stomach full but the purse empty. | Ger. |
21. | Eating and drinking want but a beginning. | |
22. | Eating and drinking take away one's hunger. | |
23. | Eating little and speaking little can never do a man harm. | |
24. | Eating sets the head to rights. | |
25. | He has two stomachs to eat and one to work. | |
26. | He that banquets every day never makes a good meal. | |
27. | He that eats most porridge shall have most meat. | |
28. | He that eats the king's goose shall be choked by the feathers.[288] | |
29. | He that eats well and drinks well should do his duty well. | |
30. | He that eats while he lasts will be war while he die. | |
31. | He who eats but one dish never wants a physician. | |
32. | He who eats pears with his master should not choose the best. | Ital. |
33. | He who eats the meat let him pick the bone. | Sp. |
34. | If I were to fast for my life I would eat a good breakfast in the morning. | |
35. | If you eat it up at supper, you cannot have it at breakfast. | Sp. |
36. | If you hate a man eat his bread, if you love him do the same. | |
37. | It is a great pleasure to eat and have nothing to pay. | |
38. | It is dangerous to eat cherries with the great; they throw the stones at your head. | Dan. |
39. | It is very savory to eat scot free. | Sp. |
40. | Nice eaters seldom meet with a good dinner. | |
41. | Often and little eating makes a man fat. | |
42. | One does not eat acorns when he has peaches. | Ger. |
43. | One is never well at table unless there be four in company. | Arabian Nights. |
44. | One may be surfeited by eating tarts. | Fr. |
45. | People must eat if every tree were a gallows.[289] | Dutch., Dan. |
46. | She that is ashamed to eat at table eats in private. | |
47. | Some eat the stew, then ask for the pan. | |
48. | To eat and to scratch one has but to begin. | Sp. |
49. | To good eating belongs good drinking. | Ger. |
50. | Who eats and leaves has another good meal. | |
51. | Who eats his dinner alone must saddle his horse alone. | Sp., Por. |
Economy. | ||
1. | A farthing saved is twice earned. | Ital. |
2. | A good saver is a good server. | |
3. | A jade eats as much as a good horse. | |
4. | A man's voluntary expense should not exceed his income. | Dr. Johnson. |
5. | Cut your coat according to your cloth. | Dutch. |
6. | Economy is a great revenue. | Cicero. |
7. | Economy is too late at the bottom of the purse. | Seneca. |
8. | Every one is bound to live within his means. | Ovid. |
9. | He that eats and saves sets the table twice. | |
10. | He who eats and puts by, has sufficient for two meals. | Sp. |
11. | If you make not much of three pence, you'll ne'er be worth a groat. | |
Edge. | ||
1. | A good edge is good for nothing if it have nothing to cut.[290] | |
2. | Too keen an edge does not cut, too fine a point does not pierce. | Fr. |
3. | It's ill jesting with edge tools. | Dutch. |
Education. | ||
1. | A man cannot leave a better legacy to the world than a well educated family. | Thomas Scott. |
2. | Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him. | |
3. | Education is the poor man's haven. | Latin. |
4. | Education polishes good natures and corrects the bad ones. | |
5. | Nothing so much worth as a mind well instructed. | Bible. |
6. | The tutors of youth have an ascendency over the stars of their nativity. | Arabian. |
7. | 'Tis education forms the common mind, Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined. | Pope. |
8. | What Master Jackey does not learn, Mr. John never knows. | Ger. |
9. | What tutor shall we find for a child sixty years old? | |
10. | You may pay more for your schooling than your learning is worth. | |
Eel. | ||
1. | A gray eel is better than a variegated serpent. | Ger. |
2. | All that breed in the mud are not eels. | |
3. | An eel escapes from a good fisherman. | |
4. | An eel held by the tail is not yet caught.[291] | |
5. | As nimble as an eel in a sand bag. | |
6. | As slippery as an eel. | |
7. | Cover up the pot, there's an eel in it. | Dutch. |
8. | He is as much out of his element as an eel in a sand bag. | |
9. | Holding an eel too fast is the way to let it escape. | |
10. | Mud chokes no eels. | |
11. | The eel that will eat lettuce must come to land. | Ger. |
12. | There is an eel under the rock: i.e., if you wish to find you must search. | Fr. |
13. | There is as much hold of his words as of a wet eel by the tail. | |
14. | To begin skinning the eel at the tail. | Fr. |
15. | To squeeze an eel too hard is the way to lose it. | Fr. |
16. | You cannot hide an eel in a sack. | |
Egg. | ||
1. | A rotten egg cannot be spoiled. | |
2. | A white egg often comes from a black hen. | Ger. |
3. | A wild goose never laid a tame egg. | Irish. |
4. | All your eggs have two yolks apiece I warrant you. | |
5. | “An egg's an egg” said the boor, and took the goose egg. | Ger., Dutch. |
6. | An egg is the only clean thing in a slovenly house-wife's kitchen. | |
7. | An unlaid egg is an uncertain thing.[292] | Ger. |
8. | Better a half an egg than an empty shell. | |
9. | Don't put all your eggs in one basket. | |
10. | Eggs and oaths are easily broken. | Dan. |
11. | Eggs are close things, but the chicks come out at last. | Chinese. |
12. | Eggs are put to hatch on chance. | Fr. |
13. | Eggs of an hour, fish of ten; bread of a day, wine of a year; a woman of fifteen and a man of thirty. | |
14. | He has lost the nest egg. | Dutch. |
15. | He lays his eggs beside his nest. | Dutch. |
16. | He that will have eggs must have cackling. | Dutch. |
17. | He who treads on eggs must tread lightly. | Ger. |
18. | It is hard to shave an egg. | |
19. | Neither good egg nor bird. | |
20. | One rotten egg spoils the whole pudding. | Ger. |
21. | One should not put too many eggs under one hen. | Ger. |
22. | One should not sell the egg until it is laid. | Ger. |
23. | Out of a white egg often comes a black chick. | |
24. | Presented eggs are always fresh. | Ger. |
25. | Send not for a hatchet with which to break open an egg. | |
26. | Shave the egg and take its hair. | M. Greek. |
27. | Sometimes an egg is given for an ox.[293] | Ital. |
28. | The egg teaches the hen and the tile the potter. | Ger. |
29. | The egg will be more knowing than the hen. | Ger. |
30. | There goes reasoning to the roasting of eggs. | |
31. | To cackle and lay no egg. | Sp., Por. |
32. | Unlaid eggs are uncertain chickens. | Ger. |
33. | Upon an egg the hen lays an egg. | Fr. |
34. | You will find it out when you want to fry the eggs. | Sp. |
Egotist. | ||
1. | An egotist is especially hated by all other egotists. | |
2. | Egotism is an alphabet of one letter. | London Truth. |
Egypt. | ||
1. | He that hath not seen Egypt has not seen the greatest sight in the world. | Arabian Nights. |
Elephant. | ||
1. | An elephant does not catch mice. | Latin. |
2. | He hath an elephant on his hands. (Like the subject to whom an Eastern prince made a present of an elephant and forbade his selling it or disposing of it in any way.) | |
3. | The elephant does not feel a flea bite. | Ital. |
Eloquence. | ||
1. | As the grace of man is in the mind, so the beauty of the mind is eloquence. | Cicero. |
2. | Eloquence avails nothing against the voice of gold.[294] | Latin. |
3. | He who has heard the world acquires eloquence. | M. Greek. |
4. | It is easy to defend the innocent but who is eloquent enough to defend the guilty. | Syrus. |
5. | True eloquence consists in saying all that is proper and nothing more. | Rochefoucauld. |
6. | Unprofitable eloquence is like the cypress: great and tall but bears no fruit. | |
Embassador. | ||
1. | An embassador beareth no blame. | Ital. |
2. | An embassador is a good man sent abroad to lie for the good of his country. | Wotton. |
Empire. | ||
1. | The empire is peace. | Napoleon III. |
2. | To make an empire durable, the magistrates must obey the law and the people the magistrates. | Solon. |
Empty. | ||
1. | Empty vessels make the most sound. | Fr., Ger., Dutch, Dan. |
2. | Empty wagons make most noise. | Dan. |
3. | The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. | Shaks. |
Emulation. | ||
1. | Emulation is lively and generous, envy base and malicious. | |
2. | Emulation is the whetstone of genius. | Latin. |
3. | Emulation layeth up a grudge. | |
End. | ||
1. | All's well that ends well. | Shaks. |
2. | At the end the thing is praised.[295] | Hungarian. |
3. | In all undertakings it is necessary to consider the end. | La Fontaine. |
4. | In the end it will be known who ate the bacon. | Fr. |
5. | In the end things will mend. | |
6. | Let the end try the man. | Shaks. |
7. | Look at the end. | |
8. | The end crowns the work. | Fr., Ital., Por., Dutch. |
9. | The end makes all equal. | |
10. | The end must justify the means. | Prior. |
11. | The end of a dissolute life is commonly a desperate death. | Bion. |
12. | The end of all things is death. | Dutch. |
13. | The end of the corsair is to drown. | Ital. |
14. | There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will. | Shaks. |
Ends of Man. | ||
1. | In two rules he summed the ends of man: Keep all you have and try for all you can. | Bulwer. |
Enduring. | ||
1. | He that endureth is not overcome. | |
2. | He that tholes (endures) overcomes. | Scotch. |
3. | Through much enduring come things that cannot be endured. | Latin. |
4. | You must endure that which cannot be altered.[296] | Syrus. |
Enemy. | ||
1. | A dead enemy is as good as a cold friend. | Ger. |
2. | A sly enemy is worth more than ten others. | Ger. |
3. | An enemy does not sleep. | Fr. |
4. | An enemy has sharp eyes and acute ears. | Ger. |
5. | An enemy is a perpetual spy. | |
6. | An enemy is a thorn in the quilt. | Pashto. |
7. | An enemy may chance to give good counsel. | |
8. | An enemy's envy is an honor. | Latin. |
9. | An enemy's envy is his own punishment. | Tamil. |
10. | An enemy's present is no favor. | M. Greek. |
11. | An enemy to beauty is a foe to nature. | |
12. | An enemy who begging forgiveness lies at thy feet must not feel thy sword. | |
13. | An old enemy becomes not a friend. | M. Greek. |
14. | An open enemy is better than a false friend. | Ger. |
15. | Be my enemy and go to my mill. | Sp. |
16. | Be my enemy far from me he may live a thousand years. | Turk. |
17. | Be thine enemy an ant, see in him an elephant. | Turk. |
18. | Best dealing with the enemy when you take him at the weakest.[297] | |
19. | Better a wise enemy than a foolish friend. | M. Greek. |
20. | Better to have the enemy in front than in the rear. | |
21. | Beware of enemies reconciled and of meat twice boiled. | Sp. |
22. | Build golden bridges for the flying foe. | Ger. |
23. | Consider that an enemy may become a friend. | Syrus. |
24. | Do not despise your enemy. | |
25. | Do not spread your corn to dry at an enemy's door. | Asturian. |
26. | Every man carries an enemy in his own bosom. | Dan. |
27. | Every one has both enemies and friends. | Ger. |
28. | For a flying enemy make a silver bridge. | |
29. | He is above his enemies that despises their injuries. | |
30. | He that dallies with his enemy gives him leave to kill him. | |
31. | He who feeds a wolf strengthens his enemy. | Dan. |
32. | He who has enemies let him not sleep. | Sp. |
33. | He who has three enemies must agree with two. | Ger. |
34. | He who makes light of his enemy dies by his hand. | Sp. |
35. | His own enemy is no one's friend. | Ger. |
36. | How learned a thing it is to beware of the humblest enemy.[298] | Ben Jonson. |
37. | If I wished to punish an enemy, I would make him hate somebody. | Hannah More. |
38. | If we are bound to forgive an enemy, we are not bound to trust him. | |
39. | If we be enemies to ourselves, whither shall we fly. | |
40. | If you have no enemies it is a sign fortune has forgot you. | |
41. | If you would make an enemy, lend a man money and ask it of him again. | |
42. | In an enemy spots are soon seen. | |
43. | It is a miserable lot to be without an enemy. | Syrus. |
44. | Little enemies and little wounds are not to be despised. | Ger. |
45. | Look with suspicion upon the flight of an enemy. | Ital. |
46. | Make a silver bridge for a flying enemy. | Sp., Por. |
47. | Make no enemies. | Cingalese. |
48. | Man has not a greater enemy than himself. | Petrarch. |
49. | Many enemies, much honor. | Ger. |
50. | Never fight an enemy while it is possible to cheat him. | |
51. | No enemy is so despicable but he may do one a vexatious turn. | L'Estrange. |
52. | No man is without enemies. | Arabian. |
53. | Once an enemy always an enemy. | |
54. | One can learn even from an enemy.[299] | Ger. |
55. | One enemy can harm you more than a hundred friends can do you good. | Ger. |
56. | One should not believe the enemy though he tell the truth. | Ger. |
57. | Out of a secret enemy one must make an open one. | Ger. |
58. | Receive instruction from an enemy. | Ovid. |
59. | So many slaves so many enemies. | Ger. |
60. | That is a most wretched fortune which is without an enemy. | Latin. |
61. | The body of a dead enemy always smells well. | Charles IX. of France. |
62. | The enemy is sleepless. | Ger. |
63. | The officer who grapples with the enemy can never be wrong. | Nelson. |
64. | The stouter the enemy the more glorious the victory. | Ger. |
65. | The weakness of the enemy makes our own strength. | Fr. |
66. | There is no enemy that cannot do harm. | Ger. |
67. | There is no little enemy. | |
68. | There is no such thing as an insignificant enemy. | Fr. |
69. | Though thy enemy seem a mouse, yet watch him like a lion. | |
70. | Though you are bound to love your enemy, you are not bound to put your sword in his hand. | |
71. | To learn of an enemy has always been accounted honorable. | Dr. Johnson. |
72. | Water sleeps, the enemy wakes.[300] | Turk. |
73. | We carry our greatest enemies within us. | |
74. | We have met the enemy and he is ours. | Perry. |
75. | What signifies dying the day after thine enemy. | Arabian Nights. |
76. | When thine enemy retreateth make him a golden bridge. | Dutch. |
77. | When two enemies blow one horn the third will have to suffer for it. | Dan. |
78. | When you are on the road speak not ill of your enemy. | Sp. |
79. | Who is your enemy? A man of your own trade. | Sp. |
80. | Your enemy makes you wise. | Ital. |
England, Englishman. | ||
1. | A right Englishman knows not when a thing is well. | |
2. | England is the paradise of woman, the hell of horses and the purgatory of servants. | |
3. | Every Englishman's house is his castle. | |
4. | He that would England win Must with Ireland first begin. | |
5. | Saxon industry and Norman manners will never agree. | Bea. |
6. | The English never value anything until they lose it. | (Talleyrand made this remark in regard to the colonies of that country.) |
7. | The Englishman weeps, the Irishman sleeps, but the Scotsman goes until he gets it.[301] | |
8. | The Italianized Englishman is a devil incarnate. | Ital. |
9. | When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather. | Dr. Johnson. |
Enough. | ||
1. | Enough is as good as a feast. | Dutch. |
2. | Enough is as good as a feast to one that is not a beast. | |
3. | Enough is a feast, too much vanity. | |
4. | Enough is better than a sack full. | Ger. |
5. | Enough is better than too much. | Fr., Dutch. |
6. | Enough is enough of bread and cheese. | |
7. | Enough is great riches. | Dan. |
8. | Enough to keep the wolf from the door. | |
9. | Good enough is never ought. | |
10. | Leave well enough alone. | |
11. | More than enough is too much. | |
12. | Of enough men leave. | |
13. | That is never to be called little which a man thinks to be enough. | |
14. | There is never enough where naught is left. | Ital. |
15. | There is not enough if there is not too much. | Fr. |
16. | What is enough is never little. | Fr. |
Enterprising. | ||
1. | The enterprising are often fortunate. | Bea. |
Envy. | ||
1. | A man envies every other man except his son and his pupil.[302] | Hebrew. |
2. | A quarrel in a neighbor's house is refreshing. i.e., to envious persons. | Tamil. |
3. | After honor and state, follow envy and hate. | Dutch. |
4. | All envy is between neighbors. | Ger. |
5. | An envious man is a squint-eyed fool. | |
6. | An envious man waxes lean with the fatness of his neighbor. | |
7. | As a moth gnaws a garment, so does envy consume a man. | Chrysostomus. |
8. | As love thinks no evil, so envy thinks no good. | |
9. | As rust corrupts iron, so envy corrupts man. | Anisthenes. |
10. | Bad eyes never see any good. | |
11. | Base envy withers at another's joy, And hates the excellence it cannot reach. | Thomson. |
12. | Better the envy of enemies than the pity of friends. | Ger. |
13. | Envy always pursues the fortunate and meritorious. | Arabian. |
14. | Envy assails the noblest, the winds howl around the highest peaks. | Arabian. |
15. | Envy and covetousness are never satisfied. | |
16. | Envy beats itself. | Ger. |
17. | Envy crieth of spite where honor rideth. | Dutch. |
18. | Envy does not enter an empty house. | Dan. |
19. | Envy doth merit like its shade pursue.[303] | Aristophanes. |
20. | Envy envies itself. | Ger. |
21. | Envy feeds on the living, it ceases when they are dead. | Ovid. |
22. | Envy follows good fortune. | Ger. |
23. | Envy goes beyond avarice. | Fr. |
24. | Envy has made no man rich. | Ger. |
25. | Envy is a kind of praise. | Gay. |
26. | Envy is an awkward homage that inferiority pays to merit. | La Motte. |
27. | Envy is blind and is only clever in depreciating the virtues of others. | Livy. |
28. | Envy is its own torture. | Dan. |
29. | Envy is productive of hatred, and pity borders on contempt. | Gibbon. |
30. | Envy is the mean man's gratitude. | Bulwer. |
31. | Envy is the sorrow of fools. | Ger. |
32. | Envy is the worst disease. | Ger. |
33. | Envy like fire soars upward. | Livy. |
34. | Envy makes sorrow. | Ger. |
35. | Envy which turns pale, And sickens even if a friend prevail. | Churchill. |
36. | Envy never has a holiday. | Latin. |
37. | Envy never yet enriched any man. | |
38. | Envy no man. | |
39. | Envy not the store Of the greatest man that grinds the poor. | Dryden. |
40. | Envy sets the stronger seal on desert.[304] | Ben Jonson. |
41. | Envy shoots at others and wounds herself. | |
42. | Envy—the dyspepsia of the mind. | Punch. |
43. | Envy was never a good spokesman. | |
44. | Envy will be a science when it learns the use of the microscope. | Bulwer. |
45. | He who envies, suffers. | Ger. |
46. | He who envies us admits his inferiority. | Latin. |
47. | If envy were a fever all the world would be ill. | Dan. |
48. | Many owe their fortunes to their enviers. | |
49. | No one lives who does not envy. | Ger. |
50. | Nothing can allay the rage of biting envy. | |
51. | Nothing sharpens sight like envy. | |
52. | The envious hurts others something, but himself more. | |
53. | The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbors. | Horace. |
54. | The envious man's face grows sharp and his eyes big. | Sp., Por. |
55. | The envious man, who sends away his mutton because the person next him is eating venison. | Punch. |
56. | The envious die, but envy never. | Fr. |
57. | The fortunate or the brave can afford to laugh at envy. | Syrus. |
58. | The greatest mischief you can do to the envious is to do well. | |
59. | The over envious are not over wise.[305] | Massinger. |
60. | The Sicilian tyrants never devised a greater punishment than envy. | Juvenal. |
61. | The smoke (envy) follows the fairest. | |
62. | There are some who see ill and would like to see worse. | Ital. |
63. | Those that are advanced by degrees are less envied than those that are advanced suddenly. | Bacon. |
64. | Those who raise envy will easily incur censure. | Dr. Johnson. |
65. | Two things ought to be the object of our fear, the envy of our friends and the hatred of our enemies. | Bias. |
66. | When fortune's chariot rolls easily, envy and shame cling to the wheels. | Dan. |
67. | With fame in just proportion envy grows, The man that makes a character makes foes. | Young. |
Equality. | ||
1. | Equality causes no war. | Solon. |
Equity. | ||
1. | Equity is half religion. | Turk. |
Equivocation. | ||
1. | Equivocation is first cousin to a lie. | |
Erring, Error. | ||
1. | A monarch's errors are forbidden game. | Cowper. |
2. | Each is enslaved by the same error and the only difference is it mocks them in different ways. | Horace. |
3. | Erring is not cheating. | Ger. |
4. | Error is always in haste. | |
5. | Error is no payment. | Ital. |
6. | Error though blind herself sometimes brings forth children that can see. | |
7. | Errors in the first concoction are hardly mended in the second. | |
8. | Every age confutes old errors and begets new. | |
9. | Find earth where grows no weed and you may find a heart where no error grows. | Knowles. |
10. | He never errs who sacrifices himself. | Bulwer. |
11. | He who stops half way is only half in error. | Ger. |
12. | Him who errs forgive once, but never twice. | Sp. |
13. | Improve rather by other men's errors than find fault with them. | |
14. | It is a manly act to forsake an error. | |
15. | It is human to err but diabolical to persevere. | |
16. | No errors are so dangerous as those of great men. | |
17. | Nothing can give stability and durable uniformity to error. | Bolingbroke. |
18. | One error breeds twenty more. | |
19. | The errors of young men are the ruin of business. | Bacon. |
20. | To err again on the same string. | |
21. | To err is human, to forgive divine.[307] | Pope, Ger., Dutch. |
22. | To err is human, to persevere in error is the act of a fool. | Latin. |
23. | Who errs in the tens errs in the thousands. | Ital. |
Eschewed. | ||
1. | What cannot be eschewed must be embraced. | Shaks. |
Estate. | ||
1. | An estate inherited is the less valued. | Por. |
2. | Estates are landscapes gazed upon awhile, Then advertised and auctioneered away. | Cowper. |
3. | He has a good estate but that the right owner keeps it from him. (Ironically spoken.) | |
4. | He that gets an estate will probably never spend it. | |
5. | He who walks daily over his estate finds a coin each time. | Hebrew. |
6. | It is a hard thing to have a great estate and not fall in love with it. | |
7. | It is good to be near of kin to an estate. | |
8. | Many would have been worse, if their estates had been better. | |
9. | The bones of a great estate are worth the picking. | |
10. | To the world no bug-bear is so great, As want of figure and a small estate. | Pope. |
11. | What is a great estate good for if it bring melancholy?[308] | |
Esteem. | ||
1. | Ill grounded passions quickly wear away, What's built upon esteem can ne'er decay. | Walsh. |
Eternity. | ||
1. | Eternity has no gray hairs. | |
2. | Eternity whose end no eye can reach. | Milton. |
Euclid. | ||
1. | You may dance on the ropes without reading Euclid. | |
Eve. | ||
1. | Eve is not yet dead. | Ger. |
Even. | ||
1. | Even paupers live on the parish page. | Bulwer. |
2. | Even speed when we are anxious seems like delay. | Syrus. |
3. | Even sugar itself may spoil a good dish. | |
4. | Even the dog gets bread by wagging his tail. | Ital. |
5. | Even workhouses have their aristocracy. | Maga. |
Evening. | ||
1. | The evening crowns the day. | |
Every. | ||
1. | Every back hath its pack. | London Truth. |
2. | Every bean hath its black. | |
3. | Every block will not make a Mercury. | |
4. | Every gap hath its bush. | |
5. | Every glow-worm is not a fire. | Ital., Ger. |
6. | Every herring must hang by its own gill. | |
7. | Every hill has its valley. | Ital. |
8. | Every horse thinks his own pack heaviest. | |
9. | Every Jack must have his Jill. | |
10. | Every light has its shadow. | |
11. | Every light is not the sun. | |
12. | Every man has equal strength to sail. | |
13. | Every man has his liking. | Dan. |
14. | Every man is not bred at a varsity (university). | Fielding. |
15. | Every man to his taste. | Fr. |
16. | Every “maybe” hath a “maybe not.” | |
17. | Every medal has its reverse. | Fr., Ital. |
18. | Every monster hath its multitudes. | |
19. | Every mote doth not blind a man. | |
20. | “Every one as she likes,” as the old woman said when she kissed the cow. | |
21. | Every one hath a penny for a new ale-house. | |
22. | Every one his own is but fair. | Fr. |
23. | Every one is emperor in his own ground. | Ger. |
24. | Every one's censure is first moulded in his own nature. | |
25. | Every one must row with the oars he has. | |
26. | Every one speaks as he is. | |
27. | Every one speaks of the feast (or the fair) as he finds it. | Sp., Por. |
28. | Every one stretches his legs according to the length of his coverlet.[310] | Sp., Por. |
29. | Every one takes his flogging in his own way. | |
30. | Every one to his equal. | Por. |
31. | Every one to his own calling and the ox to the plough. | Ital. |
32. | Every one tries to cross the fence where it is lowest. | Dan. |
33. | Every opinion has its answer. | M. Greek. |
34. | Every plummet is not for every sound. | |
35. | Every pomegranate has its rotten pip. | Latin. |
36. | Every procession must end. | Bea. |
37. | Every reed will not make a pipe. | |
38. | Every rumor is believed when directed against the unfortunate. | Syrus. |
39. | Every scale has its counterpoise. | |
40. | Every shop has its trick. | Ital. |
41. | Every slip is not a fall. | |
42. | Every sore-eyed person is an oculist. | |
43. | Every sprat now-a-days calls itself a herring. | |
44. | Everything does not fall that totters. | Fr. |
45. | Everything has an end except a sausage which has two. | Dan. |
46. | Everything has its price as the old woman said when she sold the rotten apples. | Ger. |
47. | Everything has two sides. | Dutch. |
48. | Everything is good for something. | Ital. |
49. | Everything is good in its season. | Ital. |
50. | Everything is good in its way. | Maga. |
51. | Everything is the worse for wearing. | |
52. | Everything may be except a ditch without a bank.[311] | |
53. | Everything may be repaired except the neckbone. | Ital. |
54. | Everything passes, everything breaks, everything wearies. | Fr. |
55. | Everything would be well were there not a but. | Ger. |
56. | Every tub must stand on its own bottom. | Dan. |
57. | Every vine must have its stake. | Ital. |
58. | Every tub smells of the wine it holds. | |
Evil. | ||
1. | A small evil is a great good. | Greek. |
2. | An evil lesson is soon learned. | |
3. | An evil life is a kind of death. | Ovid. |
4. | Better suffer a great evil than do a little one. | |
5. | Better to suffer a known evil than to change for uncertain good. | Sp. |
6. | Depart from evil and do good. | Bible. |
7. | Do not stir up an evil that has been fairly buried. | Latin. |
8. | Evil to him who evil thinks. (Honi soi qui mal-y-pense.) | Motto of Great Britain. |
9. | Evil comes not amiss if it comes alone. | Don Quixote. |
10. | Evil comes to us by ells and goes away by inches. | |
11. | Evil communications corrupt good manners. | |
12. | Evil conduct is the root of misery. | Chinese. |
13. | Evil doing costs more than well doing. | Ger. |
14. | Evil fall on him who goes to seek it. | Don Quixote. |
15. | Evil gains are as bad as a loss. | Hesiod. |
16. | Evil got, evil spent. | |
17. | Evil habits soil a fine dress more than mud. | Plautus. |
18. | Evil is fittest to consort with evil. | Livy. |
19. | Evil is soon believed. | |
20. | Evil is soon done but slowly mended. | Dan. |
21. | Evil must be drawn out by evil. | Dan. |
22. | Evil they sow and sorrow will they reap for their harvest. | Southey. |
23. | Evil wastes itself. | Dan. |
24. | Evils that are past should not be mourned. | |
25. | He sucked evil from the dug. | |
26. | How much pain the evils have cost us that have never happened. | |
27. | Let us permit men to speak evil of us; is it not sufficient they cannot do it? | Augustus. |
28. | Never do evil that good may come of it. | Ital. |
29. | No evil is great if it is the last. | Nepos. |
30. | No face all ugly e'er was seen on earth, No heart all evil e'er from Eve had birth. | |
31. | Of two evils choose the least. | |
32. | Some evils are cured by contempt. | |
33. | That evil which is old at night is yet the offspring of every morning. | Hebrew. |
34. | That which is evil is soon learnt. | |
35. | The evil comes upon us all at once like sticks upon a dog.[313] | Don Quixote. |
36. | The evil is lessened when it is seen beforehand. | Latin. |
37. | The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones. | Shaks. |
38. | The evil which issues from thy mouth falls into thy bosom. | Sp. |
39. | The evil wound is cured but not the evil name. | |
40. | The last evil smarts the most. | |
41. | There are evils which compared to others are benefits. | |
42. | Three great evils come out of the north, a cold wind, a cunning knave and a shrinking cloth. | |
43. | To a mortal man no evil is immortal. | |
44. | To every evil doer his evil day. | Sp. |
45. | We will not believe the existence of evil until it is upon us. | La Fontaine. |
46. | Who does not punish evil invites it. | Ger. |
47. | Who doth no evil is apt to suspect none. | |
Example. | ||
1. | A good example is the best sermon. | |
2. | Admiral Byng was shot to encourage others. | Voltaire. |
3. | Example does more than much teaching. | Ger. |
4. | Examples of justice are more merciful than the unbounded exercise of pity. | Machiavelli. |
5. | Examples teach more than precepts.[314] | |
6. | Examples work stronger and quicker in the minds of men than precepts. | Fielding. |
7. | Follow example: Literal: Recite according to the book. | Chinese. |
8. | Follow example in drawing your calabash. | Chinese. |
9. | Follow the good and learn to be so. | Chinese. |
10. | Good example is half a sermon. | Ger. |
11. | Ill examples are like contagious diseases. | |
12. | One ill example spoils many good. | |
13. | Profit by good example. | |
14. | The example of good men is visible philosophy. | |
15. | Unless parents set a good example to their children they will furnish a plain reason to be used by them against themselves. | Euripides. |
16. | Where the dam leaps over, the kid follows. | |
Excess. | ||
1. | All the virtues by excess degenerate into vices. | |
2. | Beware of excess. | |
3. | Every excess becomes a vice. | Latin. |
4. | Everything in excess is adverse to nature. | Hippocrates. |
5. | He that exceeds the commission must answer for it at his own cost. | Ger. |
6. | Nothing to excess. | La Fontaine. |
7. | To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue [315]Unto the rainbow, or with taper light To seek the beauteous eye of Heaven to garnish, Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. | Shaks. |
Excuse. | ||
1. | A poor excuse is better than none. | Latin. |
2. | An unasked excuse infers transgression. | Ital. |
3. | An excuse is good if it hold good. | Ital. |
4. | Any excuse will serve when one has not a mind to do a thing. | Ital. |
5. | Better a bad excuse than none at all. | |
6. | He that does amiss never lacks excuses. | Ital. |
7. | He who excuses himself, accuses himself. | Fr., Ital., Dutch. |
8. | That which is customary requires no excuse. | Ital. |
9. | Why should excuse be born or e'er begot. | Shaks. |
Execution. | ||
1. | Speedy execution is the mother of good fortune. | |
Exertion. | ||
1. | Lambs don't run into the mouth of the sleeping wolf. | Dan. |
2. | No great good comes without looking after it. | |
3. | No pear falls into a shut mouth. | Ital. |
4. | Roast geese don't come flying into the mouth. | Dutch. |
5. | Roast pigeons don't fly through the air.[316] | |
6. | You may gape long enough ere a bird fall in your mouth. | |
Exiles. | ||
1. | Exiles, the proverb says, subsist on hope. | Euripides. |
Expect. | ||
1. | Expect not at another's hand what you can do by your own. | Sp. |
2. | Expect to be treated as you have treated others. | Latin. |
3. | To expect to expect, is worth four hundred drachms. | |
Expedient. | ||
1. | Many things lawful are not expedient. | |
Expense. | ||
1. | Set thy expense according to thy trade. | Dutch. |
Expenses. | ||
1. | The sole sign of a man being in his senses Is learning to reduce his past expenses. | Byron. |
Experience. | ||
1. | A bitten child dreads a dog. | |
2. | A burnt cat shuns the fire-place. | Tamil. |
3. | A burnt child dreads the fire. | |
4. | A novice at the first attempt, an adept at the second. | Chinese. |
5. | A scalded cat dreads cold water. | Fr., Por. |
6. | A scalded dog thinks cold water hot. | Ital. |
7. | After mischance every one is wise. | Fr. |
8. | All is but lip wisdom that wanteth experience.[317] | |
9. | By falling we learn to go safely. | Dutch. |
10. | Could everything be done twice everything would be done better. | Ger. |
11. | Even the fool knows from experience. | Hesiod. |
12. | Experience breedeth art, lack of experience chance. | Ben Jonson. |
13. | Experience is good if not bought too dear. | |
14. | Experience is the best teacher. | |
15. | Experience is the blind man's dog. | Punch. |
16. | Experience is the fool's master, reason the wise man's. | Ger. |
17. | Experience is the father of wisdom and memory the mother. | |
18. | Experience is the great baffler of speculation. | |
19. | Experience is the great test of truth and is perpetually contradicting the theories of men. | Dr. Johnson. |
20. | Experience is the mistress of fools. | Latin. |
21. | Experience is the mother of science. | |
22. | Experience joined to common-sense, To mortals is a providence. | Green. |
23. | Experience keeps a dear school, but fools learn in no other. | |
24. | Experience makes fools wise. | |
25. | Experience purchased by suffering teaches wisdom. | Latin. |
26. | Experience teaches fools and he is a great one that will not learn by it. | |
27. | Experience without learning is better than learning without experience.[318] | |
28. | He knows the water best who has waded through it. | Dan. |
29. | He who has been bitten by a snake is afraid of an eel. | |
30. | He who has been stung by a scorpion is afraid of its shadow. | Sp. |
31. | He who has been stung by a serpent is afraid of a lizard. | Ital. |
32. | He who has crossed the ford knows how deep it is. | Ital. |
33. | He who has once burnt his mouth always blows his soup. | Ger. |
34. | I know by my own pot how the others boil. | Fr. |
35. | Once bit, twice shy. | |
36. | Personal experience is better than book learning. | |
37. | Scalded cats fear even cold water. | |
Experiment. | ||
1. | Make your experiment on a worthless subject. | Latin. |
Extravagance. | ||
1. | He builds cages fit for oxen to keep his birds in. | |
2. | He burns his candle at both ends. | Dutch. |
3. | He that runs out by extravagance must retrieve by parsimony. | |
Extremes. | ||
1. | All extremes are vicious and come from man. [319]All compensation is just and comes from God. | La Bruyère. |
2. | Avoid extremes and shun the fault of such Who still are pleased too little or too much. | Pope. |
3. | Clasp not the corpse from fear of the ghost. (Don't rush to extremes.) | Malay. |
4. | Extremes meet. | Fr. |
5. | It is best to be cautious and to avoid extremes. | Plutarch. |
6. | Run not from one extreme to another. | |
Eye. | ||
1. | A chaste eye exiles licentious looks. | |
2. | A man who has but one eye must take good care of it. | Fr. |
3. | All that you get you can put in your eye and see none the worse. | |
4. | An evil eye can see no good. | Dan. |
5. | An eye finds more truth than two ears. | Ger. |
6. | Better eye out than always watching. | |
7. | Better one-eyed than stone blind. | Ger., Sp. |
8. | Cure your sore eyes only with your elbow. | |
9. | Four eyes see more than two. | |
10. | He that would keep his eye sound must tie up his hand. | Por. |
11. | Her eyes are homes of silent prayer. | Tennyson. |
12. | I went to cross myself and put out one of my eyes. | Sp., Por. |
13. | If the eye do not admire the heart will not desire.[320] | Ital. |
14. | If the eye don't see the heart won't break. | Sp. |
15. | If you have a sore eye wipe it with your elbow. | Fr. |
16. | In every battle the eye is first conquered. | Tacitus. |
17. | In the forehead and the eye the lecture of the mind doth lie. | |
18. | It is all in my eye. (An expression sometimes used to express disbelief in an improbable statement.) | |
19. | It is better to trust the eye than the ear. | Ger. |
20. | It is the open eye that weeps. | Dr. South. |
21. | Many see more with one eye than others with two. | Ger. |
22. | One bad eye spoils the other. | Ger. |
23. | One may have good eyes and see nothing. | Ital. |
24. | Out with the eye that profits me not. | Turk. |
25. | The eye believes itself, the ear other people. | Ger. |
26. | The eye is a shrew. | |
27. | The eye is bigger than your belly. | Ger. |
28. | The eye is blind if the mind is absent. | Ital. |
29. | The eye is never satisfied with seeing. | Ger. |
30. | The eye is the pearl of the face. | |
31. | The eye of the housewife makes the cow fat. | Ger. |
32. | The eye of the master does more than both his hands.[321] | |
33. | The eye of the master fattens the steed. | Fr., Ital., Sp., Dan. |
34. | The eye of the master is the horse's grooming. | Turk. |
35. | The eye of the master makes the horse fat and that of the mistress the chambers neat. | Dutch. |
36. | The eye strays not while under the guidance of reason. | Syrus. |
37. | The eye that sees all things else, sees not itself. | |
38. | The eyes believe themselves, the ears other people. | Ger. |
39. | The eyes of the great are dim. | Turk. |
40. | The eyes of the hare are one thing and the eyes of the owl another. | M. Greek. |
41. | The eyes serve for ears to the deaf. | Ital. |
42. | The eyes, the ears, the tongue, all fast in their way. | |
43. | The one-eyed is king in the land of the blind. | Fr., Ger., Sp., Por. |
44. | There are eyes that fall in love with bleared ones. | Sp. |
45. | Two eyes see more than one. | Por. |
46. | Wanting to make right the eyebrows he pulled out his eyes. | Turk. |
47. | What I see with my eyes I can guess with my fingers. | Sp. |
48. | What the eye sees not, the heart craves not. | Dutch. |
49. | What the eye sees not, the heart rues not.[322] | Fr., Ital., Ger. |
50. | What the eye sees not breaks not the heart. | Don Quixote. |
51. | What the eyes see the heart believes. | Ger. |
52. | Woe be to an evil eye. | Dan. |
Face. | ||
1. | A good face needs no band, and a bad one deserves none, and pretty wench no land. | |
2. | A good face needs no paint. | |
3. | Fair faces need no paint. | |
4. | He had a face like a benediction. | Don Quixote. |
5. | There is virtue in a man's face; i.e., presence carries weight. | Fr. |
6. | There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face. | Shaks. |
Fact. | ||
1. | A single fact is worth a ship load of argument. | |
2. | But facts are chiels that winna ding. An' downa be disputed. | Burns. |
3. | Dar's some fac's in de wol' dat don't slide 'long on de telegraph wire. | American Negro. |
4. | Facts are more powerful than words. | |
5. | Facts are stubborn things. | Smollett. |
6. | One fact is stronger than twenty texts. | |
Faggot. | ||
1. | The fast faggot is not easily broken. | |
2. | There are faggots and faggots; i.e., all are not alike. Fr[323]. | |
Failings. | ||
1. | His failings leaned to virtue's side. | Goldsmith. |
2. | Other men's failings accuse us of frailty. | |
3. | We carry our neighbor's failings in sight; we throw our own over our shoulders. | |
Faint Heart. | ||
1. | Faint heart is always in danger. | Por. |
2. | Faint heart never won fair lady. | Burns. |
Fair. | ||
1. | Fair feathers make fair fowls. | |
2. | Fair in the cradle, foul in the saddle. | |
3. | Fair play is a jewel. | |
4. | Fair things are soon snatched away. | |
5. | There is many a fair thing fu' fa'se. | |
6. | To every bird his nest is fair. | Fr., Ital. |
7. | Men speak of the fair as things went with them there. | |
Fairest. | ||
1. | The fairest mark is easiest hit. | |
2. | The fairest silk is soonest stained. | |
Fair Hair. | ||
1. | Fair hair may hae foul roots. | |
2. | Falseness often lurks beneath fair hair. | Dan. |
Faith. | ||
1. | Faith flourishes in solitude.[324] | Bea. |
2. | Faith sees by the ears. | |
3. | He distrusts his own faith who often swears. | Ital. |
4. | Meek faith converts the couch of pain into a bed of roses, For there we moral vigor gain to bear what God disposes. | Pennia Moïses. |
5. | Much knowledge of things divine escapes us through want of faith. | Heraclitus. |
6. | Pin not your faith on another's sleeve. | |
7. | The ancient faith knows no guile. | Maga. |
8. | To revive faith is more difficult than to create it. | Bea. |
9. | Who don't keep faith with God, won't keep it with man. | Dutch. |
Falling. | ||
1. | He that abideth low cannot fall hard. | Dutch. |
2. | He that creepeth falleth not. | Dutch. |
3. | He that falls to-day may be up again to-morrow. | |
4. | He that falls by himself never cries. | Turk. |
5. | He that falls into the sea takes hold of a serpent to be saved. | |
6. | He that is down can fall no longer. | Butler. |
7. | He that lies on the ground cannot fall. | Loyal Songs, Latin. |
8. | He who does not soar high will suffer less by a fall. | Chinese. |
9. | It is better to fall from the window than the roof.[325] | |
10. | Keeping from falling is better than helping up. | |
11. | Lofty towers fall down with the greatest crash. | Horace. |
12. | No one falls low unless he attempts to climb high. | Dan. |
13. | Not all that shakes (or trembles) falls. | Ital. |
14. | One falls to the side to which one leans. | Fr. |
15. | One may sooner fall than rise. | |
16. | Some falls are means the happier to rise. | Shaks. |
17. | The higher the mountain, the lower the vale, The taller the tree, the harder the fall. | Dutch. |
18. | The higher the rise, the greater the fall. | Fr., Ital., Sp. |
19. | Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall. | Smollett. |
Falling Out. | ||
1. | When two fall out, the third wins. | Ger. |
False. | ||
1. | False in one thing, false in all. | Legal Maxim. |
2. | He is false by nature that has a black head and a red beard. | |
3. | Though a thing has been false a hundred years, it cannot become true. | Ger. |
False Charges. | ||
1. | To invent false charges is never difficult. | |
Falsehood. | ||
1. | A goodly apple rotten at the heart, [326]O what a goodly outside falsehood hath. | Shaks. |
False Swearing. | ||
1. | He that sweareth falsely denieth God. | |
2. | He who swears is a liar. | Ital. |
Fame. | ||
1. | A good fame is better than a good face. | |
2. | Ah! who can tell how hard it is to climb The steep where fame's proud temple shines afar. | Beattie. |
3. | All fame is dangerous, good bringeth envy, bad, shame. | |
4. | And what is fame? The meanest have their day, The greatest can but blaze and pass away. | Pope. |
5. | Better than fame is still the wish for fame, The glorious training for a glorious strife. | Lytton. |
6. | Common fame hath a blister on its tongue. | |
7. | Common fame is a common liar. | |
8. | Common fame is seldom to blame. | Ger. |
9. | Common fame seldom lies. | Dutch. |
10. | Every fame worth having must be fought for. | Maga. |
11. | Fame and repute follow a man to the door. | Dan. |
12. | Fame is a magnifying glass. | |
13. | Fame is a thin shadow of eternity. | |
14. | Fame is but the breath of the people and that often unwholesome.[327] | |
15. | Fame is in the keeping of the mob. | |
16. | Fame is the last infirmity of noble minds. | Milton. |
17. | Fame is the perfume of heroic deeds. | Socrates. |
18. | Fame like a river is narrowest at its source and broadest afar off. | |
19. | Folly loves the martyrdom of fame. | Byron. |
20. | Fondness for fame is avarice of air. | Young. |
21. | From fame to infamy is a beaten road. | |
22. | His fame ('tis all the dead can have) shall live. | Homer. |
23. | If you would earn (or deserve) fame, let not the sun shine on you (or find you in bed). | Sp. |
24. | Some have the fame and others card the wool. | Sp. |
25. | The aspiring youth that fired the Ephesian dome outlives the pious fool that raised it. | Gibbon. |
26. | The way to fame is like the way to heaven, through much tribulation. | Sterne. |
27. | There is a different fame goes about of every man. | |
28. | They say fame is a calamity, take care! | Turk. |
29. | Various are the roads to fame. | Ital. |
30. | What is the end of fame? 'tis but to fill A certain portion of uncertain paper. | Byron. |
31. | What rage for fame attends both great and small! [328]Better be d—d than mentioned not at all. | Wolcott. |
32. | Who can escape envy or blame, That speaks or writes for public fame? | Dutch. |
Familiar. | ||
1. | Man is clogged with what is too familiar to him. | Turkish Spy. |
Familiarity. | ||
1. | A thing too much seen is little prized. | Fr. |
2. | Caress your dog and he'll spoil your clothes. | |
3. | If you play with puppies they will lick your face. Efik or old Calabar. | Africa. |
4. | Play with an ass and he will whisk his tail in your face. | Sp., Por. |
5. | Play with a fool at home and he will play the fool with you in the market. | |
6. | Too much familiarity breeds contempt. | |
Family. | ||
1. | A small family is soon provided for. | |
2. | He that has no fools, knaves or beggars in his family was begot by a flash of lightning. | |
3. | It costs something to support a family, however small. | Ger. |
4. | It is better to be the best of a low family than the worst of a noble one. | Greek. |
5. | Once a buffoon, never a good father of a family. | |
6. | So yourself be good, a fig for your grandfather. | |
7. | So yourself be good, a fig for your grandmother.[329] | |
8. | Upon my family at home depends my character abroad. | |
9. | Where can one be happier than in the bosom of his family. | |
Famine. | ||
1. | After a famine in the stall, comes a famine in the hall. | |
2. | All's good in a famine. | |
3. | I shall easily get over this year's famine, but in my plenty it will be hard for you to meet me. | Chinese. |
4. | More die by food than famine. | |
5. | To cry famine on a heap of corn. | Fr. |
Fan. | ||
1. | You had better return a fan gracefully than give a thousand pounds awkwardly. | Chesterfield. |
Fans. | ||
1. | There are no fans in hell. | Arabian. |
Fanaticism. | ||
1. | Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity. | Gibbon. |
Fancy. | ||
1. | Fancy and fear are worse than the pestilence. | Ger. |
2. | Fancy flies afore the wind. | |
3. | Fancy may bolt bran and think it flour. | |
4. | Fancy may kill or cure. | |
5. | Fancy requires much; necessity but little. | Ger. |
6. | Fancy surpasses beauty.[330] | |
7. | That which has its value from fancy is not very valuable. | |
8. | To give a reason for fancy were to weigh the fire and measure the wind. | |
Farmer, Farming. | ||
1. | A bad farmer's hedge is full of gaps. | Gaelic. |
2. | Be a gentleman farmer. | Juvenal. |
3. | Cultivate not a barren soil. | Latin. |
4. | He that is manned with boys and horses with colts shall have his meat eaten and his work undone. | |
5. | The field should be poorer than the farmer; i.e., it is useless for a man to attempt farming without capital. | |
6. | The foot of the farmer manures the field; i.e., the care of the farmer. | Dan. |
7. | 'Tis the farmer's care that makes the field bear. | |
Fashion. | ||
1. | A fop of fashion is the mercer's friend, the tailor's fool and his own foe. | |
2. | As good be out of the world as out of the fashion. | |
3. | Better be dead than out of fashion. | |
4. | Fashion, a word which fools use, Their knavery and folly to excuse. | Churchill. |
5. | Fashion is more powerful than any tyrant. | Latin. |
6. | For fashion's sake as dogs go to church. | |
7. | Men after the modern fashion and asses after the ancient.[331] | Ital. |
8. | Nothing is fashionable until it be deformed. | Ben Jonson. |
9. | Tailors and writers must mind the fashion. | |
10. | We are led into the most improper things we commit by the force of fashion. | Spectator. |
11. | When advised to adopt a new fashion remember the fox without a tail. | |
12. | While the world lasts fashion will lead it by the nose. | Cowper. |
Fast. | ||
1. | Fast as the hare runs, the greyhound outruns her since he catches her. | Sp. |
2. | Fast bind, fast find. | |
3. | Fast enough is well enough. | Latin. |
4. | O'er fast, o'er loose. | |
Fastidiousness. | ||
1. | The too fastidious are unfortunate; nothing satisfies them. | La Fontaine. |
Fate. | ||
1. | Fate leads the willing but drives the stubborn. | |
2. | Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate. | Pope. |
3. | It needs a light spirit to bear a heavy fate. | Dan. |
4. | No flying from fate. | |
5. | No man can strive against his doom. | Northmen. |
6. | We do but sow. We're steered by fate. | Butler[332]. |
7. | We make our fortunes and we call them fate. | Bea. |
8. | Who can control his fate. | Shaks. |
Fates. | ||
1. | What fates impose that men must need abide. | Shaks. |
Father. | ||
1. | A father lives after death in his son. | Sanscrit. |
2. | A father loves his children in hating their faults. | Fr. |
3. | A father's blessing cannot be drowned in water nor consumed by fire. | Russian. |
4. | A father's love for all others is air. | Sp. |
5. | A father maintains ten children better than ten children one father. | Ger. |
6. | An ill father desireth not an ill son. | |
7. | As the field, so the crops; as the father, so the sons. | Ger. |
8. | Fathers in reclaiming a child should out-wit him and seldom beat him. | |
9. | He does not sing his father's song; i.e., does not imitate his father. | |
10. | It is not the anger of the father but his silence that the well-born son dreads. | Chinese. |
11. | Our fathers find their graves in our short memories and sadly tell us how we may be buried in our survivors. | Sir. F. Browne. |
12. | Our fathers who were wondrous wise, [333]Did wash their throats before they washed their eyes. | |
13. | The father a saint, the son a devil. | Ital., Sp., Por. |
14. | The father in praising his son extols himself. | Chinese. |
15. | The father sighs more at the death of one son than he smiles at the birth of many. | |
16. | The father to the bough, the son to the plough. | |
17. | The father's virtue is the child's best inheritance. | |
18. | You may thank God your father was born before you. | |
Fault, Faults. | ||
1. | A man should pardon everybody's fault rather than his own. | Cato. |
2. | A wilful fault has no excuse and deserves no pardon. | |
3. | Bad men excuse their faults; good men leave them. | Ben Jonson. |
4. | Be not busy in detecting other men's faults. | Cingalese. |
5. | By others' faults wise men correct their own. | |
5½. | Condemn the fault and not the actor of it. | Shaks. |
6. | Don't find fault with what you don't understand. | Fr. |
7. | Every man hath his faults. | Latin. |
8. | Every one's faults are not written on their foreheads. | |
9. | Every one puts his faults on the times. | |
10. | Faults are thick when love is thin.[334] | |
11. | Faults of ignorance are excusable only where the ignorance itself is so. | |
12. | Faults that are rich are fair. | Shaks. |
13. | Forget others' faults by remembering your own. | |
14. | Great faults may grow out of great virtues in excess. | Maga. |
15. | He has but sorry food that feeds upon the faults of others. | |
16. | He is lifeless that is faultless. | |
17. | He may find fault, but let him mend if he can. | |
18. | He that does one fault at first And lies to hide it, makes it two. | Watts. |
19. | If nobody takes notice of our faults we easily forget them ourselves. | |
20. | If the best man's faults were written on his forehead it would make him pull his hat over his eyes. | Gaelic. |
21. | In every fault there is folly. | |
22. | It is well our faults are not written on our face. | |
23. | Jupiter makes for our own faults a sack behind and for the faults of others, one we wear before. | Homer. |
24. | Let him that is without fault cast the first stone. | |
25. | Men's years and their faults are always more than they are willing to own. | |
26. | No man is born without faults; he is the best who has the fewest.[335] | Horace. |
27. | No one sees his own faults. | Ger. |
28. | Nobody is willing to acknowledge he is in fault. | |
29. | One fault will not justify another. | |
30. | One man's fault is another man's lesson. | |
31. | Small faults indulged are great thieves that let in greater. | |
32. | Some faults though small, intolerable grow. | Juvenal. |
33. | The fault is as great as he that commits it. | Fr., Sp. |
34. | The fault of another is a good teacher. | Ger. |
35. | The fault of the ass must not be laid on the pack-saddle. | |
36. | The faulty stands always on his guard. | |
37. | The first faults are theirs that commit them, the second theirs that permit them. | |
38. | The man the least pardonable is the one who declines to correct his faults, unless it be he who prides himself on them. | |
39. | The most faulty are most prone to find fault. | |
40. | The way to avoid great faults is to beware of small ones. | |
41. | There's none without a fault. | |
42. | They who seek only for faults, see nothing else. | |
43. | 'Tis easier to avoid a fault than acquire perfection. | |
44. | We know not what is in the wallet behind. (The wallet containing our own faults.) | |
45. | Where no fault is there needs no pardon.[336] | |
46. | Wilful faults have no excuse and deserve no pardon. | |
Fault-finding. | ||
1. | Every clown can find fault though it would puzzle him to do better. | Ger. |
2. | He that finds fault wants to buy. | Ger., Sp. |
3. | He that findeth fault with rusticity is himself a rustic. | Cæsar. |
4. | Nothing is easier than fault-finding. | Robert West. |
5. | The sieve says to the needle: “You have a hole in your tail.” | Bengalese. |
6. | You would find fault with a fat goose. | |
7. | You would spy faults if your eyes were out. | |
8. | You'd find faults in a bulrush. | |
Favor. | ||
1. | A favor becomes doubly valuable when granted with courtesy. | |
2. | A favor becomes old sooner than any other thing. | M. Greek. |
3. | A favor ill-placed is great waste. | |
4. | A favor is half granted when gracefully refused. | Syrus. |
5. | A favor to come is better than a hundred received. | Ital. |
6. | Everything goes by favor and cousinship. | Fr. |
7. | Favors out of place I regard as positive injuries. | Cicero. |
8. | From great folks great favors are to be expected.[337] | Don Quixote. |
9. | Go shake another oak; i.e., apply for favors to another person. | |
10. | Grace will last, favor will blast. | |
11. | He who asks fewest favors is the best received. | Sp. |
12. | Never ask a favor of a man until he has had his dinner. | Punch. |
13. | One favor qualifies for another. | |
14. | The favor of great men and the praise of the world are not much to be relied on. | |
15. | The favor of the court is like fair weather in winter. | |
16. | The favor (or grace) that we receive from the spirit of the ocean is as deep as the ocean itself. | Chinese. |
17. | There is pleasure in meeting the eyes of one on whom you are going to confer a favor. | La Bruyère. |
18. | We should never remember the benefits conferred nor forget the favors received. | Chilo. |
19. | When we ask a favor we say, madam: when we obtain it, what we please. | Sp. |
20. | Who depends on princes' favors swims with fins of lead. | |
21. | Without favor, art is like a wind-mill without wind. | Juvenal. |
Favorites. | ||
1. | A favorite has no friends. | Gray. |
2. | The greatest favorites are in most danger of falling.[338] | |
Fear. | ||
1. | All the arms of England will not arm fear. | George Herbert. |
2. | All the weapons of war cannot arm fear. | |
3. | A man may threaten and yet be afraid. | |
4. | Afraid of his own shadow. | |
5. | Are you afraid of him that died last year? | |
6. | Do not lose honor through fear. | Sp. |
7. | Early and provident fear is the mother of safety. | Burke. |
8. | Every one wishes that the man whom he fears would perish. | Ovid. |
9. | Fear always springs from ignorance. | Emerson. |
10. | Fear can keep a man out of danger, but courage only can support him in it. | |
11. | Fear guards the vineyard. | Ital., Sp. |
12. | Fear has big eyes. | |
13. | Fear has no understanding. | Ger. |
14. | Fear in love has no luck. | Ger. |
15. | Fear is a great inventor. | Fr. |
16. | Fear is a tyrant that frightens both child and man. | Ger. |
17. | Fear is cruel and mean. | Emerson. |
18. | Fear is often greater than the danger. | Ger. |
19. | Fear is one part of prudence. | |
20. | Fear is stronger than love. | |
21. | Fear is the mother of safety. | Sir H. Taylor. |
22. | Fear is the parent of cruelty.[339] | Froude. |
23. | Fear makes lions tame. | Ger. |
24. | Fear naturally quickens the flight of guilt. | Dr. Johnson. |
25. | Fear not the future; weep not for the past. | Shelley. |
26. | Fear not the anger of the wise to raise, Those can best bear reproof who merit praise. | Pope. |
27. | Fear not to-morrow's mischance. | Turk. |
28. | Fear of death drives the wretches to prayer. | Seneca. |
29. | Fear of the future is worse than one's present fortune. | Quintillian. |
30. | Fear shame. | Motto of the Duke of Portland. |
31. | Foolish fear doubleth danger. | |
32. | For fear though faster than the wind Believes 'tis always left behind. | Butler. |
33. | Great fear is often concealed by a show of daring. | Latin. |
34. | He that fears danger in time seldom feels it. | |
35. | He that fears leaves must not come into a wood. | |
36. | He that fears not the future may enjoy the present. | |
37. | He that fears you present, will hate you absent. | |
38. | He that has been hurt fears. | |
39. | He that hath been bitten by a serpent is afraid of a rope. | |
40. | He that is afraid of wounds must not come nigh a battle.[340] | |
41. | He that's afraid to do good, would do ill if he durst. | |
42. | He who fears a sparrow will never sow millet. | Russian. |
43. | He who fears death has already lost the life he covets. | Cato. |
44. | He who fears death lives not. | |
45. | He who fears God fears but him. | |
46. | He who fears God is the true wise man. | |
47. | He who fears to suffer, suffers from fear. | Fr. |
48. | He who fears his servants is less than a servant. | Syrus. |
49. | He who is feared by many fears many. | Ger. |
50. | He who is feared gets more than his own. | Sp. |
51. | I have lived too long near a wood to be frightened by owls. | |
52. | It is good to fear the worst, the best saves itself. | |
53. | It needs a high wall to keep out fear. | Dan. |
54. | Men as resolute appear, with too much as too little fear. | Butler. |
55. | Nobody would be afraid if she could help it. | Smollett. |
56. | No greater hell than to be a slave to fear. | Ben Jonson. |
57. | Of all the bad passions fear is most accursed. | Shaks. |
58. | Our fears are always more numerous than our dangers.[341] | Seneca. |
59. | Over-daring is as great a vice as over-fearing. | Ben Jonson. |
60. | The fear of ill exceeds the ills we fear. | |
61. | The first thing that introduced a God in the world was fear. | Petronius Arbiter. |
62. | The greater the fear the nearer the danger. | Dan. |
63. | There is no readiness so quick as the readiness of fear. | Maga. |
64. | There's nae medicine for fear. | |
65. | They that fear an overthrow are half beaten. | |
66. | 'Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss. | Shaks. |
67. | To be furious is to be frightened out of fear. | Shaks. |
68. | Too much fear cuts all the nerves asunder. | |
69. | Too much fear is an enemy to good deliberation. | |
70. | 'Twas fear that first put on arms. | |
71. | What! are you afraid of him that died last year? | |
72. | Who fears is worthy of calamity. | Ben Jonson. |
73. | When one has seen the bear in the woods, he hears his growl in every bush. | Ger. |
74. | Who is in fear of every leaf must not go into the wood. | Ital., Dutch. |
75. | Wise fear beats care. | |
Feast. | ||
1. | A feast is not made of mushrooms only.[342] | |
2. | After a feast a man scratches his head. | Fr. |
3. | Feast to-day makes fast to-morrow. | Plautus. |
4. | Feast won, fast lost. | |
5. | Fiddlers' dogs an' fleas come to a feast unca'd. | |
6. | He that takes pet at a feast loses it all. | |
7. | He who would enjoy the feast should fast on the even. | Ital. |
8. | Small cheer and great welcome make a great feast. | |
9. | The wedding feast is not made of mushrooms only. | Sp. |
10. | 'Tis not clean linen only that makes the feast. | |
Feasting. | ||
1. | Feasting is the physician's harvest. | |
2. | Feasting makes no friendship. | |
3. | It's good feasting in another's hall. | Dutch. |
February. | ||
1. | All the months in the year curse a fair Februeer. | |
2. | February makes a bridge and March breaks it. | |
3. | When it rains in February it will be temperate all the year. | Sp. |
Fee. | ||
1. | Always take the fee when the tear is in the eye. | |
Feebleness. | ||
1. | Feebleness is sometimes the best security.[343] | |
Feeling. | ||
1. | Feeling hath no fellow. | |
Feelings. | ||
1. | It is with feelings as with waters: The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb. | Raleigh. |
Fellow-feeling. | ||
1. | A fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind. | Garrick. |
Feigned. | ||
1. | Nothing is lasting that is feigned. | |
Felicity. | ||
1. | Felicity eats up circumspection. | |
2. | Felicity lies much in fancy. | |
3. | He that cannot command felicity may at least deserve it. | Rousseau. |
Fellow. | ||
1. | A good fellow lights his candle at both ends. | |
2. | A gude fellow is a costly name. | |
3. | Longer lives a good fellow than a dear year. | |
4. | To do good to low fellows is to throw water into the sea. | Don Quixote. |
Fellow-mortal. | ||
1. | However wretched a fellow-mortal may be, he is still a member of the common species. | Seneca. |
Females. | ||
1. | Females confer on life its finest felicities.[344] | B. Rawle. |
2. | The female bird builds the nest. | Turk. |
3. | The female mind is too practical to be methodical. Who would marry a woman that punctuates her love letters? | Punch. |
4. | The sex (female) is ever to a soldier kind. | Homer. |
Fence. | ||
1. | No fence against a flail. | |
2. | No fence against gold. | |
3. | No fence against ill fortune. | |
4. | There is no fence against a panic. | |
Ferry. | ||
1. | If you ferry at all, ferry right over. | Chinese. |
Fetters. | ||
1. | Fetters even of gold are heavy. | |
2. | Fetters of gold are still fetters, and silken cords pinch. | |
3. | I hate fetters though they be of gold. | Por. |
4. | Let the smith himself wear the fetters he forged. | |
5. | No man likes his fetters though of gold. | |
6. | 'Tis folly to love fetters though they be of gold. | Latin. |
7. | 'Tis in vain to kick after you have once put on the fetters. | |
Fever. | ||
1. | A fever is as troublesome upon a couch of state as upon a flock bed.[345] | |
Few. | ||
1. | Few are fit to be entrusted with themselves. | |
2. | Few men will be better than their interests allow them. | |
3. | Few things in the world that will bear too much refining. | |
Fiddle. | ||
1. | The fiddle makes the feast. | Ger. |
2. | The least boy always carries the greatest fiddle. | |
Fiddler. | ||
1. | Fiddler's fun: meat, drink, and money. | |
2. | In a fiddler's house all are dancers. | |
3. | The fiddler of the same town never plays well at their feasts. | |
4. | Who cannot become a fiddler let him remain a fifer. | Ger. |
Fidelity. | ||
1. | Fidelity purchased with money, money can destroy. | Seneca. |
Field. | ||
1. | A field requires three things: fair weather, good seed, and a good husbandman. | |
2. | Fields have eyes and hedges ears. | |
3. | Good corn is not reaped from a bad field. | Dan. |
4. | There's nothing like having the key of the fields.[346] | Fr. |
Fig-tree. | ||
1. | You are like fig-tree fuel: much smoke and little fire. | |
File. | ||
1. | It is a good file that cuts iron without making a noise. | Ital. |
Finding. | ||
1. | He that finds a thing steals it if he endeavors not to restore it. | |
2. | He that finds something before it is lost, will die before he is sick, viz., will be hanged. | Dutch. |
3. | He that hides can find. | Fr. |
4. | Where something is found there look again. | |
Fine. | ||
1. | Fine upon fine make but a slender doublet. | Fr. |
Fingers. | ||
1. | All the fingers are not alike. | |
Fire. | ||
1. | A little fire burns up a great deal of corn. | |
2. | A little fire is quickly trodden out, Which being suffered rivers cannot quench. | Shaks. |
3. | A small fire that warms you is better than a large one that burns you. | Dan. |
4. | Any water will put out fire. | Fr., Ital. |
5. | Fire and straw soon make a flame. | Dan. |
6. | Fire and water are good servants but bad masters. | |
7. | Fire and water are two good servants. | Ger. |
8. | Fire drives the wasp out of its nest. | Ital. |
9. | Fire in flax will smoke. | |
10. | Fire is not quenched with fire. | Ital. |
11. | Fire is not quenched with tow. | |
12. | Green wood makes a hot fire. | |
13. | He carries fire and water. | Fr. |
14. | He carries fire in the one hand and water in the other. | |
15. | He that will have fire must bear with smoke. | Dutch, Dan. |
16. | If you want fire look for it in the ashes. | Ger. |
17. | It is a good fire when the neighbor gives the wood. | Ger. |
18. | It is as bad to spit out the fire and be ashamed as to swallow it and be burned. | Dan. |
19. | It is bad to be between two fires. | Dan. |
20. | It is good to warm one's self by another's fire. | Dutch. |
21. | It never smokes but there is a fire. | |
22. | It won't do to trifle with fire. | Fr. |
23. | Kindle not a fire you cannot extinguish. | |
24. | More fuel, more fire. | Chinese. |
25. | No fire without smoke. | Fr. |
26. | Put out the fire betimes before it reach the roof. | Ger. |
27. | Saft fire maks sweet mawt. | |
28. | Soft fire makes sweet malt.[348] | |
29. | The fire heeds little whose cloak it burns. | Dan. |
30. | The fire is welcome when icicles hang without. | Dan. |
31. | The fire of London was a punishment for gluttony. | |
32. | The fire that burneth taketh the heat out of a burn. | |
33. | The fire that does not warm me shall never scorch me. | |
34. | The fire which lighteth us at a distance will burn us when near. | |
35. | The most covered fire is always the most glowing. | Fr. |
36. | The one kindles the fire, the other blows it. (One begins the evil, the other increases it.) | M. Greek. |
37. | The same fire purifies gold and consumes straw. | Ital. |
38. | There is no fire without smoke. | Dan. |
39. | There is no quenching of fire with tow. | |
40. | There is no smoke without fire. | |
41. | They who shun the smoke often fall into the fire. | Ital. |
42. | To cast oil into the fire is not the way to quench it. | |
43. | To save your house from neighboring fire is hard. | Ovid. |
44. | When the next house is on fire it is high time to look to your own. | |
45. | When there is a fire in the neighborhood carry water to your own house. | Ital. |
46. | Where there's fire there's smoke. | Sp. |
47. | Who hath skirts of straw must needs fear the fire. | |
48. | Who wants fire let him look for it in the ashes. | Dutch. |
First. | ||
1. | First come, first served. | Dryden. |
2. | The first pleases every one. | Ital. |
3. | The first in the boat has the choice of oars. | Dutch. |
4. | The first men in the world were a gardener, a ploughman and a grazier. | |
5. | The first movements are not in the hands of men. | Don Quixote. |
6. | The first pig and the last whelp of the litter is the best. | |
7. | Who comes first grinds first. | Ger., Dutch. |
Fish. | ||
1. | A fish should swim three times: in water, in sauce and in wine. | Ger. |
2. | A little bait catches a large fish. | M. Greek. |
3. | All fish are not caught with flies. | |
4. | Better fish is to be had in Billingsgate than on the sea-coast. | |
5. | Better small fish than an empty dish. | |
6. | Big fish spring out of the kettle. | Dutch. |
7. | Damning and laving is gude sure fishing. | |
8. | Don't teach fishes to swim.[350] | Fr. |
9. | Even that fish may be caught that strives the hardest against it. | Dan. |
10. | Every fish is not a sturgeon. | Russian. |
11. | Every fish that escapes, appears greater than it is. | Turk. |
12. | Fish are not to be caught with a bird call. | |
13. | Fish begin to stink at the head. | |
14. | Fish make no broth. | |
15. | Fish must swim thrice: once in the water, once in the sauce, and a third time in wine in the stomach. | |
16. | Fish spoils water but flesh mends it. | |
17. | Fish are cast away that are cast into dry ponds. | |
18. | Fishes follow the bait. | |
19. | From great rivers come great fish. | Por. |
20. | Go to the sea if you would fish well. | Ital. |
21. | Great fish are caught in great waters. | Ger. |
22. | Great fishes break the net. | Dutch. |
23. | He fishes on who catches one. | Fr. |
24. | He is a poor fisherman that will not wet his feet. | Ger. |
25. | He that fishes afore the net, lang 'ere fish get. | |
26. | He that lets his fish escape, may cast his net often yet never catch it again. | |
27. | He that sets his net betimes may expect a fuller draught than he that fishes later. | |
28. | He who catches one fish is a fisherman. | Sp. |
29. | He who does not bait his hook fishes in vain.[351] | Fr., Ger. |
30. | He who wants to catch fish must not mind a wetting. | Sp., Por. |
31. | I had no thought of catching you when I fished for another. | |
32. | I have other fish to fry. | |
33. | If you swear, you'll catch no fish. | |
34. | If you take away the salt you may throw the fish to the dogs. | |
35. | In the deepest water is the best fishing. | |
36. | It is a silly fish that is caught twice by the same bait. | |
37. | It is good fishing in troubled waters. | Fr., Sp., Dutch. |
38. | It is no use fishing until you have baited your hook. | |
39. | It is the bait that lures, not the fisherman or the rod. | Sp. |
40. | Like fish that live in salt water, yet are fresh. | |
41. | Little fish are sweet. | Dutch. |
42. | Make not your sauce until you have caught your fish. | |
43. | Neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring. | Sir H. Sheers. |
44. | Never fish in troubled waters. | |
45. | No man cries stinking fish. | |
46. | Old be your fish, your oil, your friend. | Ital. |
47. | One must lose a minnow to catch a salmon. | Fr. |
48. | Sma' fish are better than nae fish. | |
49. | That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait.[352] | |
50. | The best fish swim near the bottom. | |
51. | The big fish eat the little ones. | Fr., Ital., M. Greek. |
52. | The big fish eat the little ones, the little ones eat the shrimps, and the shrimps are forced to eat mud. (Applied to the classes of society paying taxes.) | Chinese. |
53. | The end of fishing is not angling but catching. | |
54. | The fish by struggling in the net hampers itself the more. | |
55. | The fish comes to his senses after he gets into the net. | Turk. |
56. | The fish lead a pleasant life: they drink when they like. | Ger. |
57. | The fish may be caught in a net, that will not come to a hook. | |
58. | The fisherman fishes in troubled waters. | Por. |
59. | The hasty angler loses the fish. | |
60. | The hasty hand catches frogs for fish. | |
61. | There are as good fish in the sea as ever were caught. | |
62. | There is no catching trouts with dry breeches. | Por. |
63. | 'Tis not for every one to catch a salmon. | |
64. | 'Tis rare to find a fish that will not bite sometime or other. | |
65. | To fish with a golden hook. | Latin. |
66. | Where there are no fish, even a crawfish calls himself a fish.[353] | Russian. |
67. | Who cannot catch fish must catch shrimps. | Chinese. |
68. | Who fishes with a golden hook catches what he will. | Ger. |
69. | Without a bait fish is not caught. | M. Greek. |
70. | Young flesh and old fish are best. | |
Fit. | ||
1. | All Is fine that is fit. | |
Flag. | ||
1. | An old flag is an honor to its captain. | Fr. |
2. | He changes his flag to conceal his being a pirate. | |
Flame. | ||
1. | Take away fuel, take away flame. | |
2. | The flame is not far away from the smoke. | Dan. |
Flatterer, Flattery. | ||
1. | A flatterer, a hypocrite. | Ger. |
2. | A flatterer is a secret enemy. | Hungarian. |
3. | A flatterer is the shadow of a fool. | Giles' Proverbs. |
4. | A flatterer of vice is an immoral man. | Johnson. |
5. | A flatterer has a poisonous tongue. | Ger. |
6. | A flatterer has water in one hand and fire in the other. | Ger. |
7. | A flatterer's mouth worketh ruin. | Bible. |
8. | A flattering speech is a honeyed poison.[354] | Latin. |
9. | A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet. | Bible. |
10. | As a wolf is like a dog, so is a flatterer like a friend. | |
11. | Beware of the flatterer. | |
12. | Dread to flatter as to die. | Homer. |
13. | Flatterers and dogs soil their own masters. | Ger. |
14. | Flatterers are always bowing and cringing. | Arbuthnot. |
15. | Flatterers are cats that lick before and scratch behind. | Ger. |
16. | Flatterers are the devil's nurse. | Ger. |
17. | Flatterers are the worst kind of enemies. | Tacitus. |
18. | Flatterers haunt not cottages. | |
19. | Flattery always degenerates into ingratitude. | |
20. | Flattery brings friends but the truth begets enmity. | |
21. | Flattery displays a braver flag than humility. | |
22. | Flattery is like friendship in show but not in fruit. | Socrates. |
23. | Flattery is sweet food to those who can swallow it. | Dan. |
24. | Flattery is the bellows that blows up sin. | Shaks. |
25. | Flattery is the destruction of all good fellowship. | Bea. |
26. | Flattery is the food of fools. | Swift. |
27. | Flattery is the prolific parent of falsehood.[355] | Gibbon. |
28. | Flattery sits in the parlor when plain dealing is kicked out of doors. | |
29. | Flattery the dangerous nurse of vice. | Daniel. |
30. | Flattery was formerly a vice; it has now become the fashion. | Syrus. |
31. | He cannot have me both for a friend and flatterer. | Phocion speaking of Antipater. |
32. | He that feasteth a flatterer and a slanderer dineth with two devils. | |
33. | He that is open to flattery, is fenced against admonition. | |
34. | He that rewards flattery begs it. | |
35. | He who praises me on all occasions is a fool who despises me or a knave who wishes to cheat me. | Chinese. |
36. | He would swallow flattery though it were laid on with a trowel. | |
37. | If we did not flatter ourselves no body else could. | |
38. | Just praise is only a debt, but flattery is a present. | Dr. Johnson. |
39. | Let flattery, the handmaid of vice, be far removed from friendship. | Cicero. |
40. | Openness to flattery is the common disgrace of declining life. | Dr. Johnson. |
41. | Our flatterers are our most dangerous enemies, though they often lie in our bosoms. | |
42. | Parent of wicked, bane of honest, deeds. | Prior. |
43. | Scratch people where they itch.[356] | Fr. |
44. | Show me a poor man and I'll show you a flatterer. | Por. |
45. | The coin most current is flattery. | |
46. | The flatterer does the prince more harm than the enemy in the field. | Ger. |
47. | The flatterer's bite is poisonous. | Ger. |
48. | The flatterer's throat is an open sepulchre. | Ital. |
49. | There is no such flatterer as a man's self. | |
50. | They who delight to be flattered pay for their folly by a late repentance. | Phædrus. |
51. | Trust not the flatterer: in the days of sunshine he will give three pounds of butter, and in thy need deny thee a crust of bread. | Chinese. |
52. | 'Tis an old maxim in the schools That flattery is the food of fools. | Swift. |
53. | We seldom find out we are flattered. | |
54. | When flatterers meet, the devil goes to dinner. | Defoe. |
55. | When the flatterer pipes, the devil dances. | |
56. | Who knows not how to flatter, knows not how to talk. | Ital. |
57. | Who paints me before, blackens me behind. | Ital. |
58. | Who trusts the flatterer sells his goods without money. | Ger. |
Flea. | ||
1. | I will send him away with a flea in his ear. | |
2. | One flea cannot raise a coverlet. | Chinese. |
3. | One flea does not hinder sleep.[357] | |
4. | That's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion. | Shaks. |
5. | The fatter the flea, the leaner the dog. | Ger. |
Flesh. | ||
1. | All flesh is grass. | Bible. |
2. | All flesh is not venison. | Fr. |
Flight. | ||
1. | It is not all who turn their backs that flee. | Dan. |
2. | It is wiser to run away when there is no remedy, than to stay and die in the field foolishly. | |
3. | To flee and to run are not all one. | Sp. |
4. | Who fights and runs away, may live to fight another day. | Butler. |
5. | Who flees the bees runs into the jaws of the lion. | Ger. |
6. | Who flees the wolf meets with the bear. | Ger. |
Flint. | ||
1. | In the coldest flint there is hot fire. | |
2. | The fire in the flint shows not till it is struck. | |
3. | Two hard flints never grind well. | Ger. |
4. | Strike a flint and you'll get fire; strike it not and you'll not get even smoke. | Chinese. |
Flirt. | ||
1. | A flirt changes her opinion every day, excepting the good opinion she has of herself. | Punch. |
2. | Such envious things the women are, [358]That fellow flirts they cannot bear. | |
Flirtation. | ||
1. | Who will not when he can, cannot when he will. | Por. |
2. | Who won't when he may, when he will shall have nay. | |
3. | Ye may gang farther and fare war. | |
4. | You may have worse offers before May-day. | |
Flower. | ||
1. | All flowers are not for nosegays. | |
2. | All flowers are not in one garland. | |
3. | As welcome as flowers in May. | |
4. | Every flower has its perfume. | Turk. |
5. | Fair flowers do not remain long by the wayside. | Ger. |
6. | Flowers are the pledges of fruit. | Dan. |
7. | Flowers are the poetry of earth, as stars are the poetry of heaven. | |
8. | Full many a flower is born to blush unseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air. | Gray. |
9. | It is a bad soil where no flowers will grow. | |
10. | It is not every flower that smells sweet. | Ital. |
11. | Nobody is fond of fading flowers. | |
12. | Not all flowers are fit for nosegays. | Ger. |
13. | One flower does not make a summer. | Turk. |
14. | One flower makes no garland. | |
15. | Painted flowers have no scent. | Fr., Dutch. |
16. | 'Tis my faith that every flower [359]Enjoys the air it breathes. | Wordsworth. |
Fly. | ||
1. | A fly before his own eye is bigger than an elephant in the next field. | |
2. | A fly even has its anger. | Latin. |
3. | Big flies break the spider's web. | Ital. |
4. | Even a fly hath its spleen (anger). | Ital. |
5. | Even the lion must defend himself against the flies. | Ger. |
6. | Every fly has its shadow. | Por. |
7. | Flies are busiest about lean horses. | |
8. | Flies are easier caught with honey than with vinegar. | Fr. |
9. | Flies don't light on a boiling pot. | Fr., Ital. |
10. | Hungry flies bite sore. | Ger., Dutch. |
11. | Is it an emperor's business to catch flies? | |
12. | No flies get into a shut mouth. | Fr., Ital., Sp., Por. |
13. | No flies light on a boiling pot. | Sp. |
14. | One fly does not provide for another. | |
15. | The busy fly is in every man's dish. | Sp. |
16. | The fly flutters about the candle till at last it gets burned. | Dutch. |
17. | The fly that bites the tortoise breaks its beak. | Ital. |
18. | The fly that playeth too long in the candle singeth her wings. | |
19. | The fly that sips treacle is lost in the sweets. | John Gay. |
20. | To a boiling pot flies come not.[360] | |
21. | Where the wasp has passed the fly sticks fast. | Fr. |
22. | You shall never beat the fly from the candle though she burn for it. | |
/. | ||
1. | Friends become foes and foes are reconciled. | Latin. |
2. | He's a man of able mind, that of a foe can make a friend. | |
3. | He makes no friend who never made a foe. | Tennyson. |
4. | In the unhappy man forget the foe. | Addison. |
5. | That man is sure to lose Who soils his hands with dirty foes. | Butler. |
Foemen. | ||
1. | The stern joy which warriors feel In foemen worthy of their steel. | Scott. |
Fog. | ||
1. | A fog cannot be dispelled by a fan. | Japanese. |
Follow. | ||
1. | Follow the copy though it fly out of the window. | Printers' Maxim. |
2. | Follow the river and you will get to the sea. | |
3. | Follow the road and you will reach an inn. | Por. |
4. | Follow the wise few rather than the vulgar many. | Ital. |
5. | Follow truth too close at the heels and 'twill strike out your teeth.[361] | |
Food. | ||
1. | A man hath often more trouble to get food than to digest it. | |
Folly. | ||
1. | A man's folly is his worst foe and his discretion his best friend. | |
2. | A man's folly ought to be his greatest secret. | |
3. | Among other evils folly has also this: it is always beginning to live. | Seneca. |
4. | Folly and learning oft dwell together. | |
5. | Folly as well as wisdom is justified by its children. | |
6. | Folly hath eagle wings, but the eyes of an owl. | Dutch. |
7. | Folly is the most incurable of maladies. | Sp. |
8. | Folly is the poverty of the mind. | |
9. | Folly is the product of all countries and all ages. | |
10. | Folly often goes beyond its bounds, but impudence knows none. | Ben Jonson. |
11. | If a man have folly in his sleeve it is sure to peep out. | Dan. |
12. | If folly were a pain, there would be groaning in every house. | Sp. |
13. | If we will have the kindness of others we must endure their follies. | Dr. Johnson. |
14. | It is folly to drown on dry land. | |
15. | It is folly to gape against an oven. | Fr., Dan. |
16. | It is folly to lay out money in the purchase of repentance.[362] | Franklin. |
17. | It is folly to sing twice to a deaf man. | |
18. | It is folly to fear what we cannot avoid. | Dan. |
19. | It is the ordinary way of the world to keep folly at the helm and wisdom under the hatches. | |
20. | It is well to profit by the folly of others. | Latin. |
21. | Mingle a little folly with your wisdom. | Horace. |
22. | Natural folly is bad enough, but learned folly is intolerable. | |
23. | Nobody so wise but has a little folly to spare. | Ger. |
24. | No folly to being in love. | Welsh. |
25. | Purposing without performing is mere folly. | |
26. | The amity which wisdom uniteth not, folly will unite. | |
27. | The desire for the superfluous is folly, for it hath no bounds. | Pythagoras. |
28. | The first degree of folly is to think one's self wise, the next to tell others so, the third to despise all counsel. | |
29. | The follies of youth are food for repentance in old age. | |
30. | The folly of one man is the fortune of another. | |
31. | The malady that is most incurable is folly. | Por. |
32. | The most exquisite folly is made of wisdom too fine spun. | |
33. | The shortest follies are the best. | Fr. |
34. | To counsel and to disregard his own safety is folly.[363] | Phædrus. |
35. | Whoever falls sick of folly is long in getting cured. | Sp. |
Folly (in Conduct). | ||
1. | A cucumber being offered a poor man he refused it because it was crooked. | Turk. |
2. | Bolts a door with a boiled carrot. | |
3. | Hard by the river he digs a well. | Latin. |
4. | He baked snow in the oven. | Ger. |
5. | He brings a staff to break his own head. | |
6. | He expects that larks will fall ready roasted into his mouth. | Fr. |
7. | He expects to find water at the first stroke of the spade. | Sp. |
8. | He has given the hen for the egg. | Ger. |
9. | He has killed the goose that laid the golden egg. | |
10. | Lay on more wood, ashes give money. | |
11. | The egg hurls itself against the stone. | Chinese. |
12. | The glass-dealer's horses fell out and he looked on to see which kicked hardest. | Sp. |
13. | To bind a dog with the gut of a lamb. | Latin. |
14. | To cut down an oak and plant a thistle. | |
15. | To cut down an oak and set up a strawberry. | |
16. | To fight with one's own shadow. | |
17. | To fill bags with meal against the wind. | Ger. |
18. | To find a mare's nest. | |
19. | To fish in the air, to hunt in the sea. | Latin. |
20. | To foul the stream and expect the stream to be pure.[364] | Chinese. |
21. | To go mulberry gathering without a crook. | Fr. |
22. | To go rabbit hunting with a dead ferret. | Sp. |
23. | To go to the vintage without baskets. | Fr. |
24. | To kill the hen by way of getting the egg. | Fr. |
25. | To pull down the house for the sake of the mortar. | Ital. |
26. | To put bread into a cold oven. | Latin. |
27. | To put the cart before the horse. | |
28. | To put water into a basket. | Dutch. |
29. | To take one foot out of the mire and put the other foot into it. | Sp. |
30. | To take out of one pocket to put in the other. | |
Fool. | ||
1. | A barber learneth to shave by shaving fools. | |
2. | A fair promise makes a fool merry. | |
3. | A fool always comes short of his reckoning. | |
4. | A fool always finds a greater fool than himself. | Boileau. |
5. | A fool always finds a greater fool that admires him. | Ger. |
6. | A fool and his money are soon parted. | |
7. | A fool can dance without a fiddle. | |
8. | A fool cannot be silent. | Demaratus, king of Sparta. |
9. | A fool demands much, but he is a greater that gives it. | |
10. | A fool has not stuff enough to make a good man.[365] | Rochefoucauld. |
11. | A fool if he holds his tongue passes for wise. | Sp. |
12. | A fool is better than an obstinate man. | |
13. | A fool is full of words. | |
14. | A fool is like other men as long as he is silent. | Dan. |
15. | A fool is one who gives, and greater fool one who will not take. | Ger. |
16. | A fool is the wise man's ladder. | African. |
17. | A fool laughs when others laugh. | |
18. | A fool loses his estate before he finds his folly. | |
19. | A fool may chance to say a wise thing. | Dutch. |
20. | A fool must now and then be right by chance. | Cowper. |
21. | A fool never admires himself so much as when he has committed some folly. | Chinese. |
22. | A fool only wins the first game. | Dan. |
23. | A fool shoots; God guides the bullet. | Russian. |
24. | A fool thinks nothing right but what he does himself. | |
25. | A fool unless he knows Latin is never a great fool. | Sp. |
26. | A fool wants his cloak on a rainy day. | |
27. | A fool when he hath spoken hath done all. | |
28. | A fool who speaks the truth is better than a hundred liars. | Ger. |
29. | A fool will laugh when he is drowning. | |
30. | A fool will not be foiled.[366] | |
31. | A fool will not gie his bauble for the tower of London. | |
32. | A fool's head never whitens. | |
33. | A fool's bolt is soon shot. | |
34. | A fool's bolt may sometimes hit the mark. | |
34½. | A fool's heart dances on his lips. | |
35. | A fool's lips are the snare of his soul. | Bible. |
36. | A fool's speech is a bubble of air. | |
37. | A fool's tongue is long enough to cut his own throat. | |
38. | A fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. | Bible. |
39. | A nod from a lord is a beefsteak for a fool. | |
40. | A pointless saying is a fool's doing. | Punch. |
41. | A prating fool shall fall. | Bible. |
42. | A thorn in the foot and a fool's answer, are two sharp things. | Irish. |
43. | A wise look may secure a fool if he talk not. | |
44. | All but fools know fear sometimes. | Henry Hein. |
45. | All cry “fie” on the fool. | |
46. | All fails that fools think. | |
47. | All fools have still an itching to deride, And fain would be upon the laughing side. | Pope. |
48. | All places are filled with fools. | Cicero. |
49. | All the fools are not dead yet. | |
50. | All too good is every man's fool. | |
51. | An easy fool is a knave's tool. | |
52. | An ass will deny more in an hour than a[367] hundred philosophers will prove in an hundred years. | |
53. | An old fool is better than a young simpleton. | Dan. |
54. | As the bell clinks so the fool thinks. | |
55. | As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of a fool. | Bible. |
56. | Be wise with speed, A fool at forty is a fool indeed. | Young. |
57. | Bray a fool in a mortar, he'll be never the wiser. | |
58. | By his immoderate laughter you can always distinguish a fool. | Latin. |
59. | Even a fool can bet a good hand at poker. (A game of cards.) | |
60. | Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise. | Bible. |
61. | Even fools sometimes speak to the purpose. | |
62. | Everybody must wear out one pair of fool's shoes if he wear no more. | Ger. |
63. | Every fool is pleased with his bauble. | |
64. | Every fool is wise when he holds his tongue. | |
65. | Every fool thinks he is clever enough. | Dan. |
66. | Every fool wants to give advice. | Ital. |
67. | Every fool will be meddling. | Bible. |
68. | Every man a little beyond himself is a fool. | |
69. | Every man hath a fool in his sleeve. | Fr., Ital. |
70. | Every man's friend, every man's fool. | Ger. |
71. | Far fools hae fair feathers.[368] | |
72. | Fool is he who alone talks and is his only listener. | Turk. |
73. | Fools and madmen ought not to be left in their own company. | |
74. | Fools are all the world over, as he said who shod the goose. | |
75. | Fools are always resolute to make good their own folly. | |
76. | Fools are free all the world over. | Ger. |
77. | Fools are known by looking wise. | Butler. |
78. | Fools are not to be convinced. | |
79. | Fools are pleased with their own blunders. | |
80. | Fools are plentier than philosophers because there is more demand for them. | Durbin Ward. |
81. | Fools for arguments use wagers. | Butler. |
82. | Fools go in throngs. | Fr. |
83. | Fools grin on fools. | Young. |
84. | Fools grow without watering. | Ital. |
85. | Fools' haste is no speed. | |
86. | Fools laugh at their own sport. | |
87. | Fools live poor to die rich. | |
88. | Fools must not be set on eggs. | Ger. |
89. | Fools refuse favors. | |
90. | Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. | Pope. |
91. | Fools set far trysts. | |
92. | Fools shou'd na hae chopping sticks. | |
93. | Fools should not see half-done work. | |
94. | Fools will not part with their bauble for all Lombard street.[369] | |
95. | Fools worship mules that carry gold. | |
96. | Forbid a fool a thing and that he'll do. | |
97. | From many questions one knows a fool. | Ger. |
98. | “God help the fool!” said the idiot. | |
99. | God sends fools fortune. | |
100. | Great fools have great bells. | Dutch. |
101. | Greater fools than those of Zago, who dunged the steeple to make it grow. | Ital. |
102. | He does a good day's work who rids himself of a fool. | Fr. |
103. | He exposes himself to be thought a fool who reports the follies of others. | Fr. |
104. | He has great need of a fool who makes himself one. | Fr. |
105. | He is a fool who avoids the place where he has aforetime broken his nose. | Russian. |
106. | He is a fool who boasts of four things: that he has good wine, a good horse, a handsome wife, and plenty of money. | Ital. |
107. | He is a fool who buys an ox to have good cream. | Ger. |
108. | He is a fool who makes his physician his heir. | Fr. |
109. | He is a fool that makes a mallet of his fist. | Fr. |
110. | He is a fool who only hears himself speak. | Ger. |
111. | He is a fool who only sees the mischiefs that are past. | Bryant. |
112. | He is a fool who spends more money than his receipts. | Fr. |
113. | He is a fool who thinks that another does not think. | Ital., Ger., Por. |
114. | He is a great fool who forgets himself to feed another. | Sp. |
115. | He is fool enough himself who will bray against another ass. | |
116. | He is nae the fool that the fool is, but he that wi' the fool deals. | |
117. | He shall have enough to do who studies to please fools. | |
118. | He that cannot reason is a fool. | |
119. | He that can turn his hand to anything hath not the mind of a fool. | Chinese. |
120. | He that is only his own pupil shall have a fool for his tutor. | |
121. | He that is well sheltered is a fool if he stir out into the rain. | |
122. | He who is born a fool is never cured. | |
123. | He who is very learned is a very learned fool. | Tamil. |
124. | He who would make a fool of himself will find many to help him. | Dan. |
125. | He is a fool that's wiser abroad than at home. | |
126. | I will not dance for every fool's pipe. | |
127. | If a fool have success it ruins him. | |
128. | If all fools wore white caps we should look like a flock of sheep. | |
129. | If every fool were to wear a bauble, fuel would be dear. | |
130. | If every fool wore a crown, we should all be kings. | Welsh. |
131. | If every one were wise, the fool would be the prize. | Ger. |
132. | If fools ate no bread, corn would be cheap. | Ger., Dutch. |
133. | If fools went not to the market, bad wares would not be sold. | |
134. | If there were neither fools or knaves in the world all people would be of one mind. | Sp. |
135. | If thou play the fool stay for a fellow. | |
136. | If you play with a fool at home he'll play with you in the market. | |
137. | If you want to get into the bog, ask five fools the way to the wood. | Livonian. |
138. | It is a cunning part to play the fool well. | |
139. | It is better to be a beggar than a fool. | |
140. | It is better to deal with a whole fool than a half fool. | Ger. |
141. | It is better to please a fool than to anger him. | |
142. | It is the part of a fool to say, “I should not have thought it” | Latin. |
143. | It is the property of fools to be always judging. | |
144. | It needs a cunning hand to shave a fool's head. | Dutch. |
145. | Knaves and fools divide the world. | |
146. | Learned fools are the greatest of all fools. | Ger. |
147. | More fools, more fun. | Fr. |
148. | Neither give to all nor contend with fools. | Ger[372]. |
149. | Never challenge a fool to do wrong. | |
150. | Never defy a fool. | Fr. |
151. | No fool like an old fool. | |
152. | No one is a fool always: every one sometimes. | |
153. | Nobody is twice a fool. | Accra (Africa). |
154. | No creature smarts so little as a fool. | Pope. |
155. | None but a fool is always right. | |
156. | None is so wise but the fool overtakes him. | |
157. | Nothing looks so much like a man of sense as a fool that holds his tongue. | Ger. |
158. | Nothing so foolish as the laugh of a fool. | Martial. |
159. | Old fools are more foolish than young ones. | Rochefoucauld. |
160. | One begins by being a fool and ends by being a knave. | |
161. | One fool is enough in a house. | |
162. | One fool praises another. | |
163. | One should be born either a king or a fool. | Ger. |
164. | Ordinarily I can bear the sensible knave better than the fool. | Pope. |
165. | Send a fool to market and a fool he'll return. | |
166. | Silent fools may pass for wise. | |
167. | Speak not of stones to a fool lest he cast them at thy head. | Turk. |
168. | The assistance of fools only brings an injury.[373] | Latin. |
169. | The false modesty of fools will conceal ulcers rather than have them cured. | Horace. |
170. | The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction. | Bible. |
171. | The feast passes and the fool remains. | Ital., Sp. |
172. | The first chapter of fools is to esteem themselves wise. | |
173. | The fool and the brutish person die and leave their wealth to others. | Bible. |
174. | The fool cuts himself with his own knife. | Fr. |
175. | The fool discerns the faults of others and forgets his own. | Cicero. |
176. | The fool has always wet weather in his calendar. | Ger. |
177. | The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. | Bible. |
178. | The fool hunts for misfortune. | Fr. |
179. | The fool is busy in every one's business but his own. | |
180. | The fool runs away while his house is burning. | |
181. | The fool saith, “Who would have thought it.” | |
182. | The fool thinks nothing well done but what he has done himself. | |
183. | The fool who falleth into the fire rarely falleth out of it. | Arabian. |
184. | The fool who is silent passes for wise.[374] | Fr., Por. |
185. | A fool's life is half death. | Ger. |
186. | The fool's pleasure costs him dear. | |
187. | The more riches a fool hath, the greater fool he is. | |
188. | The older a fool the worse he is. | Ger. |
189. | The poor fool that closeth his mouth never winneth a dollar. | Spanish Gypsy. |
190. | The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. | Bible. |
191. | The shadow of a lord is a cap for a fool. | Ital. |
192. | The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. | Bible. |
193. | The world is too narrow for two fools a quarrelling. | |
194. | There are bearded fools. | |
195. | There cannot be a more intolerable thing than a fortunate fool. | |
196. | There is a fool at every feast. | Dutch. |
197. | There is a medium betwixt all fool and all philosopher. | |
198. | There is no art can make a fool wise. | |
199. | There is no fool in this world but who is sure to find a greater fool than himself. | Fr. |
200. | There is no fool like a learned fool. | Ital. |
201. | There is no knife cuts keener than a fool turned doctor. | Ger. |
202. | There is no man that hath not a vein of the fool in him. | Ger. |
203. | There is no need to fasten a bell to a fool, he is sure to tell his own tale.[375] | Dan. |
204. | There is nothing blackens like the ink of fools. | Pope. |
205. | There is nothing so intolerable as a fortunate fool. | Latin. |
206. | There must be fools in the world. | Ger. |
207. | This fellow's wise enough to play the fool, And to do that well craves a kind of wit. | Shaks. |
208. | Though a coat be ever so fine that a fool wears, yet 'tis but a fool's coat. | |
209. | Though the fool waits, the day does not. | Fr. |
210. | Thrust not thy finger into a fool's mouth. | Dutch. |
211. | 'Tis sweet to play the fool in time and place. | Homer. |
212. | To be a fool or knave in print doth but bring the truth to light. | |
213. | To every fool his cap. | Dutch. |
214. | To promise and give nothing is comfort to a fool. | |
215. | To reprove a fool is but lost labor. | |
216. | Two fools in one house are too many by a couple. | |
217. | Unless a fool knows Latin he is never a great fool. | Sp. |
218. | We have all been fools in our time. | Latin. |
219. | What gifts to fools avail? | Homer. |
220. | When a fool finds a horseshoe, he thinks ay the like to do. | |
221. | When a fool has spoken he has done all.[376] | |
222. | When a fool hath bethought himself the market is over. | |
223. | When fools go to market, peddlers (hucksters) make money. | Dutch, Dan. |
224. | When fools have nothing to talk about they talk about the weather. | Ger. |
225. | When gods gave fools mouths, it was not that they might talk but eat. | Turk. |
226. | Where two fools meet the bargain goes off. | |
227. | Where you see a jester a fool is not far off. | |
228. | When fools shun one sort of vices they fall on their opposite extremes. | Horace. |
229. | Who is born a fool is never cured. | Ital. |
230. | Why thinks the fool with childish hope to see What neither is, nor was, nor e'er shall be? | Ovid. |
231. | Wise lads and old fools were never good for anything. | Ital. |
232. | With fools it is always holiday. | Latin. |
233. | Worthless is the advice of fools. | Latin. |
234. | Young fools think that the old are dotards, but the old have forgotten more than the young fools know. | Dutch. |
Fool.—Wise Man. | ||
1. | A fool can ask more questions than seven wise men can answer. | Ital. |
2. | A fool is always meditating how he shall begin his life; a wise man, how he shall end it. | N. McDonald. |
3. | A fool knows his own business better than a wise man that of other men. | Ital. |
4. | A fool knows more in his own house than a wise man in another's. | |
5. | A fool may ask more questions in an hour than a wise man can answer in seven years. | |
6. | A fool may chance to put something in a wise man's head. | |
7. | A fool may give a wise man counsel. | |
8. | A fool may make money but it requires a wise man to spend it. | |
9. | A fool may meet with good fortune but the wise only profit by it. | |
10. | A fool throws a stone into a well and it requires an hundred wise men to get it out again. | Ital. |
11. | A man may talk like a wise man, yet act like a fool. | |
12. | Amangst twenty-four fools no ae wise man. | |
13. | A nod for a wise man and a rod for a fool. | |
14. | A rich fool is a wise man's treasurer. | |
15. | A wise man and a fool together know more than a wise man alone. | Ital. |
16. | A wise man begins in the end, and a fool ends in the beginning. | |
17. | A wise man changes his mind, a fool never. | Sp. |
18. | A wise man may learn of a fool. | |
19. | A wise man may look ridiculous in the company of fools. | |
20. | A wise man's thoughts walk within him, a fool's without him.[378] | |
21. | A wise man's soul reposes at the root of his tongue, but a fool's is ever dancing on the tip. | Arabian. |
22. | A wise man thinks all that he says, a fool says all that he thinks. | |
23. | A wise man will not reprove a fool. | Chinese. |
24. | Better to weep with the wise than laugh with fools. | Ger. |
25. | Better with the wise in prison than with fools in paradise. | Ger. |
26. | Bridges were made for wise men to walk over and fools to ride under. | |
27. | Each wise man has a fool for his brother. | Ger. |
28. | Every fool can find faults that a great many wise men can't remedy. | |
29. | Fools are wise men in the affairs of women. | |
30. | Fools ask, What o'clock? but wise men know their time. | Dutch. |
31. | Fools build houses and wise men buy them. | Dutch. |
32. | Fools invent fashions and wise men follow them. | Fr. |
33. | Fools lade out all the water and wise men take the fish. | |
34. | Fools make feasts and wise men eat them. | |
35. | Fools may ask more in an hour than wise men can answer in seven years. | |
36. | Fools set stools for wise men to stumble at. | |
37. | Fools tie knots and wise men loose them.[379] | |
38. | He is a fool who cannot be angry, but he is a wise man who will not. | |
39. | He is not a wise man who cannot play the fool on occasion. | Ital. |
40. | He that is a wise man by day is no fool by night. | |
41. | If a wise man should never miscarry the fool would burst. | |
42. | If the fool have a hump no one notices; if the wise man have a pimple everybody talks about it. | Livonian. |
43. | If wise men never erred it would go hard with the fool. | |
44. | If wise men play the fool they do it with a vengeance. | |
45. | It is better to associate with the half fool than the half wise man. | Ger. |
46. | It is better to be saved with the fool, than to perish with the wise. | De Langoiran. |
47. | It is better to sit with a wise man in prison than a fool in paradise. | |
48. | It takes a wise man to be a fool. | |
49. | None can play the fool as well as a wise man. | |
50. | Oftentimes to please fools wise men err. | |
51. | One day of a wise man is worth the whole life of a fool. | |
52. | One fool makes many, but a thousand wise men cannot make one wise man. | Ger. |
53. | One wise man is worth a thousand fools. | M. Greek[380]. |
54. | Set a fool to roast eggs and a wise man to eat them. | |
55. | That which makes wise men modest makes fools unmannerly. | |
56. | The fool doth think that he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. | Shaks. |
57. | The fool knows more in his own house than the sage in other men's. | Ital. |
58. | The fool may teach the wise man wit. | |
59. | The fool wanders, the wise man travels. | |
60. | The fool wonders, the wise man asks. | Bea. |
61. | The greatest of all fools is he who is wise too soon. | Maga. |
62. | The least foolish is accounted wise. | |
63. | The wise and the fool have their fellow. | |
64. | The wise can learn of fools. | Ger. |
65. | The wise do at the beginning what fools do at the end. | Ger. |
66. | The wise man draws more advantage from his enemies than a fool from his friends. | |
67. | The wise man when he holds his tongue says more than a fool when he speaks. | |
68. | The wise man is born to rule the fool. | |
69. | The wise man knows he knows nothing, the fool thinks he knows all. | Ital. |
70. | The wise man knows the fool but the fool does not know the wise man. | |
71. | The wise must endure fools. | Ger. |
72. | The wise seek wisdom, the fool has found it.[381] | Ger. |
73. | The wise too jealous are, fools too secure. | Congreve. |
74. | There is no one so wise that he may not be cheated by a fool. | Ger. |
75. | Valiant fools were made by nature for the wise to work with. | Rowe. |
76. | Were there no fools there would be no wise men. | Ger. |
77. | Wise men change their minds, fools never. | |
78. | Wise men have their mouth in their heart; fools their heart in their mouth. | |
79. | Wise men learn by other men's mistakes; fools by their own. | |
80. | Wise men learn more from fools, than fools from wise men. | Cato the Censor. |
81. | Wise men sue for office and blockheads get them. | Dutch. |
Foot. | ||
1. | The foot has no nose. | Kaffir. |
2. | The paunch warm, the foot sleepy. | Sp. |
Foot-ball. | ||
1. | All fellows at foot-ball. | |
Forbearance. | ||
1. | There is a limit when forbearance ceases to be a virtue. | Burke. |
Force. | ||
1. | Force can never destroy right. | Berryèr. |
2. | Force is no argument. | Bright. |
3. | Force not the current of the river.[382] | |
4. | Force without forecast is little avail. | |
5. | He who lets the goat be laid on his shoulders is soon after forced to carry the cow. | Ital. |
6. | If one cannot accomplish his purpose in the lion's skin he must put on the fox's. | Lysander. |
7. | What force cannot, ingenuity may. | Sp. |
8. | Who overcomes by force overcomes but half his foe. | Milton. |
9. | You may force an ox to the water but you can't make him drink. | Dan. |
10. | You may force a man to shut his eyes but you cannot make him sleep. | Dan. |
Ford. | ||
1. | Avoid the ford in which your friend was drowned. | Gaelic. |
Forecast, Forelooking, Foreseeing. | ||
1. | Could a man foresee events he would never be poor. | Fr. |
2. | Forecast is better than hard work. | |
3. | He who could see only three days into futurity might enrich himself forever. | Chinese. |
4. | If our foresight were as good as our hindsight, we would never make any mistakes. | |
5. | He that will not look before him must look behind him. | Gaelic. |
6. | He who does not look before him must take misfortunes for his earnings. | Dan. |
7. | He who looks not before finds himself behind.[383] | Fr. |
Foretelling. | ||
1. | That which one most foretells soonest comes to pass. | |
Forget. | ||
1. | It is sometimes expedient to forget what you know. | Syrus. |
Forgiving. | ||
1. | A coward never forgave; it is not his nature. | Sterne. |
2. | Forgive and forget. | Ger. |
3. | Forgive thyself nothing and others much. | Ger. |
4. | Forgive any sooner than thyself. | |
5. | Forgive others, yourself never. | Syrus. |
6. | Forgiven is not forgotten. | Ger. |
7. | Forgiveness to the injured does belong, But they ne'er pardon who have done the wrong. | Dryden. |
Fortified. | ||
1. | Whatever is fortified will be attacked, and whatever is attacked will be destroyed. | Gibbon. |
Fortitude. | ||
1. | Fortitude is a great help in distress. | Plautus. |
2. | Fortitude is the mean between fear and rashness. | |
3. | True fortitude is seen in great exploits [384]That justice warrants, and that wisdom guides. | Addison. |
Fortress. | ||
1. | A fortress on its guard is not surprised. | Sp. |
2. | The fortress that parleys soon surrenders. | Ital. |
Fortune, Luck. | ||
1. | A drop of fortune is worth a cask of wisdom. | Latin. |
2. | A fortunate boor needs but be born. | |
3. | A fortunate man may be anywhere. | |
4. | A handful of luck is better than a sackful of wisdom. | Ger. |
5. | A little will serve a fortunate man. | |
6. | A lucky man is rarer than a white crow. | Juvenal. |
7. | A man does not seek his luck, luck seeks its man. | Turk. |
8. | A man of parts may lie hid all his life unless fortune calls him out. | |
9. | A stout heart crushes ill luck. | Sp. |
10. | All are not born to lie on the lap and drink milk. | Hans Andersen. |
11. | All bad fortune is to be conquered by endurance. | Virgil. |
12. | All brings grist to your mill. | |
13. | As fortune is sought so it is found. | Ger. |
14. | Bad luck, bad credit. | Ger. |
15. | Bad luck often brings good luck. | |
16. | Be not arrogant when fortune smiles, nor dejected when she frowns.[385] | Ausonius. |
17. | Better luck next time. | |
18. | Born of a white hen. (Said of a lucky fellow.) | Latin. |
19. | Call me not fool till Heaven has sent me fortune. | Shaks. |
20. | Every man is arrogant or humble according to his fortune. | |
21. | Every one is dissatisfied with his own fortune. | Cicero. |
22. | Everything he touches turns into gold. (An allusion to Midas, king of Phrygia.) | |
23. | Everything may be borne except good fortune. | Ital. |
24. | For him who is lucky even the cock lays eggs. | M. Greek. |
25. | Fortune aids the bold. | Sp. |
26. | Fortune always leaves some door open in disasters whereby to come at a remedy. | Don Quixote. |
27. | Fortune and go to sleep. | Ital. |
28. | Fortune and misfortune are neighbors. | Ger. |
29. | Fortune and misfortune are two buckets in a well. | Ger. |
30. | Fortune can take away riches but not courage. | Seneca. |
31. | Fortune can take from us only what she has given us. | Fr. |
32. | Fortune changes not birth. | Horace. |
33. | Fortune comes to her who seeks her. | Ital. |
34. | Fortune does not stand waiting at any one's door.[386] | Dutch. |
35. | Fortune dreads the brave and is only terrible to the coward. | Seneca. |
36. | Fortune favors fools. | |
37. | Fortune favors the brave. | Latin. |
38. | Fortune gives her hand to a brave man. | |
39. | Fortune gives many too much, but no one enough. | Laberius. |
40. | Fortune has no power over discretion. | Solon. |
41. | Fortune has rarely condescended to be the companion of genius. | Isaac Disraeli. |
42. | Fortune has wings. | Ger. |
43. | Fortune helps that help themselves. | |
44. | Fortune helps the bold, but not always. | Ger. |
45. | Fortune is a woman: if you neglect her to-day, expect not to regain her to-morrow. | Fr. |
46. | Fortune is blind. | Ger. |
47. | Fortune is gentle to the lowly, and Heaven strikes the lowly with a light hand. | Seneca. |
48. | Fortune is like glass: she breaks when she is brightest. | Latin. |
49. | Fortune is like the market, where if you will bide your time the price will fall. | |
50. | Fortune is like women: loves youth and is fickle. | Ger. |
51. | Fortune is not content to do a man but one ill turn. | Syrus. |
52. | Fortune is not far from the brave man's head. | Turk. |
53. | Fortune is round; it makes one a king, another a beggar.[387] | Dutch. |
54. | Fortune is the companion of virtue. | Latin. |
55. | Fortune is the guardian of the stupid. | Ger. |
56. | Fortune knocks once at least at every man's door. | |
57. | Fortune lost, nothing lost; courage lost, much lost; honor lost, more lost; soul lost, all lost. | Dutch. |
58. | Fortune makes a fool of him she too much favors. | Latin. |
59. | Fortune makes friends, and misfortune tries them. | Ger. |
60. | Fortune makes kings and fools. | Ger. |
61. | Fortune makes kings out of beggars, and beggars out of kings. | Ger. |
62. | Fortune makes rich and poor. | Ger. |
63. | Fortune often knocks at the door, but the fool does not invite her in. | Dan. |
64. | Fortune often lends her smiles as churls do money, to undo the debtor. | |
65. | Fortune often rewards with interest those that have patience to wait for her. | |
66. | Fortune rarely brings good or evil singly. | |
67. | Fortune seldom comes alone. | |
68. | Fortune smiles upon the brave and frowns upon the coward. | Latin. |
69. | Fortune sometimes favors those she afterwards destroys. | Ital. |
70. | Fortune wearies with carrying one and the same man always. | |
71. | Fortunes of thousands, thousands ten, cannot be made but by able men.[388] | Chinese. |
72. | Fortune unaided prevails over the plans of one hundred learned men. | Plautus. |
73. | Fortune when she caresses a man too much makes him a fool. | Latin. |
74. | From twelve eggs he gets thirteen chickens. | Ger. |
75. | Give a man luck and throw him in the sea. | |
76. | God send you luck, my son, and little wit will serve your turn. | |
77. | Good conduct overcomes ill fortune. | Charles of Anjou. |
78. | Good fortune ever fights on the side of prudence. | Greek. |
79. | Good fortune comes to her who takes care of her. | |
80. | Good fortune gives courage. | Hans Andersen. |
81. | Good luck comes by cuffing. | |
81½. | Good luck lies in odd numbers. | Shaks. |
82. | Good luck reaches farther than long arms. | |
83. | Half an ounce of luck is better than a pound of sense. | Ger. |
84. | He dances well to whom fortune pipes. | |
85. | He extracts milk even from a barren goat. | Greek. |
86. | He is lucky who forgets what cannot be mended. | Ger. |
87. | He needs little advice that is lucky. | |
88. | He planted pebbles and took potatoes. | Greek. |
89. | He was born with a caul. | Fr. |
90. | He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.[389] | |
91. | He who hath no ill fortune is clogged with good. | |
92. | He who is meant to be a basket carrier is born with the handle in his hand. | Ital. |
93. | His bread fell into the honey. | Sp. |
94. | His bread is buttered on both sides. | |
95. | His hens lay eggs with two yolks. | Ger. |
96. | If fortune favor you, be not elated; if she frown, do not despond. | Ausonius. |
97. | If he fling a penny on the roof, a dollar would come down to him. | |
98. | If it is to be luck the bull may as well calve as the cow. | Dan. |
99. | If you are too fortunate you will not know yourself. If you are too unfortunate nobody will know you. | |
100. | It is better to be born lucky than rich. | |
101. | It is easier to win good luck than to retain it. | Latin. |
102. | It is not every man who is the son of Gaika. (Gaika was a very rich man among the South Africans.) | Kaffir. |
103. | Low fortunes only break low minds. | Massinger. |
104. | Luck comes to those who look after it. | Sp. |
105. | Luck does not remain standing before one's door. | Ger. |
106. | Luck for fools, and chance for the ugly. | |
107. | Luck follows the hopeful, ill luck the fearful. | Ger[390]. |
108. | Luck gives many too much, but no one enough. | Ger. |
109. | Luck has but a slender anchorage. | Dan. |
110. | Luck has much for many, but enough for no one. | Dan. |
111. | Luck is all. | |
112. | Luck is better than a hundred marks. | Dan. |
113. | Luck is everything in promotion. | Don Quixote. |
114. | Luck is for the few, death for the many. | Ger. |
115. | Luck meets the fool but he seizes it not. | Ger. |
116. | Luck offers his hand to the bold. | Ger. |
117. | Luck perhaps visits the fool but does not sit down by him. | Ger. |
118. | Luck seeks those who flee and flees those who seek it. | Ger. |
119. | Luck stops at the door and inquires whether prudence is within. | Dan. |
120. | Luck will carry a man across the brook if he is not too lazy to leap. | Dan. |
121. | Lucky men need no counsel. | |
122. | Men are seldom blessed with good fortune and good sense at the same time. | Livy. |
123. | More luck than wit. | Dutch. |
124. | No hour brings good fortune to a man, without bringing misfortune to another. | Syrus. |
125. | No man has perpetual good fortune. | Plautus. |
126. | No man knoweth fortune till he dies. | Dutch. |
127. | One man gets an estate by what another man gets a halter.[391] | Fielding. |
128. | One man is born to the money and another to the purse. | Dan. |
129. | Pitch him into the Nile and he will come up with a fish in his mouth. | Arabian. |
130. | That is a very wretched fortune which has no enemy. | Syrus. |
131. | The bird of prosperity has lodged on his head. | Turk. |
132. | The goddess of fortune dwells in the feet of the industrious. The goddess of misfortune dwells in the feet of the sluggard. | Tamil. |
133. | The heathen's fortune is the Christian's providence. | |
134. | The highest spoke in fortune's wheel may soon turn lowest. | |
135. | The lucky man has a daughter for his first-born. | Por., Sp. |
136. | The most friendly fortune trips up your heels. | Fr. |
137. | The most wretched fortune is safe, for there is no fear of anything worse. | Ovid. |
138. | The wheel of fortune turns quicker than a mill wheel. | Don Quixote. |
139. | The worse luck, the better another time. | |
140. | The worse service, the better luck. | Dutch. |
141. | There is no fence against fortune. | |
142. | There is no one luckier than he who thinks himself so. | Ger. |
143. | There lies no appeal from the decisions of fortune.[392] | |
144. | They who strive with fortune win or weary her at last. | Byron. |
145. | To a bold man fortune holds out her hand. | Fr. |
146. | To have luck needs little wit. | Ital. |
147. | To the bold man fortune gives her hand. | Sp., Por. |
148. | Too poor for a bribe and too proud to importune, He hath not the method of making a fortune. | Gray on his own character. |
149. | Whatever fortune has raised to a height, she has raised only to cast it down. | Seneca. |
150. | When fortune favors a man too much she makes him a fool. | Syrus. |
151. | When fortune fawneth she biteth, when she is angry she woundeth. | |
152. | When fortune knocks, open the door. | Ital., Ger. |
153. | When fortune means to men most good, She looks upon them with a threatening eye. | Shaks. |
154. | When fortune reaches out her hand one must seize it. | Ger. |
155. | When fortune opens one door she opens another. | Ger. |
156. | When fortune smiles, take advantage. | |
157. | When smiling fortune spreads her golden ray, All crowd around to flatter and obey. But when she thunders from the angry sky, [393]Our friends, our flatterers, our lovers fly. | Ovid. |
158. | Where luck is wanting, diligence is useless. | Sp. |
159. | Who changes country changes luck. | Ital. |
160. | Who changes his condition changes fortune. | Ital. |
161. | Who has luck needs no understanding. | Ger. |
162. | Who has luck plays well with bad cards. | Ger. |
163. | Who has luck warms himself without fire and grinds without wind or water. | Ger. |
164. | Whom fortune favors the world favors. | Ger. |
165. | Will fortune never come with both hands full? | Shaks. |
166. | You must have good luck to catch hares with a drum. | Dan. |
Unfortunate, Unlucky. | ||
1. | By land or water the wind is ever in my lace. | |
2. | Even to smile at the unfortunate is to do an injury. | Syrus. |
3. | He falls on his back and breaks his nose. | Fr. |
4. | He is a horse with four white feet; i.e., he is unlucky. | Fr. |
5. | He was born upon St. Galpert's night three days before luck. | Dutch. |
6. | If I went to sea I should find it dry. | Ital. |
7. | If I were to trade in winding sheets no one would die. | Arabian. |
8. | If my father had made me a hatter men would have been born without heads. | Irish. |
9. | It avails little to the unfortunate to be brave.[394] | Sp. |
10. | More unlucky than a dog in church. | |
11. | The unfortunate are counted fools. | |
12. | The unfortunate know who are their real friends. | Ital. |
13. | Were I a hatter men would come into the world without heads. | Ger. |
14. | Who can help misluck? | |
15. | What is worse than ill luck? | |
Foundation. | ||
1. | A weak foundation destroys the work. | |
2. | No good building without a good foundation. | |
Fox. | ||
1. | A fox is slyer than ten asses. | Ger. |
2. | A fox sleeps but counts hens in his dreams. | Russian. |
3. | A good fox does not eat his neighbors' fowls. | Fr. |
4. | A good fox has three holes. | |
5. | A running fox is better than a sleeping lion. | Ger. |
6. | An old fox don't go twice into the trap. | Ger., Dutch. |
7. | An old fox is not to be caught in a trap. | M. Greek. |
8. | An old fox needs not to be taught tricks. | |
9. | As long as ye serve the fox ye maun bear up his tail. | |
10. | As long runs the fox as he has feet. | |
11. | Bear and bull catch no fox.[395] | Ger. |
12. | But when the fox hath once got in his nose, he'll soon find means to make the body follow. | Shaks. |
13. | Even foxes are caught. | Ital. |
14. | Every fox likes a hen-roost. | Ital. |
15. | Every fox looks after its own skin. | Dan. |
16. | Every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer. | |
17. | Every fox takes care of its tail. | Russian. |
18. | “Fie upon hens,” quoth the fox, because he could not reach them. | |
19. | Foxes are all tail and women all tongue. | Ital. |
20. | Foxes come at last to the furrier. | Fr. |
21. | Foxes dig not their own holes. | |
22. | Foxes never fare better than when they are cursed. | |
23. | Foxes prey farthest from their earths. | |
24. | Foxes when they cannot reach the grapes say they are not ripe. | |
25. | Fox's broth, cold and scalding. | Sp. |
26. | “Good day to you all,” said the fox when he got into the goose pen. | Dutch. |
27. | He is a proud tod that winna scratch his ain hole. | |
28. | He that will out-wit the fox must rise betimes. | |
29. | He who has to do with foxes must look after his hen-roost. | Ger. |
30. | If the badger leave his hole the fox will creep into it. | |
31. | If the fox is a butler he will not die of thirst.[396] | Ger. |
32. | If thou dealest with a fox think of his tricks. | |
33. | If you would catch a fox you must hunt with geese. | Dan. |
34. | It is a poor fox that hath but one hole. | Ger. |
35. | It is difficult to trap an old fox. | Dan. |
36. | “It is not for my own sake,” said the fox, “that I say to the geese, that there is a good goose green in the wood.” | Dan. |
37. | No fox so cunning but he is caught at last. | Ger. |
38. | Old foxes are hard to catch. | |
39. | Old foxes want no tutors. | |
40. | One fox rarely betrays another. | Ger. |
41. | Reynard is still Reynard though he put on a cowl. | |
42. | Take care of your geese when the fox preaches. | Dan. |
43. | The brains of a fox will be of little service, if you play with the paw of a lion. | |
44. | The fox advised the others to cut off their tails because he left his own in the trap. | Ital. |
45. | The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb. | Shaks. |
46. | The fox changes his skin but keeps the rogue. | Ger. |
47. | The fox does not so much mischief in a year as he pays for in an hour. | Sp. |
48. | The fox does not go twice into the same trap. | Dan. |
49. | The fox does not prey near his hole. | Ger. |
50. | The fox fares best when he is most cursed.[397] | |
51. | The fox goes at last to the shop of the furrier. | Turk. |
52. | The fox goes through the corn and does not eat but brushes it down with his tail. | Galician. |
53. | The fox has many tricks, the hedgehog only one, but greater than all. | Latin. |
54. | The fox is cunning but he is more cunning that catches him. | Sp. |
55. | The fox knows more than one hole. | |
56. | The fox knows well with whom he plays tricks. | Sp. |
57. | The fox grows gray but never good. | |
58. | The fox may lose his hair, but not his cunning. | Dutch. |
59. | The fox praiseth the meat out of the crow's mouth. | |
60. | The fox preys farthest from his hole. | |
61. | The fox said the grapes were sour. | Æsop's Fables. |
62. | The fox says of the mulberries when he cannot get at them, “They are good for nothing.” | Fr. |
63. | The fox that sleeps till the morning hath not his tongue feathered. | Fr. |
64. | The fox that tarries long is on the watch for prey. | Sp. |
65. | The fox thinks everybody eats poultry like himself. | Fr. |
66. | The fox with only one hole is soon caught. | Ger. |
67. | The fox's death is the hen's life.[398] | Ger. |
68. | The fox's wiles will never enter the lion's head. | |
69. | The more the fox is cursed the more prey he catches. | Ital. |
70. | The sleeping fox catches no poultry. | |
71. | The tod (fox) ne'er sped better than when he went on his ain errand. | |
72. | The tod (fox) keeps aye his ain hole clean. | |
73. | The tod's (fox's) whelps are ill to tame. | |
74. | There is no fox so cunning he does not find one more cunning. | Ger. |
75. | There is ne'er a best among them, as the fellow said by the fox-cubs. | |
76. | Though the fox runs, the chicken hath wings. | |
77. | We never find that a fox dies in the dirt of his own ditch. | |
78. | What the fox cannot reach he allows to hang. | M. Greek. |
79. | When a fox is in his hole smoke fetches him out. | Sp. |
80. | When the fox comes out of the trap he is more prudent than before. | Ger. |
81. | When the fox is asleep nothing falls into his mouth. | |
82. | When the fox is hungry he pretends he is asleep. | M. Greek. |
83. | When the fox is judge, the goose wins her suit with difficulty. | Ger. |
84. | When the fox licks his paw let the farmer look to his geese.[399] | Dan. |
85. | When the fox wishes to catch geese he wags his tail. | Ger. |
86. | When you bargain with a fox beware of tricks. | Latin. |
87. | Where there are no dogs the fox is a king. | Ital. |
88. | With foxes we must play the fox. | |
89. | You canna have more of a fox than his skin. | |
Frankness. | ||
1. | There is no wisdom like frankness. | Bea. |
Franks. | ||
1. | The Franks were good friends but bad neighbors. | (A saying of the old Greeks of Constantinople.) |
Fraud. | ||
1. | Fraud and deceit are always in haste. | |
2. | Fraud is the recourse of weakness and cunning. | Gibbon. |
3. | Fraud requires delay and intervals of guilt. | Tacitus. |
Freedom. | ||
1. | A bird in a cage is not half a bird. | Beecher. |
2. | A poor freedom is better than a rich slavery. | |
3. | All are not free who mock their chains. | Ger. |
4. | Better a bean and freedom, than comfits and slavery. | Ger. |
5. | Better be a bird of the wood than a bird in a cage. | Ital. |
6. | Better be a free bird than a captive king.[400] | Dan. |
7. | Better free in a foreign land than a serf at home. | Ger. |
8. | Better to look from the mountain than from the dungeon. | Servian. |
9. | Corrupted freemen are the worst of slaves. | Garrick. |
10. | For from the moment a freeman takes A tyrant's gift, his half of manhood's fled. | |
11. | Freedom has a thousand charms to show, That slaves howe'er contented never know. | Cowper. |
12. | Freedom is above silver and gold. | Ger. |
13. | Freedom's battle once begun, Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, Though baffled oft is ever won. | |
14. | He is not free who drags his chain after him. | Fr., Ital. |
15. | He is the freeman whom the truth makes free. | Cowper. |
16. | Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? | Byron. |
17. | In a free country there is much complaint with little suffering: in a despotism much suffering but little complaint. | Giles' Proverbs. |
18. | Injurious is the gift that takes away freedom. | Ital. |
19. | None is to be deemed free who has not perfect self-command. | Pythagoras. |
20. | One never knows what freedom means till one has seen those who are not free.[401] | Maga. |
21. | On the first day of his servitude the captive is deprived of one-half of his manly virtue. | Homer. |
22. | The good man alone is free and all bad men are slaves. | Maxim of the Stoics. |
23. | The most magnificent palace would appear to him a prison who was confined to it. | Turkish Spy. |
24. | To speak his thoughts is every freeman's right. | Homer. |
25. | We must be free or die, who speak the tongue that Shakespeare writ. | Wordsworth. |
26. | Who has lost his freedom has nothing else to lose. | Ger. |
27. | Who sells his freedom in exchange for gold, Shall make eternal servitude his fate. | Homer. |
Frenchman. | ||
1. | The Frenchman sings well when his throat is moistened. | Por. |
2. | When the Frenchman sleeps the devil rocks him. | Fr. |
Friend. | ||
1. | A clear bargain, a dear friend. | Ital. |
2. | A courageous is better than a cowardly friend. | |
3. | A fair weather friend changes with the wind. | Sp., Por. |
4. | A faithful friend is the true image of the deity. | Napoleon. |
5. | A false friend and a shadow attend only when the sun shines. | Franklin. |
6. | A false friend has honey in his mouth, gall in his heart. | Ger[402]. |
7. | A false friend is worse than an open enemy. | Ger. |
8. | A father is a treasure, a brother a comfort, but a friend is both. | |
9. | A foe to God was never true friend to man. | Young. |
10. | A friend and look to thyself. | |
11. | A friend as far as conscience allows. | |
12. | A friend at one's back is a safe bridge. | Dutch. |
13. | A friend cannot be known in prosperity nor an enemy be hidden in adversity. | |
14. | A friend in need is a friend in deed. | |
15. | A friend in the market is better than money in the chest. | |
16. | A friend is best found in adversity. | |
17. | A friend is better than money in the purse. | Dutch. |
18. | A friend is never known till needed. | |
19. | A friend is not known till he is lost. | |
20. | A friend is not so soon gotten as lost. | |
21. | A friend is often best known by his loss. | Ger. |
22. | A friend is one who jumps down and puts on the drag when he finds you are going down hill too fast. | Punch. |
23. | A friend is to be taken with his faults. | Por. |
24. | A friend—one soul, two bodies. | Oriental. |
25. | A friend should bear a friend's infirmities.[403] | Shaks. |
26. | A friend that you buy with presents will be bought from you. | |
27. | A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody. | Sp. |
28. | A friend to my table and wine is no good neighbor. | Fr. |
29. | A friend without faults will never be found. | |
30. | A friend's dinner is soon dressed. | Dutch. |
31. | A friend's faults should be known but not abhorred. | Por. |
32. | A friend's faults may be noticed but not blamed. | Dan. |
33. | A friend's frown is better than a fool's smile. | |
34. | A good friend is better than silver and gold. | Dutch. |
35. | A good friend is my nearest relation. | |
36. | A good friend never offends. | |
37. | A good-natured friend is often only an enemy in disguise. | Punch. |
38. | A man may see his friend need but winna see him bleed. | |
39. | A man without a friend is only half a man. | |
40. | A plaster house, a horse at grass, A friend in words, are all mere grass. | Dutch. |
41. | A ready way to lose your friend is to lend him money. | |
42. | A reconciled friend is a double enemy. | |
43. | A rich friend is a treasure. | |
44. | A sure friend is known in a doubtful case. | |
45. | A table friend is changeable.[404] | Fr. |
46. | A thousand friends are few, one foe many. | Turk. |
47. | A treacherous friend is the most dangerous enemy. | Fielding. |
48. | A true friend does sometimes venture to be offensive. | |
49. | A true friend is above all things sure capital. | Ger. |
50. | A true friend is better than a relation. | Turk. |
51. | A true friend is forever a friend. | Geo. McDonald. |
52. | A true friend is known in the day of adversity. | Turk. |
53. | A true friend is the nectar of life. | Tamil. |
54. | Admonish your friends in private, praise them in public. | Syrus. |
55. | Aft counting keeps friends lang thegither. | |
56. | Ah! how good it feels, the hand of an old friend. | Longfellow. |
57. | All are not friends who speak one fair. | |
58. | An old friend is better than two new ones. | Ger., Russian. |
59. | An untried friend is like an uncracked nut. | Russian. |
60. | At weddings and funerals friends are discovered from kinsfolk. | |
61. | Avoid a friend who covers you with his wings and destroys you with his beak. | Sp. |
62. | Be a friend to thyself and others will be so too.[405] | |
63. | Be blind to the failings of your friends but never to their vices. | Tacitus. |
64. | Behold thy friend and of thyself the pattern see. | |
65. | Before you make a friend eat a peck of salt with him. | Scotch. |
66. | Better a good friend than silver and gold. | Ger. |
67. | Better an open enemy than a false friend. | Dan. |
68. | Better foes than hollow friends. | Shaks. |
69. | Better have a friend on the road than gold or silver in your purse. | Fr. |
70. | Better have a friend in the market-place than money in your coffer. | Por. |
71. | Between two friends, a notary and two witnesses. | Sp. |
72. | Beware of a reconciled friend as of a devil. | Sp. |
73. | Bought friends are not friends in deed. | |
74. | By requiting one friend we invite many. | |
75. | Can't I be your friend, but I must be your fool too? | |
76. | Defend me from my friends, I can defend myself from my enemies. | Marechall Villars. |
77. | Desertion of a calumniated friend is an immoral action. | Dr. Johnson. |
78. | Even reckoning keeps long friends. | |
79. | Everybody's companion is nobody's friend.[406] | Ger. |
80. | Everybody's friend and nobody's friend is all one. | Sp., Por. |
81. | Everybody's friend is everybody's fool. | Ger., Dutch, Dan. |
82. | Eye-friend, false friend;—eye-friend, back enemy. | Ger. |
83. | Faithful are the wounds of a friend. | Bible. |
84. | Fall not out with a friend for a trifle. | |
85. | Fall sick and you will see who is your friend and who is not. | Sp. |
86. | Familiar paths and old friends are the best. | Ger. |
87. | False friends are worse than open enemies. | |
88. | Few there are that will endure a true friend. | |
89. | Fire and water are not more necessary than friends are. | |
90. | Fresh fish and poor friends grow soon ill-fav'r'd. | |
91. | Friends agree best at a distance. | Fr. |
92. | Friends and mules fail us at hard passes. | Galician. |
93. | Friends are far from a man who is unfortunate. | Latin. |
94. | Friends are like fiddle strings: they must not be screwed too tight. | |
95. | Friends are like melons; shall I tell you why? To find one good you must a hundred try. | Claude Mermet. |
96. | Friends are not so soon got or recovered as lost. | |
97. | Friends are the nearest relations.[407] | |
98. | Friends become foes and foes are reconciled. | Latin. |
99. | Friends got without desert are lost without cause. | |
100. | Friends living far away are no friends. | Greek. |
101. | Friends may meet but mountains never greet. | |
102. | Friends need no formal invitation. | |
103. | Friends tie their purse with a cobweb thread. | Ital. |
104. | Give out that you have many friends and believe that you have but few. | Fr. |
105. | Go slowly to the entertainments of thy friends and quickly to their misfortunes. | Chilo. |
106. | God keep me from my friends, from my enemies I will keep myself. | Ital. |
107. | Good neighbors and true friends are two things. | |
108. | Happy men shall have many friends. | |
109. | Have but few friends though much acquaintance. | |
110. | He is a fair weather friend. | |
111. | He is my friend who grinds at my mill. | Sp., Por. |
112. | He is my friend that succoreth me, not he that pitieth me. | |
113. | He is no friend that eats his own by himself and mine with me. | Por. |
114. | He makes no friend who never made a foe.[408] | Tennyson. |
115. | He never was a friend who ceased to be so for a slight cause. | Por. |
116. | He never was a friend who has ceased to be one. | Fr. |
117. | He is a friend at sneezing time, the most that can be got from him is a “God bless you.” | Ital. |
118. | He that seeks to have many friends never has any. | Ital. |
119. | He that trusts a faithless friend has a good witness against him. | Sp. |
120. | He that would have many friends should try a few of them. | Ital. |
121. | He who cannot counterfeit a friend, can never be a dangerous enemy. | |
122. | He who for his own sake would expose a friend deserves not to have one. | Rousseau. |
123. | He who has a good nest finds good friends. | Por. |
124. | He who has a thousand friends, has not a friend to spare, He who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere. | Persian. |
125. | He who has many friends has no friends. | Aristotle. |
126. | He who has no enemy has no friend. | Ger. |
127. | He who is everybody's friend is either very poor or very rich. | Sp. |
128. | He who is his own friend is a friend to all men. | Seneca. |
129. | He who is wanting but to one friend loseth a great many by it.[409] | |
130. | He who makes friends of all keeps none. | |
131. | He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs. | |
132. | Here's to our friends and hang up the rest of mankind. | |
133. | Hit him again, he has no friends. | |
134. | I am on good terms with the friend who eats his bread with me. | Sp. |
135. | I was wounded in the house of my friends. | Bible. |
136. | I will be thy friend but not thy vices' friend. | |
137. | I would rather have a dog my friend than enemy. | Ger. |
138. | If you had had fewer friends and more enemies you had been a better man. | |
139. | If you have one true friend you have more than your share. | |
140. | If you want enemies excel others, if you want friends let others excel you. | |
141. | If you wanted me an' your meat, you would want a gude freende. | |
142. | In time of prosperity friends will be plenty. In time of adversity not one amongst twenty. | |
143. | It is a good friend that is always giving though it be never so little. | |
144. | It is as bad to have too many friends as no friend at all. | Latin. |
145. | It is better to decide a difference between enemies than friends, for one of our friends will certainly become an enemy, and one of our enemies a friend.[410] | Bias. |
146. | It is good to have friends everywhere. | |
147. | It is important but not easy to distinguish a true friend from an agreeable enemy. | Petrarch. |
148. | It is more disgraceful to suspect our friends than to be deceived by them. | Fr. |
149. | It is no small grief to a good nature to try his friends. | Euripides. |
150. | It is no use hiding from a friend what is known to an enemy. | Dan. |
151. | Keep your mouth and keep your friend. | Dan. |
152. | Let him who is wretched and beggared try everybody and then his friend. | Ital. |
153. | Let not one enemy be little in thy eyes, nor a thousand friends be many in thy sight. | Hebrew. |
154. | Let our friends perish provided our enemies fall with them. (An atrocious maxim of the Greeks and Romans.) | |
155. | Let us be friends and put out the devil's eyes. | |
156. | Let us be friends, let our purses be at variance. | M. Greek. |
157. | Little intermitting makes gude freends. | |
158. | Make no friend of thy thrall. | Northmen. |
159. | Make not thy friend too cheap to thee, nor thyself to thy friend. | |
160. | Many a man is a good friend but a bad neighbor. | Dan. |
161. | Many friends and few helpers in need. | Ger. |
162. | Many humble servants but not one true friend. | |
163. | Many kinsfolk, few friends.[411] | |
164. | May God not prosper our friends that they forget us. | Sp. |
165. | My friend is he who helps me in time of need. | Ger. |
166. | My friend's enemy is often my best friend. | Ger. |
167. | No better friend than the man himself. | Ger. |
168. | No friend a friend until he shall prove a friend. | Beaumont and Fletcher. |
169. | No longer foster, no longer friend. | |
170. | Nothing is more annoying than a tardy friend. | Plautus. |
171. | Nothing is so dangerous as an ignorant friend. (This maxim is illustrated by the fable of the bear and the man.) | La Fontaine. |
172. | Old friends and new reckonings. | Fr. |
173. | Old friends are best. | Selden. |
174. | Old friends and old ways ought not to be disdained. | Dan. |
175. | Old friends and old wine are best. | |
176. | Old friends are not to be paid with gold. | Ger. |
177. | Old tunes are sweetest and old friends are surest. | |
178. | On the choice of friends our good or evil name depends. | Gray. |
179. | One enemy can harm you more than a hundred friends can do you good. | Ger. |
180. | One enemy is too much for a man in a great post and a hundred friends are too few.[412] | |
181. | One God no more, but friends good store. | |
182. | One seldom finds white ravens and true friends. | Ger. |
183. | One should fly a laughing enemy and a flattering friend. | Ger. |
184. | Prove thy friends ere thou have need. | |
185. | Rather have a little one for your friend, than a great one for your enemy. | Ital. |
186. | Save me from my friends. | |
187. | So long as fortune sits at the table friends sit there. | Ger. |
188. | Sweet language will multiply friends. | Spectator. |
189. | Tell nothing to thy friend which thy enemy may not know. | Dan. |
190. | Tell your friend your secret and he will set his foot on your neck. | Ital., Sp., Por. |
191. | The best friend often becomes the worst enemy. | Ger. |
192. | The best looking-glass is an old friend. | Ger. |
193. | The best of friends must part. | |
194. | The enemy of my friend is often my best friend. | Ger. |
195. | The false friend is like the shadow of a sundial. | Fr. |
196. | The friend looks at the head, the enemy at the foot. | Turk. |
197. | The friends thou hast and their adoption tried, Grapple to thy soul with hooks of steel. | Shaks. |
198. | The goods of friends are in common. | Pythagoras. |
199. | The greatest affliction that can befall a man is the unkindness of a friend. | Fielding. |
200. | The greatest blessing is a pleasant friend. | Horace. |
201. | The hireling is gained by money, the true friend by an obliging behavior. | Chinese. |
202. | The interested friend is a swallow on the roof. (Prepared to leave on the appearance of winter.) | Fr. |
203. | The oldest friend is the best friend for a man. | Plautus. |
204. | The only way to have a friend is to be one. | Emerson. |
205. | The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it. | Holmes. |
206. | The voice is powerful of a faithful friend. | Homer. |
207. | There is no living without friends. | Por. |
208. | There is no more hold of a new friend than of a new fashion. | |
209. | There's no living without friends. | Por. |
210. | They are rich who have friends. | Sp., Por., Latin. |
211. | They are rich who have true friends. | |
212. | They cease to be friends who dwell afar off. | Latin. |
213. | 'Tis easier to preserve a friend than to recover him when lost. | |
214. | To a friend's house the road is never long. | Dan. |
215. | To be every one's friend is to be every one's fool. | Ger. |
216. | To preserve a friend three things are required: to honor him present, praise him absent, and assist him in his necessities. | Ital. |
217. | Treat your friend as if you knew that he will one day become your enemy. | Laberius. |
218. | Trust not the praise of a friend nor the contempt of an enemy. | Ital. |
219. | Try your friend ere you trust him. | |
220. | Try your friend with a falsehood and if he keep it a secret tell him the truth. | Ital. |
221. | Unless you bear with the faults of a friend you betray your own. | Syrus. |
222. | We can live without a brother but not without a friend. | Ger. |
223. | We can live without our friends but not without our neighbors. | |
224. | We must ask what is proper from our friends. | Cicero. |
225. | We shall never have friends if we expect to have them without fault. | |
226. | We should behave toward our friends, as we should wish them to behave toward us. | Aristotle. |
227. | We should have many well wishers but few friends. | Spectator. |
228. | When a friend asketh there is no to-morrow. | Sp. |
229. | When friends meet, hearts warm. | |
230. | When good cheer is lacking, our friends will be packing.[415] | |
231. | When there are two friends to one purse, the one sings, the other weeps. | Sp. |
232. | Where friends, there riches. | Ger., Por. |
233. | Where shall a man have a worse friend than he brings from home? | |
234. | Where two faithful friends meet, God makes up a third. | |
235. | Wherever you see your friend trust yourself. | |
236. | Wherever you see your kindred, make much of your friends. | |
237. | Who has no friends only half lives. | Ger. |
238. | Who has true friends is rich. | Ger. |
239. | Who in want a hollow friend doth try, Directly seasons him his enemy. | Shaks. |
240. | Who makes friends of all keeps none. | Ger. |
241. | Who would have many friends let him test but few. | Ital. |
242. | Without a friend the world is a wilderness. | |
243. | Your candid friend has never anything pleasant to say to you; he reminds you of his pet virtue by wounding you with it. | |
Friendship. | ||
1. | A broken friendship may be soldered but will never be sound. | |
2. | A dissimilarity of pursuits dissolves friendship. | Latin. |
3. | A generous friendship no cold medium knows. | Homer. |
4. | A hedge between keeps friendship green. | Ger. |
5. | A lost friendship is an enmity won.[416] | Ger. |
6. | A needle's eye is wide enough for two friends; The whole world is too narrow for two foes. | Persian. |
7. | Disparity of fortune is the bane of friendship. | Petrarch. |
8. | Do not allow the grass to grow on the road of friendship. | Madame Geoffrin. |
9. | Concealed grudges are dangerous in friendship. | |
10. | Female friendships are of rapid growth. | Bea. |
11. | Friendship canna stand aye on ae side. | |
12. | Friendship and company are a bad excuse for ill actions. | |
13. | Friendship and importunate begging feed at the same dish. | |
14. | Friendship always benefits, love sometimes injures. | Seneca. |
15. | Friendship consists not in saying “What's the best news?” | |
16. | Friendship increases in visiting friends but not in visiting them seldom. | |
17. | Friendship is a plant which one must often water. | Ger. |
18. | Friendship is a sheltering tree. | Coleridge. |
19. | Friendship is love with understanding. | Ger. |
20. | Friendship is not to be bought at a fair. | |
21. | Friendship is stronger than kindred. | Syrus. |
22. | Friendship is the balm as well as the seasoning of life. | Richardson. |
23. | Friendship is the most sacred of all moral bonds.[417] | |
24. | Friendship is the perfection of love. | |
25. | Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul, Sweet'n'r of life, and solder of society! | Blair. |
26. | Friendship rises but with fortune and sets when men go downward. | Aaron Hill. |
27. | Friendship should be unpicked not rent. | Ital. |
28. | Friendship that flames goes out in a flash. | |
29. | Friendship, the older it grows the stronger it is. | |
30. | Friendships are cheap when they can be bought by dropping the hat. | Ital. |
31. | Friendships multiply joys and divide griefs. | |
32. | In royal breasts both enmity and friendship should always give way to policy. | Maga. |
33. | In the division of inheritance friendship standeth still. | Dutch. |
34. | Judge before friendship then confide 'till death, Well for thy friend, but nobler far for thee. | Young. |
35. | Life has no pleasure nobler than that of friendship. | Dr. Johnson. |
36. | Little presents maintain friendship. | Fr. |
37. | No friendship lives long that owes its rise to the pot. | |
38. | Nothing can be sweeter than friendship. | Petrarch. |
39. | One should sacrifice everything to friendship except honor and justice. | Fr. |
40. | Patched up friendship seldom becomes whole again.[418] | Ger. |
41. | Pylades and Orestes died long ago and left no successors. (These were ancient Greeks celebrated for their friendship for each other.) | |
42. | Reconciled friendship is a wound ill salved. | Ital., Dan. |
43. | Sudden friendship, sure repentance. | |
44. | Suffering for a friend doubleth friendship. | |
45. | The friendship of a great man is a lion at the next door. | |
46. | The friendship of a great man is like the shadow of a bush soon gone. | Fr. |
47. | The friendship of the great is fraternity with lions. | Ital. |
48. | The friendships of the world are wind. | Bea. |
49. | There can be no friendship where there is no freedom. | |
50. | There is scarcity of friendship but none of friends. | |
51. | To live in friendship is to have the same desires and the same aversions. | Sallust. |
52. | To preserve friendship one must build walls. | Ital. |
53. | True friendship is imperishable. | Pythagoras. |
54. | What is friendship but a name, a charm that lulls to sleep, A shade that follows wealth or fame, and leaves the wretch to weep? | Goldsmith. |
55. | When friendship goes with love it must play second fiddle. | Ger. |
Frog. | ||
1. | Even a frog would bite if it had teeth.[419] | Ital. |
2. | Like frogs in a well. (Applied in Japan to those opposed to intercourse with foreigners.) | |
3. | The frog cannot get out of her bog. | |
4. | The frog does not bite because it cannot. | Ital. |
5. | The frog enjoys himself in water but not in hot water. | West African Negro. |
6. | The frog flew into a passion and the pond knew nothing about it. | M. Greek. |
7. | The frog learns his croak from himself. | Ger. |
8. | The frog will jump back into the pool, Although it sits on a golden stool. | Dutch. |
9. | Where the swamps are wanting, frogs are wanting. | Ger. |
Frugality. | ||
1. | Frugality is an estate alone. | |
2. | Frugality is a great revenue. | Latin. |
3. | Frugality is the mother of all virtues. | Latin. |
4. | Frugality is the sure guardian of our virtues. | Ancient Brahmin. |
5. | Frugality when all is spent comes too late. | Seneca. |
6. | The world has not yet learned the riches of frugality. | Cicero. |
Fruit. | ||
1. | Better the fruit lost than the tree. | Ger. |
2. | Blossoms are not fruits. | Dutch. |
3. | But the fruit that can fall without shaking, indeed is too mellow for me. | Mrs. Montagu. |
4. | Can you mature fruit by beating it with a stick when it does not ripen of itself?[420] | Tamil. |
5. | Forbidden fruit is sweetest. | |
6. | Fruit ripens not in the shade. | |
7. | Fruit and grain are half a year in concocting. | Bacon. |
8. | If you would fruit have, you must carry the leaf to the grave; i.e., you must transplant your trees about the fall of the leaf. | |
9. | I would have the fruit, not the basket. | |
10. | If you would enjoy the fruit pluck not the flower. | |
11. | Late fruit keeps well. | Ger. |
12. | Little wood, much fruit. | Dutch. |
13. | No autumn fruit without spring blossom. | |
14. | Nothing so good as forbidden fruit. | Fr. |
15. | That which blossoms in the spring will bring forth fruit in the autumn. | |
16. | The better the fruit the more wasps to eat it. | Ger. |
17. | The fruit falls not far from the stem. | Dutch. |
18. | The ripest fruit first falls. | Shaks. |
19. | There is no worse fruit than that which never ripens. | Ital. |
20. | We cannot eat the fruit whilst the tree is in blossom. | Bea. |
21. | When all fruit fails welcome haws. | |
22. | You seek for fruit in the garden of Tantalus. | Latin. |
Frying-pan. | ||
1. | A blow from a frying-pan though it may not hurt, sullies. | Sp. |
2. | A frying-pan will not wait for the king of Cordova.[421] | Bea. |
3. | He has enough to do who holds the handle of the frying-pan. | Fr. |
4. | He has fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire; i.e. gone from bad to worse. | |
5. | He that holds the frying-pan runs the risk of burning himself. | Fr. |
6. | He who holds the handle of the frying-pan turns it as he pleases. | Fr. |
7. | The kettle smuts the frying-pan. | Fr. |
8. | To have one eye on the cat and another on the frying-pan. | Fr. |
Full. | ||
1. | Full vessels give the least sound. | Ger. |
2. | The full does not believe the hungry. | M. Greek. |
Full-fed. | ||
1. | The full-fed cow makes company of her tail. | Sp., Por. |
2. | The full-fed sheep is frightened at her own tail. | Sp., Por. |
Fur. | ||
1. | The fur that warms a monarch warmed a bear. | Pope. |
Furniture. | ||
1. | What furniture can give such finish to a room as a tender woman's face? | Geo. Eliot. |
Fury. | ||
1. | Fury itself supplies arms. | |
Future. | ||
1. | If men will have no care for the future, they will soon have sorrow for the present.[422] | Chinese. |
2. | It is impossible to tell what is in the future. Literal, one may feel but not see the hair on the back of his head. | Chinese. |
Gain. | ||
1. | An evil gain is equal to a loss. | Latin. |
2. | Do not run too fast after gain. | |
3. | Gain at the expense of reputation should be called loss. | Syrus. |
4. | Gain does not delight as much as loss grieves. | M. Greek. |
5. | Gain got by a lie will burn one's fingers. | |
6. | Gain has a pleasant odor come whence it will. | Por. |
7. | Light gains come thick, great ones but now and then. | Bacon. |
8. | Light gains make a heavy purse. | Dutch. |
9. | No gains without pains. | |
10. | Only that which is honestly got is gain. | |
11. | Small gains bring great wealth. | Dutch. |
12. | There are no gains without pains, Then help hands for I have no lands. | |
13. | There are no gains without pains; Then plough deep while sluggards sleep. | |
14. | To make any gain some outlay is necessary. | Plautus. |
Gale. | ||
1. | No gale will equally serve all passengers. | |
Gallows. | ||
1. | All criminals turn preachers when they are under the gallows.[423] | Ital., Dutch. |
2. | Either towards the country or towards the gallows. | Turk. |
3. | No armor is proof against the gallows. | |
4. | Talk as you go, husband, to the gallows. | Sp. |
5. | The gallows takes its own. | Sp. |
6. | The gallows will have its own at last. | |
7. | The gallows was made for the unlucky. | Ital., Sp. |
8. | To parade the gallows before the town. | Sp. |
9. | To show the gallows before they show the town. | Sp. |
10. | Two can lie the third to the gallows. | Ger. |
11. | We must eat and drink though every tree were a gallows. | Ger., Dutch. |
12. | What belongs to the gallows does not drown. | Dutch. |
13. | When every one gets his own, you'll get the gallows. | |
14. | You'll ride on a horse that was foaled of an acorn; i.e., the gallows. | |
Gambling. | ||
1. | A man gets no thanks for what he loseth at play. | |
2. | A man may shuffle cards or rattle dice from noon to midnight without tracing a new idea in his mind. | Rambler. |
3. | A pack of cards is the devil's prayer-book. | |
4. | All players cannot win. | Ger. |
5. | At the end of the game we see who wins. | |
6. | Gambling is the idler's opium.[424] | Punch. |
7. | Gaming is the son of avarice and the father of despair. | Fr. |
8. | Give losers leave to speak and winners to laugh. | |
9. | He studies the bible of fifty-two leaves (a pack of cards). | Dutch. |
10. | He who hopes to win what belongs to another deserves to lose his own. | Richardson. |
11. | He who is a good gamester is lord of another man's purse. | |
12. | I would cheat my own father at cards. | |
13. | If the destructive dice-box have pleasure for the father the son will be a gambler. | Juvenal. |
14. | In all games it is good to leave off a winner. | |
15. | It is a bad game where nobody wins. | Ital. |
16. | It is a silly game where nobody wins. | |
17. | Many can pack the cards that cannot play. | |
18. | Many players lose in an hour what they cannot win back in a lifetime. | Ger. |
19. | One rarely finds a rich gambler. | Ger. |
20. | Rich gamblers and old trumpeters are rare. | Ger. |
21. | Runs of ill luck will come, as sure as day and night succeed each other. | (Beau Nash's advice to young gamblers.) |
22. | There are games in which it is better to lose than to win. | Latin. |
23. | The more skilful the gambler the worse the man. | Syrus. |
24. | There is no better gambling than not to gamble.[425] | Ger. |
25. | There is no gaming in which the devil has not a share. | Ger. |
26. | When the game is most thriving it is time to leave off. | Dan. |
27. | When two play, one must lose. | Ger. |
28. | Young gambler—old beggar. | Ger. |
Garden. | ||
1. | He that hires one garden (which he looks after) eats birds; he that hires more than one will be eaten by the birds. | |
2. | Many things grow in the garden that were not sowed there. | |
3. | More grows in a garden than a gardener sows there. | Por. |
4. | Rue an thyme grow baith in ae garden. | |
5. | The gardener's feet do no harm to the garden. | Sp. |
6. | Wholesome and poisonous herbs grow in the same garden. | |
Gardening. | ||
1. | This rule in gardening never forget: To sow dry and set wet. | |
Garlands. | ||
1. | Garlands are not for every brow. | |
Garlic. | ||
1. | Garlic will not lose its smell tho' it is enveloped in perfume. | Cingalese. |
Garrulity. | ||
1. | A garrulous tongue entangles all things. | Motto of Emperor Charles the Fat. |
Gathering. | ||
1. | One knows not for whom he gathers.[426] | Fr. |
Gauntlet. | ||
1. | What the gauntlet wins the gorget consumes. | Fr. |
Gear. | ||
1. | Gear is easier gained than guided. | |
2. | He that gets his gear before his wit, will be short while master of it. | Scotch. |
3. | The grace o' God is gear enough. | |
Gems. | ||
1. | Fairest gems lie deepest. | |
Generals. | ||
1. | I made all my generals out of mud. | Napoleon. |
Generous Man. | ||
1. | The generous man enriches himself by giving, the miser hoards himself poor. | Dutch, Dan. |
2. | The generous man pays for nothing so much as what is given him. | |
Generosity. | ||
1. | Be just before you are generous. | |
Genius. | ||
1. | Genius can never despise labor. | Abel Stevens. |
2. | Genius cannot be transmitted by last will and testament. | |
3. | Genius is a nervous disease. | De Tours. |
4. | Genius, like water, will find its level. | |
5. | Genius must be born and never can be taught. | Dryden. |
6. | It is the property of true genius to disturb all settled ideas. | Goethe. |
7. | It is with a fine genius as with a fine fashion:[427] all those are displeased at it, who are not able to follow it. | Warton. |
8. | No age is shut against great genius. | Seneca. |
9. | The dunces of all countries propagate the maxim that a man of genius is unfit for business. | Pope. |
10. | The greater the genius, the higher the aim; the higher the aim, the greater risk of failure. | |
11. | The honors of genius are eternal. | Latin. |
12. | Time, place and action may with pains be wrought, But genius must be born and never can be taught. | Dryden. |
13. | Without genius learning soars in vain, Without learning genius sinks again. | Horace. |
Genoese. | ||
1. | The Genoese have a sea without fish, land without trees and men without faith. | Addison. |
Gentility. | ||
1. | Gentility without ability is worse than plain beggary. | |
Gentle. | ||
1. | A gentle hand may lead the elephant with a hair. | Persian Rosary. |
2. | Gentleness does more than violence. | Fr. |
3. | Gently but firmly. | Latin. |
4. | Gently comes the world to those That are cast in gentle mould. | Tennyson. |
5. | The gentle calf sucks all the cows. | Por. |
6. | The gentle hawk mans herself.[428] | Fr. |
7. | The gentle lamb sucks any ewe as well as its mother; The surly lamb neither its own nor another. | Sp. |
8. | The gentle ewe is sucked by every lamb. | Ital. |
9. | There is no severity like gentleness. | |
Gentleman. | ||
1. | A gentleman is one who has no business in the world. | Punch. |
2. | A gentleman ought to travel abroad but dwell at home. | |
3. | A gentleman should be honest in his actions and refined in his language. | Spectator. |
4. | A gentleman should have more in pocket than on his back. | |
5. | A gentleman without an estate is a pudding without suet. | |
6. | A true gentleman will respect woman even in her weakness. | Fr. |
7. | He is the best gentleman who is the son of his own deserts. | |
8. | Manners and money make a gentleman. | |
9. | Punctuality and politeness are the inseparable companions of gentlemen. | Lamartine. |
10. | The first thing a poor gentleman calls for in the morning is a needle and thread. | Scotch. |
11. | What's a gentleman but his pleasure? | |
12. | When Adam delved and Eve span, Where was then the gentleman? | Ger., Dutch. |
13. | Who would be a gentleman let him storm a town.[429] | |
Gentry. | ||
1. | Gentry by blood is bodily gentry. | |
2. | Gentry sent to market will not buy one bushel of corn. | |
German. | ||
1. | A German Italianized is a devil incarnate. | Turkish Spy. |
2. | No German remains where he is well-off. | Ger. |
3. | The German mind cannot brook repose, The field of danger is the field of glory. | Tacitus. |
4. | The Germans carry their wit in their fingers. | Fr. |
5. | Where Germans are, Italians like not to be. | Ital. |
Ghosts. | ||
1. | Where ghosts walk there is loving or thieving. | Ger. |
Giant (Dwarf.) | ||
1. | A giant will starve on what will surfeit a dwarf. | |
2. | A stirring dwarf, we do approbation give Before a sleeping giant. | Shaks. |
3. | The awakening of a giant shakes the earth. | Arabian. |
Gift (Presents). | ||
1. | A gift in the hand is better than two promises. | La Fontaine. |
2. | A gift long wished for is sold not given. | |
3. | A gift with a kind countenance is a double present. | |
4. | A good offer should never be refused unless we have a better one at the same time.[430] | Bea. |
5. | A good present need not knock long for admittance. | |
6. | A man may be kind an' gie little o' his gear. | |
7. | A man's gift makes room for him. | |
8. | A present blindeth the eyes. | |
9. | A present is cheap but love is dear. | Russian. |
10. | A slight gift, small thanks. | |
11. | A small gift is better than a great promise. | Ger. |
12. | A well is not to be filled with dew. (Referring to trifling gifts.) | Arabian. |
13. | Accept the largess of thy friend as if thou wert an enemy. | Turk. |
14. | Beware of him who makes you presents. | Ital. |
15. | Fair is he that comes, but fairer he that brings. | Fr. |
16. | Gifts are according to the giver. | Ger. |
17. | Gifts are often losses. | Ital. |
18. | Gifts break (or dissolve) rocks. | Sp., Por. |
19. | Gifts from enemies are dangerous. | |
20. | Gifts make beggars bold. | |
21. | Gifts make friendship lasting. | Dan. |
22. | Great gifts are for great men. | |
23. | He doubles his gifts who gives in time. | |
24. | He that bringeth a present finds the door open. | |
25. | He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house, but he that hateth gifts shall live. | Bible. |
26. | He that is won with a nut may be lost with an apple.[431] | |
27. | I fear the Greeks even when they are offering presents. | Virgil. |
28. | Nothing freer than a gift. | |
29. | No purchase like a gift. | Fr. |
30. | One gift well given recovereth many losses. | |
31. | Presents break rocks. | Don Quixote. |
32. | Presents keep friendship warm. | Ger. |
33. | Presents make the water to run back. | Ger. |
34. | Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. | Shaks. |
35. | Secret gifts are openly rewarded. | Dan. |
36. | Small favors conciliate, but great gifts make enemies. | Latin. |
37. | Take gifts with a sigh, most men give to be paid. | John Boyle O'Reilly. |
38. | The gift bringer always finds an open door. | Ger. |
39. | The gift of an enemy is no better than an injury. | M. Greek. |
40. | The gifts of enemies are not gifts and are worthless. | Sophocles. |
41. | The giver makes the gift precious. | Latin. |
42. | Vinegar for nothing is as sweet as honey. | M. Greek. |
43. | We never profit by the gifts of the wicked. | Latin. |
44. | What is bought is cheaper than a gift. | Ital., Por. |
45. | What's freer than a gift? | |
46. | What's of no use is too dear as a gift. | Ger. |
47. | Whatever is given to the poor is laid up in Heaven.[432] | |
Gift-horse. | ||
1. | Look not a gift-horse in the mouth. | Fr., Ital., Ger., Sp., Dutch, Dan. |
2. | Never heed the color of a gift-horse. | Ital. |
3. | The teeth of a horse presented are never observed. | Turk. |
Gypsy. | ||
1. | You cannot find a cupboard in the hut of a gypsy. | Turk. |
Giving. | ||
1. | A hand accustomed to take is far from giving. | Arabian. |
2. | A benefit is estimated according to the mind of the giver. | Seneca. |
3. | Better give than have to give. | Ital., Ger. |
4. | Give a clown your fingers and he'll take your whole hand. | |
5. | Give a grateful man more than he asks. | Por. |
6. | Give a helping hand to a man in trouble. | Latin. |
7. | Give a hint to the man of sense and consider the thing done. | |
8. | Give a loaf and beg a shrive. | |
9. | Give a poor man sixpence and not a bottle of wine. | |
10. | Give a thing and take again and you shall ride in hell's wain. | |
11. | Give and spend and God will send. | |
12. | Give him an inch and he'll take an ell. | |
13. | Give him rope enough and he'll hang himself.[433] | |
14. | Give me roast meat and beat me with the spit. | |
15. | Give assistance and receive thanks lighter than a feather. | |
16. | Give at first asking what you safely can, 'Tis certain gain to help an honest man. | |
17. | Give every man his due. | |
18. | Give me liberty or give me death. | Patrick Henry. |
19. | Give me a seat and I will make room to lie down. | Sp. |
20. | Give to him that has. | Ital. |
21. | Give unto the king what is the king's, and unto God what is God's. | Ger. |
22. | Giving begets love, lending as usually lessens it. | |
23. | Giving is fishing. | Ital. |
24. | Giving much to the poor doth increase a man's store. | |
25. | God loveth a cheerful giver. | |
26. | Hand and tongue never give alike. | Yorubas (Africa). |
27. | He gives an egg to get a chicken. | Dutch. |
28. | He gives double who gives unasked. | Arabian. |
29. | He giveth twice who giveth in a trice. | |
30. | He is of the race of John Vancleve who would always much rather have than give. | Dutch. |
31. | He sends his present with a hook attached. (Angling for a return.)[434] | Latin. |
32. | He that bestows but a bone on thee would not have thee die. | |
33. | He that gives his goods before he be dead, Take up a mallet and knock him on the head. | |
34. | He that gives his heart will not deny his money. | |
35. | He that gives honor to his enemy is like to an ass. | |
36. | He that gives to a grateful man puts out to usury. | |
37. | He that gives to be seen will relieve none in the dark. | |
38. | He that giveth customarily to the vulgar borroweth trouble. | |
39. | He that giveth to a good man selleth well. | |
40. | He who can give has many a good neighbor. | Fr. |
41. | He who gives all before he dies will need a great deal of patience. | |
42. | He who gives bread to others' dogs is often barked at by his own. | Ital. |
43. | He who gives fair words feeds you with an empty spoon. | |
44. | He who gives grudgingly shall be taught better by adversity. | Cingalese. |
45. | He who gives little gives from his heart; he who gives much gives from his wealth. | Turk. |
46. | He who gives mankind a new food product is a benefactor. | Stilson Hutchins. |
47. | He who gives must take. (Applied to joking.)[435] | Ger. |
48. | He who gives to the public gives to no one. | Sp. |
49. | He who gives quickly gives doubly. | Ger. |
50. | He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord. | Ger., Dutch. |
51. | He who giveth expecteth something in return. | Chinese. |
52. | He who would take must give. | Sp. |
53. | His name is Doson (will give). Said of one always promising, never performing. | Plutarch. |
54. | If a poor man gives to you he expects more in return. | Por. |
55. | If you give him an inch he'll take an ell. | |
56. | It is more blessed to give than to receive. | New Testament. |
57. | It is not much to give the leg to him that gave you the fowl. | Sp. |
58. | Let the giver be silent, and the receiver speak. | Por. |
59. | Many give with their mouths, and not with their hands. | Ger. |
60. | Many take by the bushel and give by the spoon. | Ger. |
61. | Much is expected where much is given. | |
62. | Not he gives who likes, but who has. | Sp. |
63. | Not usurers make more beggars where they live, Than charitable men, who heedless give. | Heywood. |
64. | One always regrets what he gives to the wicked.[436] | La Fontaine. |
65. | One must not give to another what he needs himself. | Ger. |
66. | People don't give black puddings to one who kills no pigs. | Sp. |
67. | People give to the rich and take from the poor. | Ger. |
68. | Rent a man a garden, and he'll make it a desert; Give a man a rock, and he'll make it a paradise. | |
69. | Shameless they give, who give what's not their own. | Homer. |
70. | Sic as ye gie, sic will ye get. | |
71. | The hand that gives gathers. | |
72. | The hand that gives is above the hand that takes. | Turk. |
73. | The hard give no more than he that hath nothing. | |
74. | They are free of fruit that want an orchard. | |
75. | They that gie you hinder you to buy. | |
76. | They that will give must take. | Don Quixote. |
77. | To be slow to give and to refuse are the same thing. | Fr., Por. |
78. | To give an apple where there is an orchard. | |
79. | To give an egg to get an ox. | Fr., Dutch. |
80. | To give and keep there is need of wit. | |
81. | To give and to have doth a wise brain crave. | |
82. | To give is a noble thing. | Ovid. |
83. | To give is honor, to beg dishonor. | Por. |
84. | To give is honor, to lose is grief.[437] | Sp. |
85. | To give quickly is to give doubly. | Ger. |
86. | To give one as good as he brings. | |
87. | To give one the dog to hold; i.e., to serve one a dog's trick. | |
88. | To give tardily is to refuse. | Fr., Por. |
89. | To him who can take all you have, give what he asks. | Ital. |
90. | To him who gives you a capon you can spare a leg or a wing. | Sp. |
91. | To him who gives you a pig, you may well give a rasher. | Ital. |
92. | To one who has a pie in the oven you may give a bit of your cake. | |
93. | What thou givest that shalt thou take with thee. | Turk. |
94. | What we gave we have, what we spent we had, what we left we lost. | Epitaph of Edward, Earl of Devon. |
95. | What you give is written in sand, what you take with an iron hand. | Ger. |
96. | Who gives away his goods before he is dead, Take a beetle and knock him on the head. | |
97. | Who gives his milk to the cats must drink water. | Ger. |
98. | Who gives teaches a return. | Ital. |
99. | Who gives the capon give him a leg and wing. | |
100. | Who gives to me teaches me to give. | Dutch. |
101. | Who gives sells dear if the receiver be not a churl. | Ital. |
102. | Who little gives can give often.[438] | |
103. | Whoever gives thee a bone would not wish to see thee dead. | Don Quixote. |
104. | Whoever makes great presents expects great presents in return. | Martial. |
105. | Your lavished stores speak not the liberal mind, but the disease of giving. | Epicharmus speaking to a prodigal. |
Girl. | ||
1. | A girl, a vineyard, an orchard and a bean field are hard to watch. | Por. |
2. | A girl draws more than a rope. | Sp. |
3. | A girl unemployed is thinking of mischief. | Fr. |
4. | The girl as she is taught, the flax as it is wrought. | Sp. |
5. | The girl is the smallest portion of herself. | Ovid. |
Glass Houses. | ||
1. | People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. | |
Glass Roof. | ||
1. | He who has a glass roof should not throw stones at his neighbors. | Ital., Sp., Ger., Dutch, Dan. |
Glass Windows. | ||
1. | Who hath glass windows must take heed how he throws stones. | |
Glory. | ||
1. | Alas, how difficult is the guardianship of glory. | Syrus. |
2. | Avoid shame but do not seek glory; nothing so expensive as glory.[439] | Sidney Smith. |
3. | Desire of glory is the last garment that even wise men put off. | |
4. | Glory follows virtue as though it were its shadow. | Cicero. |
5. | Glory is acquired by virtue, but preserved by letters. | Petrarch. |
6. | Glory is like a circle in the water. Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, 'Till by broad spreading it disperse to naught. | Shaks. |
7. | Glory paid to our ashes comes too late. | Martial. |
8. | Glory should always have a greater weight with us than interest. | Cleomenes. |
9. | Hasty glory goes out in a snuff. | |
10. | I prefer the glory that will last forever, to that of a day. | Pompey. |
11. | Sudden glory soon goes out. (Speedy rise—speedy fall.) | |
12. | That man is entitled to be registered in the lists of glory who has doubled his ancestral inheritance. | Cato. |
13. | The desire of glory is the torch of the mind. | |
14. | To draw the sword in the cause of freedom is the true glory of the brave. | Galgacus the Briton. |
15. | True glory takes root and even spreads. All false pretences like flowers fall to the ground, nor can counterfeit last long. | Cicero. |
16. | When glory comes memory departs. | Fr. |
17. | Where there is danger there may be glory.[440] | Gibbon>. |
Vain-glory. | ||
1. | A man gains nothing by vain-glory but contempt and hatred. | |
2. | Vain-glory blossoms but never bears. | |
3. | Where vain-glory reigns, folly is prime minister. | |
Glowing. | ||
1. | Who glows not, burns not. | |
Gluttony. | ||
1. | A glutton is never generous. | |
2. | A glutton young, a beggar old. | Ger. |
3. | A greedy man God hates. | |
4. | Gluttony kills more than the sword. | Fr., Ital. |
5. | He'll eat till he sweats and work till he freezes. | |
6. | His eye is bigger than his belly. | |
7. | If it rained macaroni what a fine thing for gluttons. | Ital. |
8. | It is easier to fill a glutton's belly than his eye. | |
9. | Never good that mind their belly so much. | |
10. | You dig your grave with your teeth. | |
11. | Your belly will never let your back be warm. | |
Goat. | ||
1. | A lame goat will not sleep by day. | Sp. |
2. | A piece of a kid is worth two of a cat. | |
3. | An old goat is never more reverend for his beard. | |
4. | By candle-light a goat looks like a lady.[441] | Fr. |
5. | Goats are not sold at every fair. | |
6. | If the beard were all the goat might preach. | Dan. |
7. | None ever saw a goat dead of hunger. | Fr., Ital. |
8. | The goat cannot well cover herself with her tail. | Sp. |
9. | The kid that keeps above is in no danger of the wolf. | |
10. | The lame goat does not take a siesta. | Por. |
11. | When the goat's foot is broken, then he finds his master's door. | West Indian Negro. |
12. | Where the goat is tied she must browse. | Fr. |
13. | Where the goat leaps, leaps that which sucks her. | Sp. |
God. | ||
1. | Against God's wrath no castle is thunder proof. | |
2. | All things proclaim the existence of a God. | Napoleon. |
3. | Better God than gold. | |
4. | Every little blade of grass declareth the presence of God. | Latin. |
5. | Every one in his own house and God in all men's. | Sp. |
6. | Every one is as God made him and very often worse. | Don Quixote. |
7. | Everything has an end excepting God. | Dutch. |
8. | Father and mother are kind, but God is kinder.[442] | Dan. |
9. | Get thy spindle and thy distaff ready and God will send the flax. | |
10. | God alone understands fools. | Fr. |
11. | God arms the harmless. | |
12. | God blesses the seeking, not the finding. | Ger. |
13. | God comes at last when we think he is farthest off. | Dan. |
14. | God comes with leaden feet but strikes with iron hand. | |
15. | God deals his wrath by weight but without weight his mercy. | |
16. | God defend me from the still water, and I'll keep myself from the rough. | |
17. | God defend me from the devil, the eye of a harlot and the turn of a die. | Sp. |
18. | God delays but does not forget. | M. Greek. |
19. | God deliver me from a man of one book. | |
20. | God deprives him of his bread who likes not his drink. | |
21. | God does not pay weekly but he pays at the end. | Dutch. |
22. | God does not smite with both hands. | Sp. |
23. | God extends from eternity to eternity. | Aristotle. |
24. | God gives a cursed cow short horns. | Ital. |
25. | God gives almonds to some who have no teeth. | Sp. |
26. | God gives bread but we must creep along ourselves also. | M. Greek. |
27. | God gives every bird its food but does not thrust it into its nest.[443] | Dan. |
28. | God gives little folks small gifts. | Dan. |
29. | God gives strength to bear a great deal if we only strive ourselves to endure. | Hans Andersen. |
30. | God gives the milk but not the pail. | Ger. |
31. | God gives the wine but not the bottle. | Ger. |
32. | God gives wings to the ant that she may perish the sooner. | Sp. |
33. | God grant me to contend with those who understand me. | |
34. | God grant you fortune, my son, for knowledge avails you little. | Sp. |
35. | God has given nuts to some that have no teeth. | Por. |
36. | God has given us the earth, but left the sea to the infidels. | Turk. |
37. | God has many names though he is only one being. | Aristotle. |
38. | God helps the sailor, but he must row. | Ger. |
39. | God helps those who help themselves. | |
40. | God helping, nothing need be feared. | |
41. | God helps the early riser. | Sp. |
42. | God helps the strongest. | Ger., Dutch. |
43. | God helps three sorts of people: fools, children, and drunkards. | Fr. |
44. | God is always at leisure to do good to those that ask it. | |
45. | God is everywhere except where he has his delegate. (Ironical.) | Ital. |
46. | God is not hasty but he forgets nothing. | Ger. |
47. | God is patient because eternal.[444] | St. Augustine. |
48. | God keeps the nobleman no more than the peasant. | Ger. |
49. | God is the enemy of the proud. | Turk. |
50. | God is where he was. | |
51. | God keep you from—“It is too late.” | Sp. |
52. | God knows who are the best pilgrims. | |
53. | God looks to pure hands, not full ones. | Syrus. |
54. | God loves good accounts. | |
55. | God made the country, man made the town. | Byron. |
56. | God made us and we wonder at it. | Sp. |
57. | God never sends mouths but he sends meat. | |
58. | God, our parents and our master can never be requited. | |
59. | God permits nothing to happen which is not the best for us. | Hans Andersen. |
60. | God permits the wicked but not forever. | |
61. | God postpones, he does not overlook. | Turk. |
62. | God puts a good root in the little pig's way. | Fr. |
63. | God reaches us good things by our own hands. | |
64. | God save me from one who does not drink. | Ital. |
65. | God save me from the man of one occupation. | Ital. |
66. | God save me from those I confide in. | Fr. |
67. | God save me from a bad neighbor and from a beginner on the fiddle. | Ital. |
68. | God saves the moon from the wolves.[445] | Fr. |
69. | God sells knowledge for labor, honor for risk. | Dutch. |
70. | God send me a friend that may tell me my faults, if not an enemy and to be sure he will. | |
71. | God send you readier meat than running hares. | |
72. | God sends clothes after clothes. | |
73. | God sends corn and the devil mars the sack. | |
74. | God sends enough to all. | Latin. |
75. | God's mills turn slow, but they grind woe. | Oriental. |
76. | God sends meat and the devil sends cooks. | |
77. | God sends no greater evil than many children and little bread. | Ger. |
78. | God sends nothing but what can be borne. | Ital. |
79. | God sent him meat but the devil cooked it. | Dutch. |
80. | God stands in need of nothing; he is forever above and beyond want. | Aristotle. |
81. | God stays long but strikes at last. | |
82. | God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. | Sterne, Fr. |
83. | God made the world so wisely, so wisely governs it. | |
84. | God's help is nearer than the fair even. | |
85. | God who sends the wounds, sends the cure. | Don Quixote. |
86. | God will provide, but a bundle of straw will not be amiss. | Sp. |
87. | God's mill goes slowly, but it grinds well.[446] | Ger. |
88. | God's providence is the sweet and best inheritance. | |
89. | God's work is soon done. | Fr. |
90. | Good is God and long is eternity. | |
91. | Hae God hae a'. | |
92. | He loseth nothing that keeps God for his friend. | |
93. | If God be with us everything that is impossible becomes possible. | |
94. | If God be with us who shall stand against us. | Latin. |
95. | If God bids thee draw, he will find thee a rope, and if he bid thee ride, he will find thee a horse. | Dan. |
96. | If God give not bushelfuls, he gives spoonfuls. | Dan. |
97. | If God proposes the destruction of an ant he gives her wings. | Arabian. |
98. | If things go well it is God's will, and if they don't go well it is his will also. | Bombay the African speaking to Captain Speke. |
99. | It is better to have to do with God than with his saints. | Fr. |
100. | It is impossible to do anything against the will of God. | Hannibal. |
101. | Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, But vindicate the ways of God to man. | Pope. |
102. | Man doth what he can and God what he will. | |
102½. | No threshold without God. | Russian. |
103. | Not God above gets all men's love.[447] | |
104. | Preserve thyself from the occasion and God will preserve thee from the sin. | |
105. | That man is to be feared who fears not God. | Turk. |
106. | The most High God sees and forbears; my neighbor knows nothing and yet is always finding fault. | |
107. | To God's counsel chamber there is no key. | Dan. |
108. | Unless God be with us all labor is in vain. | Latin. |
109. | Whom God will help none can hinder. | |
110. | What God will, no frost can kill. | |
111. | What we have in us of the image of God, is the love of truth and justice. | Demosthenes. |
112. | Whatever happens, happens by the will of God. | Last Knight of Delphi. |
113. | When God gives light he gives it for all. | Sp. |
114. | When God means to punish a nation he deprives its rulers of wisdom. | Ger., Dutch. |
115. | When God pleases it rains in fair weather. | Sp. |
116. | When God pleases it rains with every wind. | Sp., Dutch. |
117. | When God says to-day the devil says to-morrow. | Ger. |
118. | When God sends flour the devil carries off the sack. | Fr. |
119. | When God sends the dawn he sends it for all. | Don Quixote. |
120. | When God will not the saints cannot.[448] | Ital., Sp., Dutch. |
121. | When it is God's will to plague a man a mouse can bite him to death. | Dutch. |
122. | When it pleaseth not God, the saint can do little. | |
123. | When the anguish is greatest, God's help is highest. | Ger. |
124. | Where God bestows an office he provides brains to fill it. | Ger. |
125. | Where God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel. | Ger. |
126. | Who hath God hath all, who hath him not hath less than nothing. | |
127. | Whom God loves, his house is savory to him. | |
128. | You cannot serve God and mammon. | New Testament. |
God-father. | ||
1. | Who stands God-father to a wolf should have a dog under his cloak. | |
Gods. | ||
1. | The gods are just and of our pleasant vices, Make instruments to scourge us. | Shaks. |
2. | The gods are on the side of the stronger. | Tacitus. |
3. | The gods cannot help a man who loses opportunity. | Chinese. |
4. | The gods delight to see a man struggling to succeed. | |
5. | The gods did not send corn only for the rich. | |
6. | Whom the gods love die young. | |
7. | Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.[449] | |
Going. | ||
1. | By dint of going wrong all will come right. | Fr. |
2. | Go in God's name for he takes a loaf of mine. | Sp. |
3. | Go softly over bad bits of road. | Ital. |
4. | He goes not out of his way who goes to a good inn. | |
5. | He that will not go over the stile must be thrust through the gate. | |
6. | He who goes everywhere gains everywhere. | Fr. |
7. | He who goes the contrary way must go over it twice. | |
8. | One may go a long way after one is tired. | Fr. |
9. | The slower you go the further you be. | Russian. |
10. | To go as fast as a friar that is invited to dinner. | |
11. | To go cheek by jowl with one. | |
12. | To go like a bear to the stake. | |
13. | Who goes himself is in earnest, who sends is indifferent. | Ital. |
14. | Who goes not sees not, who proves not believes not. | Ital. |
15. | Without going you can get nowhere. | Chinese. |
16. | You go as if nine men held you. | |
17. | You must learn to creep before you go. | |
Gold. | ||
1. | A gold ring does not cure a felon. | |
2. | A golden bit makes none the better horse.[450] | Ital., Ger. |
3. | A golden dart kills where it pleases. | |
4. | A golden gallows is still but a gallows. | Ger. |
5. | A golden hammer breaks an iron gate. | |
6. | A golden key opens every door save that of heaven. | Dan. |
7. | A golden shield is of great defence. | |
8. | A great load of gold is more burthensome than a light load of gravel. | |
9. | A hare may draw a lion with a golden cord. | |
10. | A man may buy even gold too dear. | |
11. | All is not gold that glitters. | |
12. | As the touchstone trieth gold, so gold trieth men. | |
13. | Before gold even kings take off their hats. | Ger. |
14. | Better gain in mud than lose in gold. | Ital., Por. |
15. | Better whole than patched with gold. | Dan. |
16. | Even gold may be bought too dear. | Ger. |
17. | Even with gold one cannot buy everything. | Ger. |
18. | Gold and goods may be lost, a good name endures forever. | Ger. |
19. | Gold and silver do not make men better. | Ger. |
20. | Gold begets in brethren hate, Gold in families debate, Gold does friendship separate, Gold does civil wars create. | Cowley. |
21. | Gold goes in any gate except honor's. | |
22. | Gold goes through all doors except heaven's doors.[451] | Ger. |
23. | Gold goes to the Moor; i.e., a man without conscience. | Por. |
24. | Gold glitters most when virtue shines no more. | Young. |
25. | Gold is a good doctor. | |
26. | Gold is an unseen tyrant. | Greek. |
27. | Gold is the balm to a wounded spirit. | |
28. | Gold is proved with fire, friendship in need. | Dan. |
29. | Gold is the best mediator. | Ger. |
30. | Gold is the devil's fishhook. | |
31. | Gold is the right nail one must strike. | Ger. |
32. | Gold is the snare of the soul. | Ger. |
33. | Gold lies deep in the mountain, dirt on the highway. | Ger. |
34. | Gold remains gold though it lay in the mud. | Ger. |
35. | Gold rules the court, the camp, the grove, And married men and men in love. | Almacks. |
36. | Gold rules the world. | |
37. | Gold when present causeth fear, when absent grief. | |
38. | Golden dreams make men awake hungry. | |
39. | Golden roofs break men's rest. | Seneca. |
40. | He who expends gold properly is its master, who lays it up its keeper, who loves it a fool, who adores it an idolater; the truly wise man is he who despises it. | Petrarch. |
41. | He who has gold has fear, who has none has sorrow. | |
42. | He who would make a golden door (or gate) must add a nail to it daily. | Fr., Dutch. |
43. | If the walls were adamant, gold would take the town. | |
44. | I will not have any gold, but I love to reign over those who have. | Old Roman. |
45. | It is not all gold that glitters. | Dan. |
46. | Man must govern not serve gold. | Ger. |
47. | That is gold which is worth gold. | Fr., Ital., Sp., Por. |
48. | That is all well and good, but gold is better. | Dan. |
49. | The purest gold is the most ductile. | |
50. | The true art of making gold is to have a good estate and spend little of it. | |
51. | There is no better friend in misfortune than gold. | Ger. |
52. | There is no lock if the pick is of gold. | Sp. |
53. | There is no lock one cannot open with a golden key. | Ger. |
54. | Try your skill in gilt first and then in gold. | |
55. | When gold speaks every tongue is silent. | Ital., Ger. |
56. | When gold speaks you may hold your tongue. | |
57. | When we have gold we are in fear, when we have none we are in danger. | |
58. | Where gold avails, argument fails. | |
59. | Where gold chinks, arguments are of no avail. | Ger. |
60. | Where my gold there my heart. | |
61. | Where there is gold, there the devil dwells. | Ger. |
62. | Who has gold has ease. | Ger. |
63. | Who has gold is a welcome guest. | Ger. |
64. | You may speak with your gold and make other tongues dumb. | |
Golden Age. | ||
1. | The golden age was never the present age. | |
Golgotha. | ||
1. | In Golgotha are skulls of all sizes. | |
Good. | ||
1. | All good is the better for being diffusive. | |
2. | And learn the luxury of doing good. | Goldsmith. |
3. | Be good and refrain not to do good. | |
4. | Be good in your office, you'll keep the longer on. | |
5. | Do good by stealth and blush to find it fame. | Pope. |
6. | For he that once is good is ever great. | Ben Jonson. |
7. | Good and bad make up a city. | Por. |
8. | Good and quickly seldom meet. | |
9. | Good at a distance is better than evil at hand. | |
10. | Good comes to better and better to bad. | Fr. |
11. | Good for good is natural, good for evil is manly. | Turk. |
12. | Good is good but better carrieth it. | |
13. | Good never comes too often. | Dan. |
14. | Good the more communicated more abundant grows. | Milton. |
15. | Good that comes too late is good as nothing. | |
16. | Good though long stayed for is good.[454] | |
17. | Great and good are seldom the same. | |
18. | Gude fowk are scarce, take care of ane. | |
19. | He begins to grow bad who believes himself good. | Ital. |
20. | He cannot be good that knows not why he is good. | |
21. | He is not good himself who speaks well of everybody alike. | |
22. | He knows best what good is who has endured evil. | |
23. | He that does good shall find good, he that does evil shall find evil. | Turk. |
24. | He that hath plenty of good shall have more, he that hath but little shall have less. | |
25. | He that helps the evil hurts the good. | Socrates. |
26. | He that returns good for evil obtains the victory. | |
27. | How few know their own good, or knowing it pursue. | Juvenal. |
28. | If they say you are good, ask yourself if it be true. | |
29. | If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away but the good remains; if you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away and the evil remains. | Cicero. |
30. | In avoiding that which is evil I have found that which is good. | Latin. |
31. | It is as hard for the good to suspect evil, as it is for the bad to suspect good. | Cicero. |
32. | It is good if it were but caught.[455] | |
33. | Men resemble the gods in nothing so much as in doing good to their fellow creatures. | Cicero. |
34. | No man is good unless others are made better by him. | Welsh. |
35. | None can be good too soon. | |
36. | Out of a great evil comes a great good. | Ital. |
37. | So good that he is good for nothing. | Ital. |
38. | Some good, some bad as sheep come to the fold. | |
39. | That's my good that does me good. | |
40. | The good are joyful in the midst of poverty, but the wicked are sad in great riches. | |
41. | The good for virtue's sake abhor to sin. | Creech. |
42. | The good fear no law; it is his safety and the bad man's awe. | Massinger. |
43. | The good or evil we confer on others often recoils on ourselves. | Fielding. |
44. | The good palliate no bad action. | |
45. | The good that is done to bad men is as often productive of injury as the milk which is given to a snake is converted into poison. | M. Greek. |
46. | The good you do is not lost though you forget it. | |
47. | There are good and bad everywhere. | Ital. |
48. | There is none that doeth good, no not one. | Bible. |
49. | There is not the thickness of a sixpence between good and evil. | |
50. | There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. | Shaks. |
51. | They are aye gude that are far awa'.[456] | |
52. | Though good be good, better is better (or better carries it). | |
53. | What is good is never too abundant. | Don Quixote. |
54. | What is good is difficult. | Plato. |
55. | Where there is no good within, no good comes out. | Dutch. |
56. | Worldly good is ebb and flood. | Dutch. |
Good-faith. | ||
1. | Good-faith is a seldom guest; when you have him, hold him fast. | Ger. |
2. | Good-faith stole the cow. | |
Good Turn. | ||
1. | Nothing is more easily blotted out than a good turn. | |
2. | One good turn deserves another. | |
3. | One never loseth by doing good turns. | |
4. | There is as much greatness in owning a good turn as in doing it. | |
Goodness. | ||
1. | Goodness moves in a larger sphere than justice. | Plutarch. |
2. | Goodness still delighteth to forgive. | Burns. |
3. | There is nothing so popular as goodness. | Cicero. |
Goods. | ||
1. | A man may lose his goods for want of demanding them. | |
2. | Common goods no goods. | Dutch. |
3. | Goods are theirs only who enjoy them. | |
4. | Merchants' goods are ebb and flood.[457] | Dutch. |
5. | The best goods are the cheapest. | Dutch. |
6. | There are customers for all sorts of goods. | Chinese. |
7. | 'Tis better to cry over your goods than after them. | |
8. | When goods increase the body decreases. | Fr. |
Goose. | ||
1. | A goose drinks as much as a gander. | Dan. |
2. | A gosling flew over the Rhine and came home a goose. | Ger. |
3. | As deep drinketh the goose as the gander. | |
4. | Feather by feather the goose is plucked. | |
5. | Geese are plucked as long as they have any feathers. | Dutch. |
6. | He that has a goose will get a goose. | |
7. | I too can lead the geese to water when it rains. | Ital. |
8. | It is a blind goose that knows not a fox from a fern bush. | |
9. | It is a silly goose that comes to a fox's sermon. | |
10. | It is a sorry goose that will not baste itself. | |
11. | “Peter, I am taking a ride,” said the goose when the fox was running into the woods with her. | Dan. |
12. | Shall the gosling teach the goose to swim? | |
13. | The goose goes often into the kitchen until at last she sticks to the spit. | Dutch. |
14. | The goose hisses but does not bite. | Dutch. |
15. | The goose that has a good gander cackles loudly.[458] | Dan. |
16. | The old goose plays not with foxes. | |
17. | When one goose drinks, all drink. | Ger. |
18. | When the goose trusts the fox, then woe to her neck. | Dan. |
19. | Young is the goose that will not eat oats. | |
Gossiping. | ||
1. | A gossip speaks ill of all and all of her. | |
2. | At every word a reputation dies. | Welsh gossip. |
3. | From my gossip's bread a large piece for my god-son. | Sp. |
4. | Gadding gossips shall dine on the pot lid. | |
5. | Gossiping and lying go together. | |
6. | Gossips and frogs drink and talk. | |
7. | Gossips and tale-bearers set on fire all the houses they enter. | |
8. | Gossips fall out and tell each other truths. | Sp. |
9. | It is no time to gossip with the dying. | Turk. |
10. | Lies and gossip have a wretched offspring. | Dan. |
11. | My gossips don't like me because I tell them the truth. | Sp., Por. |
Got. | ||
1. | So got, so gone. | |
Gout. | ||
1. | When old age comes to wait upon a great and worshipful sinner it comes with many painful girds and achings called the gout. | South. |
Governing, Government. | ||
1. | A hated government does not last long.[459] | Seneca. |
2. | A smile for a friend and a sneer for the world is the way to govern mankind. | Bea. |
3. | Any government is preferable to an anarchy. | Cato the younger. |
4. | Constitutional government can never go on without lying. | Bolingbroke. |
5. | For forms of government let fools contest, Whate'er is best administered is best. | Pope. |
6. | Govern thyself, and you will be able to govern the world. | Chinese. |
7. | He is unfit to manage public affairs who knows not how to rule at home his household. | Ford. |
8. | He is unworthy to govern who governs not himself. | Fr. |
9. | Impartial vigor and example are the best means of governing. | Chinese. |
10. | No government is safe unless it be fortified by good will. | Nepos. |
11. | Rewards and punishments are the basis of a good government. | |
12. | Such is the government, such is the people. | Ital. |
13. | Temperate climates run into moderate governments. | Swift. |
14. | That is the best government in which an injury to one is the concern of all. | Solon. |
15. | The choice of the people is the surest and best title to reign over them. | Gibbon. |
16. | The greatest of all evils is a weak government.[460] | Bea. |
17. | The hearts of the people are the only legitimate foundations of empire. | Chinese. |
18. | The right divine to govern wrong. | Pope. |
19. | Those who cannot govern themselves must be governed. | Dr. Johnson. |
Grace. | ||
1. | In space comes grace. | |
Grafting. | ||
1. | 'Tis good grafting on a good stock. | |
Grain. | ||
1. | A whole bushel of wheat is made up of single grains. | |
2. | By the stubble you may guess the grain. | Homer. |
3. | Grain by grain the hen fills her crop. | Sp., Por. |
4. | Of evil grain no good seed can come. | |
Grapes. | ||
1. | A vine bears three grapes—the first of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, the third of repentance. | Anacharsis. |
2. | The sweetest grapes hang highest. | Ger. |
Grasping. | ||
1. | Grasp all, lose all. | |
2. | Grasp no more than thy hand will hold. | |
3. | He that grasps at too much holds nothing fast. | |
4. | He who grasps at all holds nothing fast (or loses all). | Ger., Sp. |
Grass. | ||
1. | The grass never grew again where Attila's horse had trod. | Gibbon. |
2. | The thicker the grass, the easier to mow. | Alaric. |
3. | Where every one goes the grass never grows. | Ger. |
4. | While the grass is growing the steed starves. | Ger., Dutch, Dan. |
Gratitude. | ||
1. | A tree that affords thee shade, do not order it to be cut down. | Arabian. |
2. | Excessive gratitude for a favor is too often used as a handle to a begging box for a second. | Punch. |
3. | Gratefulness is the poor man's payment. | |
4. | Gratitude is a keen sense of favors to come. | Talleyrand. |
5. | Gratitude is expense. | Gibbon. |
6. | Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. | Hosea Ballou. |
7. | Gratitude is the least of virtues; ingratitude the worst of vices. | |
8. | Men are grateful in the same degree they are resentful. | Pope. |
9. | There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. | Addison. |
10. | To the grateful man give more than he asks. | Sp. |
11. | You may believe anything that is good of a grateful man. | |
Grave. | ||
1. | Bloody and deceitful men dig their own graves. | |
2. | He who lies in the grave is well lodged. | Ger. |
3. | In the grave dust and bones jostle not for the wall. | |
4. | In the grave the prince does not lie easier than the day laborer. | Ger. |
5. | Kings have no such couch as thine, As the green that folds thy grave. | Tennyson. |
6. | The dust (of the grave) alone can fill the eye of man. | Arabian. |
7. | The grave is the general meeting-place. | |
8. | The grave levels all distinctions. | |
9. | The more thy years the nearer thy grave. | |
10. | There are countless roads on all sides to the grave. | Cicero. |
11. | We shall lie all alike in our grave. | |
Gray. | ||
1. | Gray and green make the worst medley. | |
Great. | ||
1. | Great barkers are nae biters. | |
2. | Great birth is a very poor dish at table. | |
3. | Great bodies move slowly. | |
4. | Great designs require great consideration. | |
5. | Great disputing repels the truth. | Fr. |
6. | Great engines turn on small pivots. | |
7. | Great expectations are better than a poor possession. | Don Quixote. |
8. | Great marks are soonest hit. | |
9. | Great smoke, little roast. | Ger. |
10. | Great talent has always a little madness mixed up with it.[463] | |
11. | Great undertakings require great preparations. | Greek. |
12. | Great vaunters, little doers. | Fr. |
13. | Great weights may hang on small wires. | |
14. | Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. | Shaks. |
15. | The great and the little have need of each other. | |
16. | The great cab and the little cab go down to the grave. | |
17. | The great calabash-tree has a seed for its mother. | African. |
18. | The great oak bears small fruit. | Ger. |
Greatest. | ||
1. | The greatest oaks have been little acorns. | |
2. | The greatest strokes make not the best music. | |
3. | The greatest vessel has but its measure. | |
Great Men. | ||
1. | A great man scorns to trample on a worm or to cringe to an emperor. | Collier. |
2. | A great man's word is like the elephant's tusk. i.e., not to be concealed or withdrawn. | Hindoo. |
3. | Alas! by what trivial causes greatness is overthrown. | Claudianus. |
4. | All great men are in some degree inspired. | Cicero. |
5. | All things great men do are well done. | |
6. | Great men have more adorers than friends. | |
7. | Great men have reaching hands. | Shaks. |
8. | Great men may jest with saints. | Ger. |
9. | Great men must be employed to complete great changes in empire, but little men may begin them. | Maga. |
10. | Great men's requests are commands. | Ger., Dan. |
11. | Great men's servants don't think little of themselves. | Ger. |
12. | Great men's vices are accounted sacred. | |
13. | Great persons seldom see their faces in a true glass. | |
14. | He is great whose failings can be numbered. | Hebrew. |
15. | It belongs to great men to have great defects. | Fr. |
16. | Mean men admire wealth—great men, glory. | |
17. | The great man is he that does not lose his child's heart. | Mencius. |
18. | The greatest men are the simplest. | |
19. | The vile are only vain, the great are proud. | Byron. |
20. | Thunder showers and great men's favors are always partial. | |
21. | To be great we must know how to push our fortunes to the utmost. | Rochefoucauld. |
22. | Towers are measured by their shadows and great men by their calumniators. | Chinese. |
23. | Who noble ends by noble means obtains, Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains, That man is great indeed. | Pope. |
24. | Whom great men wrong they hate. | |
25. | With great men one must allow five to be an even number. | Ger. |
Greatness. | ||
1. | Greatness alone is not enough or the cow would outrun the hare. | Ger. |
2. | Greatness of name in the father ofttimes overwhelms the son. | |
3. | It is more noble to make yourself great than to be born so. | |
Greed. | ||
1. | Big mouthfuls often choke. | Ital. |
2. | Greed and the eye can no man fill. | Ger. |
3. | Greedy folks have long arms. | |
4. | Greedy chokes puppy. | West Indian Negro. |
5. | He has eat up the pot and asks for the pipkin. | |
6. | The bounty of nature is too little for the greedy man. | Seneca. |
7. | Whose carriage is greediness, his companion is beggary. | Oriental. |
8. | Ye let little gae by you unless it be the swallow. | |
Grief. | ||
1. | Dig but deep enough, and under all earth runs water, under all life runs grief. | Bulwer. |
2. | Do not rejoice at my grief, for when mine is old, yours will be new. | Sp. |
3. | Every one can master a grief but he that has it. | Shaks. |
4. | Every substantial grief has twenty shadows, and most of them shadows of your own making. | Sidney Smith. |
5. | Everything becomes intolerable to the man who is once subdued by grief. | Bolingbroke. |
6. | Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break. | Shaks. |
7. | Great griefs are mute. | Ital. |
8. | Great griefs medicine the less. | Shaks. |
9. | Grief best is pleased with grief's society. | Shaks. |
10. | Grief diminishes when it has nothing to grow upon. | Syrus. |
11. | Grief is a stone that bears one down, but two bear it lightly. | |
12. | Grief is satisfied and carried off by tears. | Ovid. |
13. | Grief is the agony of an instant, its indulgence the blunder of a lifetime. | Bea. |
14. | Grief pent-up will burst the heart. | |
15. | Grieving for misfortunes is adding gall to wormwood. | |
16. | He grieves more than is necessary who grieves before it is necessary. | Seneca. |
17. | He has seen his step-mother's grave and he weeps. (Spoken of feigned grief.) | M. Greek. |
18. | He oft finds medicine who his grief imparts, But double griefs afflict concealing hearts. | Spenser. |
19. | He that conceals his grief finds no remedy for it. | Turk. |
20. | In much wisdom is much grief. | |
21. | In private, grieve—but with a careless scorn, In public seem to triumph not to mourn. | Rambler. |
22. | Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead, excessive grief the enemy of the living. | Shaks. |
23. | Much of grief shows still some want of wit. | Shaks. |
24. | New grief awakens the old. | |
25. | No grief is so acute but time ameliorates it. | Cicero. |
26. | Our griefs how swift, our remedies how slow. | Prior. |
27. | Our own grief produces pity for another. | Richardson. |
28. | Patch grief with proverbs. | Shaks. |
29. | She grieves sincerely who grieves unseen. | Martial. |
30. | That grief is light which is capable of counsel. | |
31. | The grief of the heir is only masked laughter. | Latin. |
32. | The only cure for grief is action. | Geo. Henry Lewes. |
33. | The sublimest grief will eat at last. | Fielding. |
34. | Those griefs burn most that gall in secret. | Seneca. |
35. | Those who have known grief seldom seem sad. | Bea. |
36. | Time and thinking tame the strongest grief. | |
37. | 'Tis a folly to fret; grief's no comfort. | |
38. | To grief there is a limit, not so to fear. | Pliny the younger. |
39. | Too late to grieve when the chance is past. | |
40. | When long pent-up griefs once find vent, men[468] love to discharge the load that weighs upon the heart | Tacitus. |
Grievance. | ||
1. | A good grievance is worth more than bad payment. | Don Quixote. |
2. | Everybody hates a man with a grievance. | Talleyrand. |
3. | One grievance borne, another follows. | Sp. |
Grindstone. | ||
1. | He does not live in this world who can skin a grindstone. | Dutch. |
2. | He holds his nose to the grindstone. | |
Groat. | ||
1. | The groat is ill saved that shames its master. | |
Grundy, (Mrs.) | ||
1. | What will Mrs. Grundy say? | Thomas Morton. |
Guard. | ||
1. | He does not guard himself, who is not always on his guard. | Fr. |
2. | No man can stand always on his guard. | |
Guessing. | ||
1. | Guess how many eggs are in the basket and you shall have the whole seven. | Ger. |
2. | Guessing is missing. | Ger. |
3. | He who guesses well prophesies well. | Ital. |
4. | Some had rather guess at much than take pains to learn a little. | |
Guest. | ||
1. | A constant guest is never welcome. | |
2. | A daily guest is a great thief in the kitchen.[469] | Dutch. |
3. | A great guest is always dear to a host. | Russian. |
4. | A guest and a fish after three days are poison. | Fr. |
5. | A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year. | Polish. |
6. | A house filled with guests is eaten up and ill spoken of. | Sp. |
7. | An unbidden guest is worse than a Tartar. | Russian. |
8. | An unbidden guest must bring his own stool with him. | |
9. | An unpleasant guest is as welcome as salt to a sore eye. | Dan. |
10. | An untimely guest is the house's plunder. | Pashto. |
11. | Even the welcome guest becomes wearisome when he sits too long in the house. | Hans Andersen. |
12. | Fish and guests smell at three days old. | Dan. |
13. | Guests that come by daylight are best received. | |
14. | He is an ill guest that never drinks to his host. | |
15. | Let the guests go before the storm bursts. | Ger. |
16. | The guest is not welcome to the guest but both to the host. | Turk. |
17. | The guests will go away and we will eat the pastry. | Por. |
18. | The unbidden guest is ever a pest.[470] | Ger. |
19. | Unbidden guests are often welcome when they are gone. | |
20. | Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest. | |
21. | When the guest is in most favor, he will do well to quit. | Ger. |
Guide. | ||
1. | The guide ought to know every part of the mountain, the traveller need only know the path. | |
Guilt. | ||
1. | Alas, how difficult it is to prevent the countenance betraying our guilt. | Ovid. |
2. | All fear but fear of heaven betrays a guilt. | |
3. | He confesses his guilt who flies from his trial. | |
4. | Guilt cannot keep its own secret, suicide is confession. | Daniel Webster. |
5. | Guilt has quick ears to an accusation. | Fielding. |
6. | Guilt is always cowardly. | Latin. |
7. | Guilt is always zealous. | |
8. | Guilty men still judge others like them. | Massinger. |
9. | Guilty men still suspect what they deserve. | Ben Jonson. |
10. | Guilt sinks the brave to cowards. | Aaron Hill. |
11. | Guilt once harbored in the conscious breast, Intimidates the brave, degrades the great. | Johnson. |
12. | He declares himself guilty who justifies himself before accusation.[471] | |
13. | He that is guilty thinks the world turns round. | |
14. | He who flies proves himself guilty. | Dan. |
15. | He who is guilty believes all men speak ill of him. | Ital. |
16. | Human guilt cannot go beyond the crime of those who solicit war. | Maga. |
17. | Successful guilt is the bane of society. | Syrus. |
18. | The guilt and not the scaffold makes the shame. | Fr. |
19. | The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed. | Shaks. |
20. | The guilty are alarmed and turn pale at the slightest thunder. | Juvenal. |
21. | The guilty mind needs no accuser. | |
22. | They whose guilt within their bosom lies Imagine every eye beholds their blame. | Shaks. |
23. | Those whom guilt stains it equals. | Lucan. |
Habit. | ||
1. | Every one has his peculiar habit. | Latin. |
2. | Habits if not resisted soon become necessity. | St. Augustine. |
3. | Habit in sinning takes away the sense of sin. | Latin. |
4. | Habit is second nature. | |
5. | Habit is stronger than nature. | Quintus Curtius Rufus. |
6. | Habit is ten times nature.[472] | Wellington. |
7. | How use doth breed a habit in a man. | Shaks. |
8. | Ill habits gather by unseen degrees, As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. | Dryden. |
9. | It is a thousand times easier to contract a new habit than to get rid of an old one. | |
10. | It is easier to prevent ill habits than to break them. | Motto on Plato's ring. |
11. | Pursuits become habits. | Ovid. |
12. | Small habits well pursued betimes May reach the dignity of crimes. | Hannah More. |
13. | There is nothing so true as habit. | |
14. | To change one's habits smacks of death. | Por. |
“Had-I-but-known.” | ||
1. | Beware of “had I but known.” | |
2. | “Had-I-known” is a poor man. | |
Hair. | ||
1. | A hair casts its shadow on the ground. | |
2. | All wool is hair, more or less. | Por. |
3. | Even a hair casteth its shadow. | Ger., Sp., Por. |
4. | Gray hairs are death's blossoms. | |
5. | Hair by hair and the head gets bald. | Dan. |
6. | Hair is not to be mentioned in a bald man's house. | Livonian. |
7. | How easily a hair gets into the butter. | Ger. |
8. | Long hair—little brain. | Turk. |
9. | No doors are shut against honest gray hairs. | |
10. | Short hair is soon brushed. | Ger. |
11. | The bald pate talks most of hair.[473] | Livonian. |
12. | There is no hair so small but hath its shadow. | |
Hair-splitting. | ||
1. | It is hard to split the hair, that nothing is wanting and nothing to spare. | |
Half. | ||
1. | The half is better than the whole. | |
Hand. | ||
1. | A clean glove often hides a dirty hand. | |
2. | A clean hand wants no washing. | |
3. | A hand which thou canst not bite, kiss and put on thine head. | Arabian. |
4. | A taking hand will never want. | |
5. | Hand in use is father of lear (of learning, skill). | |
6. | Hand over head as men took the covenant. | Franklin. |
7. | He has three hands, right, left, and a little behind hand. | (Said of a tardy person.) |
8. | It is a bad hand that refuses to guard the head. | |
9. | Many hands make quick work. | Ger., Dutch. |
10. | Nothing enters into a close hand. | |
11. | No one cuts the hand that gives. | Turk. |
12. | One hand does not go a counselling. | Accra (Africa). |
13. | One hand may wash the other but both the face. | |
14. | One hand must wash the other or both will be dirty. | Dan. |
15. | One pair of heels is often worth two pair of hands.[474] | |
16. | Open hand makes open hand. | Ger. |
17. | Put not thy hand between the bark and the tree. | |
18. | Put your hand no further than your sleeve will reach. | |
19. | The hand that kindles cannot quench the flame. | Byron. |
20. | The right hand is slave to the left. | Ital. |
21. | There is no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand. | Shaks. |
22. | Two hands are for the defence of one head. | Turk. |
23. | Were it not for the fingers the hand would be a spoon. | Western African Negro. |
24. | White hands are no offence. | Sp. |
Handicraft. | ||
1. | A good handicraft has golden foundation. | Dan. |
Handsome. | ||
1. | A handsome shoe often pinches the foot. | Fr. |
2. | Handsome apples are sometimes sour. | Ger., Dutch. |
3. | Handsome is not what is handsome but what pleases. | Ital. |
4. | Handsome is that handsome does. | Goldsmith. |
5. | Handsome women generally fall to the lot of ugly men. | Ital. |
6. | Handsomely asked, handsomely refused. | Fr. |
7. | It is a great plague to be too handsome a man. | Plautus. |
8. | Neither handsome enough to kill, nor ugly enough to frighten.[475] | Sp., Por. |
9. | The handsomest flower is not the sweetest. | |
10. | The handsomest rose loses its fragrance. | Ger. |
11. | The handsomest snuffs the candle. | Ger. |
Hanging. | ||
1. | A hangman's is a good trade; he does his work by daylight. | |
2. | All are not hanged who are condemned. | |
3. | As good be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. | |
4. | Away with you; be a peddler, a knave, says the hangman to his man. | Ger. |
5. | Before a man learns to hang, he is half dead. | Dan. |
6. | Better “there he goes,” than “there he hangs.” | |
7. | Either rich or hanged. | Sp. |
8. | Go steal a horse and you'll die without being sick. | |
9. | Hang a dog on a crab tree and he'll never love verjuice. | |
10. | Hang him that hath no shift and him that hath too many. | |
11. | Hang not all your bells on one horse. | |
12. | Hang the young thief and the old one will not steal. | Dan. |
13. | Hanging is the worst use a man can be put to. | Wotton. |
14. | He came time enough who was hanged by candle light. | Sp. |
15. | He rises o'er early, that is hanged ere noon. | |
16. | He escaped hemp but deserved a wooden halter.[476] | |
17. | He stands like Mump Hazard who was hanged for saying nothing. | |
18. | He that has an hour's start will not be hanged. | Sp. |
19. | He that is born to be hanged will never be drowned. | Ital., Ger., Dutch. |
20. | He that is born to be hanged will never be drowned unless the water come over the gallows. | Dan. |
21. | He that is hanged for stealing a horse to-day has no reason to buy oats for him to-morrow. | Fielding. |
22. | He that is to die by the gallows may dance on the river. | Ital. |
23. | He was hanged that left his drink behind. (A certain malefactor was suspected because he fled from the inn upon hearing the hue and cry, leaving his drink unfinished.) | |
24. | He who does not wish to become old may hang himself when young. | Ger. |
25. | He who would hang himself is sure to find a rope. | Dan. |
26. | If you steal for others you shall be hanged yourself. | |
27. | If you would not live to be old you must be hanged when you are young. | |
28. | If your luck go on at this rate you may very well hope to be hanged. | |
29. | Millers, tailors, and weavers are not hanged or the trade would soon be extinct. | Ger. |
30. | No haste to hang true men.[477] | |
31. | See how he has risen from a mayor to a hangman. | Sp. |
32. | Take courage; younger than thou have been hanged. | |
33. | That char is charr'd, as the good wife said when she had hanged her husband. | |
34. | There never was a worse use made of a man than hanging him. | Curran. |
35. | We hang little thieves and let great ones escape. | Dutch. |
36. | We hang little thieves and take off our hats to great ones. | Ger. |
37. | Who hangs himself in the chimney should not complain of smoke. | Ger. |
38. | You must not hang a man by his looks. | |
39. | You'll dance at the end of a rope without teaching. | |
40. | You'll go up the ladder to bed; i.e., be hung. | |
Hannibal. | ||
1. | Hannibal is at the gate. | Dutch. |
Happen. | ||
1. | Everybody is wise after the thing has happened. | Fr. |
2. | Everything happens for the best. | |
3. | That happens in a moment which may not happen in a thousand years. | Fr., Ital. |
4. | What does not happen in a year may happen in a moment. | Sp. |
5. | What happens to one may happen to another. | |
6. | What is long spoken of happens at last.[478] | Dutch. |
7. | What is to happen will happen. | Hans Andersen. |
Happiness. | ||
1. | All happiness is in the mind. | |
2. | Better be happy nor wise. | |
3. | Happiness flies court for garret. | |
4. | Happiness invites envy. | Latin. |
5. | Happy are they that have not the blood of kindred to avenge. | |
6. | Happy he who can live in peace. | Fr. |
7. | Happy he who can take warning from the mishap of others. | Dan. |
8. | Happy is he that is happy in his children. | |
9. | Happy is he that serveth the happy. | |
10. | Happy is he who is content. | Ger. |
11. | Happy is he who is made wary by others' perils. | Latin. |
12. | Happy is he who knows his follies in his youth. | |
13. | Happy is he whose friends were born before him. | |
14. | Happy is she who is in love with an old dotard. | Ital. |
15. | Happy is the man who does all the good he talks of. | |
16. | Happy is the man who keeps out of strife. | Latin. |
17. | He is happy who knoweth not himself to be otherwise. | |
18. | He is happy who knows his good fortune. | Chinese. |
19. | He is not happy who knows it not.[479] | Ital. |
20. | He is truly happy who makes others happy. | |
21. | He who is happy is rich enough. | Cingalese. |
22. | I, myself, had been happy if I had been unfortunate in time. | |
23. | If happiness have not her seat and centre in the breast, we may be wise, or rich, or great, but never can be blest. | Burns. |
24. | Men expect that happiness should drop into their laps. | Tillotson. |
25. | Neither gold nor grandeur can render us happy. | La Fontaine. |
26. | No happiness without holiness. | |
27. | No man can be called happy before his death. | Solon's saying to the king of Lydia. |
28. | No man can be happy without a friend, nor be sure of his friend till he is unhappy. | |
29. | Oh, happiness! how far we flee Thy own sweet paths in search of thee. | |
30. | Our happiness in this world proceeds from the suppression of our desires, but in the next from the gratification. | Spectator. |
31. | Scarcely one man in a thousand is capable of tasting the happiness of others. | Fielding. |
32. | That is but a slippery happiness that fortune can give and fortune take away. | |
33. | The first requisite for happiness is that a man must be born in a famous city. | Euripides. |
34. | The man that is happy in all things is more rare than the phoenix. | Ital. |
35. | The man who would be truly happy should not study to enlarge his estate, but to contract his desires.[480] | Plato. |
36. | The memory of happiness makes misery woeful. | |
36½. | There is no happiness without virtue. | Madame de Stael. |
37. | 'Tis better to be happy than wise. | |
38. | 'Tis not good to be happy too young. | |
39. | 'Tis only happiness can keep us young. | Maga. |
40. | To be happy on earth one must be born in Soo Chow (a favorite place in China). | Chinese. |
41. | To be of use in the world is the only way to be happy. | Hans Andersen. |
42. | To make one man happy you may always calculate on making ten others miserable. | Maga. |
43. | True happiness is to no place confined, But still is found in a contented mind. | Horace. |
44. | We are never so happy or fortunate as we think ourselves. | |
45. | We cannot expect always to be happy; by exercising evil as well as good, we become wiser. | Hans Andersen. |
Hare. | ||
1. | Hares are not caught with drums. | Fr., Dutch. |
2. | He is as easily caught as a hare with drums. | Dutch. |
3. | In small woods may be caught large hares. | Dutch. |
4. | It is a mad hare that will be caught with a tabor. | |
5. | It is hard to catch hares with unwilling hounds. | Dutch. |
6. | Lame hares are ill to help.[481] | |
7. | One catches the hare and another eats it. | Ger. |
8. | Running hares do not need the spur. | Ital. |
9. | The hare always returns to her form. | Fr. |
10. | The hare draws a lion with a golden thread. | M. Greek. |
11. | The hare may pluck the dead lion by the beard. | Shaks. |
12. | The hare starts from where it is least expected. | Ital., Sp. |
13. | The very falling of leaves frightens hares. | |
14. | To catch a hare with a cart. | Ital. |
15. | When we least expect it the hare darts out of the ditch. | Dutch. |
16. | Where we least think there goeth the hare away. | Don Quixote. |
17. | Who hunts two hares together catches neither. | Ger. |
Harlot, Whores. | ||
1. | A harlot does not repent, and water in a jar does not become sour milk. | Arabian. |
2. | A harlot repented for one night, “Is there no police officer to take up harlots?” she said. | Arabian. |
3. | A whore and a buffoon fare ill in their old age. | Sp. |
4. | He who has one foot in a brothel has another in a hospital. | Sp. |
5. | There is no need of a ferret to catch a harlot. | |
6. | Whoredom and grace ne'er dwelt in one place. | |
7. | Whoredom and thieving are never long concealed.[482] | Sp. |
8. | Whores affect not you but your money. | |
9. | Whores' curses are blessings. | |
10. | Whoring and bawdry do often end in beggary. | |
Harm. | ||
1. | He that keeps out of harm's way will gather goodly riches. | Dan. |
Harness. | ||
1. | To harness the horses behind the cart. | |
2. | To harness unwilling oxen. | |
Harvest. | ||
1. | Good harvests make men prodigal, bad ones provident. | |
2. | Harvest comes not every day though it comes every year. | |
3. | He that hath a good harvest may be content with some thistles. | |
4. | He that sleeps in harvest is a son that causeth shame. | Bible. |
Has Been. | ||
1. | What has been, may be. | Ital. |
Haste. | ||
1. | A prudent haste is wisdom's leisure. | |
2. | As the man said to him on the tree top, make no more haste when you come down than when you went up. | |
3. | Haste comes late in the end. | Ger. |
4. | Haste comes not along. | Ger. |
5. | Haste is of the devil. | Koran. |
6. | Haste is slow. (Festinatio tarda est.) | Latin. |
7. | Haste often brings shame. | Ger. |
8. | Haste makes waste and waste makes want, and want makes strife between the good man and his wife. | |
9. | Haste trips up its own heels, fetters and stops itself. | Seneca. |
10. | Hasten at leisure. (Festina lente.) | |
11. | Hastiness is the beginning of wrath and its end repentance. | Dutch. |
12. | Hasty climbers have sudden falls. | |
13. | Hasty councils are seldom prosperous. | Coke. |
14. | Hasty gamesters oversee themselves. | |
15. | Hasty people will never make good midwives. | |
16. | He hastens to repentance who hastily judges. | Syrus. |
17. | He that goes too hastily along often stumbles on a fair road. | Fr. |
18. | He that is hasty fishes in an empty pond. | |
19. | He that is hasty to give credit is light minded. | Bible. |
20. | He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes, With eager feeding food will choke the feeder. | Shaks. |
21. | He who pours water hastily into a bottle spills more than goes in. | Sp. |
22. | In a hurry is error. | Chinese. |
23. | Make no more haste than good speed. | |
24. | Most haste—worst speed. | |
25. | Naething in haste but gripping o' fleas. | |
26. | Nothing is ever well done in a hurry except fleeing from the plague, or from quarrels, and catching fleas. | Ital. |
27. | Nothing is well ordered that is hasty or precipitate. | Seneca. |
28. | Nothing should be done in a hurry excepting catching fleas. | Ger. |
29. | Of hasty counsel take good heed, For haste is very rarely speed. | Dutch. |
30. | One hates to see men do important things in a hurry. | Warren. |
31. | Rash haste makes waste. | |
32. | Seeth thou a man that is hasty in his word, there is more hope of a fool than of him. | Bible. |
33. | Slow haste goes best. | |
34. | The more haste the less (or worse) speed. | Fr., Sp., Ger., Dutch. |
35. | “The more haste the worse speed,” quoth the tailor to his long thread. | |
36. | The more haste we make in a wrong direction the further we are from our journey's end. | |
37. | We do in haste and repent at leisure. | Ger. |
38. | We have not yet saddled and are already mounted. | Sp., Por. |
39. | What is done hastily is not done well. | Chinese. |
40. | What is the best thing to do in a hurry? Nothing. | Punch. |
41. | Who hastens in the beginning seldom goes far. | Ger. |
42. | Who hastens too much often remains behind. | Ger. |
43. | Whoever is in a hurry showeth the thing he is about is too big for him.[485] | Chesterfield. |
Hatchet. | ||
1. | Throw not the hatchet at the lord, he will turn the sharp edge against thee. | Dan. |
Hatred. | ||
1. | Hate knows no age but death. | |
2. | Hate no one; hate their vices not themselves. | |
3. | Hatred is blind as well as love. | |
4. | Hatred is self-punishment. | Hosea Ballou. |
5. | Hatred renewed is worse than at first. | Ital. |
6. | How apt men are to hate those they injure. | Fielding. |
7. | I like a good hater. | Dr. Johnson. |
8. | It is human nature to hate him whom you have injured. | Tacitus. |
9. | Let them hate while they fear. | Cicero. |
10. | Many will hate you if you love yourself. | Latin. |
11. | Men hate sometimes those who have obliged them and cease to hate those who have injured them. | Fr. |
12. | The greatest hate springs from the greatest love. | |
13. | To hate whom we have injured is a propensity of the human mind. | Tacitus. |
14. | We always hate those we have wronged. | |
15. | When our hatred is violent, it sinks us even below those we hate. | Rochefoucauld. |
Haughtiness. | ||
1. | Haughtiness lives under the same roof with solitude.[486] | Plato. |
Having. | ||
1. | As much as you have so much you are worth. | Don Quixote. |
2. | Better have than hear of it. | |
3. | Better have something yourself than beg of your sister. | Dan. |
4. | Better have to give than have to beg. | Por. |
5. | Every one counts for as much as he has. | Ger. |
6. | Had I a fish 'tis good without mustard. | |
7. | He is well constituted who grieves not for what he has not and rejoices for what he has. | Democritus. |
8. | Having is having come whence it may. | Ger. |
9. | “I have had” is a poor man. | Ger. |
10. | “I have” is a better bird than “if I had.” | Ger. |
11. | There are but two families in the world, “the haves” and “the have nots.” | Don Quixote. |
12. | What we have, let us be thankful for; what we haven't got, let us hope would make us miserable if we had it; what you can't have, abuse. | |
13. | When “had” comes, “have” is too late. | Dutch. |
14. | Who has, let him thereof take heed; love wanes, misfortunes come with speed. | Ger. |
15. | Who has, is. | Ital. |
16. | Who has not, cannot. | Fr. |
17. | Who has not, is not. | Ital. |
Hawk. | ||
1. | A goshawk beats not a bunting. | Ger. |
2. | He knows not a hawk from a handsaw (ancient name for heron).[487] | |
3. | He who has no falcon must hunt with owls. | Dan. |
4. | High flying hawks are fit for princes. | |
5. | It is hard to lure hawks with empty hands. | Dan. |
6. | It is not every man that can carry a falcon on his hand. | Dan. |
7. | Pheasants are fools if they invite the hawk to dinner. | |
8. | The falcon flies high but not above the sun. | Ger. |
9. | The first point of hawking is, hold fast. | |
10. | The hooded falcon cannot strike the quarry. | |
11. | Though the heron flies high the falcon kills it. | Por. |
12. | We hate the hawk because he ever lives in battle. | Ovid. |
13. | When one stuffs the head of the falcon too much it will not hunt. | Ger. |
Head. | ||
1. | A big head has a big ache. | Turk. |
2. | A broad hat does not always cover an honorable head. | |
3. | A curly head, a hasty temper. | |
4. | A good head does not want for hats. | Fr. |
5. | A good head is rarely set on a fat belly. | Ger. |
6. | A great head and little wit. | |
7. | A great head has great cares. | Russian. |
8. | A head is not to be cut off because it is scabby. | Dan. |
9. | A spur in the head is worth two in the heels.[488] | |
10. | All heads are not sense boxes. | Fr. |
11. | An old head on a young pair of shoulders. | |
12. | He that has no head deserves not a laced hat. | |
13. | He that has a head of wax must not approach the fire. | Fr. |
14. | He that hath a head of wax must not walk in the sun. | |
15. | He who has a head won't want for a hat. | Ital. |
16. | He who has no head wants no hat. | Sp. |
17. | If your head is made of butter don't be a baker. | Fr. |
18. | It is a fortunate head that never ached. | |
19. | It is a sound head that has not a soft piece on it. | |
20. | It is difficult to get many heads under one hat. | Dan. |
21. | Many an empty head is shaken at Aristotle. | |
22. | Many heads, many minds. | Dutch. |
23. | Many heads obstruct intrigues, And slowest insects have most legs. | Butler. |
24. | No man's head aches while he comforts another. | |
25. | One good head is better than a thousand strong hands. | |
26. | Scabby heads love not the comb. | |
27. | The head gray and no brains yet. | |
28. | The head is only a funnel for the stomach. | Ger. |
29. | The produce of the best of heads, is often defeated by the best of hearts.[489] | Fielding. |
30. | The remembrance of past pleasures adds to present sorrows. | Latin. |
31. | Two heads are better than one. | Ital. |
32. | Two heads are better than one, if one be a fool's head. | |
33. | “Two heads are better than one,” quoth the woman when she had her dog with her to the market. | |
34. | When the head aches all the limbs ache. | Dan. |
35. | When the head is sick the whole body is sick. | Dutch. |
36. | Who falls short in the head must be long in the heels. | Ger. |
37. | Your head will never fill your pocket. | |
Health. | ||
1. | A cool mouth and warm feet live long. | George Herbert. |
2. | A dry cough is the trumpeter of death. | |
3. | A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools. | |
4. | After dinner sit awhile, after supper walk a mile. | |
5. | After melon wine is a felon. | |
6. | After pear, wine or the priest. | |
7. | After stuffing pears within, drink old wine until they swim. | Sp. |
8. | Against diseases known, the strongest fence Is the defensive virtue, abstinence. | Franklin. |
9. | Air coming in at a window is as bad as a cross-bow shot.[490] | |
10. | Always rise from the table with an appetite and you will never sit down without one. | Wm. Penn. |
11. | As he who has health is young, so he who owes nothing is rich. | |
12. | Be old betimes that thou mayest long be so. | |
13. | Better lose a supper than have a hundred physicians. | Sp. |
14. | By the side of sickness health becomes sweet. | Welsh. |
15. | Cover your head by day as much as you will, by night as much as you can. | |
16. | Don't stop the way of a bull or of a current of air. | Sp. |
17. | Good health is above wealth. | |
18. | Health and cheerfulness mutually beget each other. | Spectator. |
19. | Health and understanding are the two great blessings of life. | Greek. |
20. | Health is happiness. | |
21. | Health is the vital principle of bliss. | Thomson. |
21½. | He that sits with his back to a draft sits with his face to a coffin. | Sp. |
22. | He that goes to bed thirsty rises healthy. | |
23. | He that wants health wants everything. | Fr. |
24. | He that would be healthy must eat temperately and sup early. | Sp. |
25. | He that would be healthy must wear his winter clothes in summer. | Sp. |
26. | He who has not health has nothing. | |
27. | He who is well has half won the battle.[491] | Por. |
28. | He who never was sick dies the first. | |
29. | Health and cheerfulness make beauty, finery and cosmetics cost many a life. | Sp. |
30. | Health consists with temperance alone. | Pope. |
31. | Health dwells with the peasant. | Ger. |
32. | Health is better than wealth. | Turk. |
33. | Health is great riches. | |
34. | Health is not valued till sickness comes. | |
35. | Health is the most admirable manifestation of right living. | Humboldt. |
36. | Health without money is a half malady. | Ital. |
37. | If you would be healthy be wise betimes. | Por. |
38. | Keep your feet dry and your head cool and for the rest live like a beast. | |
39. | Let him cool in the skin he sat in. | |
40. | Not to wish to recover is a mortal symptom. | Sp. |
41. | Of the malady a man fears, he dies. | Sp. |
42. | Spare diet and no trouble keep a man in good health. | |
43. | Strong folks have strong maladies. | Ger. |
44. | Study sickness while you are well. | |
45. | There are no riches like health. | |
46. | Three things kill a man; a scorching sun, suppers and cares. | Sp. |
47. | To rise at five, dine at nine, sup at five, go to bed at nine makes a man live to ninety-nine. | Fr. |
48. | To rise at six, eat at ten, sup at six, go to bed at ten makes a man live years ten times ten. | Fr. |
49. | To the well man every day is a feast day.[492] | Turk. |
50. | We are usually the best men when in the worst health. | |
51. | When you are well keep as you are. | Fr. |
52. | Without health life is not life, life is lifeless. | Greek. |
Hearing. | ||
1. | From hearing comes wisdom, from speaking, repentance. | |
2. | He that will not hear must feel. | |
3. | Hear all and say nothing. | |
4. | Hear and be just. | Virgil. |
5. | Hear both sides. | Latin. |
6. | Hear, see, and be silent. | Latin. |
7. | Hear, see and say nothing if you would live in peace. | Fr., Ital., Por. |
8. | Hear the other side and believe little. | Ital. |
9. | Hear a' parties. | |
10. | Hear first and speak afterwards. | Sp. |
11. | Hear one man before you answer, several before you decide. | Dan. |
12. | Hear twice before you speak once. | |
13. | He who has ears to hear let him hear. | |
14. | Ill hearing makes bad re-hearing. | |
15. | To hear is to heed. | Latin. |
16. | What we hear moves less than what we see. | Roscommon. |
Hearse. | ||
1. | When the house is ready the hearse is at the door. | Sp. |
Heart. | ||
1. | A bitter heart makes a strong arm.[493] | Ger. |
2. | A blythe heart makes a blooming visage. | |
3. | A bushel of hearts is not worth one grain of rice. | Chinese. |
4. | A cheerful countenance betokens a good heart. | |
5. | A determined heart will not be counselled. | Sp. |
6. | A generous heart repairs a slanderous tongue. | Homer. |
7. | A glad heart seldom sighs, but a sorrowful mouth often laughs. | Dan. |
8. | A liel heart never lied. | |
9. | A good heart breaks bad fortune. | Sp. |
10. | A good heart overcomes evil fortune. | Don Quixote. |
11. | A happy heart is better than a full purse. | Ital. |
12. | A happy heart makes a blooming visage. | |
13. | A royal heart is often hidden under a tattered cloak. | Dan. |
14. | A sharp word can come out of a good heart. | Ger. |
15. | A stout heart tempers adversity. | |
16. | Affinity in hearts is the nearest kindred. | |
17. | An evil heart's desire is thy deadliest foe. | Ruckert. |
18. | As the black stone can never become white, so a heart stained with iniquity preserves always its blackness. | Chinese. |
19. | By a long road we know a horse's strength, so length of days show a man's heart. | Chinese. |
20. | Cold hand, a warm heart.[494] | Ger. |
21. | Deep lies the heart's language. | |
22. | Every heart hath its own ache. | |
23. | Every heart ought to rejoice when true merit is distinguished with public notice. | Dr. Johnson. |
24. | Few hearts that are not double, few tongues that are not cloven. | |
25. | Fire in the heart sends smoke into the head. | Ger. |
26. | He has more head than heart. | |
27. | He that has no heart ought to have heels. | |
28. | He who hath most heart, knows most of sorrow. | Bailey. |
29. | Hearts alone buy hearts. | |
30. | Hearts may agree though heads differ. | |
31. | It is a poor heart that never rejoices. | |
32. | No estate can make him rich that has a poor heart. | |
33. | Set your heart at rest. | |
34. | The bowels support the heart and not the heart the bowels. | |
35. | The heart does not lie. | Dutch. |
36. | The heart does not think all the mouth says. | Ital. |
37. | The heart is no traitor. | Sp. |
38. | The heart is seen in wine. | Ger. |
39. | The heart is the hidden treasure of man, The tongue is the gate to the treasure. | Hebrew. |
40. | The heart knoweth its own littleness. | Solomon. |
41. | The heart leads whither it goes. | |
42. | The heart of a fool is in his mouth but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.[495] | Sirach. |
43. | The heart's testimony is stronger than a thousand witnesses. | Turk. |
44. | There never was a heart truly great and generous that was not also tender and compassionate. | South. |
45. | To a young heart everything is sport. | Ital. |
46. | What comes from the heart goes to the heart. | Ger. |
47. | When the heart is afire some sparks fly out of the mouth. | |
48. | When there is room in the heart, there is room in the house. | Dan. |
49. | When you open your heart be always ready to shut it to again. | Punch. |
50. | Where the heart is past hope, the face is past shame. | |
51. | Where there is least heart there is most tongue. | Ital. |
52. | Who can tell the hearts of a thousand men? | Indian Sepoy. |
Hear-say. | ||
1. | Hear-say is half lies. | Ger. |
2. | I saw a man, who saw another man, who saw the sea. | Por. |
3. | Sight goes before hear-say. | Dan. |
4. | To have “heard say” is half a lie. | Ital. |
5. | One eye-witness is better than ten hear-says. | |
Heaven. | ||
1. | A man may go to heaven with half the pains it takes to purchase hell.[496] | Fielding. |
2. | A man must go old to the court and young to a cloister that would from thence to heaven. | |
3. | A Persian's heaven is easily made, It is but black eyes and a lemonade. | Thomas Moore. |
4. | Aid yourself and Heaven will aid you. | La Fontaine. |
5. | All of heaven and hell is not known till hereafter. | |
6. | Better go to heaven in rags, than to hell in embroidery. | |
7. | Better once in heaven than ten times at the gate. | Dutch. |
8. | Even the hen when it drinks water looks toward heaven. | Turk. |
9. | Heaven always favors good desires. | Don Quixote. |
10. | Heaven helps those who help themselves. | |
11. | Heaven in punishing the culpable does not permit itself to be deceived by the breadth of a hair. | Chinese. |
12. | Heaven never helps the men that will not act. | Sophocles. |
13. | Heaven protects the just. | Homer. |
14. | Heaven's never deaf but when man's heart is dumb. | Francis Quarles. |
15. | Heaven sent us women, and the devil, stays. | Fr. |
16. | Heaven's harmony is universal love. | Cowper. |
17. | Heaven is the widow's champion and defence.[497] | Shaks. |
18. | Heaven would often be unjust if it answered our prayers. | |
19. | He will never get to heaven that desires to go thither alone. | |
20. | Heaven is mine if God say amen. | |
21. | Heaven never helps the man who will not act. | |
22. | Heaven will make amend for all. | |
23. | Heaven without good society cannot be heaven. | |
24. | It is harder work getting to hell than to heaven. | Ger. |
25. | Let us fulfil our own parts and await the will of Heaven. | Chinese. |
26. | Men go laughing to heaven. | Dutch. |
27. | The road to heaven is equally short where'er we die. | Dan. |
28. | The way to heaven is by weeping cross. | Ger. |
29. | The way to heaven lies open indifferently to all. | Spectator. |
30. | There is no going to heaven in a sedan. | |
31. | There's no getting to heaven in a coach. | Ital. |
32. | Though the heavens be glorious yet they are not all stars. | |
33. | What Heaven ordains the wise with courage bears. | Homer. |
34. | What the heavens shower down the earth drinks up. | M. Greek. |
35. | Whatever Heaven ordains is best. | Homer. |
36. | Without climbing mountains, no one can know the height of heaven.[498] | Chinese. |
Hedge. | ||
1. | A low hedge is easily leaped over. | |
2. | Better shelter under an old hedge than a young furze bush. | |
3. | Hedges have eyes and walls have ears. | |
4. | Hedges have no eyes but they have ears. | Ital. |
5. | It is good sheltering under an old hedge. | |
6. | One briar does not make a hedge. | Ital. |
7. | The figs on the far side of the hedge are sweeter. | Servian. |
8. | Where the hedge is lowest every one goes over. | Ital., Ger., Dutch. |
9. | Where the hedge is lowest, the devil leaps over. | Ger. |
Hedge-hogs. | ||
1. | Hedge-hogs are not to be killed with a fist. | Por. |
2. | Hedge-hogs lodge among thorns because they themselves are prickly. | |
Heir. | ||
1. | A third heir seldom enjoys property dishonestly got. | |
2. | Let an ill man lie in thy straw and he looks to be thy heir. | |
3. | Put a beggar into your barn and he will make himself your heir. | Sp. |
Hell. | ||
1. | For ill do well, then fear not hell. | |
2. | He who is in hell knows not what heaven is. | Ital. |
3. | He who would not go to hell must not go to court.[499] | Dan. |
4. | Hell and destruction are never full, so the eyes of man are never satisfied. | Bible. |
5. | Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn. | |
6. | Hell is full of good meanings and wishes, but heaven is full of good works. | |
7. | Hell is full of the ungrateful. | |
8. | Hell is paved with good intentions. | Ital., Fr., Por. |
9. | Hell is wherever heaven is not. | |
10. | The fear of hell's the hangman's whip To haud the wretch in order. | Burns. |
11. | The road to Eden is difficult but the ways to Tophet (hell) are easy. | Hebrew. |
12. | The road to hell is paved with good intentions. | Ger. |
13. | There is no redemption from hell. | |
14. | They that be in hell think there's no other heaven. | |
Help. | ||
1. | A grain does not fill a sack but it helps its fellow. | Sp. |
2. | A little help does a great deal. | Fr. |
3. | A little thing often brings great help. | Ger. |
4. | A little thing often helps. | Fr. |
5. | A willing helper does not wait until he is asked. | Dan. |
6. | All is not at hand that helps. | |
7. | Even the just have need of help. | Ital. |
8. | “Every little helps” said the sow as she snapped at the gnat. | Dan. |
9. | He who cannot help many hinders.[500] | Ger. |
10. | He who helps everybody helps nobody. | Sp. |
11. | Help hands for I have no lands. | |
12. | Help is good everywhere except in the porridge bowl. | Dan. |
13. | Help the lame dog over the stile. | |
14. | Help yourself and God will help you. | Dutch, Dan. |
15. | Help yourself and your friends will help you. | |
16. | I must not break my back to heal his finger. | Shaks. |
17. | It is a kingly act to help the fallen. | Ovid. |
18. | It is cheap enough to say “God help you.” | |
19. | I will not pull the thorn out of your foot and put it in my own. | |
19½. | Many can help one. | Ger. |
20. | One grain does not fill the granary but it helps its companions. | Por. |
21. | Slow help is no help. | |
22. | Soon or late the strong need the help of the weak. | Fr. |
23. | That is poor help that helps me from the feather bed to the straw. | Dan. |
24. | The laird may be laird an' need his hind's help. | |
25. | There is no helping him who will not be advised. | Ital. |
26. | Though one grain fills not the sack it helps. | |
27. | 'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, But to support him after. | Shaks. |
28. | We must not lie down and cry, God help us.[501] | |
29. | What we cannot help is our misfortune, not our fault. | |
30. | When need is greatest help is nearest. | Ger. |
31. | Who will help everybody, will help nobody. | Ger. |
Helpless. | ||
1. | I have become as helpless as if the branch I seize and the one I stood upon both broke at the same time. | Tamil. |
Herald. | ||
1. | At a round table the herald is useless. | |
2. | No heralds in the grave. | |
Hercules. | ||
1. | A dwarf threatens Hercules. | |
2. | He must be strong indeed who can take the club from Hercules. | Old Roman. |
3. | Judge of the statue of Hercules by the size of the foot. | |
4. | Let Hercules do what he may, The cat will mew, the dog will have his day. | Shaks. |
5. | Put your own shoulder to the wheel and then call on Hercules. | |
Heretics. | ||
1. | With the gospel men become heretics. | Ital. |
Hero. | ||
1. | A hero is only known in time of misfortune. | Hebrew. |
2. | A lean horse and a hero in a strange country each look amiss. | Khivese. |
3. | A scoundrel is often but an incomplete philosopher, and a ruffian but an unfinished hero.[502] | |
4. | From a humble cottage a hero often springs. | Latin. |
5. | No man is a hero in the eyes of his valet. | Fr. |
6. | A man must be a hero to understand a hero. | Goethe. |
7. | One brave hero fans another's fire. | Homer. |
8. | One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. | Porteus. |
9. | The blood which flows from the breast of a hero is sacred and his memory is sweet. | Hans Andersen. |
10. | The hero does not ask if there be evil omens; he views death as going home. | Chinese. |
11. | The hero is known on the battle field. | Turk. |
12. | There is a line which is impossible even to heroes. | |
13. | 'Tis fortune chiefly that makes heroes. | |
14. | To be conquered by a hero is an honor. | |
15. | To believe in the heroic makes heroes. | Bea. |
Heron. | ||
1. | The heron blames the water because he cannot swim. | |
2. | The heron's a saint when there are no fish in sight. | Bengalese. |
Hesitation. | ||
1. | Hesitation seldom prospers. | |
Hiding. | ||
1. | Hide the outcast, betray not him that wandereth. | Bible. |
2. | Hiders are good finders.[503] | |
Hidden. | ||
1. | Naething comes fairer to light than what has been lang hidden. | |
High. | ||
1. | High buildings have a low foundation. | |
2. | High houses are mostly empty in the upper story. | Ger. |
3. | High l'arnt nigger ain't much service at de log-rollin'. | American Negro. |
4. | High places have their privileges. | |
5. | High prices attract sellers from afar. | Chinese. |
6. | High regions are never without storms. | |
7. | It is not always well to have a high employment. | (Fable of the two mules.) |
8. | What is too high that let fly. | Ger. |
Higher. | ||
1. | The higher the plum-tree the riper the plum, The richer the cobbler the blacker his thumb. | |
Highway. | ||
1. | The highway is never about. | |
History. | ||
1. | Happy the land which has nothing for history. | French wit. |
2. | History is philosophy teaching by examples. | Dionysius of Halicarnassus. |
3. | History repeats itself. | |
4. | History, which is, indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind. | Gibbon. |
Hoarding. | ||
1. | The base wretch who hoards up all he can, [504]Is praised and called a careful man. | Dryden. |
Hoary Head. | ||
1. | The hoary head is a crown of glory. | Parsee. |
Hobby. | ||
1. | Every man has his hobby. | |
Hobby-horse. | ||
1. | Every man has his hobby-horse. | |
2. | Hobby-horses are dearer than Arabians. | Ger. |
Hog. | ||
1. | A barren sow is never kind to pigs. | |
2. | A bespattered hog tries to bespatter another. | Sp. |
3. | A measly hog infects the whole sty. | Sp. |
4. | A hog in armor is still but a hog. | |
5. | A hog that's bemired endeavors to bemire others. | |
6. | A pig's life—short and sweet. | Fr. |
7. | A pig's tail will never make a good arrow. | Sp. |
8. | A pretty pig makes an ugly hog. | |
9. | A sow is always dreaming of bran. | Fr. |
10. | A sow may find an acorn as well as a hog. | Dan. |
11. | A sow prefers bran to roses. | Fr. |
12. | A still sow eats up all the draff. | Dutch. |
13. | A swine fatted hath eat its own bane. | |
14. | As the sow fills the draff sours. | |
15. | Everyone basteth the fat hog while the lean one burneth. | |
16. | Every sow deserves not a sack posset. | |
17. | Every sow to her trough. | |
18. | Feed a pig and you will have a hog.[505] | |
19. | He has the right sow by the ear. | Ger. |
20. | He that can rear up a pig in his house, Hath cheaper his bacon and sweeter his souse. | Tusser. |
21. | He that has but one hog makes him fat, he that has but one son makes him a fool. | |
22. | He that has but one pig easily fattens it. | Ital. |
23. | He that seeks to grunt at me, has the wrong sow by the ear. | Sancho Panza. |
24. | He who does not kill hogs will not get black puddings. | Sp. |
25. | He's like a swine, he'll never do good while he lives. | |
26. | If you pull one pig by the tail all the rest squeak. | Dutch. |
27. | Ill would the fat sow fare on the primroses of the wood. | |
28. | It is ill to drive black hogs in the dark. | |
29. | It is not every man that takes the right sow by the ear. | Dan. |
30. | “It will all come back” said the man who gave his sow pork. | Dan. |
31. | Lean meat from a fat pig. | Por. |
32. | Like Goodyear's pig: never well but when doing mischief. | |
33. | Old pigs have hard snouts. | Ger., Dan. |
34. | Pigs in the cold and men in drink make a great noise. | Por. |
35. | Pigs love that lie together. | |
36. | The fat sow knows not what the hungry sow suffers.[506] | Dutch. |
37. | The hog never looks up to him who threshes down the acorns. | |
38. | The lazy pig does not eat ripe pears. | Ital. |
39. | The oldest pig must look for the knife. | Bea. |
40. | The pig having done wallowing in the mire is seeking some clean person to rub against. | Yorubas. (Africa.) |
41. | The pig prefers mud to clean water. | Latin. |
42. | The sow prefers the mire. | Dan. |
43. | The still swine eat the mash, the wild ones run past it. | Dan. |
44. | The whole hog or none. | |
45. | The worst pig eats the best acorn (or pear). | Ital., Sp., Por. |
46. | The worst pig gets the best corn. | |
47. | The young pig must often suffer for what the old sow did. | Dan. |
48. | To bring one's hogs to a fair market. | |
49. | What can you expect of a hog but his bristles. | |
50. | When every one sees you are a pig why don't you go into a sty? | Dutch. |
51. | When the pig is proffered hold up the poke. | |
52. | When the sow is satisfied she overturns the trough. | Ger. |
53. | You can't expect anything from a pig but a grunt. | Grimm's Fairy Tales. |
54. | Young pigs grunt as old pigs grunted before them. | Dan. |
Hold-fast. | ||
1. | Brag's a good dog, but hold-fast is a better.[507] | |
2. | For oaths are straws, men's faith are wafer cakes, And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck. | Shaks. |
3. | Hold-fast is the first point in hawking. | |
Hold-on. | ||
1. | Hold on, wait for the grasshoppers; i.e., better times. | Juvenal. |
Holding. | ||
1. | Wha can haud what will awa? | |
Hole. | ||
1. | A separate hole is to be preferred though it be but a rat hole. | Tamil. |
Holiday. | ||
1. | On the holiday the devil goes hunting. | |
Homage. | ||
1. | Shall we who struck the lion down, Shall we pay the wolf homage? | Byron. |
Home. | ||
1. | A hearth of your own is worth gold. | Dan. |
2. | At evening home is the best place for a man. | Goethe. |
3. | Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad. | |
4. | East and west, at home's the best. | Ger. |
5. | Every cricket knows its own hearth. | Russian. |
6. | Hame is a hamely word. | |
7. | He that has no house of his own is everywhere at home. | |
8. | He that has no rest at home is in the world's hell. | Turk. |
9. | He who is far from home is near to harm.[508] | Dan. |
10. | Home, dear home, small as thou art, to me thou art a palace. | Ital. |
11. | Home is home, be it ever so homely. | |
12. | Home is the rainbow of life. | London Truth. |
13. | Home keeping youths have ever homely wits. | |
14. | Home the spot of earth supremely blest, A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest. | Montgomery. |
15. | I would rather see smoke from my own chimney than fire on another's hearth. | |
16. | In my own house I am a king. | Sp. |
17. | Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. | Payne. |
18. | My home, my mother's breast. | Ital. |
19. | Our own home surpasses every other. | Latin. |
20. | The coal-heaver is master at home. | |
21. | The fire burns brightest on one's own hearth. | Dan. |
22. | The good governor and the broken leg will keep at home. | Don Quixote. |
23. | The reek of my own house is better than the fire of another. | Sp. |
24. | Travel east or travel west, a man's own home is still the best. | Dutch. |
25. | There is no place like home even if it is a cellar. | Hans Andersen. |
26. | Without hearts there is no home.[509] | Byron. |
Homer. | ||
1. | Seven cities warr'd for Homer dead, Who living, had no roofs to shroud his head. | T. Haywood. |
2. | Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead, Through which Homer living begged his bread. | |
Honesty. | ||
1. | A clean mouth and an honest hand Will take a man through any land. | Ger. |
2. | A few things gained by fraud destroy a fortune otherwise honestly won. | Latin. |
3. | A good honest man now-a-days, is but a civil word for a fool. | |
4. | A ill won penny will cast down a pound. | |
5. | A man never surfeits of too much honesty. | |
6. | A nod of an honest man is enough. | |
7. | A tower of strength is an honest man. | Bulwer. |
8. | All the honesty is in the parting. | |
9. | An honest countenance is the best passport. | |
10. | An honest look covereth many faults. | |
11. | An honest man does not make himself a dog for the sake of a bone. | Dan. |
12. | An honest man has half as much more brains as he needs; a knave hath not half enough. | |
13. | An honest man is always a child. | Martial. |
14. | An honest man is hurt by praise unjustly bestowed. | Fr. |
15. | An honest man is not the worse because a dog barks at him. | Dan. |
16. | An honest man is the noblest work of God.[510] | Pope. |
17. | An honest man's word is as good as the king's. | Por. |
18. | An honest man's word is his bond. | Dutch. |
19. | As honest a man as ever break bread. | |
20. | As honest a man as ever trod on shoe leather. | |
21. | Clean hands are better than full ones in the sight of God. | Syrus. |
22. | Clean hands want no wash-ball. | |
23. | He leaves his office with the beggar's staff in his hand. | Ger. |
24. | He that resolves to deal with none but honest men must leave all dealing. | |
25. | Honest as the cat when the meat is out of reach. | |
26. | Honest men and knaves may possibly wear the same cloth. | |
27. | Honest men are easily humbugged. | |
28. | Honest men are bound, but you can never bind a knave. | |
29. | Honest men fear neither the light nor the dark. | |
30. | Honest men never have the love of a rogue. | |
31. | Honest nobody is to blame for all. | |
32. | Honesty and plain dealing put knavery out of the bias. | |
33. | Honesty has stolen the cow. | Ger. |
34. | Honesty is a fool and loseth that it works for. | Shaks. |
35. | Honesty is nae pride. | |
36. | Honesty is praised and freezes. | Juvenal. |
37. | Honesty is praised and starves.[511] | Latin. |
38. | Honesty is the best policy. | |
39. | Honesty is the best policy, but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man. | Archbishop Whately. |
40. | Honesty lasts longest. | Ger. |
41. | Honesty maketh rich but she works slowly. | Ger. |
42. | Honesty may be dear bought but can never be a dear pennyworth. | |
43. | Honesty is better than ill-gotten wealth. | |
44. | Honesty is to many the cause of poverty. | Quintus Curtius Rufus. |
45. | Hypocritical honesty goes upon stilts. | |
46. | Knavery may serve for a turn but honesty is best at long run. | |
47. | Let honesty and industry be thy constant companions. | Franklin. |
48. | Many an honest man stands in need of help that has not the face to beg it. | |
49. | No honest man ever repented of his honesty. | |
50. | No honest man has the leer of a rogue. | |
51. | No legacy so rich as honesty. | Shaks. |
52. | No man ever surfeited on too much honesty. | |
53. | None can be wise and safe but he that is honest. | |
54. | Persevere in acting honestly for all will be made right in time. | Hans Andersen. |
55. | The best investment for income is honesty. | Ger. |
56. | The man who pauses on his honesty wants little of the villain.[512] | Martyn. |
57. | They are all honest men, but my cloak is not to be found. | Sp. |
58. | To be honest as this world goes is to be one man picked out of ten thousand. | Shaks. |
59. | We are bound to be honest but not to be rich. | |
60. | You may trust him with untold gold. | |
61. | You measure every man's honesty by your own. | |
Honey. | ||
1. | A drop of honey catches more flies than a hogshead of vinegar. | Ger. |
2. | A little gall spoils (or embitters) a great deal of honey. | Fr., Ital., Sp. |
3. | Cover yourself with honey and the flies will have at you. | |
4. | He buys honey dear who has to lick it off thorns. | Dutch. |
5. | He is a very bad manager of honey who leaves nothing to lick off his fingers. | Fr. |
6. | He that licks honey from a nettle pays too dear for it. | |
7. | He who would gather honey must bear the stings of bees. | Dutch. |
8. | Honey cloys. | Latin. |
9. | Honey in the mouth saves the purse. | Ital. |
10. | Honey is not for asses. | Fr., Dutch. |
11. | Honey is sweet but the bee stings. | Fr., Dutch. |
12. | Honey is too good for a bear. | |
13. | It is not by saying “honey, honey” that sweetness comes into the mouth.[513] | Turk. |
14. | Make yourself honey and the flies will devour you. | Ital. |
15. | Michael, Michael, you have no bees and yet you sell honey. | Sp. |
16. | Where there is honey there are bees. | Latin. |
17. | Where there is honey, there will the flies swarm. | Plautus. |
18. | Who has eaten the honey? He who has a fly on his umbrella. | M. Greek. |
Honor. | ||
1. | A churl knows not the worth of spurs; i.e., honor. | Fr. |
2. | A hundred years cannot repair a moment's loss of honor. | Ital. |
3. | A lady's honor will not bear a soil. | Dryden. |
4. | A man's word is his honor. | Dan. |
5. | A man that breaks his word bids others be false to him. | |
6. | All is lost except our honor. (Exclamation of Francis I. after the battle of Pavia.) | |
7. | Among men of honor a word is a bond. | Ital. |
8. | Before honor is humility. | Bible. |
9. | Better deserve honor and not have it, than have it and not deserve it. | Por. |
10. | Better to fall with manly wounds before thy cruel enemy, than survive thine honor. | Massinger. |
11. | Better with honor die than live with shame. | Ger. |
12. | Conduct and courage lead to honor. | |
13. | Either live or die wi' honor. | |
14. | Great honors are great burthens.[514] | Ben Jonson. |
15. | He who partakes the honor, should participate in the labor. | Petrarch. |
16. | Honor and good name easily lost, with difficulty regained. | Ger. |
17. | Honor lost much lost; life lost more lost; soul lost all lost. | Ger. |
18. | Honor a good man that he may honor you and a bad man that he may not dishonor you. | Por. |
19. | Honor and ease are seldom bed fellows. | |
20. | Honor and profit will not keep in one sack. | Por. |
21. | Honor and shame from no condition rise, Act well your part; there all the honor lies. | Pope. |
22. | Honor blossoms on the grave. | Fr. |
23. | Honor buys no beef in the market. | |
24. | Honor is not seemly for a fool. | Bible. |
25. | Honor is on his tongue and ice under it. | Russian. |
26. | Honor the old, teach the young. | Dan. |
27. | Honor is the reward of virtue. | Cicero. |
28. | Honor the tree that gives you shelter. | Dan. |
29. | Honor thy father and thy mother. | Bible. |
30. | Honors best thrive when rather from our acts. We them derive than our fore-fathers. | Shaks. |
31. | Honors change manners. | Fr., Ital., Dutch. |
32. | I cannot stain my honor with a deed of shame. | Byron. |
33. | If I lose my honor, I lose myself.[515] | Shaks. |
34. | It is a sign of a worthy spirit whom honor amends. | |
35. | It is a worthier thing to deserve honor than to possess it. | |
36. | It is better to be beloved than honored. | |
37. | It is no honor for an eagle to vanquish a dove. | Ital. |
38. | Moderate honors are wont to augment, but immoderate to diminish. | Theopompus. |
39. | New-made honor doth forget men's names. | |
40. | Nothing will bring you more honor than to do what right you may. | Bacon. |
41. | Regal honors have regal cares. | |
42. | Suffering and patience, obedience and application help the lowly born to honor. | Dan. |
43. | Take honor from me and my life is done. | Shaks. |
44. | That chastity of honor which felt a stain like a wound. | Burke. |
45. | The honors of this world are the principles of virtue. | |
46. | The man without honor is worse than dead. | Don Quixote. |
47. | The more danger the more honor. | |
48. | The surest road to honor is to deserve it. | London Truth. |
49. | They who deserve honor fail of it and they who obtain it do not deserve it. | Ger. |
50. | What is life without honor? degradation is worse than death. | Stonewall Jackson. |
51. | Where honor ceases, knowledge decreases.[516] | |
52. | Where honor grows a span, folly grows an ell. | Ger. |
53. | Where law lacks, honor should eke it out. | Dan. |
54. | Where there is no honor there's no dishonor. | Por. |
55. | Where there is no shame there's no honor. | Ger., Dutch. |
56. | Who will grow old with honor must begin early. | Ger. |
57. | With honor in store what would you have more. | Dutch. |
58. | You can only pass into the temple of honor through the temple of virtue. | Turkish Spy. |
59. | Your father's honor is to you but a second-hand honor. | |
Hook. | ||
1. | The hook draws the unwilling fish out of the water. | Ger. |
2. | The hook without bait catches no fish. | Ger. |
Hope. | ||
1. | A good hope is better than a bad possession. | |
2. | Always you are to be rich next year. | |
3. | As broken a ship as this has come to land. | |
4. | As long as there is life there is hope. | |
5. | Daylight will peep through a small hole. | |
6. | Do not hang by one hope only. | M. Greek. |
7. | Feed famished hope with the cold alms of pity. | Aaron Hill. |
8. | Great hopes make great men.[517] | |
9. | He feeds himself on false hopes. | |
10. | He gains much who loses a vain hope. | Ital. |
11. | He may hope for the best that is prepared for the worst. | |
12. | He that hopes no good fears no ill. | |
13. | He that wants hope is the poorest man alive. | |
14. | He who travels with hope has poverty for his coachman. | Ger. |
15. | Hope and expectation are a fool's income. | Dan. |
16. | Hope and joy are the daughters of prosperity and grief of adversity. | Petrarch. |
17. | Hope and hang on when you are wrecked. | Century Magazine. |
18. | Hope and strive is the way to thrive. | |
19. | Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. | Bible. |
20. | Hope for the best. | |
21. | Hope holds up the head. | |
22. | Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper. | |
23. | Hope is a lover's staff. | |
24. | Hope is a waking dream. | Pliny, Coke. |
25. | Hope is an egg of which one may get the yolk, another the white and a third the shell. | Dan. |
26. | Hope is as cheap as despair. | |
27. | Hope is but the dream of those that wake. | Prior. |
28. | Hope is grief's best music. | |
29. | Hope is our only comfort in adversity. | Latin. |
30. | Hope is sweeter than possession. | Bulwer. |
31. | Hope is the best medicine and fortunately it is in the power of every doctor to dispense it.[518] | Punch. |
32. | Hope is the bread of the unhappy. | |
33. | Hope is the dream of a man awake. | Plato. |
34. | Hope is the pillar of the world. | Wolofs (Africa). |
35. | Hope is the poor man's bread. | Ital. |
36. | Hope maketh the fool rich. | Ger. |
37. | Hope of all passions most befriends us here. | Young. |
38. | Hope on, hope ever. | |
39. | Hope springs eternal in the human breast, Man never is but always to be blest. | Pope. |
40. | Hope thinks nothing difficult; despair tells us that difficulty is insurmountable. | Watts. |
41. | Hope, thou nurse of young desire. | Bickerstaff. |
42. | Hope to the end. | New Testament. |
43. | Hope well and have well. | |
44. | Hopers go to hell. | |
45. | Hopes and fears checker human life. | |
46. | Hopes delayed hang the heart upon the tenter hooks. | |
47. | Hopes of pardon mend not, but encourage criminals. | |
48. | How void of reason are our hopes and fears. | Juvenal. |
49. | If it were not for hope, the heart would break. | |
50. | In the greatest ill the good man hath hope left. | |
51. | It is a poor heart in which hope cannot find something to feed upon. | |
52. | It is hope alone makes us willing to live.[519] | |
53. | Nane so well but he hopes to be better. | |
54. | No condition so low but may have hopes, none so high but may have fears. | |
55. | Not to have hope is the poorest of all conditions. | |
56. | The hope of the man that is hanging that the rope may break; i.e., a faint hope. | |
57. | The man who lives by hope will die by hunger. | Ital. |
58. | The mighty hopes that make us men. | Tennyson. |
59. | The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope. | Shaks. |
60. | True hope is swift and flies with swallows' wings, Kings it makes gods and meaner creatures kings. | Shaks. |
61. | Were it not for hope the heart would break. | Scotch. |
62. | When the night's darkest dawn's nearest. | |
63. | When there is no hope there can be no endeavor. | Dr. Johnson. |
64. | While I live I hope. | |
65. | While there is life there's hope. | Ital., Por., Latin. |
66. | Who could live without hope? | Fr. |
67. | Without hope there is no energy. | |
68. | You cannot purchase hope with money. | |
Horns. | ||
1. | What has horns will gore.[520] | Dutch. |
Horse. | ||
1. | A borrowed horse and your own spurs make short miles. | Dan. |
2. | A fast horse does not want the spur. | |
3. | A fidging mare should be well girthed. | |
4. | A galled horse will not endure the comb. | |
5. | A gentle horse should na be o'er sair spurr'd. | |
6. | A good horse cannot be of a bad color. | |
7. | A good horse is worth his fodder. | Dutch. |
8. | A good horse never lacks a saddle. | Ital. |
9. | A good horse resembles a superior man. | Chinese. |
10. | A hard bit does not make the better horse. | Dan. |
11. | A hired horse and one's own spurs make short miles. | Ger., Dutch. |
12. | A horse deprived of his food won't work. | Latin. |
13. | A horse grown fat kicks. | Ital. |
14. | A horse is his who mounts it, a sword is his who girds it on, and a bridge is his who passes it. | Turk. |
15. | A horse is neither better nor worse for his trappings. | |
16. | A horse may stumble though he have four legs. | Ital., Dutch. |
17. | A horse that will not carry a saddle must have no oats. | |
18. | A kick from a mare never hurts a horse. | |
19. | A man may lead his horse to water, but cannot make him drink.[521] | |
20. | A race horse is an open sepulchre. | |
21. | A runaway horse punishes himself. | Ital. |
22. | A scabbed horse is good enough for a scabbed knight. | |
22½. | A short horse is soon curried. | |
23. | A thorough-bred horse is not disgraced by his bad saddle. | Syriac. |
24. | All lay load on the willing horse. | |
25. | An hired horse tires never. | |
26. | A lean horse does not kick. | Ital. |
27. | An old horse for a young soldier. | Fr. |
28. | Another man's horse and your own spurs outrun the wind. | Ger. |
29. | Another man's horse and your own whip can do a great deal. | Dan. |
30. | Be a horse ever so well shod he may slip. | Fr. |
31. | Better a poor horse than an empty stall. | Dan. |
32. | Better ride a good horse for a year, than an ass all your life. | Dutch. |
33. | Better ride a lame horse than go afoot. | Ger. |
34. | Blind bridle can't hide de fodder stack from de lean horse. | American Negro. |
35. | Cavalry horses delight in battle. | Chinese. |
36. | Do not spur a free horse. | |
37. | Every foal is not like his sire. | Dan. |
38. | Furniture and mane make the horse sell. | |
39. | He is a weak horse that mauna bear the saddle. | |
40. | He is an old wheel horse; i.e., entirely reliable.[522] | |
41. | He that hires the horse must ride before. | |
42. | He that would have good luck in horses must kiss the parson's wife. | |
43. | He who buys a horse buys care. | Sp. |
44. | He who has a good horse in his stable can go afoot. | Ger., Ital. |
45. | Hired horses make short miles. | Dutch. |
46. | His horse's head is too big; it cannot get out of the stable. | Fr. |
47. | Horse, don't die yet, grass is coming. | Fr. |
48. | Hungry horses make a clean manger. | |
49. | If the mare have a bald face the filly will have a blaze. | |
50. | If you don't break the colts, you'll have no wheel horses. | |
51. | Ill matched horses draw badly. | Dutch. |
52. | In a wind, horses and cows don't agree. | Chinese. |
53. | It does not depend on the dog when the horse shall die. | Dan. |
54. | It is a bad horse that does not earn its fodder. | |
55. | It is a good horse that never stumbles. | Fr. |
56. | It is a poor horse that is not worth his oats. | Dan. |
57. | It is an ill horse that will not carry his provender. | |
58. | It is ill to set spurs to a flying horse. | |
59. | It is no time to swap horses when you are crossing the stream.[523] | Abraham Lincoln. |
60. | It is the bridle and spur that make a good horse. | |
61. | It's a very proud horse that will not carry his oats. | Ital. |
62. | Lay the saddle on the right horse. | |
63. | Let a horse drink when he will, not what he will. | |
64. | Let the best horse leap the hedge first. | |
65. | Like a loader's horse that lives among thieves. | |
66. | Like a miller's horse that goes much but performs no journey. | |
67. | Like Flanders mares, fairest afar off. | |
68. | Live, horse, and you'll get grass. | |
69. | Never ride a free horse to death. | |
70. | Never spur a willing horse. | Ital. |
71. | No horse is so good but that he will at times stumble. | Latin. |
72. | No need to say “trot” to a good horse. | Ital. |
73. | One thing thinketh the horse and another he that saddles him. | |
74. | One whip is good enough for a good horse, for a bad one not a thousand. | Russian. |
75. | Restive horses must be roughly dealt with. | |
76. | Seldom lend your horse to a sailor, never to a Frenchman and as little as you can to any one at all. | Maga. |
77. | That horse loves the hay better than the saddle. | |
78. | The best feed of a horse is his master's eye. | Sp., Dutch. |
79. | The biggest horses are not the best travellers.[524] | |
80. | The blind horse is hardiest. | |
81. | The common horse is worst shod. | |
82. | The horse does not spring from the slow-paced ass. | Latin. |
83. | The horse is not judged of by the saddle. | Chinese. |
84. | The horse must go to the manger and not the manger to the horse. | Dan. |
85. | The horse never turns its back on its master. | Chinese. |
86. | The horse next the mill carries all the grist. | |
87. | The horse of Servis. (An unlucky possession.) | Latin. |
88. | The horse that draws best is most whipped. | Fr., Ital. |
89. | The horse that draws his halter is not quite escaped. | |
90. | The horse that pulls at the collar is always getting the whip. | Fr. |
91. | The horse thinks one thing and he who rides him another. | Sp. |
92. | The horse's best allowance is his master's eye. | Por. |
93. | The horses eat oats and don't earn them. | Ger. |
94. | The impetuous steed will not brook restraint. | Chinese. |
95. | The mare's kicks are caresses to the horse. | Sp., Por. |
96. | The old horse may die waiting for new grass. | |
97. | The old horse must die in somebody's keeping.[525] | |
98. | The tired mare goes willingly to grass. | Por. |
99. | The wounded horse as soon as he sees the saddle, trembles. | M. Greek. |
100. | 'Tis the abilities of the horse occasions his slavery. | |
101. | Touch a galled horse and he'll wince. | Dutch. |
102. | Uphill spare me, downhill forbear me, plain way spare me not, nor let me drink when I am hot. | |
103. | When old horses get warm they are not easily held in. | Ger. |
104. | When the manger is empty the horses fight. | Dan. |
105. | Where the Turk's horse once treads, the grass never grows. | |
106. | Who cannot beat the horse let him beat the saddle. | Ital. |
107. | You may know the horse by his harness. | |
108. | You must look at the horse and not at the mare. | |
Hospitality. | ||
1. | Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. | New Testament. |
2. | Hospitality grows best where it is most needed. | Hugh Miller. |
3. | Hospitality I have found as universal as the face of man. | Ledyard. |
4. | It is a sin against hospitality to open your doors and shut up your countenance. | |
Host. | ||
1. | When the host smiles most blandly he has an eye to the guest's purse. | Dan. |
Hostess. | ||
1. | When the hostess is handsome the wine is good. | |
Hour. | ||
1. | All our sweetest hours fly fastest. | Virgil. |
2. | An hour brings what a year brings not. | M. Greek. |
3. | An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. | |
4. | An hour may destroy what an age was in building. | |
5. | An inch in an hour is a foot in a day's work. | |
6. | In America one makes an hour out of forty minutes. | Ger. |
7. | It chanceth in an hour that comes not in seven years. | |
8. | Pleasant hours fly fast. | |
9. | The darkest hour is that before dawn. | |
10. | The hour which gives us life begins to take it away. | Seneca. |
11. | There is an hour in each man's life appointed To make his happiness if he then seize it. | Beaumont and Fletcher. |
House. | ||
1. | A house built by a man's father and a vineyard planted by his grandfather. | |
2. | A house built by the wayside is either too high or too low. | |
3. | A house divided against itself cannot stand. | |
4. | A house ready built never sells for so much as it cost. | |
5. | A man's house is his castle. | |
6. | A wee house has a wide throat. | |
7. | An Englishman's house is his castle. | |
8. | After the house is finished he deserts it. | Sp. |
9. | Better an empty house than an ill tenant. | |
10. | Better one's house be little one day than too big all the year after. | |
11. | Every man is master in his own house. | Dutch. |
12. | God hath often a great share in a little house. | |
13. | Half a house is half a hell. | Ger. |
14. | He does not a little who burns his house: he frightens the rats and warms himself. | Sp. |
15. | He that buys a house ready wrought Hath many a pin and nail for naught. | |
16. | His house stands on my lady's ground. | |
17. | How can one pole build a great house. | Chinese. |
18. | In my own house I am a king. | Sp. |
19. | In old houses many mice, in old furs many lice. | Ger. |
20. | It is a bad house that hath not a poor man in it. | |
21. | It is a sad thing when one must warm by his burning house. | |
22. | My house is my castle. | |
23. | Set not your house on fire to be revenged of the moon. | |
24. | Since my house must be burned I will warm myself at it. | |
25. | Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves. | Ital., Sp. |
26. | Sour wine, old bacon, and rye bread keep a house rich. | Sp. |
27. | The house completed, possession defeated. | Ital. |
28. | The house of laughter makes a house of woe. | Young. |
29. | There is a fault in the house, but would you have it built without any? | |
30. | Were every one to sweep before his own house every street would be clean. | Dutch. |
31. | Who can speak broader than he that has no house to put his head in? Such may rail against high buildings. | Shaks. |
32. | Woe to them that join house to house, that lay field to field. | Bible. |
House-keeping. | ||
1. | A noble house-keeper needs no doors. | |
2. | A sensible house-keeper begins to sweep her stairs from the top. | Ger. |
3. | Fat house-keepers make lean executors. | |
4. | House-keeping has a wide mouth. | Ger. |
5. | House-keeping without a housewife is a lantern without a light. | Ger. |
6. | I mistress and you miss, who is to sweep the house? | Sp. |
7. | “Sweetheart” and “honey bird” keeps no house. | |
8. | The day I did not make my toilet there came one I did not expect. | Sp. |
9. | The day I did not sweep my house there came to it one I did not expect. | Sp. |
10. | There are mae married than gude house-haunders. | |
Housewife. | ||
1. | A cross-grained woman and a snappish dog take care of the house. | Dan. |
2. | Good housewifery trieth to rise with the cock. Ill housewifery lieth till nine of the clock. | Tusser. |
3. | The fingers of the housewife does more than a yoke of oxen. | Ger. |
4. | The foot on the cradle and hand on the distaff is the sign of a good housewife. | |
5. | The ugliest is the best housewife. | Ger. |
6. | There is but an hour in the day between a good house and a wife. | |
7. | When the housewife dies, eggs and milk are wasted. | Ger. |
Humble. | ||
1. | The humble are in danger when the powerful disagree. | Phædrus. |
2. | The humble suffer continually from the folly of the great. | La Fontaine. |
Humility. | ||
1. | Humility is the foundation of all virtue. | |
2. | Humility often gains more than pride. | Ital. |
3. | Humility, that low sweet root From which all heavenly virtues shoot. | Moore. |
4. | There are some who use humility to serve their pride. | Dunham. |
5. | There is no true holiness without humility. | |
6. | Too much humility is pride. | Ger. |
Hunchback. | ||
1. | The hunchback does not see his own hump but he sees his brother's. | |
2. | The hunchback does not see his own hump but he sees his companion's. | Fr., Sp. |
Hunger. | ||
1. | A good repast ought to begin with hunger. | Fr. |
2. | A hungry ass eats any straw. | Ital. |
3. | A hungry stomach has no ears. | Fr., Ital., Ger., Sp., Por., Dutch. |
4. | A hungry clown is half mad. | Fr. |
5. | A hungry dog and a thirsty horse take no heed of blows. | Dan. |
6. | A hungry dog does not fear the stick. | |
7. | A hungry horse maketh a clean manger. | |
8. | A hungry kite sees a dead horse afar off. | |
9. | A hungry man discovers more than a hundred lawyers. | Sp. |
10. | A hungry man is an angry man. | |
11. | A hungry man sees far. | |
12. | A hungry man smells meat afar off. | |
13. | A hungry wolf has sharp teeth. | Ger. |
14. | A hungry wolf is not at rest. | Por. |
15. | A man who wants bread is ready for anything. | Fr. |
16. | A starved belly has no ears. | Fr. |
17. | A starved town is soon forced to surrender. | Ital. |
18. | As hungry as a church mouse. | |
19. | Bakers and millers are last to die of hunger. | Ger. |
20. | Better cross an angry man than a fasting man. | Dan. |
21. | He that's full takes no care of him that's fasting. | |
22. | He thinks of everything who wants bread. | |
23. | Hunger and cold surrender a man to his enemy. | Sp., Por. |
24. | Hunger and thirst scarcely kill any, But gluttony and drink kill a great many. | |
25. | Hunger becomes the teacher of many. | M. Greek. |
26. | Hunger changes beans into almonds. | Ital. |
27. | Hunger drives the wolf out of the woods. | Fr., Ital., Ger., Dutch. |
28. | Hunger drives the workman over snow and ice. | Ger. |
29. | Hunger eats through stone walls. | Dutch. |
30. | Hunger fears no gallows. | Ger. |
31. | Hunger finds no fault with the cooking. | |
32. | Hunger is a sharp, fierce dog. | West Indian Africans. |
33. | Hunger is better than a French cook. | Fielding. |
34. | Hunger is good kitchen meat. | |
35. | Hunger is insolent and will be fed. | Homer. |
36. | Hunger is sharper than the sword. | Beaumont and Fletcher. |
37. | Hunger is the best cook. | Ger. |
38. | Hunger is the best sauce.[532] | Fr., Ital., Dutch, Dan. |
39. | Hunger is the best seasoning for meat. | Young's Cicero. |
40. | Hunger is the mother of impatience and anger. | Zimmerman. |
41. | Hunger looks in at the industrious man's door but does not enter. | Fr. |
42. | Hunger makes raw beans relish well. | |
43. | Hunger sweetens beans. | Latin. |
44. | Hunger teaches many things. | Latin. |
45. | Hunger will obey no laws. | |
46. | Hungry men think the cook lazy. | |
47. | It is better to buy dearly than to hunger direly. | Dan. |
48. | The best sauce is hunger and that is never wanting to the poor. | Don Quixote. |
49. | The full belly does not believe in hunger. | Ital. |
50. | The hungry man is not satisfied with looking in the full man's face. | Turk. |
51. | The open mouth never remains hungry. | Russian. |
52. | The well-fed man does not believe in hunger. | Ital. |
53. | To the hungry no bread is bad. | |
Hunting. | ||
1. | A houndless man comes to the best hunting. | |
2. | All are not hunters who blow the horn. | Fr., Ger., Dan. |
3. | Emperor huntsman, dynasty lost. | Chinese. |
4. | Game is cheaper in the market than in the fields and woods. | |
5. | Good hunters track narrowly. | Dutch. |
6. | He that hunts others must run himself. | Ger. |
7. | He that hunts two hares at once will catch neither. | Fr., Dutch, Ger. |
8. | He who hunts with cats will catch mice. | Dan. |
9. | Hunting, hawking and love, for one joy have a thousand griefs. | |
10. | One cannot hunt eels and hares at the same time. | Ger. |
11. | Our ancestors grew not great by hawking and hunting. | |
12. | There is no hunting but with old hounds. | Fr. |
13. | They went out to hunt deer and roused tigers. | Hindoo. |
14. | To hunt with unwilling hounds. | Latin. |
Hurry. | ||
1. | Hurry is not haste. | |
2. | Hurrying along on both one's feet, Is all for clothes and something to eat. | Chinese. |
3. | He who hurries cannot walk with a stately step. | Chinese. |
Husband. | ||
1. | Abroad one has a hundred eyes, at home not one. | Ger. |
2. | A good son makes a good husband. | |
3. | A husband between two parrots is like a head between two sticks. | African. |
4. | A husband who fears his wife is foolish, but a woman who does not fear her husband, a thousand times more foolish.[534] | Chinese. |
5. | A husband with one eye rather than with one son. | Sp. |
6. | A husband without ability is like a house without a roof. | Sp. |
7. | A husband's cuffs leave no marks. | Russian. |
8. | A husband's wrath spoils the best broth. | |
9. | An Argus at home, a mole abroad. | |
10. | At home an elephant, abroad a cat. | |
11. | Be a good husband and you will get a penny to spend, a penny to lend and a penny for a friend. | |
12. | I don't count them to you, wife, but a hog makes twenty puddings. | Sp. |
13. | In the husband, wisdom, in the wife, gentleness. | |
14. | It is better to have a husband without love, than jealous. | Ital. |
15. | It is nothing, they are only thrashing (or killing) my husband. | Por. |
16. | Let it be a husband though it be but a log. | Sp. |
17. | Mother, I must have a husband or I shall set fire to the house. | Ger. |
18. | Observe the face of the wife to know the husband's character. | Sp. |
19. | Paint and patches give offence to the husband, hopes to the gallant. | |
20. | Rather a husband with one eye than one son. | Por. |
21. | She hangs out the broom; i.e., wants a husband.[535] | Dutch. |
22. | Sorrow for a husband is like a pain in the elbow, sharp and short. | |
23. | The bacon of paradise for the married man that does not repent. | Sp. |
24. | The better workman, the worse husband. | |
25. | The cry of the neglected husband:—Woman's affection is best proved by the care she takes of your linen. | Punch. |
26. | The husband must not see and the wife must be blind. | |
27. | The husband reigns but it's the wife that governs. | Punch. |
28. | When the husband drinks to the wife all would be well; when the wife drinks to the husband, all is well. | |
29. | The man has neither sense nor reason that leaves a young wife at home. | Fr. |
30. | The married man must turn his staff into a stake. | |
31. | The more a husband loves his wife the more he increases her whims. | Chinese. |
32. | The more a wife loves her husband the more she corrects his faults. | Chinese. |
33. | The woman who has a bad husband makes a confidant of her maid. | Sp. |
34. | Thus it is we are ruined, husband; you are good for little and I for less. | Sp. |
35. | To make a happy couple the husband must be deaf and the wife blind. | Fr. |
36. | When the husband earns well [536]The wife spins well. | Dutch. |
37. | Where the gray mare is the better horse, there the horse is but an ass. | Fielding. |
Husbandry. | ||
1. | Good husbandry is good divinity. | |
2. | Good husbandry is the first step toward riches. | |
Hush. | ||
1. | About the king and the inquisition, hush! | Sp. |
2. | There is no house without its “hush! hush!” | Sp. |
Hypochondria. | ||
1. | Disease without a disease. | Fr. |
Hypocrite. | ||
1. | A devotee's face and a cat's claws. | Sp. |
2. | A honeyed tongue with a heart of gall. | Fr. |
3. | A hypocrite is worse than a demon. | Tamil. |
4. | A mouth that prays, a hand that kills. | Arabian. |
5. | All saint without, all devil within. | |
6. | A hypocrite pays tribute to God, only that he may impose on men. | |
7. | Better the world should know you as a sinner, than God know you as a hypocrite. | Dan. |
8. | Beware of the man of two faces. | Dutch. |
9. | Externally a sheep, internally a wolf. | M. Greek. |
10. | God in his tongue and the devil in his heart. | |
11. | He has one face to God and another to the devil. | |
12. | He has the Bible on his lips but not in his heart. | Dutch. |
13. | He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. | |
14. | He shows honey—he mixes poison. | M. Greek. |
15. | Hypocrisy is a sort of homage that vice pays to virtue. | Rochefoucauld. |
16. | Hypocrisy is the devil's stalking horse under an affectation of simplicity and religion. | L'Estrange. |
17. | Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villany. | Dr. Johnson. |
18. | Hypocritical piety is double iniquity. | |
19. | May the man be damned and never grow fat, Who wears two faces under one hat. | |
20. | Never carry two faces under one hood. | |
21. | Rosary in hand, the devil at heart. | Por. |
22. | Saint abroad and a devil at home. | Bunyan. |
23. | The cross on his breast and the devil in his acts. | Sp. |
24. | The cross on his breast and the devil in his heart. | |
25. | The hypocrite has the look of an archbishop and the heart of a miller. | M. Greek. |
26. | The words of their mouth are smoother than butter, but war is in their hearts; their words are softer than oil, yet are they drawn swords. | |
27. | There is some virtue in almost every vice except hypocrisy. | Hazlitt. |
28. | To cry with one eye and laugh with the other. | |
29. | To fawn with the tail and bite with the mouth.[538] | Sp. |
30. | Who devour widows' houses and for a show make long prayers. | New Testament. |
31. | Ye hae a face to God, an' anither to the devil. | |
Hypothesis. | ||
1. | Get on the crupper of a good stout hypothesis, and you may ride round the world. | Sterne. |
2. | It is the nature of an hypothesis that when it once seizes a man, everything he sees, tastes, or feels is proper food for it. | Sterne. |
Ideas. | ||
1. | It is with ideas as with pieces of money, those of the least value generally circulate the most. | Punch. |
Idiots. | ||
1. | A man profits more by the sight of an idiot than by the orations of the learned. | Arabian. |
Idleness. | ||
1. | A hundred years of idleness are not worth one hour well employed. | Fr. |
2. | A young idler, an old beggar. | Ger. |
3. | An idle brain is the devil's workshop. | Ger. |
4. | An idle man is the devil's bolster. | Ital., Dutch. |
5. | An idle person is the devil's playfellow. | Arabian. |
6. | An idle youth becomes in age a beggar. | Latin. |
7. | An idler is a watch that wants both hands, As useless when it goes as when it stands. | Cowper. |
8. | As idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean.[539] | Coleridge. |
9. | As we must render account of every idle word, so must we likewise of our idle silence. | Ambrose. |
10. | Better lose your labor than your time in idleness. | Dutch. |
11. | Better to be idle than not well occupied. | |
12. | By doing nothing we learn to do evil. | Latin. |
13. | Doing nothing is doing ill. | |
14. | Employ thyself in anything rather than stand idle. | Hesiod. |
15. | For Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do. | Watts. |
16. | He is idle that might be better employed. | |
17. | He that is busy is tempted but by one devil; he that is idle by a legion. | |
18. | He who does nothing does ill. | Fr. |
19. | He who follows idleness shall find it the path to distress. | Cingalese. |
20. | I would rather be sick than idle. | Seneca. |
21. | Idle bairns are the devil's workhouses. | |
22. | Idle dogs worry sheep. | |
23. | Idle folks have the least leisure. | |
24. | Idle folks have the most labor. | |
25. | Idle folks lack no excuses. | |
26. | Idle men are the devil's playfellows. | |
27. | Idle people take the most pains. | |
28. | Idleness always envies industry. | |
29. | Idleness and lust are sworn friends. | Ger. |
30. | Idleness has a bad outcome. | Ger. |
31. | Idleness has poverty for wages.[540] | Ger. |
32. | Idleness is a house out of which all sins come. | |
33. | Idleness is a living death. | Ger. |
34. | Idleness is hunger's mother, and of theft it is full brother. | Dutch. |
35. | Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds and the holiday of fools. | |
36. | Idleness is the beginning of sin. | Ger. |
37. | Idleness is the devil's bolster. | Dan. |
38. | Idleness is the devil's couch of ease. | Ger. |
39. | Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world. | |
40. | Idleness is the key of beggary. | |
41. | Idleness is the root of all evil. | Ger. |
42. | Idleness is the rust of the soul. | |
43. | Idleness is the sepulchre of a living man. | Anselm. |
44. | Idleness is the step-mother of virtue. | Ger. |
45. | Idleness is the shipwreck of chastity. | Latin. |
46. | Idleness makes the fullest purse empty. | Ger. |
47. | Idleness must thank itself if it go barefoot. | |
48. | Idleness leads to vice. | |
49. | Idleness turns the edge of wit. | |
50. | If the devil catch a man idle he'll set him to work. | |
51. | It is more painful to do nothing than something. | |
52. | It is only idle people that can find time for everything. | Beaumarchais. |
53. | No deity assists the idle.[541] | Latin. |
54. | Of idleness comes no goodness. | |
55. | The idler's mind—the devil's workshop. | |
56. | They must hunger in frost that will not work in heat. | |
57. | They must hunger in frost who spring-time have lost. | Ger. |
58. | To be idle is to be vicious. | Rambler. |
59. | To do nothing teacheth to do evil. | Dutch. |
60. | Troubles spring from idleness and grievous toils from needless ease. | Franklin. |
61. | Where idleness dwells sickness turns. | Ger. |
62. | You'll soon learn to shape idle a coat. | |
63. | You may tell an idle fellow if you but see him at dinner. | |
“If.” | ||
1. | Had it not been for an “if” the old woman would have bitten a wolf. | Dan. |
2. | “If” is the only peacemaker. | Shaks. |
3. | Were it not for “if” and “but” we should all be rich forever. | Fr. |
4. | With the help of an “if” you might put Paris in a bottle. | Fr. |
Ignorance. | ||
1. | Better have disease in the body than ignorance in the mind. | M. Greek. |
2. | Double ignorance is where a man is ignorant that he is ignorant. | Plato. |
3. | From ignorance our comfort flows. | |
4. | The only ignorant are the wise. | Prior. |
5. | Ignorance and prosperity make men bold and confident.[542] | |
6. | Ignorance is a voluntary misfortune. | |
7. | Ignorance is less hateful than conceitedness. | |
8. | Ignorance is preferable to error. | Jefferson. |
9. | Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven. | Shaks. |
10. | Ignorance is the mother of impudence. | |
11. | Ignorance never settles a question. | Bea. |
12. | Ignorance shuts its eyes and believes it is right. | Punch. |
13. | Ignorant men differ from beasts only in their figures. | Cleanthes. |
14. | It is better to be unborn than untaught, for ignorance is the root of misfortune. | Plato. |
15. | Nothing is more terrible than active ignorance. | Goethe. |
16. | What ignorance to kick against the pricks. | Terence. |
17. | Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise. | Gray. |
Ignorant. | ||
1. | An ignorant man is despised even by women. | Tamil. |
2. | The ignorant are courageous. | M. Greek. |
3. | The ignorant are sufferers by their ignorance, as the blind are by their want of sight. | Plato. |
4. | To be conscious you are ignorant is a great step toward knowledge. | Bea. |
Ill. | ||
1. | He that does ill hates the light. | |
2. | He that prepares for ill gives the blow a meeting, and breaks its stroke.[543] | |
3. | He that would do no ill must do all good or sit still. | |
4. | He that's ill to himself will be good to nobody. | |
5. | He who hath done ill once will do it again. | |
6. | If well and them cannot, then ill and them can. | |
7. | If you be not ill, be not ill like. | |
8. | If you do nae ill, do nae ill like. | |
9. | If you have done no ill the six days you may play the seventh. | |
10. | Ill comes on war's back. | |
11. | Ill doers are ill thinkers. | |
12. | Ill getting hot water frae 'neath cauld ice. | |
13. | Ill in kine, and worse in beeves. | |
14. | Ill is the eve of well. | Ital. |
15. | It is ill to take out of the flesh that is bred in the bone. | |
16. | No ill befalls us but what may be for our good. | |
17. | He that is ill to himself will be good to nobody. | Scotch. |
18. | One ill calls another. | |
19. | The good are better made by ill, As odors crushed are sweeter still. | Rogers. |
20. | There are ills that happen for good. | Por. |
21. | There is no ill but comes for good. | Sp. |
22. | There n'er came ill after gude advisement. | |
23. | 'Tis a good ill that comes alone. | |
24. | To favor ill is to injure the good. | |
25. | We have always sufficient strength to bear the ills of another.[544] | |
26. | When I did well I heard it never; when I did ill I heard it ever. | |
27. | Who all sense of others' ills escapes, Is but a brute at best in human shape. | Juvenal. |
“I'll go myself” and “I'll see to it.” | ||
1. | “I'll go myself” and “I'll see to it” are two good servants on a farm. | Dan. |
Ill-gotten. | ||
1. | Ill-got, ill-spent. | |
2. | Ill-gotten gains are productive of evil. | Sophocles. |
3. | Ill-gotten goods never prosper. | Ger. |
4. | Ill-gotten is ill-spent. | Plautus. |
5. | Things ill-got had ever bad success; And happy always was it for that son Whose father for his hoarding went to hell. | Shaks. |
Ill Luck. | ||
1. | Even ill luck is good for something in a wise man's hand. | |
2. | He that has ill luck gets ill usage. | Old Fr. |
3. | He that has no ill luck grows weary of good luck. | Sp. |
4. | Ill luck comes by pounds and goes away by ounces. | Ital. |
5. | Ill luck enters by fathoms and departs by inches. | Sp. |
6. | Ill luck is good for something. | |
7. | Ill luck is worse than found money. | |
8. | Ill luck upon ill luck and a stone for a pillow.[545] | Sp. |
9. | When ill luck falls asleep let nobody wake her. | Sp. |
Ill Tidings. | ||
1. | Ill tidings come soon enough. | Dutch. |
Ill Turn. | ||
1. | It is an ill turn that does no good to any one. | Dan. |
Ill Vessels. | ||
1. | Ill vessels seldom miscarry. | |
Ill Will. | ||
1. | Ill will never said well. | |
Imagination. | ||
1. | The imagination governs the universe. | Bonaparte. |
2. | The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, Are of imagination all compact. | Shaks. |
Imitation. | ||
1. | As the old birds sing the young ones twitter. | Ger., Dan. |
2. | As the old cock crows so crow the young. | |
3. | As the old cock crows, the young cock learns. | |
4. | By looking at squinting people you learn to squint. | Ovid. |
5. | Easy to look at, difficult to imitate. | Chinese. |
6. | If our child squints our neighbor's child has a cast in both eyes. | Livonian. |
7. | Imitate Ssw-ma who laid up much secret merit. | Chinese. |
8. | Imitation is natural to man from infancy. | Spenser. |
9. | Imitation is the sincerest flattery.[546] | Colton. |
10. | No man doth accompany with others but he learneth ere he is aware some gesture, voice, or fashion. | Bacon. |
11. | No man ever became great by imitation. | Dr. Johnson. |
12. | One dog looks at something, and a hundred dogs at him. | Chinese. |
Impartiality. | ||
1. | I winna make fish o' ane an' flesh o' anither. | |
Impatience. | ||
1. | A little impatience subverts great undertakings. | Chinese. |
2. | Impatience does not diminish but augments the evil. | |
3. | Impatience never gets preferment. | |
Impossible. | ||
1. | A thing cannot be at the same time both true and false. | Chinese. |
2. | A thousand men cannot undress a naked man. | M. Greek. |
3. | A toad propping a bed-post firmly. | Chinese. |
4. | I cannot run and sit still at the same time. | |
5. | I cannot sell the cow and have the milk. | Scotch. |
6. | I cannot spin and weave at the same time. | |
7. | It is always the impossible that happens. | Fr. |
8. | Nae man can baith sup an' blaw thegither. | |
9. | Nae man can make his ain hap. | |
10. | No man can at the same time fill his cup from the source and the mouth of the Nile.[547] | Dr. Johnson. |
11. | No one can be caught in places he does not visit. | Dan. |
12. | No one can blow and swallow at the same time. | Ger. |
13. | No one is bound to do impossibilities. | Fr., Ital. |
14. | Not even a thousand men in armor can strip a naked man. | Turk. |
15. | Nothing is impossible to pains and patience. | Ray. |
16. | One actor cannot perform a play. | Chinese. |
17. | One cannot be and have been. | Fr. |
18. | One cannot be both old and young at the same time. | Ger. |
19. | One cannot be in two places at once. | |
20. | One cannot drink and whistle at the same time. | Ital. |
21. | One cannot ring the bells and walk in the procession. | Fr. |
22. | One cannot shear a naked sheep. | |
23. | One cannot wash a blackamoor white. | Ger. |
24. | One can't shoe a running horse. | Dutch. |
25. | One foot cannot stand on two boats. | Chinese. |
26. | That which has been eaten out of the pot cannot be put into the dish. | Dan. |
27. | The water that comes from the same spring cannot be both pure and salt. | |
28. | The wonderful and impossible have collided. | Kaffir. |
29. | There is no stripping a naked man. | Ger[548]. |
30. | To believe a business impossible is the way to make it so. | |
31. | You cannot clap with one hand. | Chinese. |
32. | You cannot coax de mornin'-glory to clime de wrong way roun' de corn stalk. | American Negro. |
33. | You cannot damage a wrecked ship. | Ital. |
34. | You cannot draw blood from a turnip. | Ital. |
35. | You cannot draw wine out of an empty cask. | Ger. |
36. | You cannot drive a wind-mill with a pair of bellows. | |
37. | You cannot get oil out of a wall. | |
38. | You cannot make a hawk of a buzzard. | Fr. |
39. | You cannot make a sieve of an ass's tail. | Ger. |
40. | You cannot make a silk purse of a sow's ear. | |
41. | You cannot make an ass drink if he is not thirsty. | Fr. |
42. | You cannot make velvet of a sow's ear. | |
43. | You cannot pull hard with a broken rope. | Dan. |
44. | You cannot shade off the sun with one hand. | Chinese. |
45. | You cannot shear the sheep closer than the skin. | Dan. |
46. | You cannot strip two skins off one cow. (There is a limit to extortion.) | Chinese. |
47. | You cannot take a cow from a man that has none. | Dan. |
48. | You can't have your cake and eat it too. | |
49. | You can't make a horn of a pig's tail.[549] | |
50. | You can't make a whistle of a pig's tail. | |
51. | You can't sell the cow and have the milk too. | |
Imposture. | ||
1. | One imposture generally engenders many more. | Accra (Africa). |
Impromptu. | ||
1. | The impromptu is always successful in life. | Bea. |
Improvident. | ||
1. | If it should rain porridge he would want his dish. | |
Improving. | ||
1. | He who does not improve to-day, will grow worse to-morrow. | Ger. |
Imprudence. | ||
1. | All men have their imprudent days. | Bea. |
2. | To commit the sheep to the care of the wolf. | |
3. | To set the fox to keep the geese. | Ital. |
4. | What, give the lettuce in charge to the geese? | |
Impudence. | ||
1. | It is better to be impudent than servile. | |
I myself. | ||
1. | Look you, I myself am nearest to myself. | Terence. |
Incense. | ||
1. | Incense intoxicates and every one wishes for it. | Ital. |
Incongruity. | ||
1. | A velvet saddle does not fit on the back of an ass. | Hungarian. |
2. | It is much like a blacksmith with a white silk apron.[550] | |
3. | It looks as well as a diamond necklace about a sow's neck. | |
4. | The pack-saddle has been put on the ox. | Cicero. |
5. | Ye drive the plough before the owsen. | |
Inconsistency. | ||
1. | Blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. | New Testament. |
2. | He avoided the fly and swallowed the spider. | Por. |
3. | He leaps into a deep river to avoid a shallow brook. | |
4. | He robs Peter to pay Paul. | |
5. | He runs from the bear to fall in with the wolves. | Russian. |
6. | He shuns the bear and runs into the pit. | Arabian. |
7. | It is said they are making silver bells for the child about to be born whilst the child on the lap is crying for a handful of rice. | Tamil. |
8. | To get out of one muck into another. | Sp. |
9. | To get out of the rain under the spout. | Ger. |
10. | To give ruffles to a man that wants a shirt. | |
11. | To jump in the water for fear of the rain. | Fr. |
12. | To jump out of the frying-pan into the fire. | Fr., Sp. |
13. | To spare at the spigot and let it run out at the bung-hole. | |
14. | To steal the leather and give away the shoes for God's sake.[551] | Ger. |
15. | To steal the pig and give away the pettitoes for God's sake. | Ital., Sp., Por. |
16. | To strip one altar to cover another. | |
17. | His evening sang and his morning sang are na alike. | |
18. | Said the frying-pan to the kettle, “Stand off, black bottom.” | Sp. |
19. | Said the raven to the crow “Get out of that, blackamoor.” | Sp. |
20. | The naked man is making a jacket for dogs. | Cingalese. |
21. | To see the mote in another's eye and not the beam in your own. | Dutch. |
Incredible. | ||
1. | The dead woman was frightened at her that was beheaded. | Don Quixote. |
Incredulity. | ||
1. | Incredulity should make men advised, not irresolute. | |
2. | You'll not believe a man is dead until you see his brains out. | |
3. | You'll not believe he's bald until you see his brains. | |
Independence. | ||
1. | To be truly and really independent is to support ourselves by our own exertions. | Jane Porter. |
Indirection. | ||
1. | Climbs o'er the house to unlock the little gate. | Shaks. |
2. | He beats about the bush.[552] | |
Indiscretion. | ||
1. | Avoiding the rain he met a tempest. | Turk. |
2. | He fled from the sword and hid in the scabbard (into which the sword will return). | Yorubas (Africa). |
3. | He wishes to hide his foot-prints, and yet walks upon snow. | Chinese. |
4. | Many flee the brook and fall into the river. | Ger. |
5. | Many shun the sword and come to the gallows. | Ger. |
6. | Nourish a wolf in the winter that he may devour you in the summer. | M. Greek. |
7. | Nourish a raven that will pluck out thine eyes. | Turk. |
8. | The thrush avoiding the trap fell into bird lime. | |
9. | To get out of the mire and fall into the river. | Por. |
10. | To get out of the smoke and fall into the fire. | Por. |
11. | To sacrifice certain for speculative profits. | Latin. |
12. | You give the wolf the wether to keep. | |
Indolence. | ||
1. | An indolent man draws his breath but does not live. | Cicero. |
2. | Enjoyment stops where indolence begins. | Pollok. |
3. | Indolence the mother of misery.[553] | Burton. |
Industry. | ||
1. | A flying crow always catches something. | Dutch. |
2. | An industrious life is the best security for food in old age. | Latin. |
3. | An industrious man is tempted by one devil, an idle one by seven. | |
4. | An industrious woman arranges her furniture without ceasing. | Chinese. |
5. | Grind with every wind. | |
6. | If there be a man that labors not, or a woman who does not occupy herself with spinning, some one in the empire will suffer with hunger or cold. | Chinese. |
7. | In every rank, great or small, 'Tis industry supports us all. | Gray. |
8. | Industry is fortune's right hand, and frugality her left. | |
9. | Industry is often concealed under a straw. | Turk. |
10. | Industry is the parent of fortune. | Ger. |
11. | Industry makes a gallant man and breaks ill fortune. | |
12. | Industry need not wish, and he who lives upon hope will die fasting. | |
13. | Industry pays debts but despair increaseth them. | Franklin. |
14. | Nothing is impossible to industry. | Periander of Corinth. |
15. | When industry goes out of the door, poverty comes in at the window.[554] | Dutch. |
Infidel. | ||
1. | The infidel writer is a great enemy to society. | Knox. |
Informer. | ||
1. | The informer is the worse rogue of the two. | |
Ingratitude. | ||
1. | A forest that has sheltered you, you should not call a shrubbery. (You should not detract from the merits of a benefactor.) | Oji. |
2. | A satiated mouth soon forgets the benefactor. | Japanese. |
3. | A thankless man never does a thankful deed. | Dan. |
4. | A too quick return of an obligation is a sort of an ingratitude. | |
5. | After crossing the river the boatman gets a cuff. | Tamil. |
6. | An ungrateful man is a tub full of holes. | Latin. |
7. | As soon as you have drank you turn your back upon the spring. | |
8. | Be not ungrateful to your old friend. | |
9. | Bring up a raven and he will pick out your eyes. | Fr., Ger. |
10. | Earth produces nothing worse than an ungrateful man. | Ausonius. |
11. | He has brought up a bird to pick out his own eyes. | |
12. | He that you seat upon your shoulder will often try to get upon your head. | Dan. |
13. | If you call a man ungrateful you say everything against him.[555] | Juvenal. |
14. | I hate ingratitude more in a man, Than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, Or any taint of vice, whose strong corruptions Inhabit our frail blood. | Shaks. |
15. | I taught you to swim, and now you would drown me. | |
16. | I took him for a worm and he proved a serpent. | |
17. | Ingratitude is the mother of pride. | |
18. | Ingratitude is the daughter of pride. | Don Quixote. |
19. | Ingratitude sickens benevolence. | Ger. |
20. | Ingratitude makes the receiver worse but the benefactor better. | |
21. | One ungrateful man does an injury to all who are in distress. | Syrus. |
22. | Save a thief from the gallows and he'll be the first shall cut your throat. | |
23. | Take a churl from a gibbet and he will put you on it. | Fr. |
24. | Take down a thief from the gallows and he will hang you up. | Fr., Ital. |
25. | The axe goes to the wood from which it borrowed its helve. | |
26. | The sword has forgotten the smith that forged it. | |
27. | The winter has gone, the spring has come, A fig for those who us good have done. | Sp. |
28. | To do good to the ungrateful is to throw rose-water into the sea. | |
29. | Unhang one that is hanged and he will hang thee.[556] | Fr. |
30. | What you do for an ungrateful man is thrown away. | Latin. |
31. | When I had thatched his house he would have hurled me from the roof. | |
32. | You love a nothing when you love an ingrate. | Plautus. |
Inheritance. | ||
1. | Better a dollar earned than ten inherited. | Ger. |
2. | He flourishes by hereditary renown. | Latin. |
3. | He is no great heir that inherits not his ancestors' virtues. | |
4. | He who inherits a farthing is expected to spend a dollar. | Ger. |
5. | Many heirs make small portions. | Ger. |
Injury. | ||
1. | A little injury dismays, a great one stills. | Por. |
2. | A small injury often brings great woe. | Ger. |
3. | Alas, how grievous it is to be injured by one against whom we dare not complain. | Syrus. |
4. | An injury forgiven is better than an injury revenged. | |
5. | An injury may prove a blessing. | Ovid. |
6. | Every one should make the case of the injured his own. | Syrus. |
7. | He invites future injuries who rewards past ones. | |
8. | He is the wretch that does the injury, not he that endures it. | |
9. | He that courts injury will obtain it. | Dan. |
10. | He that defends an injury is next to him that commits it.[557] | |
11. | He that does you a very ill turn will never forgive you. | |
12. | He that is not above an injury is below himself. | |
13. | He who doth the injury never forgives the injured man. | |
14. | He who wishes to injure another will soon find a pretext. | Syrus. |
15. | Injure a man and his wrath will be like lead. | |
16. | Injuries are writ in brass and not to be forgotten. | Massinger. |
17. | Injuries don't use to be written on ice. | |
18. | Injurious is the gift that takes away freedom. | Ital. |
19. | Injurious men brook no injuries. | |
20. | Injury is to be measured by malice. | |
21. | It is a proof of nobility of mind to despise injuries. | Seneca. |
22. | It is better to suffer an injury than to commit one. | Chinese. |
23. | Let the injurer not forget. | Ital. |
24. | Men are more prone to revenge injuries than to requite kindnesses. | |
25. | Neglect will sooner kill an injury than revenge. | |
26. | None can injure him who does not injure himself. | Chrysostom. |
27. | Slight small injuries and they'll become none at all. | |
28. | Some injure all they fear and hate all they injure.[558] | |
29. | The injurer never forgives. | Ital. |
30. | The memory of the benefit soon vanisheth but the remembrance of an injury sticketh fast in the heart. | |
31. | The noblest remedy of injuries is oblivion. | |
32. | The remedy for injuries is not to remember them. | Ital. |
33. | 'Tis generous to bear an injury but dangerous to requite it. | |
34. | To pocket an injury. | |
35. | We are more mindful of injuries than benefits. | |
36. | Write injuries in dust but kindnesses in marble. | |
Innocence. | ||
1. | An innocent man needs no eloquence. | Ben Jonson. |
2. | He's armed without that's innocent within. | Pope. |
3. | He that is innocent may well be confident. | |
4. | I dare defend my innocent life against an emperor. | Shaks. |
5. | Innocence finds not near so much protection as guilt. | Rochefoucauld. |
6. | Innocence is a wall of brass. | Massinger. |
7. | Innocence is like an umbrella: when once we've lost it we must never hope to see it back again. | Punch. |
8. | Innocence is no protection. | |
9. | Innocence itself sometimes hath need of a mark.[559] | |
10. | Innocent actions carry their warrant with them. | |
11. | Oh, keep me innocent—make others great. | Caroline of Denmark. |
12. | The breastplate of innocence is not always scandal proof. | |
13. | The first of all virtues is innocence; modesty the second. | Greek. |
14. | The innocent are gay. | Cowper. |
15. | The silence often of pure innocence persuades when reason fails. | Shaks. |
16. | The surest panoply is innocence. | |
17. | What can innocence hope for, when such as sit her judges are corrupted. | Massinger. |
Innovations. | ||
1. | Innovations are dangerous. | |
Inquiring. | ||
1. | He that inquires much, learns much. | Dan. |
Insignificant. | ||
1. | A spark may consume a city. | Hungarian. |
2. | A feather shows the way the wind blows, And a straw the way the stream flows. | |
3. | The insignificant often are the most to be feared. | La Fontaine. |
4. | The least and weakest man can do some hurt. | |
5. | The little wimble will let in the great auger. | |
6. | The smallest fish find their place in the ocean. | |
7. | The smallest insect can cause death by its bite.[560] | Chinese. |
8. | The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on, And doves will peck in safeguard of their brood. | Shaks. |
9. | The strongest things are in danger from the weakest. | Spectator. |
Insolence. | ||
1. | Insolence is pride with her mask pulled off. | |
2. | Insolence puts an end to friendship. | |
3. | The insolence of the aggressor is usually proportioned to the tameness of the sufferer. | Ames. |
4. | The insolent are never without wounds. | Turk. |
Instruction. | ||
1. | Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go. Keep her for she is thyself. | Bible. |
Insult. | ||
1. | A moral, sensible, well-bred man, Will not insult me; no other can. | Cowper. |
2. | Insult begets insult. | M. Greek. |
3. | Insults proceed only from black and rancorous minds. | Fielding. |
4. | He who insults me to my face can yet be an honest man and my friend. | Chinese. |
Integrity. | ||
1. | Integrity is praised and starves. | Juvenal. |
2. | There could be no friendship without confidence and no confidence without integrity. | Rambler. |
Intellect. | ||
1. | The intellect engages us in the pursuit of truth; the passions impel us to action.[561] | |
Intemperance. | ||
1. | Full bottles and glasses make swearers and asses. | Dutch. |
2. | Gods! what wild folly from the goblet flows. | Homer. |
3. | He earns a farthing and has a pennyworth of thirst. | Ital. |
4. | Intemperance and lust breed infirmities. | Tillotson. |
5. | Intemperance is the doctor's wet nurse. | Ger. |
6. | Intoxication is a temporary madness. | Pythagoras. |
7. | More men are drowned in the bowl than in the sea. | Ger. |
8. | Thousands perish from intemperance; meanwhile all the world give themselves over to it. | Chinese. |
9. | We have snakes in our cups and in our dishes and whoever dips too deep will find death in the pot. | L'Estrange. |
10. | When drink enters, wisdom departs. | Sp. |
11. | You take your health to the whiskey shop once too often until it gets broken. | Cork saying. |
Intentions. | ||
1. | Many have good intentions but something comes across them. | Ger. |
Interest. | ||
1. | That great saint, interest, rules the world. | |
Intrigues. | ||
1. | And many heads obstruct intrigues, [562]And slowest insects have most legs. | Butler. |
2. | He who intrigues with a married woman hath his life in pledge. | Sp. |
Invitation. | ||
1. | Go neither to a wedding nor christening without invitation. | Sp. |
2. | Go to your rich friend's house when invited, to your poor friend's without invitation. | Por. |
3. | Who comes unbidden departs unthanked. | Ger. |
Iron. | ||
1. | Iron long fired becomes steel. | Chinese. |
2. | Iron may be rubbed so long that it gets heated. | Fr. |
3. | Iron not used soon rusts. | Por. |
4. | Iron or brass, let nothing pass. | Chinese. |
5. | It is bad iron in which there is no steel. | Dan. |
6. | The command of iron soon gives a nation command of gold. | Gibbon. |
Irons. | ||
1. | He who has many irons in the fire will let some of them burn. | Dan. |
“I Say.” | ||
1. | It is never permitted to say “I say.” | Madam Necker. |
Island. | ||
1. | In settling an island, the first building erected by a Spaniard would be a church; by a Frenchman a fort; by a Dutchman a warehouse, and by an Englishman an ale house. | |
Italian. | ||
1. | Italian devotion and German fasting have no meaning.[563] | Dan. |
2. | The Italian is wise before he undertakes a thing, the German while he is doing it, and the Frenchman when it is over. | |
3. | The Italians cry, the Germans bawl, and the French sing. | Fr. |
Ithaca. | ||
1. | A rough, wild nurseland, but whose crops are men. | Cicero. |
It is Good. | ||
1. | It is good to be a priest at Easter, child in Lent, peasant at Christmas and fool in harvest time. | Dan. |
2. | It is good to beat a proud man when he is alone. | Fr. |
3. | It is good to be of kin to means. | Dr. Johnson. |
4. | It is good to be sure. | |
5. | It is good to cry yule at other men's cost. | |
6. | It is good to go on foot when a man hath a horse in his hands. | |
7. | It is good to have a hatch before the door. | |
8. | It is good to hear mass and keep house. | Sp. |
9. | It is good to hold the clothes of one who is swimming. | Ital. |
10. | It is good to be out of harm's gate. | |
It is Hard. | ||
1. | It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright. | |
2. | It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. | |
3. | It is hard having lived with the men of one generation to be compelled to make his defence to those of another. | Cato. |
4. | It is hard to be high and humble.[564] | |
5. | It is hard to break an old hog of an ill custom. | |
6. | It is hard to catch a weasel asleep. | |
7. | It is hard to keep flax from the lowe (fire). | Scotch. |
8. | It is hard to glean after a niggardly husbandman. | Dan. |
9. | It is hard to make a fire on a cold hearth. | Dan. |
10. | It is hard to sail without wind and to grind without water. | Dan. |
11. | It is hard to suffer wrong and pay for it too. | |
12. | It is hard to swim against the stream. | Dutch. |
13. | It is hard to teach an old dog tricks. | Dan. |
14. | It is hard to turn back on a narrow bridge. | |
It is in Vain. | ||
1. | It is in vain for a man to rise early who has the repute of lying in bed all the morning. | Fr. |
2. | It is in vain to cast nets in a river where there are no fish. | Sp. |
3. | It is in vain to kick after you have put on your fetters. | |
4. | It is vain to learn wisdom and yet to live foolishly. | |
5. | It is in vain to lead the ox to water if he is not thirsty. | Fr. |
6. | It is in vain to use words when deeds are expected. | |
It is not. | ||
1. | It is not the cowl that makes the friar. | Dutch. |
2. | It is not the defects of the branches nor of[565] the leaves that cause the tree to perish; it is the decay of the root. | Chinese. |
3. | It is not the fine but the coarse and ill-spun that breaks. | Sp. |
4. | It is not the surplice that makes parson or clerk. | Sp. |
It is Safe. | ||
1. | It is safe fighting where there is no enemy. | Ger. |
2. | It is safe taking a shive off a cut loaf. | |
3. | It is safe to lend barley to him that has oats. | Dan. |
It is Useless. | ||
1. | It is useless stretching the grasshopper's leg. | |
2. | It is useless to expect impossibilities. | Hans Andersen. |
It is Well. | ||
1. | It is well for the shop-keeper to be lame of one foot. | Turk. |
2. | It is well to fly low on account of the branches. | Fr. |
3. | It is well to swim with one foot on the ground. | Chinese. |
Ivory. | ||
1. | Ivory does not come out of the rat's mouth. | Chinese. |
Jackal. | ||
1. | The jackal follows to devour the leavings of the lion. | Gibbon. |
2. | The jackal is king in a deserted village.[566] | Tamil. |
Jail. | ||
1. | When you make de jail too nice you better strenkin de hog pen. | American Negro. |
January. | ||
1. | When gnats swarm in January the peasant becomes a beggar. | Dutch. |
2. | A good Janvier freezeth the pot by the fiere. | Old English. |
Jealousy. | ||
1. | A hasty man loses the produce of his field and a jealous man his wife. | Tamil. |
2. | A jealous woman sets a whole house in a flame. | Latin. |
3. | A lewd bachelor makes a jealous husband. | |
4. | A loving man, a jealous man. | Ital. |
5. | A neighbor's eye is full of jealousy. | Dan. |
6. | Jealousy is a pain which largely seeks what causes pain. | Ger. |
7. | Jealousy is the evil daughter of a good family. | Ger. |
8. | Jealousy is the greatest evil. | Ger. |
9. | Jealousy is too apt to build upon unsure foundations. | Massinger. |
10. | Jealousy is worse than witchcraft. | Ger. |
11. | Jealousy shuts one door and opens two instead. | Ger. |
12. | Nor jealousy, was understood, the injured lover's hell. | Milton. |
13. | Oh! beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on. | Shaks. |
14. | The jealous man—who spreads his bed with stinging nettles and then sleeps on it. | Punch. |
15. | The jealousy of the wife is the path to divorce. | Ger. |
16. | There is no man however high but is jealous of some one, and there is no man however low but has some one jealous of him. | |
17. | Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ. | Shaks. |
Jeering. | ||
1. | Do jeer poor folks and see how it will thrive. | |
2. | One jeer seldom goes forth but it brings back its equal. | |
Jest, Joke. | ||
1. | A common jester may have wit but not wisdom. | Young. |
2. | A jest driven too far brings home hate. | |
3. | A joke never gains an enemy but often loses a friend. | |
4. | A joke should not be carried too far. | Latin. |
5. | All in the way of a joke the wolf goes to the ass. | Sp. |
6. | An ill-timed jest hath ruined many, And gentle dulness ever loves a joke. | Pope |
7. | Away with such jests, there is no good in being malignant. | |
8. | Better lose a jest than a friend. | |
9. | Drop the jest when it is most amusing. | Ital. |
10. | Good jests bite like lambs, not like dogs. | |
11. | He that jokes confesses. | Ital. |
12. | He that would jest must take a jest, Else to let it alone were best. | Dutch. |
13. | His back is broad enough to bear jests. | |
14. | If you be a jester keep your wit until you have use for it. | |
15. | It is not good jesting with God, death or the devil. | Arabian. |
16. | It is past joking when the head's off. | |
17. | It requires a surgical operation to get a joke well into a Scotch understanding. | Sidney Smith. |
18. | Jesters do oft prove prophets. | |
19. | Jesting lies bring serious sorrows. | |
20. | Jest not in earnest. | Motto of the Margrave of Brandenburg. |
21. | Jest not with a rude man lest thy ancestors be disgraced. | Bible. |
22. | Jest not with the eye nor religion. | |
23. | Jest so it may not turn in earnest. | Sp. |
24. | Jest with an ass and he will flap you in the face with his tail. | |
25. | Jests are seldom good the first time, but the second distasteful. | |
26. | Jests, like sweetmeats, have often sour sauce. | |
27. | Jest with your equals. | Dan. |
28. | Jesting costs money. | Sp. |
29. | Leave off the jest when it is merriest. | Sp. |
30. | Manual jokes are clowns' jokes. | Fr., Sp. |
31. | Many a true word spoken in jest. | Ital. |
32. | Much better lose a jest than a friend. | |
33. | Never joke with stupid people.[569] | |
34. | No jesting with edge tools or with bell ropes. | |
35. | Of all the griefs that harass the distressed, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest. | Johnson. |
36. | Rather spoil your joke than lose your friend. | Scotch. |
37. | Some who jest tell tales of themselves. | Fr. |
38. | That's the cream of the joke. | |
39. | The jest's propriety lies in the ear of him who hears it, never in the tongue of him who makes it. | |
40. | The truest jests sound worst in guilty ears. | |
41. | The wise make jests and fools repeat them. | |
42. | The worst jests are those that are true. | Fr. |
43. | There are jokes like diamonds that take infinitely less time to find than to polish. | Punch. |
44. | There is no worse joke than a true one. | Ital., Sp. |
45. | To jest is tolerable, but to do harm by jest is insufferable. | |
46. | True jests breed bad blood. | |
47. | True jokes never please. | Fr. |
48. | We knock in jest and it is opened in earnest. | Ger. |
49. | When the demand is a jest the fittest answer is a scoff. | Archimedes. |
50. | When the jest is at its best, 'twill be well to let it rest | Ger. |
Jesuits. | ||
1. | The Jesuits are wise; they never lose their temper.[570] | Bea. |
Jew. | ||
1. | A Christianized Jew and a reconciled foe are not to be trusted. | Russian. |
2. | A German deceives the Pole, the French the German, a Spaniard the French, a Jew the Spaniard, the devil only the Jew. | Polish. |
3. | No Jew a fool, no hare lazy. | Sp. |
Jewel. | ||
1. | The jewel is not to be valued for the cabinet. | |
Joseph. | ||
1. | There arose a new king that knew not Joseph. | Bible. |
2. | There is always a Pharaoh who does not know Joseph. | Ger. |
Journey. | ||
1. | A journey were better too long than dangerous. | |
Jove, Jupiter. | ||
1. | By Jove the stranger and the poor are sent. | Homer. |
2. | Him whom Jove would destroy he first deprives of reason. | Latin. |
3. | I love to stand aloof from Jove and his thunderbolts. | |
4. | When Jupiter is in the wrong he always thunders. | |
Joy. | ||
1. | A joyous evening often leads to a sorrowful morning. | Dan. |
2. | A joyous heart spins the hemp. | Servian. |
3. | After joy, grief; after grief, joy.[571] | Tamil. |
4. | After sorrow, joy. | Latin. |
5. | All the joys in the world cannot take one gray hair out of our heads. | |
6. | All the joys we travel to through vice, Like fairy banquets vanish when we touch them. | Massinger. |
7. | All who joy would win, must share it; Happiness was born a twin. | Byron. |
8. | Every life has its joy; every joy its law. | Dan. |
9. | If your joys cannot be long, so neither can your sorrows. | |
10. | Joy and sorrow are next door neighbors. | Ger. |
11. | Joy and sorrow usually succeed each other. | Arabian. |
12. | Joy is like the ague; one good day between two bad ones. | Dan. |
13. | Joy is the tender shadow which sorrow casts. | Jeremy Taylor. |
14. | Joys are not the property of the rich alone. | Horace. |
15. | Joy surfeited turns to sorrow. | Latin. |
16. | Joy which we cannot share with others is only half enjoyed. | Hans Andersen. |
17. | No joy like Heaven's. | |
18. | No joy without alloy. | |
19. | Sudden joy kills sooner than excessive grief. | |
20. | The present joys of life we doubly taste, By looking back with pleasure on the past. | Martial. |
21. | We should publish our joys and conceal our griefs. | |
22. | When joy is in the parlor, sorrow is in the passage. | Dan. |
Judging. | ||
1. | As solemn as a judge. | |
2. | Do not judge of a tree by its bark nor of a man by his exterior. | |
3. | Do not judge of the ship from the land. | |
4. | Do not judge of the ship while it is on the stocks. | Ital. |
5. | Do not judge of the dog by its hairs. | Dan. |
6. | Forbear to judge for we are sinners all. | Shaks. |
7. | From one you may judge of the whole. | Latin. |
8. | He is the best judge that knows the least. | |
9. | He who is judge between two friends loses one of them. | Fr., Ger. |
10. | He who will have no judge but himself condemns himself. | |
11. | “I am a judge of cresses,” said the peasant, when he was eating hemlock. | Dan. |
12. | Judge not of men or things at first sight. | |
13. | Never judge by appearances. | |
14. | Never judge peremptorily on first appearance. | Richardson. |
15. | The cold neutrality of an impartial judge. | Burke. |
16. | We wisely strip the steed we mean to buy, Judge we in their caparisons of men? | Young. |
17. | Well to judge depends on well to hear. | Ital. |
18. | Who judges others condemns himself. | Ital. |
19. | You cannot judge of a man 'till you hear his whole story.[573] | |
20. | You cannot judge of the wine by the barrel. | |
21. | You can't judge of the horse by the harness. | |
June. | ||
1. | A dripping June brings all things in tune. | |
2. | Calm weather in June sets corn in tune. | |
Judgment. | ||
1. | He hath a good judgment that relieth not wholly on his own. | |
2. | Of judgment every one has a stock on hand for sale. | Ital. |
3. | 'Tis with our judgments as our watches; None go just alike yet each believes his own. | Pope. |
4. | To him of good judgment the sound of a gnat suffices; to him who lacks it, the noise of an orchestra availeth not. | Turk. |
Just. | ||
1. | Any time is the proper time for saying what is just. | Greek. |
2. | He who is only just is cruel; who on earth would live were all judged justly? | Byron. |
3. | How is he greater than I, if he is not more just. | Agesilaus. |
4. | If all men were just there would be no need of valor. | Agesilaus. |
5. | Nothing brings a man more honor than to be invariably just. | |
6. | The just hand is as precious ointment. | Latin. |
7. | The just man will flourish in spite of envy. | Latin. |
8. | The memory of the just is blessed. | Bible. |
9. | What is just and right is the law of laws. | |
Justice. | ||
1. | Every man loves justice at another man's expense; nobody cares for it at his own. | |
2. | It is folly to expect justice from the unprincipled. | |
3. | Justice consists in doing no injury to men; decency in giving them no offence. | |
4. | Justice has a waxen nose. | Ger. |
5. | Justice is half religion. | Turk. |
6. | Justice is never angry. | Ben Jonson. |
7. | Justice is the rightful sovereign of the world. | Pindar. |
8. | It is the clerk makes the justice. | |
9. | Let justice be done though the heavens fall. | Latin. |
10. | No one likes justice brought home to his own door. | Ital. |
11. | Of all virtues justice is the best; Valor without it is a common jest. | Waller. |
12. | Paper and ink and little justice. | Sp. |
13. | Though justice has leaden feet it has leaden hands. | |
14. | Who demands justice must administer justice. | Ger. |
Keep. | ||
1. | He who gets doth much, but he who keeps doth more. | |
2. | Keep a thing seven years and you'll find use for it. [575] | Gaelic. |
3. | Keep cool and you command everybody. | St. Just. |
4. | Keep not two tongues in one mouth. | Dan. |
5. | Keep out of a hasty man's way for a while, out of a sullen man's all the days of your life. | |
6. | Keep out of brawls and you will neither be a principal nor a witness. | Sp. |
7. | Keep some till furthermore come. | |
8. | Keep something for a sair fit. | |
9. | Keep the common road and thou'rt safe. | |
10. | Keep the feast to feast day. | Scotch. |
11. | Keep the staff in your ain hand. | |
12. | Keep your breath to cool your crowdie. | |
13. | Keep yourself from the anger of a great man, from the tumult of a mob, from a man of ill-fame, from a widow that has been thrice married, from a wind that comes in at a hole, and from a reconciled enemy. | |
14. | Who shall keep the keepers? (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.) | |
15. | You may keep the wool until it is dirt and flax until it is silk. | |
Key. | ||
1. | All the keys hang not at one man's girdle. | |
2. | Better is the turn of the key than a friar's conscience. | Sp. |
3. | Locks and keys are not made for honest fingers. | Ger. |
4. | The golden key opens every door. | Ital. |
5. | The key that is used grows bright.[576] | Ger. |
6. | The keys at the girdle—the dog in the larder. | Sp. |
7. | Your key fits not that lock. | |
Killing. | ||
1. | Any one can kill a bound foe. | Turk. |
2. | He kills a man that saves not his life when he can. | Dan. |
3. | Kill a man's family and he may brook it, But keep your hand out of his breeches pocket. | Byron. |
4. | Kill and thou wilt be killed and he will be killed who kills thee. | Sp. |
5. | Kill no more than you can salt or you will have tainted meat. | Dan. |
6. | Kill the lion's whelp; thou'lt strive in vain when he's grown. | |
Kindness. | ||
1. | A forced kindness deserves no thanks. | |
2. | A kindness bestowed on the good is never lost. | Latin. |
3. | A kindness is never lost. | |
4. | A word of kindness is better than a fat pie. | Russian. |
5. | He merits no thanks that does a kindness for his own ends. | |
6. | He that is kinder than he was wont hath a design upon thee. | |
7. | He who doth a kindness to a good man doth a greater to himself. | |
8. | How quickly with all is a kindness forgotten.[577] | Latin. |
9. | Kindness breaks no bones. | Ger. |
10. | Kindness canna be bought for gear. | |
11. | Kindness is more binding than a loan. | Chinese. |
12. | Kindness comes o'will. | |
13. | Kindness like grain increases by sowing. | |
14. | Kindness is the noblest weapon to conquer with. | |
15. | Kindness lies na ay in ae side o' the house. | |
16. | Kindness, nobler ever than revenge. | Shaks. |
17. | Kindness to the just is never lost. | Plautus. |
18. | Kindness will creep where it mauna gang. | |
19. | Never forget a kindness. | |
20. | Nothing grows old sooner than a kindness. | Fr. |
21. | One kindness is the price of another. | |
22. | One ought to remember kindnesses received and forget those we have done. | |
23. | The wild beast feels man's kindness more than man. | Bulwer. |
24. | To do a kindness to a bad man is like sowing your seed in the sea. | Phocylides. |
25. | Unfading are the gardens of kindness. | M. Greek. |
King. | ||
1. | A countryman may be as warm in kersey as a king in velvet. | |
2. | A crown is no cure for the headache. | Ital., Ger., Dutch. |
3. | A king is never powerful that hath not power on the sea. | Sp. |
4. | A king promises but observes only what he pleases. | |
5. | A king's favor is no inheritance. | |
6. | A king should have neither friends nor relations, needing only slaves. | Sicandar of India. |
7. | A king without a good counsellor is like a wayfaring man who is blind. | |
8. | A man ought to be born a king or a fool. | Latin. |
9. | A noble prince or king never has a coin to bless himself. | Fr. |
10. | Accurst the king that casts his purple o'er his vices. | Bulwer. |
11. | Among the blind a one-eyed man is king. | Latin. |
12. | An illiterate king is a crowned ass. | |
13. | As the king, so are his people. | Sp. |
14. | Every law is broken to become a king. | |
15. | Every one is a king in his own house. | Por. |
16. | General calamities imply in kings general imbecility. | |
17. | He is half a king who has the king's good acres. | |
18. | He that is hated o' his subjects canna be a king. | |
19. | He who eats the king's cow lean, pays for it fat. | Fr., Sp. |
20. | Ill kings make many good laws. | |
21. | It befits the king to be liberal for he is sure of never falling into poverty.[579] | Por. |
22. | King Henry robbed the church and died poor. | |
23. | Kings and bears oft worry their keepers. | |
24. | Kings are out o' play. | |
25. | Kings are like stars,—they rise and set; they have The worship of the world, but no repose. | Shelley. |
26. | Kings' entreaties are commands. | Dutch. |
27. | Kings hae lange ears. | |
28. | Kings have long arms and many eyes and ears. | Ital. |
29. | Kings love the treason but not the traitor. | |
30. | Kings ought to be environed with good will instead of guards. | Bias. |
31. | Kings ought to be kings in all things. | Adrian. |
32. | Kings ought to shun the company of the vicious, for the evil they commit in his company is accounted his. | Plato. |
33. | Neck or nothing, for the king loves no cripple. | |
34. | Neither a log nor a stork, good Jupiter. (Fable of the frogs praying for a king.) | |
35. | Nice customs courtesy to great kings. | Shaks. |
36. | No king was ever a traitor or pope excommunicated. | Sp. |
37. | Robbers take to rocks and precipices for security; for a king there is no such fortress as honor and humanity. | Aratus. |
38. | “Sail!” quoth the king; “Hold!” saith the wind. | |
39. | The emperor of Germany is the king of[580] kings; the king of Spain king of men; the king of France king of asses; the king of England king of devils. | Fr. |
40. | The greatest king must at last go to bed with a shovel. | |
41. | The king's leavings are better than my Lord's bounty. | Don Quixote. |
42. | The king cannot always rule as he wishes. | |
43. | The king goes as far as he can, not so far as he would. | Sp. |
44. | The king likes the treachery but not the traitor. | Sp. |
45. | The king may bestow offices but cannot bestow wit to manage them. | |
46. | The king may give the honor but thou art to make thyself honorable. | Ger. |
47. | The king of France with twenty thousand men, Marched up the hill and then marched down again. | R. Tarleton. |
48. | The king of good fellows is appointed for the queen of beggars. | |
49. | The king (queen) of the bees has no sting. | Por. |
50. | The king's chaff is better than other folks' corn. | Ger. |
51. | The king's cheese goes half way in parings. | |
52. | The king's favor is no inheritance. | |
53. | The king's friend is he who tells him the truth. | |
54. | The last reason of kings. (Motto engraved on a French cannon.)[581] | |
55. | The subjects' love is the king's best guard. | |
56. | The surest guard of a king is not armies or treasures but friends. | Petrarch. |
57. | The sword of kings Is the last reason of all things. | Butler. |
58. | The word of a king ought to be as binding as the oath of a subject. | Ital. |
59. | The wrath of kings is always dreadful. | |
60. | There's such divinity doth hedge a king, That treason can but peep to what it would. | Shaks. |
61. | 'Tis fate that flings the dice, and as she flings, Of kings makes peasants and of peasants kings. | |
62. | To such a king, such an ambassador. (Remark of the ambassador of Louis XIII. of France to the king of Spain.) | |
63. | Under which king, Bezonian? speak, or die. | Shaks. |
64. | When kings lose their temper, it is their people who pay for it. | |
65. | Whosoever is king, thou'lt be his man. | |
66. | Would you have me serve you, good king, give me the means of living. | Por. |
Kiss. | ||
1. | A kiss of the mouth often touches not the heart. | |
2. | A man often kisses the hand that he would fain see cut off. | Sp.,Por., Dan. |
3. | Do not make me kiss, and you will not make me sin.[582] | |
4. | For the sake of the knight, the lady kisses the squire. | Fr. |
5. | I kiss thee, hide, because thou art to be a wine-bag. | Por. |
6. | If you can kiss the mistress, never kiss the maid. | |
7. | Kiss ardently the hand you cannot cut off. | Turk. |
8. | Kisses are the messengers of love. | Dan. |
9. | Kissing goes by favor. | |
10. | Many kiss the child for the nurse's sake. | Dan. |
11. | One kisses the child for the mother's sake, and the mother for the child's sake. | Ger. |
12. | One kisses the nurse for the sake of the child. | Ger. |
Kitchen. | ||
1. | A fat kitchen has poverty for a neighbor. | Ital. |
2. | A fat kitchen is next door to poverty. | Ital. |
3. | A fat kitchen makes a lean purse. | Ger. |
4. | A fat kitchen makes a lean will. | Ger. |
5. | Communities begin by building their kitchens. | |
6. | Silk and velvet put out the kitchen fire. | Ger. |
7. | Silks and satins put out the fire in the kitchen. | |
8. | Silks and satins, scarlets and velvets put out the kitchen fire. | |
9. | The kitchen kills more than the sword. | Ger. |
10. | The smallness of the kitchen makes the house the bigger. | |
11. | The supper out of a strange kitchen tastes good.[583] | Ger. |
12. | The taste of the kitchen is better than the smell. | |
13. | Who frequents the kitchen smells of smoke. | Ital. |
Kite. | ||
1. | A carrion kite will never make a good hawk. | |
2. | Ask a kite for a feather and she'll say she has just enough to fly with. | |
3. | One leg of a lark is worth the whole body of a kite. | |
4. | If the frog and mouse quarrel, the kite will see them agreed. | |
5. | The kite's malady: its wing broken and its beak sound. | Fr. |
Knave, Knavery. | ||
1. | A knave discovered is a great fool. | |
2. | An old knave is no babe. | |
3. | An open knave is a great fool. | |
4. | Better kiss a knave than be troubled with him. | |
5. | Better the sensible knave than the fool. | Bolingbroke. |
6. | Cool weather and knaves come out of the north. | |
7. | Early waster—long knave. | |
8. | Every one is glad to see a knave caught in his own trap. | |
9. | For an honest man half his wits are enough; the whole is too little for a knave. | Ital. |
10. | He hath a cloak for his knavery. | |
11. | He is doubly sinful who congratulates a successful knave.[584] | Syrus. |
12. | He is no small knave that knows a great one. | Dan. |
13. | He who knows a knave makes no bid for him. | Dan. |
14. | It is a bad thing to be a knave, but worse to be known for one. | Ital. |
15. | It is as hard to please a knave as a knight. | |
16. | Knavery without luck is the worst trade in the world. | |
17. | Knavery's plain face is never seen till used. | |
18. | Knaves are in such repute that honest men are accounted fools. | |
19. | Knaves imagine nothing can be done without knavery. | |
20. | Knaves will thrive when honest plainness knows not how to live. | Shirley. |
21. | More knave than fool. | |
22. | No more mortar, no more brick; a cunning knave has a cunning trick. | |
23. | Nobody so like an honest man as an arrant knave. | |
24. | None better guard against a cheat, than he who is a knave complete. | Martial. |
25. | Once a knave, always a knave. | |
26. | One knavery is met by another. | Sp. |
27. | One piece of knavery begets another. | Terence. |
28. | Sly knavery is too hard for honest wisdom. | |
29. | The hatred of knaves is preferable to their company. | Latin. |
30. | The knave and fool are their own libellers.[585] | Pope. |
31. | The more knave, the better luck. | Dan. |
32. | When knaves fall out, honest men come by their own. | |
33. | With a fool and a knave there is no conclusion. | |
34. | With art and knavery we live through half a year; with knavery and art we live through the other half. | Ital. |
Knife. | ||
1. | In a golden sheath a leaden knife. | Ital. |
2. | In a smith's house the knife is wooden. | Sp. |
3. | One knife keeps another in its sheath. | Ital. |
4. | One knife whets another. | Ital., Ger. |
5. | The knife cuts not the hand of gold. | Turk. |
6. | 'Tis a good knife; it will cut butter when 'tis melted. | |
7. | Under a gold sheath a leaden knife. | Sp. |
Knock. | ||
1. | He gives one knock on the iron and two on the anvil. | |
2. | He giveth one knock on the hoop and another on the barrel; i.e., he speaks now to the purpose, now on matter wholly extraneous. | |
Knot. | ||
1. | Where the knot is loose the string slippeth. | |
2. | To a hard knot a hard wedge. | Sp. |
3. | You ought to untie that knot which you knit yourself. | |
Know Thyself. | ||
1. | Know thyself. (Inscribed in letters of gold over the portico of the temple of Delphi.) [586] | Chilo. |
Knowledge. | ||
1. | A doctor and a boor know more than a doctor alone. | Ger. |
2. | A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. | |
3. | A man knows no more to any purpose than he practises. | |
4. | All our knowledge is ourselves to know. | Pope. |
5. | All we know is nothing can be known. (From the Greek.) | Byron. |
6. | Government of the will is better than increase of knowledge. | |
7. | Half our knowledge we must snatch, not take. | Pope. |
8. | He hath a tun of knowledge but the bottom is out. | Dutch. |
9. | He knows enough who knows how to live and keep his own counsel. | Fr. |
10. | He knows which side of his bread is buttered. | |
11. | He that imagines he hath knowledge enough hath none. | |
12. | He that knows himself knows others. | |
13. | He that knows least commonly presumes most. | |
14. | He that knows little soon repeats it. | |
15. | He that would know what shall be must consider what hath been. | |
16. | He who increases knowledge increases sorrow. | Latin. |
17. | He who knows but little tells it quickly.[587] | Ital., Sp., Por. |
18. | He who knows himself best, esteems himself least. | |
19. | He who knows little is confident in everything. | |
20. | He who knows nothing never doubts. | Ital. |
21. | He who thinks he knows the most knows the least. | |
22. | Hidden knowledge differs little from ignorance. | Horace. |
23. | I envy no man that knows more than myself but pity them that know less. | Sir Thomas Browne. |
24. | I know no difference between buried treasure and concealed knowledge. | Ital. |
25. | It is almost as necessary to know other men as ourselves. | |
26. | It is not permitted to know all things. | Latin. |
27. | It is not the quantity but the quality of knowledge which is valuable. | Samuel Sorbiere. |
28. | It is well for one to know more than he says. | Plautus. |
29. | It requires a long time to know any one. | Don Quixote. |
30. | Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man. | Pope. |
31. | Knowledge begins a gentleman but 'tis conversation that completes him. | |
32. | Knowledge comes but wisdom lingers. | Tennyson. |
33. | Knowledge directeth practice and practice increaseth knowledge. | |
34. | Knowledge finds its price.[588] | La Fontaine. |
35. | Knowledge in youth is wisdom in age. | |
36. | Knowledge is a second light and hath bright eyes. | |
37. | Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it. | |
38. | Knowledge is no burden. | |
39. | Knowledge is power. | Bacon. |
40. | Knowledge is silver among the poor, gold among the nobles, and a jewel among princes. | Ital. |
41. | Knowledge is the foundation of eloquence. | Bea. |
42. | Knowledge must be gained by ourselves. | Bea. |
43. | Knowledge or wealth to few are given, But mark how just the ways of Heaven: True joy is free to all. | Mickle. |
44. | Knowledge without education is but armed injustice. | Horace. |
45. | Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist. | |
46. | Learn thou of learned men, the unlearned of thee; For thus must knowledge propagated be. | Dutch. |
47. | No man knows till he has tasted both fortunes. | |
48. | No one knows what will happen to him before sunset. | |
49. | No one knows when he is well off. | Punch. |
50. | Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to continue always a child. | Seneca. |
51. | One part of knowledge consists in being ignorant of such things as are not worthy to be known.[589] | |
52. | Profess not the knowledge thou hast not. | Bible. |
53. | The first step to self-knowledge is self-distrust. | |
54. | The more a man knows the more he is inclined to be modest. | Fielding. |
55. | The only jewel which will not decay is knowledge. | Langford. |
56. | The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude but must be cultivated in public. | Dr. Johnson. |
57. | There is no knowledge so dangerous as half-knowledge. | Stilson Hutchins. |
58. | Through being too knowing the fox lost his tail. | |
59. | To know a man well, one must have eaten a bushel of salt with him. | Fr. |
60. | To know everything is to know nothing. | Ital. |
61. | To know how to obey requires as generous a disposition and as rational an education as to know how to command. | Plato. |
62. | To know nothing is the happiest life. | Euripides. |
63. | To know one perfectly one must live in the same house with him. | |
64. | To know one's self is true progress. | Hans Andersen. |
65. | To know the disease is the commencement of the cure. | Don Quixote. |
66. | Whatever I did not know, I was not ashamed to inquire about, so I acquired knowledge.[590] | Persian Philosopher. |
67. | Who knows most believes least. | Ital. |
68. | Who knows most forgives most. | Ital. |
69. | Who knows most says least. | Fr., Ital., Sp. |
70. | Who knows nothing, doubts nothing. | |
71. | Who knows nothing in his thirtieth year, is nothing in his fortieth, has nothing in his fiftieth, learns nothing, is nothing, and comes to nothing. | Ger. |
72. | Without knowledge there is no sin. | |
73. | Your knowing a thing is nothing unless another knows you know it. | Latin. |
Labor. | ||
1. | A good handicraft has a golden foundation. | Dutch. |
2. | A good head and industrious hand are worth gold in any land. | Ger. |
3. | A good laborer is better than a bad priest. | Ger. |
4. | A good trade will carry farther than a thousand florins. | Ger. |
5. | A grain of rice, a thread of hemp, are the fruit of the sweat of the poor. | Chinese. |
6. | A man must live by his trade. | |
7. | A man of many trades begs his bread on Sundays. | |
8. | A ploughman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees. | Franklin. |
9. | A trade is an estate for life. | Turk. |
10. | Adam got a hoe and Eve got a spinning-wheel and thence came all the nobles.[591] | Dan. |
11. | All for each and each for all. | Maxim of Knights of Labor. |
12. | All the grains of rice that are in the soup have been matured by the sweat of the laborer. | Chinese. |
13. | Another man's trade costs money. | Por. |
14. | As the labor, so the pay. | |
15. | Be the first in the field and the last to the couch. | Chinese. |
16. | Blessing goes with labor. | Turk. |
17. | Bodily labor earns not much. | |
18. | By labor comes wealth. | Yarubas (Africa). |
19. | By labor fire is got out of a stone. | Dutch. |
20. | Every laborer is worthy of his hire. | Ger. |
21. | Finished labors are pleasant. | |
22. | For just experience tells in every soil, That those who think must govern those who toil. | Pope. |
23. | From labor there shall come forth rest. | Longfellow. |
24. | He that by the plough would thrive, himself must either hold or drive. | Franklin. |
25. | He that hath some land must have some labor. | |
26. | He that labors and thrives spins gold. | |
27. | He that labors is tempted by one devil and he that is idle by a thousand. | Ital. |
28. | Honest labor bears a lovely face. | Thos. Dekker. |
29. | In all labor there is profit. | Bible. |
30. | It is hard to labor with an empty belly.[592] | Dan. |
31. | Labor conquers all things. | Virgil. |
32. | Labor has a bitter root but a sweet taste. | Dan. |
33. | Labor, if it were not necessary to the existence, would be indispensable to the happiness of man. | Dr. Johnson. |
34. | Labor is itself a pleasure. | Lucretius. |
35. | Labor is only awarded the lowest. | |
36. | Labor is preferable to idleness as brightness to rust. | Plato. |
37. | Labor is the best sauce. | Latin. |
38. | Labor itself is but a sorrowful song, The protest of the weak against the strong. | F. W. Faben. |
39. | Labor makes bread out of a stone. | Ger. |
40. | Labor not to be rich. | Bible. |
41. | Labor rids us of three great evils: tediousness, vice and poverty. | Fr. |
42. | Labor warms, sloth harms. | |
43. | Labor, wide as the earth, has its summit in heaven. | Carlyle. |
44. | Labor without luck helps not. | Ger. |
45. | Love labor; for if thou dost not want it for food, thou mayest for physic. | W. Penn. |
46. | Many a man labors for the day he will never live to see. | Dan. |
47. | No man can eat anything sweeter in this world than what is acquired by his own labor. | Turkish Spy. |
48. | Past labor is pleasant. | |
49. | Reward sweetens labor.[593] | Dutch. |
50. | Such hath it been—shall be—beneath the sun, The many still must labor for the one. | Byron. |
51. | The gods sell everything for labor. | |
52. | The labor we delight in physics pain. | Shaks. |
53. | The laborer is worthy of his hire. | New Testament. |
54. | The palm is not gained without the dust of labor. | Latin. |
55. | The sleep of the laboring man is sweet whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. | Bible. |
56. | The three things most difficult are,—to keep a secret, to forget an injury and to make good use of labor. | Chilo. |
57. | Those who labor with their minds rule; those who labor with their bodies are ruled. | Chinese. |
58. | To labor is the lot of man below. | Homer. |
59. | What is done by hand-labor is eaten with pleasure. | Chinese. |
60. | Without labor, no good thing. | Ger. |
61. | Without labor there was no ease, no rest. | Carlyle. |
Labor (Loss of). | ||
1. | It is all preaching in the desert and hammering cold iron. | Don Quixote. |
2. | It is lost labor to sow where there is no soil. | |
3. | That which burns thee not cools not. | Dutch. |
4. | The swallow's plastering of her nest is labor lost. | Chinese. |
5. | To look for a needle in a bundle (or bottle) of hay.[594] | Fr., Ger. |
6. | To make a hole in the water. | |
7. | To make a long harvest of a little corn. | |
8. | To make one hole by way of stopping up another. | Fr. |
9. | To pour water into a sieve. | |
10. | To wash an ass's head is but loss of time and soap (or of suds); i.e., to reprove a fool is but lost labor. | Fr. |
11. | To wipe up the sea with a sponge. | Dutch. |
12. | We all labor with one ox (are in the same boat). | M. Greek. |
13. | We plough the sand on the sea-shore. | Juvenal. |
14. | You are lighting a fire in the wind. | Kaffir. |
15. | You are looking for wings on a wolf. | Latin. |
16. | You are teaching iron to swim. | Latin. |
17. | You are washing an unburnt brick. | Latin. |
18. | You count the waves. | |
19. | You do but water a dead stake. | |
20. | You may knock a long while against an alder bush before you get a swarm of bees out of it. | Dan. |
21. | You must walk a long time behind a wild goose before you find an ostrich feather. | |
22. | You put it together with a hot needle and burnt thread. | |
23. | You teach the dolphin to swim. | Latin. |
Labyrinth. | ||
1. | If you go into a labyrinth take a clew with you. | |
Ladder. | ||
1. | The man who holds the ladder at the bottom is frequently of more service than the man at the top.[595] | |
Lady. | ||
1. | A lady's age once known will always be remembered, and that more for spite than love. | Richardson. |
2. | Far fetched, and dear bought, is good for ladies. | |
3. | Ladies, by all the laws of war, are privileged. | Shaks. |
4. | “Ladies have ladies' whims,” said crazy Ann, when she draggled her cloak in the gutter. | Dan. |
5. | Ladies keep men by keeping them off. | Punch. |
6. | Ladies are whitest in a blackamoor's land. | |
7. | Tell me how many ladies' maids a lady has had, and I will tell you her temper. | Punch. |
8. | The Grecian ladies counted their age from their marriage, not birth. | Homer. |
9. | The society of ladies is the school of politeness. | |
Lament. | ||
1. | Cease to lament for that thou cans't not help, And study help for that which thou lamentest. | Shaks. |
Lamp. | ||
1. | By lamplight every country wench is handsome. | Ital. |
2. | If you would have your lamp burn, you must pour oil into it. | Ger. |
3. | When wanes the lamp amid the morning light, Forget not, hermit, how it cheered thy sight. | |
Lance. | ||
1. | A good cavalier never lacks a lance.[596] | Fr. |
2. | A good knight is never at a loss for a lance. | Ital. |
3. | A great lance thrust to a dead moor. | Sp. |
Land. | ||
1. | A dumb man never gets land. | |
2. | According to the worth of the man is the worth of his land. | Fr. |
3. | Better a ruined than a lost land. | Fr., Dutch. |
4. | Half an acre is good land. | |
5. | Good land should not be quitted for a bad landlord. | Fr. |
6. | Land was never lost for want of an heir. | |
7. | Not every land has all at hand. | |
8. | The land a man knows is his mother. | Sp. |
9. | The land is dead; i.e., war has begun. | Kaffir. |
10. | Who buys land buys war. | Ital. |
Landmark Stones. | ||
1. | Who removeth landmark stones bruiseth his fingers. | |
Lane. | ||
1. | It is a long lane that has no turning. | Dutch. |
Language. | ||
1. | Language most shows a man; speak that I may see thee. | Ben Jonson. |
2. | That is not good language which all understand not. | |
Lasses. | ||
1. | Her prentice hand she tried on man, And then she made the lasses O! | Burns. |
2. | Glasses and lasses are brittle wares.[597] | Scotch. |
3. | Lasses and glasses are always in danger. | Ital. |
4. | The lass that has mony wooers aft wales (chooses) the warst. | |
Last. | ||
1. | For the last comer the bones. | Fr. |
2. | The last come is the best liked. | Fr. |
3. | The last comers are often the masters. | |
4. | The last drop makes the cup run over. | |
5. | The last of the Romans. | |
6. | The last shuts the door. | Ital., Ger. |
7. | The last stole the sack. | Ger. |
8. | The last taste of things gives them the name sweet or sour. | |
9. | Though last, not least in love. (Brutus to Casca) | Shaks. |
10. | 'Tis the last feather breaks the camel's back. | |
11. | 'Tis the last straw that breaks the horse's back. | |
Last Garment. | ||
1. | Our last garment is made without pockets. | Ital. |
Laugh. | ||
1. | A laugh costs too much if it is bought at the expense of propriety. | Quintillian. |
2. | A laugh is worth a hundred groans in any market. | Lamb, Franklin. |
3. | By much laughter you detect the fool. | Latin. |
4. | Commonly he is not stricken again who laughs when he strikes. | |
5. | Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful.[598] | |
6. | He is not laughed at, who laughs at himself first. | |
7. | He laughs ill that laughs himself to death. | |
8. | He laughs well (or best) who laughs last. | Fr., Ital. |
9. | He that laughs alone will be sport in company. | |
10. | He that laughs at his ain joke spoils the sport o' it. | |
11. | He that laughs on Friday may cry on Sunday. | Fr. |
12. | He who laughs at impertinence makes himself an accomplice. | Chinese. |
13. | He who laughs last laughs best. | Fr., Ital., Ger., Dan. |
14. | He who made free of the old man laughed at first and cried afterwards. | Sp. |
15. | He who laughs not in the morning laughs not at noon. | M. Greek. |
16. | He who laughs over much may have an aching heart. | Ital. |
17. | He who laughs too much hath the nature of a fool; he that laugheth not at all hath the nature of an old cat. | |
18. | He who tickles himself laughs when he pleases. | Ger., Dutch, Dan. |
19. | His lungs are very sensible for everything makes them laugh. | |
20. | I had rather laugh when the battle is won.[599] | Archbishop Herring. |
21. | It is as much intemperance to weep too much as to laugh too much. | |
22. | Laugh and grow fat. | |
23. | Laugh if you're wise. | Martial. |
24. | Laughter does not prove a mind at ease. | Fr. |
25. | Laughter is the hiccup of a fool. | |
26. | Laughter leaves us doubly serious shortly after. | Byron. |
27. | Laughter makes good blood. | Ital. |
28. | Let him laugh who is at the right hand side of the hedge. | |
29. | Let me go warm and folks may laugh. | Sp., Por. |
30. | Nothing is sillier than a silly laugh. | Catullus. |
31. | One never wept but another laughed. | Ital. |
32. | The laughter of the cottage is the most hearty. | Latin. |
33. | The loud laugh speaks the vacant mind. | |
34. | The more fools, the more laughter. | Fr. |
35. | The thief's wife does not always laugh. | Ital. |
36. | They laugh that win. | Shaks. |
37. | To laugh in one's face, and cut his throat. | |
38. | To laugh in one's sleeve. | |
39. | We must laugh before we are happy for fear of dying before we are happy at all. | La Bruyère. |
40. | Who laughs at others' ills, has his own behind the door. | Ital. |
41. | Who laughs on Friday will cry on Saturday. | Ger. |
Lavishness. | ||
1. | Lavishness is not generosity. | |
Law. | ||
1. | A bad (or lean or meagre) compromise is better than a fat lawsuit. | Fr., Ital., Ger., Sp., Dutch, Dan. |
2. | A case well stated is half tried. | W. W. Wilshire. |
3. | A common error makes law. | Coke. |
4. | A corrupt society has many laws. | Dr. Johnson. |
5. | A foolish judge passes a brief sentence. | |
6. | A fox should not be on the jury at a goose's trial. | |
7. | A friend in court is as good as a penny in pocket. | |
8. | A friend in court makes the process short. | |
9. | A good cause and a good tongue, yet money must carry it. | |
10. | A good king is better than an old law. | Dutch. |
11. | A good word in court is better than a pound in the purse. | Irish. |
12. | A lawsuit for a maravedi consumes a real's worth of paper. | Sp. |
13. | A lawsuit is civil war. | Ger. |
14. | A litigious man, a liar. | |
15. | A long lawsuit is the lawyer's vintage. | Ger. |
16. | A pennyweight of love is worth a pound of law. | |
17. | A person ought not to be judge in his own cause. | |
18. | A pretty woman wins the lawsuit. | Ger. |
19. | A prisoner is covered all over with the armor of the law. | Erskine. |
20. | A promise against law or duty is void in its nature. | |
21. | A rat may very ill plead the law. | |
22. | A rich knave is a libel on the laws. | |
23. | A silent man's words are not brought into court. | |
24. | Abundance o' law braks nae law. | |
25. | Accusing is proving where malice and force sit judges. | |
26. | Agree, for the law is costly. | |
27. | Agree with thine adversary quickly. | New Testament. |
28. | All the matter's not in my lord judge's head. | |
29. | An indifferent agreement is better than carrying a cause at law. | |
30. | An ounce of favor goes further than a pound of justice. | Fr. |
31. | An upright judge has more regard to justice than to men. | |
32. | Arms and laws do not flourish together. | Cæsar. |
33. | As the man is friended, so the law is ended. | |
34. | As fast as laws are devised, their evasion is contrived. | Ger. |
35. | Better no law than law not enforced. | Dan. |
36. | Better ten guilty escape than one innocent man suffer. | |
37. | By lawsuits no one has become rich. | Ger. |
38. | Courts for cowards were erected. | Burns. |
39. | Custom becomes law.[602] | Sp. |
40. | Don't hear one and judge two. | M. Greek. |
41. | Favor and gifts disturb justice. | |
42. | First hang and draw, then hear the cause by Lindford's law. | |
43. | Fond of lawsuits, little wealth; fond of doctors, little health. | |
44. | For the upright there are no laws. | Ger. |
45. | Give me the making of the songs of the people; I care not who makes their laws. | |
46. | God gives the will, necessity gives the law. | Dan. |
47. | God help the sheep when the wolf is judge. | Dan. |
48. | God keep me from judge and doctor. | Turk. |
49. | Good laws often proceed from bad manners. | |
50. | Hard is a new law imposed on an old license. | Ital. |
51. | He goes safely to trial whose father is a judge. | Sp. |
52. | He is the best judge who knows the least. | |
53. | He that buys magistracy must sell justice. | |
54. | He that goes to law does as the sheep that in a storm runs to a briar. | Burton. |
55. | He that goes to law holds a wolf by the ears. | Burton. |
56. | He that goes to law should have his brother for the judge. | South American. |
57. | He that has the worst cause makes the most noise. | |
58. | He that is mediator between two litigants loses his money.[603] | Turk. |
59. | He that passeth a judgment as he runs over-taketh repentance. | |
60. | He that would thrive by law, must see his enemy's counsel as well as his own. | |
61. | He wastes his tears who weeps before the judge. | Ital. |
62. | He who goes to law for a sheep loses his cow. | Ger. |
63. | He who is fond of maintaining an action will soon be without the means of maintaining himself. | Punch. |
64. | He who makes a law should keep it. | Sp. |
65. | He will embark in litigation even if a donkey has bitten his dog. | Latin. |
66. | He will go to law for the wagging of a straw. | |
67. | Hell and chancery are always open. | |
68. | Human laws reach not thoughts. | |
69. | If the judge be your accuser, may God be your help. | Turk. |
70. | If you would be a good judge hear what every one says. | Por. |
71. | I'll make him water his horse at Highgate; i.e., I'll sue him. | |
72. | In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love. | |
73. | In giving judgment haste is criminal. | Syrus. |
74. | It becomes not a law-maker to be a lawbreaker. | Bias. |
75. | It is better to be tried than suspected. | English State Trials. |
76. | Judges should have two ears, both alike.[604] | Ger. |
77. | Justice, but not in my own house. | Sp. |
78. | Justice oft leans to the side where the purse hangs. | Dan. |
79. | Law cannot persuade where it cannot punish. | |
80. | Law helps the waking; luck may come to the sleeping. | Dan. |
81. | Law is a bottomless pit; it is a cormorant, a harpy that devours everything. | Arbuthnot. |
82. | Laws are not made for the good. | Socrates. |
83. | Laws catch flies and let hornets go free. | |
84. | Laws go the way kings direct. | Sp. |
85. | Laws go where dollars please. | Por. |
86. | Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law. | Goldsmith. |
87. | Laws have wax noses. | Fr. |
88. | Laws were made for rogues. | Ital. |
89. | Lawsuits and wine lead to the poor-house. | Ger. |
90. | Like king, like law; like law, like people. | Por. |
91. | Like the judges of Galicia, who for a half dozen chickens will dispense with a half dozen penal statutes. | Sp. |
92. | Litigation and gaming bring many to want. | Cingalese. |
93. | Little do you know what a gloriously uncertain thing the law is. | Plautus. |
94. | Little thieves are hanged by the neck, and great thieves by the purse. | Ital., Dutch. |
95. | Little thieves have iron chains and great thieves gold ones.[605] | Dutch. |
96. | Men who go to law must expect to eat their 'taters without salt. | Detroit Free Press. |
97. | Money and friendship break the arms of justice. | Ital. |
98. | Money and friendship bribe justice. | |
99. | New laws, new roguery. | Ger. |
100. | New lords, new laws. | |
101. | No man may be both accuser and judge. | Plutarch. |
102. | No man testifying to his own baseness ought to be heard. | |
103. | No one is a good judge in his own cause. | Por. |
104. | Nothing is law that is not reason. | Powell. |
105. | One lawsuit begets another. | Latin. |
106. | Some go to law for the wagging of a straw. | |
107. | Strict law is often great injustice. | Cicero. |
108. | Take a pint an' 'gree the law's costly. | Scotch. |
109. | That trial is not fair where affection is the judge. | |
110. | The best judge must drink water. | Ger. |
111. | The hungry judges soon the sentence sign, And wretches hang that jurymen may dine. | Pope. |
112. | The hurrying of justice is the step-mother of misfortune. | |
113. | The Jews spend at Easter, the Moors at marriages, and the Christians in suits of law. | |
114. | The judge is condemned when the guilty are acquitted. | Syrus. |
115. | The law blushes when children correct their parents.[606] | Coke. |
116. | The law devised, its evasion contrived. | |
117. | The law guards us from all evils but itself. | Fielding. |
118. | The law has a nose of wax; one can twist it as he will. | Ger. |
119. | The law is not the same at morning and night. | |
120. | The law says what the king pleases. | Fr. |
121. | The laws go as kings please. | Don Quixote. |
122. | The laws of a nation form the most instructive part of their history. | Gibbon. |
123. | The laws sometimes sleep but never die. | |
124. | The litigious man;—who goes to law in hopes of ruining his opponent and gets ruined himself. | Punch. |
125. | The magistrate's sow gets out of every scrape. | Sp. |
126. | The man goes to court with one suit and returns with two. | Ger. |
127. | The more laws the less justice. | Ger. |
128. | The more laws, the more offenders. | |
129. | The nobleman is always in the right when the peasant sues. | Russian. |
130. | The only thing certain about litigation is its uncertainty. | Bovee. |
131. | The rich man transgresses the law and the poor man is punished. | Sp. |
132. | The strictest law is oft the highest wrong. | Terence. |
133. | The worst of a lawsuit is that out of one there grow a hundred.[607] | Sp. |
134. | There is never a lawsuit but a woman is at the bottom of it. | |
135. | There is no law without a hole in it if one could find it out. | Ger. |
136. | There is scarcely a lawsuit unless a woman is the cause of it. | Juvenal. |
137. | Those who begin a lawsuit, plant a palm tree which never gives fruit to those who plant it. | |
138. | 'Tis but to hazard my pretence Where nothing's certain but the expense. (To go to law.) | Butler. |
139. | To know the law and do the right are two things. | Dan. |
140. | To live by the bar you must live like a hermit and work like a horse. | Lord Eldon. |
141. | To violate the law is the same crime in the emperor as in the subject. | Chinese. |
142. | Truth is straight but judges are crooked. | Russian. |
143. | When you go to law against the emperor, God himself should be the judge. | Russian. |
144. | Where law ends tyranny begins. | William Pitt. |
145. | Where there are many laws there are many enormities. | |
146. | Where your father has been with ink, go not you with a bag; i.e., what your father has sold, go not to law for it. | Sp. |
147. | Who had a lawsuit about his cow, lost his calf also. | Ger. |
148. | Who sues a mite will catch a mite. | Oriental. |
149. | Who will prosecute a lawsuit must have much gold, good lawyers, much patience and much luck. | Ger. |
150. | Who will win a lawsuit must have three sacks; one with briefs, one with gold and one with luck. | Ger. |
151. | Who will live in peace must keep himself from women and lawsuits. | Ger. |
152. | Who would win his suit must invite the judges to his table. | Ger. |
153. | With law must the land be built. | Dan. |
154. | You little know what a ticklish thing it is to go to law. | Plautus. |
Lawyers. | ||
1. | A captain and a lawyer are rare guests in heaven. | Ger. |
2. | A good lawyer is an evil neighbor. | |
3. | A hungry man discovers more than a hundred lawyers. | Sp. |
4. | A lawyer and a cart-wheel must be greased. | Ger. |
5. | A lawyer is a learned gentleman who rescues your estate from your enemies and keeps it to himself. | Brougham. |
6. | A lawyer is an odd sort of a fish, first rotten, then green, then ripe. | |
7. | A lawyer, that entangles all men's honesties And lives like a spider in a cobweb lurking, And catching at all flies that pass his pitfalls. | Fletcher. |
8. | A lawyer without cunning, a peasant without manure, a merchant without gold, remain poor.[609] | Ger. |
9. | A peasant between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats. | Catalan. |
10. | A wise lawyer never goes to law himself. | |
11. | An old physician and a young lawyer. | |
12. | Fair and softly as lawyers go to heaven. | |
13. | Fools and obstinate men make lawyers rich. | |
14. | Fools and the perverse, fill the lawyer's purse. | Sp., Ger. |
15. | From confessors, doctors and lawyers, do not conceal the truth of your cause. | Fr. |
16. | Go not for every grief to the physician, for every quarrel to the lawyer, nor for every thirst to the pot. | |
17. | God grant that disputes may arise that I may live. (Lawyer's prayer.) | Sp. |
18. | Good counsellors lack no clients. | Shaks. |
19. | Good lawyers, bad neighbors. | |
20. | Go not to your doctor for every ail, Nor to your lawyer for every quarrel, Nor to your pitcher for every thirst. | |
21. | He is a bad lawyer that drinks only water. | Ger. |
22. | Hide not the truth from your confessor, your doctor or your lawyer. | Ital. |
23. | I know you lawyers can with ease, Twist words and meanings as you please. | |
24. | It is an ill cause that the lawyer thinks shame o'. | |
25. | It's aye the cheapest lawyer's fee to taste the barrel.[610] | Burns. |
26. | Lawsuits make the parties lean, the lawyers fat. | Ger. |
27. | Lawyers and painters can soon change white to black. | Dan. |
28. | Lawyers and soldiers are the devil's playfellows. | |
29. | Lawyers are bad Christians. | Ger. |
30. | Lawyers are men who hire out their words and anger. | Martial. |
31. | Lawyers don't stick at trifles. | Kelley. |
32. | Lawyers' houses are built of fools' heads. | Fr. |
33. | Lawyers' robes are lined with the obstinacy of suitors. | Ital. |
34. | Lawyers strive mightily in court, then eat and drink as friends. | |
35. | Lawyers will live so long as mine and thine exist. | Ger. |
36. | No good lawyer ever goes to law himself. | Ital. |
37. | Nothing is the breath of an unfeed lawyer. | |
38. | Of three things the devil makes a salad; lawyers' tongues, notaries' fingers, and the third shall be nameless. | Ital. |
39. | One may steal nothing but a lawyer's purse. | Fr. |
40. | One must knock at a lawyer's door with an iron hammer. | Ger. |
41. | Plenty of words when the cause is lost. | Fr. |
42. | Put a lawyer on your horse and he'll soon drive you to the devil. | Punch. |
43. | The better lawyer, the worse Christian.[611] | Dutch. |
44. | “The case is altered,” quoth Plowden. (Plowden was a lawyer who gave an opinion to a client, and when he found that he himself was the wrong-doer, used this expression.) | |
45. | The Isle of Wight hath no monks, lawyers or foxes. | |
46. | The king can make a sergeant, but not a lawyer. | |
47. | The lawyer can direct the matter as he will when it does not lie before his own door. | Ger. |
48. | The lawyer dreams his life long of quarrels and contentions. | Ger. |
49. | The lawyer has long day's work. | |
50. | The lawyer with a face demure, hangs him who steals your pelf, Because the good man endures no robber but himself. | Fielding. |
51. | The lawyer's pouch is a mouth of hell. | Fr. |
52. | The lawyer's vocation is to make the worse appear the better reason. | |
53. | The lives of doctors, the souls of priests and the property of lawyers are in great danger. | Ital. |
54. | The more lawyers the more processes (suits). | Ger. |
55. | The nobleman fleeces the peasant, and the lawyer the nobleman. | Ger. |
56. | “The suit is ended,” said the lawyer; “neither party has anything left.” | Ger. |
57. | The wise man seeketh the lawyer early; i.e., before his rights are lost. | A. Lipscomb. |
58. | Until hell is full no lawyer will be saved.[612] | Fr. |
59. | “Virtue in the middle,” said the devil when seated between two lawyers. | Dan. |
60. | War, hunting and law are as full of trouble as pleasure. | |
61. | We think lawyers to be wise men and they us to be fools. | |
62. | When the lawyer acts according to his conscience the blind man will believe what his eyes see. | Ger. |
63. | Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have stolen away the key of knowledge. | New Testament. |
Lay Things By. | ||
1. | Lay things by; they may come to use. | |
Laziness. | ||
1. | A lazy boy and a warm bed are difficult to part. | Dan. |
2. | A lazy man carries about him a perpetual burden. | |
3. | A lazy man eats his own brains. | |
4. | A lazy man goes far and he who shuns labor, labors doubly. | M. Greek. |
5. | A lazy mouthful must be spurred with wine. | Latin. |
6. | A lazy ox is little better for the goad. | Sp. |
7. | A lazy sheep thinks its wool heavy. | |
8. | A lazy youth, a lousy age. | |
9. | As lazy as Ludlam's dog, that leaned his head against the wall to bark. | |
10. | As long as you lie on this mat, it will become neither longer nor shorter; i.e., laziness will not prosper.[613] | Syriac. |
11. | Laziness has no advocate but many friends. | Ger. |
12. | Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him. | Franklin. |
13. | Lazy folks take the most pains. | |
14. | The lazy become industrious in the evening. | Ger. |
15. | The lazy man goes to his work like the thief to the gallows. | |
16. | The lazy man's the beggar's brother. | |
17. | To a lazy man every day is a holiday. | Turk. |
18. | To the lazy the way is full of thorns. | Ger. |
19. | Who is lazy in his youth must work in old age. | Ger. |
Leader. | ||
1. | If you want to be a leader of the people you must watch events. | |
Leaf. | ||
1. | The fall of a leaf is a whisper to the living. | |
2. | We all do fade as a leaf. | |
Lean. | ||
1. | A man that is lean, not from hunger, is harder than brass. | Sp. |
2. | You must take the fat with the lean. | |
Leap. | ||
1. | A great leap gives a great shake. | Sp. |
2. | A leap in the dark. (The fable of the two frogs.) | |
3. | Before you leap look at the ground. | Malabar. |
4. | He that takes too great a leap falls into the ditch.[614] | |
5. | He who would leap high must take a long run. | Dan. |
6. | Look before you, ere you leap, As you sow you're like to reap. | Butler. |
7. | Look before you leap. | Ital., Ger. |
8. | Look before you leap, for snakes among sweet flowers creep. | |
9. | One must step back to make the better leap. | Fr. |
Learning. | ||
1. | A handful of good life is better than seven bushels of learning. | Fr. |
2. | A learned man can only be appreciated by another learned man. | Cingalese. |
3. | A man becomes learned by asking questions. | |
4. | A mere scholar at court is an ass among apes. | |
5. | Do not learn to do that from which there is no advantage. | Hindoo. |
6. | Don't learn too much, Jack, else you must do a great deal. | Ger. |
7. | He is sufficiently learned that knows how to do well, and has power enough to refrain from evil. | Cicero. |
8. | He takes the eel of science by the tail. (Index learning.) | |
9. | He who has learned unlearns with difficulty. | M. Greek. |
10. | His learning overbalanceth his brain and so is a burthen. | |
11. | I pity unlearned gentlemen on a rainy day. [615] | Lord Falkland. |
12. | If thou love learning thou shalt be learned. | Isocrates. |
13. | It is altogether in vain to learn wisdom and yet live foolish. | |
14. | It is good to learn at other men's cost. | |
15. | It is never too late to learn. | |
16. | It is no shame for a man to learn that which he knoweth not, whatever be his age. | Isocrates. |
17. | Learning by study must be won, 'Twas ne'er entailed from sire to son. | Gay. |
18. | Learning is a sceptre to some, a bauble to others. | |
19. | Learning is an ornament in prosperity, a refuge in adversity, and a provision in old age. | Aristotle. |
20. | Learning is better than house and land. | Bea. |
21. | Learning is the eye of the mind. | |
22. | Learning makes a good man better and an ill man worse. | |
23. | Learning makes a man fit companion for himself. | |
24. | Learning procures respect to good fortune and helps the bad. | |
25. | Learning refines and elevates the mind. | |
26. | Learning to have and wisdom to lack, Is a load of books on an ass's back. | Oriental. |
27. | Learn not and know not. | |
28. | Learn some useful art that you may be independent of the caprice of fortune. | Cato. |
29. | Learn the luxury of doing good.[616] | Goldsmith. |
30. | Learn to labor and to wait. | Longfellow. |
31. | Never too old to learn. | |
32. | Nobody is born learned; even bishops are made of men. | Byron. |
33. | No man learneth but by pain or shame. | Dutch. |
34. | No one is so old that he cannot still learn something. | Ger. |
35. | One learns by falling (failing). | Fr. |
36. | Soon learnt, soon forgotten. | |
37. | Take from the learned the pleasure of being heard and their love of knowledge would vanish. | Rousseau. |
38. | The best blood by learning is refined. | |
39. | The greatest learning is to be seen in the greatest plainness. | |
40. | The learned man has always riches in himself. | Phædrus. |
41. | The learned pate ducks to the golden fool. | |
42. | The learned pig did not learn its letters in a day. | Punch. |
43. | The most learned are not the wisest. | Dutch. |
44. | The older one grows the more one learns. | Dutch. |
45. | There is more learning than knowledge in the world. | |
46. | There is no royal road to learning. | |
47. | 'Tis harder to unlearn than to learn. | |
48. | We are ay to learn as long as we live. | |
Leather. | ||
1. | Broad thongs may be cut from other men's leather.[617] | Ital. |
Leave. | ||
1. | It is better to leave than to lack. | |
2. | Leave in concealment what has long been concealed. | Seneca. |
3. | Leave not your stuff at home. | |
4. | Leave raillery when it is most agreeable. | |
5. | Leave the minster where it is. | Fr. |
Leaven. | ||
1. | A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. | New Testament. |
Leisure. | ||
1. | Avoid the dangers of leisure. | Fr. |
2. | Be always at leisure to do good; never make an excuse to decline the offices of humanity. | M. Aurelius. |
3. | Done leisurely—done well. | |
4. | Leisure without literature is death. | Latin. |
5. | None but a wise man can employ leisure well. | |
6. | There is luck in leisure. | |
Lending. | ||
1. | A loan though old is no gift. | Hungarian. |
2. | Better give a shilling than lend half a crown. | |
3. | Do you love him, don't lend him. | M. Greek. |
4. | Great spenders are bad lenders. | |
5. | He that doth lend loseth his friend. | |
6. | He that his money lends, loseth both coin and friends. | |
7. | He who lendeth to the poor gets his interest from God.[618] | Ger. |
8. | If you pelt dogs with meat dumplings you will lose all and get nothing. (Applied to the lending of money without prospect of repayment.) | Chinese. |
9. | It is better to give one shilling than to lend twenty. | |
10. | It is good to lend to God and the soil; they pay good interest. | Dan. |
11. | Lend and lose, so play fools. | |
12. | Lend the man money, if you have it to spare, And if you have not, to be civil take care. | Chinese. |
13. | Lend thy horse for a long journey, thou mayest have him return with his skin. | |
14. | Lend to one who will not repay, and you will provoke his dislike. | Chinese. |
15. | Lend to your friend and ask payment of your enemy. | Sp. |
16. | People lend only to the rich. | |
17. | They are aye gude willy o' their horse that hae none. | |
18. | What you lend to a friend an enemy sues for. | Ger. |
19. | Who lends recovers not, or if he recovers, recovers not all, or if all not much, or if much a mortal enemy. | Sp. |
20. | Who lends to a friend loses doubly. | Fr. |
21. | Who ventures to lend loses money and friend. | Dutch. |
22. | Who wants an enemy, let him lend some money.[619] | Ger. |
Lent. | ||
1. | Lent which seems so long is short at other men's tables. | Ital. |
2. | Salmon and sermon have their season in Lent. | |
3. | They have a short Lent that owe money to be paid at Easter. | |
4. | Who wishes for a short Lent, let him contract a debt to be paid at Easter. | Ital. |
Leopard. | ||
1. | Leopard feels at home with leopard. | George Eliot. |
2. | The leopard is absent, so they play with the cubs. | West African. |
Let. | ||
1. | Let bell'd wethers brak the snow. | |
2. | Let “by-gones” be “by-gones.” | |
3. | Let each man have according to his deserts. | Cicero. |
4. | Let every bird sing its own note. | Dan. |
5. | Let every fox take care of its own tail. | Ital. |
6. | Let every herring hang by its own gills. | |
7. | Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. | |
8. | Let every man skin his own skunk. | |
9. | Let every one carry his own sack to the mill. | Ger. |
10. | Let every one keep off the flies with his own tail. | Ital. |
11. | Let every one look to himself and no one will be lost | Dutch. |
12. | Let every peddler carry his own burden.[620] | |
13. | Let every sheep hang by its own shank. | |
14. | Let him alone with a saint's bell and give him rope enough. | |
15. | Let him be wretched who thinks himself so. | Don Quixote. |
16. | Let him eat the tough morsel who eat the tender. | Por. |
17. | Let him not complain of being cheated who buys cloth by the pattern. | Sp. |
18. | Let him play the instrument who knows how. | Sp. |
19. | Let him play the second fiddle who can play the first. | |
20. | Let him stay at the oar who has learnt to row. | Dan. |
21. | Let him who has a glass cull not take to stone throwing. | Ital. |
22. | Let him that itches scratch himself. | Fr., Ger. |
23. | Let him that does not know you buy you. | Sp. |
24. | Let lie what is too heavy to lift. | Dutch. |
25. | Let me get over the lake and I have no fear of the brook. | Dutch. |
26. | Let me skim the water with one oar and with the other touch the mud. (Go not out of my depth.) | Latin. |
27. | Let no man anticipate uncertain profits. | Dr. Johnson. |
28. | Let no man squander against his inclination. | Dr. Johnson. |
29. | Let not the mouse-trap smell of blood.[621] | |
30. | Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth. | |
31. | Let not thy expenditure exceed thy income. | Plautus. |
32. | Let nothing vile come into the temple. | Latin. |
33. | Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung. | Shaks. |
34. | Let the grafts be very good or the knife be where it stood. | |
35. | Let the hoofs go with the hide. | |
36. | Let the horns go with the hide. | |
37. | Let the morn come and the meat with it. | |
38. | Let the plough stand to catch a mouse. | |
39. | Let the shirt next your skin know not what's within. | Fr. |
40. | Let there be food in the pigeon house and the pigeons will come to it. | Sp. |
41. | Let there be writing before you pay, and receipt before you write. | Sp. |
42. | Let things go on as they are going. | German Endaemonisen. |
43. | Let us return to our muttons. (Resume the subject of discourse.) | |
44. | Let your letter stay for the post and not the post for the letter. (Be always beforehand with your business.) | |
Letter. | ||
1. | The written letter remains. (Litera scripta manet.) | |
Letters. | ||
1. | Letters without virtue are like pearls in a dunghill.[622] | Don Quixote. |
Liberal. | ||
1. | Liberal hands make many friends. | Dan. |
Liberality. | ||
1. | Liberality is not giving largely but wisely. | |
Liberty. | ||
1. | A bean in liberty is better than a comfit in prison. | |
2. | A day, an hour of virtuous liberty, Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. | Addison. |
3. | A libertine's life is not a life of liberty. | |
4. | A wilderness is rich with liberty. | Wordsworth. |
5. | All men love liberty and seem bent on destroying her. | Voltaire. |
6. | Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. | |
7. | For liberty, glorious liberty, who'd fear to die. | |
8. | For liberty or glorious death, We gladly yield our latest breath. | |
9. | Give me again my hollow tree, My crust of bread and liberty. (The fable of the country and city mouse.) | |
10. | Lean liberty is better than fat slavery. | |
11. | Liberty and union now and forever one and inseparable. | |
12. | Liberty is from God; liberties from the devil. | Ger. |
13. | Liberty is given by nature even to mute animals. | Tacitus. |
14. | Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty as well as by the abuse of power.[623] | Madison in the Federalist. |
15. | Liberty with laws and government without oppression. | |
16. | Oh, liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name! | Madame Roland. |
17. | Poor and liberty is better than a full craw and chain upon the neck. | Ger. |
18. | Reason and virtue alone can bestow liberty. | Shaftesbury. |
19. | That comes with honor is true liberty. | Massinger. |
20. | The people never give up their liberty but under some delusion. | Burke. |
21. | The tree of liberty only grows when watered by the blood of tyrants. | Barère. |
22. | 'Tis liberty that every one loves. | |
Life. | ||
1. | A bad life, a bad end. | Ger. |
2. | A good life enables us to despise calumnies. | Cato. |
3. | A good life keeps off wrinkles. | |
4. | A life in continual need is half death. | Ger. |
5. | A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. | Franklin. |
6. | A life without a friend is a life without a sun. | Ger. |
7. | A long life hath long miseries. | |
8. | All wish to live long, but not to be called old. | Dan. |
9. | An ill life, an ill end. | |
10. | Anything for a quiet life. | Fr. |
11. | Arthur himself had but his time. | |
12. | As a man lives so shall he die; As a tree falls so shall it lie. | |
13. | As the life so will be the language. | |
14. | Better to live well than long. | |
15. | Better to live without money than without friends. | Ger. |
16. | Consider well and oft why thou comest into this world and how soon thou must go out of it. | |
17. | Every man desires to live long, but no man would be old. | Swift. |
18. | Every station in life has duties which are proper to it. | Addison. |
19. | Few deserve happy life. | Turk. |
20. | For life is not to live but to be well. | Martial. |
21. | He that is not gallant at twenty, strong at thirty, rich at forty or experienced at fifty, will never be gallant, strong, rich or prudent. | |
22. | His is the happiest life who knows nothing. | Latin. |
23. | I wept when I was born and every day shows why. | |
24. | In childhood be modest, in youth temperate, in manhood just, in old age, prudent. | Socrates. |
25. | In the short life of man, no lost time can be afforded. | |
26. | It is a great journey to life's end. | |
27. | It is the principal rule of life not to be too much addicted to any one thing. | Spectator. |
28. | Life and misery began together. | |
29. | Life ain't all beer and skittles. | Sam Slick. |
30. | Life at court is often a short cut to hell.[625] | Dan. |
31. | Life gives nothing to men without great labor. | Horace. |
32. | Life hath quicksands, life hath snares. | Longfellow. |
33. | Life is a road beset with roses and thorns. | |
34. | Life is a shuttle. | Shaks. |
35. | Life is a state of warfare. | Seneca. |
36. | Life is as tedious as a twice told tale, Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man. | Shaks. |
37. | Life is but a span; I'll every inch enjoy. | Farquahar. |
38. | Life is ended when our honor ends. | Goldsmith. |
39. | Life is half spent before one knows what life is. | Fr. |
40. | Life is labor, death is rest. | Archias' Thracian view of life and death. |
41. | Life is not mere existence, but the enjoyment of health. | Latin. |
42. | Life is not to be bought with heaps of gold. | Homer. |
43. | Life is short, yet sweet. | Euripides. |
44. | Life is too short to learn more than one business well. | |
45. | Life is war,—eternal war with woe. | Young. |
46. | Life lieth not in living, but in liking. | |
47. | Life lives only in success. | Bayard Taylor. |
48. | Life that is too short for the happy is too long for the miserable. | |
49. | Life without a friend is death without a witness.[626] | Sp. |
50. | Life without learning bears the stamp of death. | Scribleomania. |
51. | Life would be too smooth if it had no rubs in it. | |
52. | Life's but a walking shadow. | Shaks. |
53. | Lifeless, faultless. | |
54. | Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time. | Longfellow. |
55. | Long life hath long misery. | |
56. | Man comes into the world naked and bare, He goes through the world with trouble and care, When he dies he goes the Lord knows where, But if he does well here, he does well there. | Hindoo. |
57. | Man's life is moulded by the disposition of his soul. | Maga. |
58. | No man believes his own life will be short. | Dr. Johnson. |
59. | No occupation implants so speedy and so effective a love of peace as a country life. | Plutarch. |
60. | Nor life nor death they deemed the happier state, But life that's glorious, or death that's great. | Greek. |
61. | Nor love thy life, nor hate, but what thou liv'st, [627]Live well, how long or short permit to Heaven. | Milton. |
62. | Oh, life, how long to the wretched, how short to the happy! | Syrus. |
63. | Our life is but a span. | New England Primer. |
64. | So long as the sick man has life, there is hope. | Latin. |
65. | The experience of life—What a fool I've been. | Punch. |
66. | The longest life is but a parcel of moments. | |
67. | The only sure path to a tranquil life is through virtue. | Juvenal. |
68. | The web of your life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. | |
69. | The youngest in the morning are not sure That till the night their life they can secure. | Duban. |
70. | There is but one way to enter this life, but the gates of death are without number. | Turkish Spy. |
71. | 'Tis very certain the desire of life prolongs it. | Byron. |
72. | We are born crying, live complaining, and die disappointed. | |
73. | We must not look for a golden life in an iron age. | |
74. | We pass our lives in doing what we ought not, and leaving undone what we ought to do. | Petrarch. |
75. | Whosoever valueth not his own life may be master of another's. | |
Light. | ||
1. | If you desire to see my light, you must minister oil to my lamp. | |
2. | Light is bad for sore eyes.[628]. | Fr |
3. | Light is light, though the blind man see it not. | Ger. |
4. | The more light a torch gives the shorter it lasts. | |
Divine Light. | ||
1. | The way to see divine light is to put out thine own candle. | |
Light Strokes. | ||
1. | Light strokes fell great oaks. | Franklin. |
Lightly Come. | ||
1. | Lightly come, lightly go. | Dutch. |
Like. | ||
1. | One must needs like what one cannot hinder. | Fr. |
2. | That which a man likes is half done. | |
3. | When one has not what one likes, one must like what one has. | Fr. |
Like. | ||
1. | Like a chip in the pottage pot, doth neither good nor harm. | |
2. | Like arming a hog in the snout with a ploughshare, that can tear up the ground without it. | Tamil. |
3. | Like box-makers, more noise than work. | Fr. |
4. | Like driving away dogs till break of day, because he had lent his door to a neighbor. | Tamil. |
5. | Like putting one's hand in a water-pot in search of a missing elephant | Tamil. |
6. | Like the strange missile the Australian throws, Your verbal boomerang slaps you on the nose. | |
7. | Like the hidalgo's dinner, very little meat and a great deal of table-cloth.[629] | Spanish Student>. |
8. | Like the old sow: you have to pull her ears off to get her to the trough, and her tail off to get her away. | |
9. | Like the squire of Guadalajara who knew nothing in the morning of what he said at night. | Sp. |
10. | Like the tailor who sewed for nothing and found the thread himself. | |
11. | Like the wife that never cries for the ladle until the pot runs over. | |
Like-to-like. | ||
1. | Daws love one another's prattle. | |
2. | Every sheep with its like. | Don Quixote. |
3. | Jack-daw always perches by jack-daw. | Latin. |
4. | Let beggars match with beggar. | Ben Jonson. |
5. | Like and like make good friends. | Ger. |
6. | Like carpenters, like chips. | |
7. | Like cures like. (Similia similibus curantur.) | |
8. | Like draws to like, a scabbed horse to an auld dike. | |
9. | Like plays best with like. | Dan. |
10. | Like pleases like. | Greek. |
11. | Like pot, like cover. | Dutch. |
12. | “Like-to-die” mends na the church-yard. | |
13. | Like to his like. | Turk. |
14. | “Like will to like” as the devil said to the coal-burner. | Ger. |
15. | Like will to like, be they poor or rich. | Dutch. |
16. | Like lies in the mire and unlikely gets over. | Scotch. |
17. | Owl to owl—crow to crow.[630] | |
Lillies. | ||
1. | Lillies that fester smell far worse than weeds. | Shakespeare's Sonnets. |
Lima. | ||
1. | Lima is a heaven to woman, a purgatory to husbands and a hell to jackasses. | Sp. |
Line. | ||
1. | The line must be drawn somewhere. | |
Lion. | ||
1. | A lion may be beholden to a mouse. | Æsop's Fables. |
2. | An old lion is better than a young ass. | Latin. |
3. | Dreadful is the lion's cave, though he's no longer there. | |
4. | Even hares pull a lion by the beard when he is dead. | Dutch. |
5. | He is a lion in a good cause. | |
6. | If thy hand be in a lion's mouth, get it out as fast as thou canst. | |
7. | It is an ill office to file the teeth of the lion. | Ger. |
8. | It is little honor to the lion to seize the mouse. | Ger. |
9. | It is not good to wake a sleeping lion. | |
10. | Like a worn-out lion in a cave, That goes not out to prey. | |
11. | Lions in time of peace—deer in war. | Latin. |
12. | Lions make leopards tame. | Shaks. |
13. | Lions' skins were never cheap. | Fr. |
14. | Little birds may pick a dead lion.[631] | |
15. | So when the lion quits his fell repast, Next prowls the wolf, the filthy jackal last. | Byron. |
16. | The hind that would be mated by the lion must die for love. | Shaks. |
17. | The lion hath need of the mouse. | |
18. | The lion is known by his claws. | Ital. |
19. | The lion is not half so fierce as he is painted. | Sp. |
20. | The lion's skin is never cheap. | |
21. | The old lion perisheth for lack of prey. | Shaks. |
22. | 'Tis better playing with the lion's whelp, Than with an old one dying. | Shaks. |
23. | 'Tis not a basket of hay, but a basket of flesh that makes a lion war. | |
24. | When the lion is dead the hares jump upon his carcass. | Ital. |
25. | Where the lion's skill falls short, it must be eked out with the fox's. | Lysander. |
26. | Where the lion's skin falls short piece it out with the fox's. | Ital., Ger. |
27. | You may know the lion by his claw. | Fr. |
Lips. | ||
1. | Lips however rosy must he fed. | |
Listeners. | ||
1. | Listeners hear no good of themselves. | Sp. |
2. | The listener makes the back-biter. | Fr. |
3. | To a good listener a few words. | Don Quixote. |
Listening. | ||
1. | He that listens for what people say of him shall never have peace. | |
2. | He who listens at doors hears more than he desires. | Fr. |
3. | If you listen at a hole, you will hear ill of yourself as well as others. | Sp. |
4. | Listen at the key-hole and you'll hear news of yourself. | |
5. | Listen to what is well said even from an enemy. | M. Greek. |
6. | Men were made to listen as well as talk. | Bea. |
Literature. | ||
1. | Literature like virtue is its own reward. | Chesterfield. |
2. | Periodicals are the dead leaves that fertilize the soil of literature. | |
3. | The ocean of literature is without limit. | Rochefoucauld. |
Little. | ||
1. | A little of everything is nothing in the main. | |
2. | A little pack serves a little peddler. | Fr. |
3. | A little said is soon amended. | Dr. Johnson. |
4. | A little snow tumbled about soon becomes a mountain. | Shaks. |
5. | A little stone may upset a large cart. | Ital., Dan. |
6. | A little stream may quench thirst as well as a great one. | |
7. | A little stream will drive a light mill. | |
8. | A pebble in the streamlet scant, Has turned the course of many a river. A dewdrop on the baby plant Has bent the royal oak forever. | |
9. | At a little fountain one drinks at his ease. | Fr. |
10. | Attention to little things render it impossible to do anything great. | Plutarch. |
11. | Enjoy the little you have while the fool is hunting for more. | Sp. |
12. | From little things men go on to great. | Dutch. |
13. | He that contemns little things shall perish little by little. | |
14. | He that despises little things is not worthy of the great. | Dutch. |
15. | He that has little is the less dirty. | |
16. | He who neglects the little loses the greater. | Latin. |
17. | If you add little to little repeatedly it will become much. | Hesiod. |
18. | It is better to have a little than nothing. | Dr. Johnson. |
19. | Let him accept our little for much. | Turk. |
20. | Little and often fills the purse. | Ger. |
21. | Little and often is better than much and seldom. | Ger. |
22. | Little and often makes a heap in time. | Ger. |
23. | Little brooks make great rivers. | Fr. |
24. | Little by little he got to be rich, By saving of candle ends and sich. | Saxe. |
25. | Little by little one goes far. | Sp. |
26. | Little chips kindle the fire and big logs sustain it. | Por. |
27. | Little drops produce the shower. | Latin. |
28. | Little things are great to little men.[634] | Goldsmith. |
29. | Many little rivulets make a great river. | Dan. |
30. | Many littles make a mickle. | Dutch. |
31. | Of a little take a little and leave a little. | |
32. | That little which is good fills the trencher. | |
33. | The little cannot be great unless he devour many. | |
34. | There could be no great ones were there no little ones. | |
35. | Though you have but little be thankful to God. | Cingalese. |
36. | Use the little to get the big. | |
37. | Who heeds not little things, will be troubled about lesser ones. | Ger. |
Living. | ||
1. | A living dog is better than a dead lion. | Bible. |
2. | A living mouse is better than a dead lion. | Russian. |
3. | A living wolf is better than a dead lion. | Ger. |
4. | As we journey through life let us live by the way. | |
5. | Better live in a poor hovel than be buried in a rich sepulchre. | |
6. | Better live within compass than have large comings in. | |
7. | By living I mean doing what deserves to be written or writing what deserves to be read. | Dr. Crowley. |
8. | By the living we burn the dead. | Dutch. |
9. | Good or bad we must all live. | Ital. |
10. | He is unworthy to live who only lives for himself. | |
11. | He knows to live who keeps the middle state. | Pope. |
12. | He lives in fame who dies in virtue's cause. | Shaks. |
13. | He lives in the land of promise. | Dutch. |
14. | He lives long that lives till all are weary of him. | |
15. | He lives longest that is awake most hours. | |
16. | He lives the life of a hare: i.e., in constant fear. | Latin. |
17. | He liveth long that liveth well. | |
18. | He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. | |
19. | He only truly lives who lives in peace. | |
20. | He that lives a knave will hardly die an honest man. | |
21. | He that lives long suffers much. | |
22. | He that lives not well one year sorrows for it seven. | |
23. | He that lives on hope has but a slender diet. | |
24. | He that lives upon hope shall die fasting. | Franklin. |
25. | He that lives with cripples learns to limp. | Dutch. |
26. | He that lives with the muses shall die in the straw. | |
27. | He that lives in hope danceth without a fiddle. | |
28. | He that looks too nicely into things never lives easy. | |
29. | He that would live for aye must eat sage in May.[636] | |
30. | He that would live in peace and rest Must hear, and see and say the best. | |
31. | He that is not handsome at twenty, strong at thirty, wise at forty, rich at fifty, shall never be handsome, strong, wise or rich. | |
32. | He that at twenty understands nothing, at thirty knows nothing, at forty has nothing, will lead a wretched old age. | Sp. |
33. | He who cannot command his sentiments knows not how to live. | |
34. | He who cannot hold his peace will never live at ease. | |
35. | He who lives after nature shall never be poor; after opinion shall never be rich. | Seneca. |
36. | He who lives a long life must needs pass through much evil. | Don Quixote. |
37. | He who lives by medical treatment has a wretched existence. | Latin. |
38. | He who lives by the church should serve the church. | Ger. |
39. | He who lives in hopes, breakfasts ill and sups worse. | Sp. |
40. | He who lives long knows what pain is. | Fr. |
41. | He who lives on hope, dies on hunger. | Ger. |
42. | He who lives to fancy can never be rich. | |
43. | He who lives wickedly always lives in fear. | |
44. | He who lives with hopes, dies with the winds. | M. Greek. |
45. | He who lives without restraint, will die without honor. | Dan. |
46. | He would live as long as old Ross of Pottern, Who lived till all the world was weary of him. | |
47. | How many things hath he to repent of that lives long. | |
48. | I live and lords do no more. | |
49. | If you would live forever you must wash milk from your liver. | |
50. | It is good living under the shadow of the belfry. | Ital. |
51. | It is not how long but how well we live. | |
52. | Live according to your income. | Persius. |
53. | Live according to your means. | Dan. |
54. | Live and learn. | Ital. |
55. | Live and let live. | Ital., Ger., Dutch. |
56. | Live not for time, but eternity. | |
57. | Live not to eat, but eat to live. | |
58. | Live not upon the opinion of other men. | |
59. | Live, vile, and evil have the self-same letters, They live but evil whom evil holds in fetters. | An anagram. |
60. | Live within your harvest. | Persian. |
61. | Living well is the best revenge we can take on our enemies. | |
62. | Men who live to be a hundred will not die at fifty. | Tamil. |
63. | One may live and learn. | |
64. | So live and hope as if thou wouldst die immediately. | Pliny. |
65. | Take it easy and live long are brothers. | Ger. |
66. | The habitual living in prosperity is most injurious. | Syrus. |
67. | The langer we live we see the mae ferlies (follies).[638] | |
68. | The way to live much is to live well betimes. | |
69. | There is difference between living long and suffering long. | |
70. | They live too long who happiness outlive. | Dryden. |
71. | They live well who live cleanly. | |
72. | They who live in a worry, invite death in a hurry. | London Truth. |
73. | They who live longest will see most. | |
74. | To breathe is not to live, but to be well. | Martial. |
75. | To live long is to suffer long. | Dan. |
76. | To live long it is necessary to live slowly. | Cicero. |
77. | We live not as we would, but as we can. | Greek. |
78. | We must live as we can, not as we would. | |
79. | We must live by the quick and not by the dead. | |
80. | We should eat to live, not live to eat. | Latin. |
81. | We should live as though our life should be both long and short. | |
82. | What and how great the virtue and the art, To live on little with a cheerful heart. | Pope. |
83. | When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody will believe them. | Plato. |
84. | While we live we must make the best of life. | Pope. |
85. | While we live let us live. | Latin. |
86. | Who lives well sees afar off. | |
87. | Who lives will see.[639] | Fr. |
88. | Who loves his work and knows to spare, May live and flourish anywhere. | Ger. |
89. | Would you live an angel's days, Be honest, just and wise always. | |
90. | Would you live long, be healthy and fat, Drink like a dog, and eat like a cat. | Ger. |
91. | You must live long in order to see much. | Don Quixote. |
92. | You should not live one way in private and another in public. | Syrus. |
Little Man. | ||
1. | A little man fells a great oak. | Fr. |
2. | A little man sometimes casts a long shadow. | Fr. |
3. | Little folks are fond of talking about what great folks do. | Ger. |
4. | To little men God gives little things. | M. Greek. |
Little Set. | ||
1. | In men this blunder still you find, All think their little set mankind. | Hannah More. |
Lochaw. | ||
1. | It is a far cry to Lochaw. (The proud boast of the Campbells when threatened by the government with punishment.) | |
Lock. | ||
1. | No lock avails against a hatchet. | Fr. |
2. | No lock will hold against the power of gold. | |
Logic. | ||
1. | Logic forever! [640]That beats my grandmother and she was clever. | Maga. |
Long. | ||
1. | Long ere you cut down an oak with a penknife. | |
2. | Long is not forever. | Ger. |
3. | Long fasting is no bread sparing. | Ger., Dutch. |
4. | Long looked-for comes at last. | |
Longer. | ||
1. | Longer than a day without bread. | Ital. |
Longing. | ||
1. | Those who long grow old in a day. | M. Greek. |
Looking. | ||
1. | Look before you ere you leap. | Butler. |
2. | Look for the hog at the oak. | Ital. |
3. | Look high and fall low. | |
4. | You must look where it is not as well as where it is. | |
Look Not. | ||
1. | Look not for musk in a dog kennel. | |
2. | Look not for this year's birds in last year's nest. | Don Quixote. |
Look Upon. | ||
1. | Look upon a picture and a battle at a very great distance. | |
Unlooked-for. | ||
1. | Unlooked-for often comes. | Ger. |
Looker-on. | ||
1. | He who looks on has two-thirds of the game. | Ital. |
2. | He who looks on knows more of the game than he who plays.[641] | Ger. |
3. | Lookers-on may be better judges of the game than players. | Chinese. |
4. | Lookers-on see more than players. | |
5. | Of the two lookers-on one is sure to become a player. | Fr. |
6. | The man on the dyke is always the best hurler. | Munster. |
7. | To the looker-on no work is too hard. | Ger. |
Looking-glass. | ||
1. | Kinder is the looking-glass than the wineglass, for the former reveals our defects to ourselves only, the latter to our friends. | |
2. | That is not in the looking-glass which is seen in the looking-glass. | Ger. |
3. | The uglier the face the more it chides the looking-glass. | Ger. |
4. | There's none so homely but loves a looking-glass. | South. |
5. | They took away the mirror from me because I was ugly and gave it to the blind woman. | Sp. |
6. | They who are often at the looking-glass seldom spin. | Dutch. |
7. | What your looking-glass tells you will not be told by counsel. | |
8. | Your looking-glass will tell you what none of your friends will. | |
Loquacity. | ||
1. | The loquacity of fools is a lecture to the wise. | |
2. | The shallowest persons are the most loquacious.[642] | |
Lord. | ||
1. | A lord of straw devours a vassal of steel. | Fr. |
2. | A lord without land is like a cask without wine. | Dan. |
3. | A lord without riches is like a soldier without arms—very ridiculous. | Turkish Spy. |
4. | A lordly taste makes a beggar's purse. | |
5. | A lord's heart and a beggar's purse agree not. | |
6. | A man is not a lord because he feeds on fine dishes. | Dan. |
7. | An insolent lord is no gentleman. | |
8. | As drunk as a lord. | |
9. | Generous lords had rather give than pay. | Young. |
10. | Great lords have long hands but they do not reach to heaven. | Dan. |
11. | Great lords will have much and poor folk can give but little. | Dan. |
12. | One lordship is worth all his manners. | |
13. | The lord will not fail to come though he may not come on horseback. | Dan. |
14. | There is no accord where every man would be a lord. | |
15. | To every lord, every honor. | Fr. |
Loss. | ||
1. | A little loss frightens—a great one tames. | Sp. |
2. | After losing, one loses soundly. | Fr. |
3. | After one loss comes many. | Fr. |
4. | All is not lost that is in peril. | |
5. | Better lose than lose more.[643] | Por. |
6. | Better lose the anchor than the whole ship. | Dutch. |
7. | Better lose the saddle than the horse. | Ital., Ger. |
8. | Better lose the wool than the sheep. | Fr. |
9. | Beware of one who has nothing to lose. | |
10. | For a lost thing care nothing. | |
11. | Great losses are usually followed by small gains. | |
12. | He loses many a good bit that strives with his betters. | |
13. | He loseth indeed that loseth at last. | |
14. | He plans less for profit than for quick return who will buy anything for three cash and sell it for two. | Chinese. |
15. | He that is not sensible of his loss has lost nothing. | |
16. | He who carries nothing loses nothing. | |
17. | He who does not gain loses. | |
18. | He who loses is always in fault. | Ital. |
19. | He who loses, sins. | Fr. |
20. | He who loses money loses much, he who loses a friend loses more, but he who loses his spirits loses all. | Sp. |
21. | It is better to lose than to lose more. (The first loss is the best.) | Sp. |
22. | It is not lost that comes at last. | |
23. | Let what is lost go for God's sake. | Sp. |
24. | Lose a leg rather than life. | |
25. | Lose no right and commit no extortions.[644] | Sp. |
26. | Lose not a hog for a half-penny worth of tar. | |
27. | Losers are always in the wrong. | Sp. |
28. | Losses make us more cautious. | |
29. | No great loss but some small profit. | |
30. | No man can lose what he never had. | Isaac Walton. |
31. | One lost, two found. | Dutch. |
32. | One man's profit is another man's loss. | Montaigne. |
33. | Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear. | Shaks. |
34. | Prefer loss to unjust gain. | |
35. | Rather lose the wool than the sheep. | Por. |
36. | The loss that is not known is no loss. | Syrus. |
37. | The loss which your neighbor does not know is no real loss. | Por. |
38. | They who lose to-day may win to-morrow. | Demosthenes. |
39. | Trivial losses often prove great gains. | Ovid. |
40. | We do not know what is good until we have lost it. | Don Quixote. |
41. | What is lost in the fire must be sought in the ashes. | Dutch. |
42. | When a thing is lost its worth is known. | Ger. |
43. | You may lose a fly to catch a trout. | |
Lottery. | ||
1. | A lottery is taxation on all the fools in creation. | Fielding. |
Love. | ||
1. | A boy's love is water in a sieve.[645] | Sp. |
2. | A fence between makes love more keen. | Ger. |
3. | A man has choice to begin love but not to end it. | |
4. | A sweet and innocent compliance is the cement of love. | |
5. | All's fair in love and war. | |
6. | Always in love, never married. | Fr. |
7. | An oyster may be crossed in love. | Sheridan. |
8. | As the best wine makes the sharpest vinegar, so the deepest love turns to the deadliest hatred. | |
9. | At love's perjuries Jove laughs. | |
10. | Be loving and you'll never want for love. | Muloch. |
11. | Better a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. | Solomon. |
12. | Better to have loved amiss than nothing to have loved. | Crabbe. |
13. | Blue eyes say, “Love me or I die;” black eyes say, “Love me or I kill thee.” | Sp. |
14. | But Love is blind and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit. | Shaks. |
15. | By beating love decays. | Fr. |
16. | Can a mouse fall in love with a cat? | |
17. | Cauld cools the love that kindles o'er hot. | |
18. | Cold broth hot again, that loved I never; Old love renewed again, that loved I ever. | |
19. | Congruity is the mother of love. | |
20. | Dry bread is better with love than a fat capon with fear. | |
31. | Esteem and love were never to be sold.[646] | Pope. |
22. | Fanned fire and forced love never did well yet. | |
23. | Follow love and it will flee, flee love and it will follow thee. | |
24. | For the love of the ox the wolf licks the yoke. | Catalan. |
25. | For love the wolf eats the sheep. | Ger. |
26. | For love of the nurse many kiss the bairn. | |
27. | Forced love does not last. | Dutch. |
28. | Fortune and love are blind. | |
29. | Generally we love ourselves more than we hate others. | |
30. | Hot love and hasty vengeance. | |
31. | He loves mutton well who eats the wool. | |
32. | He loves roast meat well who licks the spit. | |
33. | He loves thee well who makes thee weep. | Don Quixote. |
34. | He loves well who chastises well. | |
35. | He loves well who never forgets. | Ital., Sp., Por. |
36. | He that does not love a woman sucked a sow. | |
37. | He that falls in love with himself will find no rival. | Franklin. |
38. | He that hath love in his breast hath spurs in his heels. | |
39. | He that is in love bids adieu to prudence. | La Fontaine. |
40. | He that loves glass without a “g” take away “l” and that is he. | |
41. | He who forces love where none is found, [647]Remains a fool the whole year round. | Sp. |
42. | He who loves himself best is the honestest man. | |
43. | He who loves well is slow to forget. | Sp. |
44. | He who loves well obeys well. | |
45. | He who would not be indolent let him fall in love. | Ovid. |
46. | Honor in love is silence. | Massinger. |
47. | I cannot hate and I am forced to love. | Ovid. |
48. | I love my friends well but myself better. | Fr. |
49. | I love thee well but don't touch my pocket. | |
50. | I think his face is made of a fiddle; every one that looks on him loves him. | |
51. | If Jack's in love he's no judge of Gill's beauty. | |
52. | If you are in love fly to the mountain. | Turk. |
53. | If you love me, John, your acts will tell me so. | Sp. |
54. | If you love yourself over much, nobody else will love you at all. | |
55. | In hunting and in love you begin when you like and leave off when you can. | Sp. |
56. | In love's wars, he who flieth is conqueror. | |
57. | It is all one whether you die of sickness or love. | Ital. |
58. | It is loving too much to die of love. | Fr. |
59. | It is only the blind who ask why they are loved who are fair. | Dan. |
60. | Likeness is the mother of love. | |
61. | Love abounds in honey and poison. | Plautus. |
62. | Love, a cough, smoke, and money cannot long be hid.[648] | Fr., Ital., Ger. |
63. | Love accomplishes all things. | Petrarch. |
64. | Love all, trust a few, be false to none. | Shaks. |
65. | Love and faith are seen in works. | Ger., Por. |
66. | Love and light cannot be hid. | |
67. | Love and lordship like no fellowship. | Fr., Ital., Por. |
68. | Love and poverty are hard to conceal. | Dan. |
69. | Love and pride stock bedlam. | |
70. | Love and religion are both stronger than friendship. | Bea. |
71. | Love alone begets love. | La Bruyère. |
72. | Love asks faith and faith asks firmness. | |
73. | Love begets love—confidence begets confidence. | New York World. |
74. | Love begins at home. | Ger. |
75. | Love, being jealous, makes a good eye look asquint. | |
76. | Love Bertram, love his dog. | Fr. |
77. | Love can make any place agreeable. | Arabian. |
78. | Love can neither be bought nor sold; its only price is love. | |
79. | Love comes in at the window and goes out at the door. | |
80. | Love conquers all things, let us yield to love. | Virgil. |
81. | Love deceives the best of womankind. | Homer. |
81. | Love delights in praise. | |
83. | Love despises gold. | |
84. | Love does much, but money does more. | |
85. | Love does much, money everything.[649] | Fr., Ger., Sp. |
86. | Love does wonders but money makes marriage. | Fr. |
87. | Love expels jealousy. | Fr. |
88. | Love fears no danger. | Ger. |
89. | Love gives for guerdon, jealousy, and broken faith. | Ital. |
90. | Love, grief and money cannot be kept secret. | Sp. |
91. | Love grows with obstacles. | Ger. |
92. | Love has no law. | Por. |
93. | Love heats the brain and anger makes a poet. | Juvenal. |
94. | Love him who tells thee thy faults in private. | Hebrew. |
95. | Love in a hut with water and a crust, Is love, forgive us, cinders, ashes, dust. | |
96. | Love is a credulous thing. | Ovid. |
97. | Love is a leveller. | Aaron Hill. |
98. | Love is a sweet tyrant because the lover endureth his torments willingly. | Niphas. |
99. | Love is a thing full of anxious fears. | Ovid. |
100. | Love is an excuse for its own faults. | Ital. |
101. | Love is as strong as death, many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. | Bible. |
102. | Love is as warm among cottagers as courtiers. | |
103. | Love is better than fame. | Bayard Taylor. |
104. | Love is blind but sees afar. | Ital. |
105. | Love is cold without good eating and drinking.[650] | Syrus. |
106. | Love is incompatible with fear. | Syrus. |
107. | Love is master of all arts. | Ital. |
108. | Love is never without jealousy. | |
109. | Love is not to be found in the market. | |
110. | Love is potent but money is omnipotent. | Fr. |
111. | Love is strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave. | Bible. |
112. | Love is the loadstone of love. | |
113. | Love is the touchstone of virtue. | |
114. | Love is the true price at which love is bought. | Ital. |
115. | Love is without prudence and anger without counsels. | Ital. |
116. | Love, knavery, and necessity make men good orators. | |
117. | Love knows hidden paths. | Ger. |
118. | Love knows no love. | Por. |
119. | Love knows no measure. | |
120. | Love knows not labor. | Ital. |
121. | Love laughs at locksmiths. | |
122. | Love levels all inequalities. | Ital. |
123. | Love lieth deep, love dwells not in lip depths. | Tennyson. |
124. | Love, like death, Levels all ranks and lays the shepherd's crook Beside the sceptre. | Lytton. |
125. | Love lives in cottages as well as in courts. | |
126. | Love makes labor light. | Dutch. |
127. | Love makes time pass away, and time makes love pass away.[651] | Fr. |
118. | Love me little and love me long. | Fr., Ital., Dan. |
129. | Love me, love my dog. | Ital. |
130. | Love must be attracted by beauty of mind and body. | Ovid. |
131. | Love of gain turns wise men into fools. | Chinese. |
132. | Love of lads and fire of chats is soon in and soon out. | Derbyshire. |
133. | Love one that does not love you, answer one that does not call you, and you will run a fruitless race. | Sp. |
134. | Love others well but love thyself the most, Give good for good but not to thine own cost. | Dutch. |
135. | Love rules his kingdom without a sword. | Ital. |
136. | Love rules without law. | Ital. |
137. | Love sees no faults. | |
138. | Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. | Shaks. |
139. | Love subdues everything, except the felon heart. | Fr. |
140. | Love teaches asses to dance. | Fr. |
141. | Love, thieves and fear make ghosts. | Ger. |
142. | Love thy friend with his foibles. | M. Greek. |
143. | Love thy neighbor but pull not down thy hedge. | Ger. |
144. | Love understands love; it needs no talk. | |
145. | Love warms more than a thousand fires. | |
146. | Love well, whip well.[652] | |
147. | Love will creep where it cannot go. | |
148. | Love will find out the way. | |
149. | Love without return is like a question without an answer. | |
150. | Love yields to employment. | |
151. | Love's humility is love's pride. | Bayard Taylor. |
152. | Love's anger is fuel to love. | Ger. |
153. | Love's merchandise is broken faith. | Ital. |
154. | Love's plant must be watered with tears and tended with care. | Dan. |
155. | Love's the noblest frailty of the mind. | Dryden. |
156. | Loving and singing are not to be forced. | Ger. |
157. | Luve your friend an' look to yoursel'. | |
158. | Mad love! I for you and you for another. | Sp., Por. |
159. | Man loves but once. | Ger. |
160. | Man's love is of man's life a thing apart, 'Tis woman's whole existence. | Byron. |
161. | Next to love quietness. | |
162. | New loves drive out the old. | Sp. |
163. | No jealousy, no love. | Ger. |
164. | No love without bread and wine. | Fr. |
165. | No rose without a thorn, nor love without a rival. | Turk. |
166. | Of all the paths that lead to a woman's love pity's the straightest. | Beaumont and Fletcher. |
167. | Of soup and love the first is the best. | |
168. | Old love and old brands kindle at all seasons. | Fr. |
169. | Old love does not rust.[653] | Ger. |
170. | One always returns to one's first love. | Fr. |
171. | One grows used to love and to fire. | Fr. |
172. | One love drives out another. | Sp. |
173. | People in love think other people's eyes are out. | Sp. |
174. | Perfect love never settled in a light head. | |
175. | Reason was never admitted into the court of love. | Agricola. |
176. | Regretting those you love is happiness compared with living with those you hate. | La Bruyère. |
177. | Royal favor, April weather, woman's love, rose leaves, dice, and card-luck change every moment. | Ger. |
178. | See for your love and buy for your money. | |
179. | Seek love and it will shun you, Haste away and 'twill outrun you. | |
180. | She who loves an ugly man thinks him handsome. | |
181. | Spectacles and gray hair are bad wares in love's market. | Ger. |
182. | Sweet is true love tho' given in vain, And sweet is death that puts an end to pain. | Tennyson. |
183. | The approaches of love must be resisted at the first assault lest they undermine at the second. | Pythagoras. |
184. | The course of true love never did run smooth. | |
185. | The English love, the French make love. | |
186. | The love of country is more powerful than reason itself. [654] | Ovid. |
187. | The love of fame usually spurs the mind. | Ovid. |
188. | The love of father and mother is the foundation of all the virtues. | |
189. | The love of gaming is the worst of ills. | Young. |
190. | The love of heaven makes one heavenly. | Sidney. |
191. | The love of liberty is the parent of all vagabondism. | |
192. | The love of money grows as money grows. | Juvenal. |
193. | The love of pelf increases with the pelf. | Juvenal. |
194. | The love of popularity holds you in a vice. | Juvenal. |
195. | The love of power is an instinct of the human heart. | Tacitus. |
196. | The love of power is natural, insatiable and never cloyed by possession. | Bolingbroke. |
197. | The love of the wicked is more dangerous than their hatred. | |
198. | The man who loves is easy of belief. | Ovid. |
199. | The only victory over love is flight. | Fr. |
200. | The remedy for love is—land between. | Sp. |
201. | The revolution that turns us all topsy-turvy,—the revolution of love. | Bulwer. |
202. | The reward of love is jealousy. | |
203. | The sweetest joy, the wildest woe, is love. | Bailey. |
204. | The truth of truths is love.[655] | Bailey. |
205. | Their (women's) love is always with the lover past. | Homer. |
206. | There are more calamities in the world arising from love than hatred. | Spectator. |
207. | There are no reasons that explain love, but a thousand that explain marriage. | Punch. |
208. | There is beggary in the love that can be reckoned. | Shaks. |
209. | There is more true happiness in the folly of love than in all the wisdom of philosophy. | Fielding. |
210. | There is no love without jealousy. | Fr., Ital. |
211. | They love least that let men know their love. | Shaks. |
212. | They love me for little that hate me for naught. | |
213. | They love most who are least valued. | |
214. | They love too much that die for love. | |
215. | They that lie down for love should rise for hunger. | |
216. | Though love is blind yet 'tis not for want of eyes. | |
217. | 'Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all. | Tennyson. |
218. | To be loved, be lovable. | Ovid. |
219. | To be wise and love Exceeds man's might, that dwells with gods alone. | Shaks. |
220. | To love and to be wise are two different things (or impossible). | Fr., Sp., Por. |
221. | To love it as a dog does a whip. | |
222. | To love it as a cat does mustard.[656] | |
223. | To love it as the devil does holy water. | |
224. | To raise esteem we must benefit others; to procure love we must please them. | Dr. Johnson. |
225. | Too much is not enough. | Beaumarchais speaking of love. |
226. | True love can fear no one. | Seneca. |
227. | True love falters not. | Helen Molony. |
228. | True love never grows hoary. | Ital. |
229. | True love suffers no concealment. | Sp. |
230. | We never know how much we loved till what we loved is lost. | |
231. | What is life when wanting love? | Burns. |
232. | When all else fails, love saves. | Anna K. Green. |
233. | When love fails we espy all faults. | |
234. | When love is in the case the doctor's an ass. | |
235. | When mistrust enters, love departs. | Dan. |
236. | When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window. | Ger. |
237. | When pride begins love ceases. | Lavater. |
238. | Where love is there is no labor, and if there be labor, the labor is loved. | St. Austin. |
239. | Where love is, there the eye is. | Ital. |
240. | Where there is great love there is great pain. | Ital. |
241. | Where there is much love there is much mistake. | |
242. | Where there is no love all faults are seen. | Ger. |
243. | Where there is no jealousy there is no love.[657] | Ger. |
244. | Where there is not equality there can be no perfect love. | Ital. |
245. | Where we do not respect we soon cease to love. | Bea. |
246. | Who ever lov'd that lov'd not at first sight? | |
247. | Who feels love in his breast feels a spur in his limbs. | Ital. |
248. | Who has no children does not know what love is. | Ital. |
249. | Who love too much hate in like extreme. | Homer. |
250. | Who loves believes, who loves fears. | Ital. |
251. | Who loves not women, wine and song, Remains a fool his whole life long. | Ger. |
252. | Who loves the tree, loves the branch. | Ital. |
253. | Who loves well chastises well. | Fr., Ital. |
254. | Who loves well is slow to forget. | Fr. |
255. | Who would be loved must love. | Ital. |
256. | Whom we love best to them we can say least. | |
257. | With lightning and with love, the clothes sound the heart burned. | Sp. |
258. | With nothing left to love there's naught to dread. | Byron. |
259. | Without bread and wine, even love will pine. | Fr. |
260. | Works and not words are the proof of love. | Sp. |
261. | You will not be loved if you think of no one but yourself. | Sp., Ital. |
Lover. | ||
1. | A cold lover is a faithless friend.[658] | Ital. |
2. | A lover's anger is short lived. | Ital. |
3. | A lover's soul lives in the soul of his mistress. | Plutarch. |
4. | A reserved lover makes a suspicious husband. | Goldsmith. |
5. | All are fools or lovers first or last. | Dryden. |
6. | All mankind love a lover. | Emerson. |
7. | An incensed lover shuts his eyes, And tells himself many lies. | Syrus. |
8. | As is the lover so is the beloved. | Ital. |
9. | Bagdad is not remote for a lover. | Turk. |
10. | Every lover is a soldier. | Ovid. |
11. | For the lover travel and patience. | Turk. |
12. | In her first passion woman loves her lover, In all others, all she loves is love. | Byron. |
13. | Love but laughs at lovers' perjury. | Dryden. |
14. | Let him not be a lover who has no courage. | Ital. |
15. | Lover and king brook no companion. | Turk. |
16. | Lovers are fools. | Latin. |
17. | Lovers break not hours unless to come before their time. | Shaks. |
18. | Lovers ever run before the clock. | |
19. | Lovers live by love as larks by leeks. | |
20. | Lovers' purses are tied with cobwebs. | Ital. |
21. | Lovers' quarrels are love redoubled. | Por. |
22. | Lovers remember everything. | Ovid. |
23. | Lovers think others blind. | Ital., Sp. |
24. | Old lover, young fool. | Ger. |
25. | Quarrels of lovers but renew their love.[659] | |
26. | Sapient, Solitary, Solicitous and Secret are the four S's that all true lovers should possess. | Don Quixote. |
27. | The conversation of lovers is inexhaustible. | Bea. |
28. | The lover in the husband may be lost. | Lyttleton. |
29. | The oaths of one that loves a woman are not to be believed. | Sp. |
30. | The prostrate lover when he lowest lies, But stoops to conquer, but kneels to rise. | |
31. | The reason why lovers are never weary of one another is this, they are always talking of themselves. | Rochefoucauld. |
32. | The sight of lovers feeds those in love. | Shaks. |
33. | The soul of a lover lives in the body of another. | Cato. |
34. | There is more pleasure in loving than in being loved. | |
35. | What law can bind lovers? Love is their supreme law. | Boethius. |
36. | What woman says to her fond lover, should be written on air or the swift water. | Catullus. |
37. | Who can deceive a lover? | Virgil. |
38. | Whom I love I beat. | Russian. |
39. | You must make a lover angry, if you wish him to love. | Syrus. |
Loveliness. | ||
1. | Loveliness needs not the foreign aid of ornament, [660]But is when unadorned adorned the most. | |
Luxurious, Luxury. | ||
1. | He tried the luxury of doing good. | Crabbe. |
2. | It is a hard matter to save that city from ruin where a fish was sold for more than an ox. | Cato reproving luxury. |
3. | Luxury destroys mankind, At once corrupts the body and the mind. | Crown. |
4. | Luxury is the bane of morality and virtue. | Swiss. |
5. | Luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree. | Goldsmith. |
6. | The luxurious want many things, the covetous all things. | |
7. | The luxury of the rich gives bread to the poor. | Fr. |
Lying (Falsehood). | ||
1. | A false report rides post. | |
2. | A good faculty in lying is a fair step to preferment. | |
3. | A good lie finds more believers than a bad truth. | Ger. |
4. | A great lie is the best. | Ger. |
5. | A great talker is a great liar. | Fr. |
6. | A half-a-truth is better than a whole lie. | |
7. | A liar is a bravo towards God and a coward towards man. | |
8. | A liar is a nuisance to society. | |
9. | A liar is never esteemed. | Cingalese. |
10. | A liar is sooner caught than a cripple.[661] | Ital., Por. |
11. | A lie becomes truth when one believes it. | Ger. |
12. | A lie begets a lie till they come to generations. | |
13. | A lie carries ten others. | Ger. |
14. | A lie has no legs (no stability) but a slander has wings. | |
15. | A lie has short legs; i.e., is soon caught. | Ital., Sp. |
16. | A lie is soon ready. | Ger. |
17. | A lie needs twenty more to prop it. | |
18. | A lie never grows old. | Euripides. |
19. | A lie never has enough. | Ger. |
20. | A lie that is half truth is ever the blackest lie. | Tennyson. |
21. | A lie though it promises good will do thee harm and truth will do thee good at last. | |
22. | A necessary lie is harmless. | Ger. |
23. | “Almost” and “very nigh” save many a lie. | |
24. | And that outrageous appetite for lies, That Satan angles with for souls like flies. | Byron. |
25. | Don't tell new lies to old rogues. | |
26. | Every liar has another for his witness. | M. Greek. |
27. | Falsehood is cowardice, truth is courage. | Hosea Ballou. |
28. | Falsehood is folly. | Homer. |
29. | Falsehood is just as far distant from truth as the ears are from the eyes.[662] | Thales. |
30. | Falsehood is often rocked by truth but she soon outgrows her cradle and discards her nurse. | Cotton. |
31. | Falsehood is the devil's daughter and speaks her father's tongue. | Dan. |
32. | Falsehood like a nettle stings those who meddle with it. | |
33. | Falsehood never tires of going round about. | Dan. |
34. | Falsehood travels and grows. | Dan. |
35. | From long journeys long lies. | Sp. |
36. | He lies as fast as a horse can trot. | |
37. | He lies like a tooth drawer. | Fr. |
38. | He lies like print. | Mecklenburg. |
39. | He lies like truth. | |
40. | He may lie boldly who comes from afar. | Fr., Ital. |
41. | He that does not lie does not come of good blood. | Sp. |
42. | He that hears much hears many lies. | |
43. | He that tells a lie buffeteth himself. | |
44. | He who always tells me a lie never cheats me. | Sp. |
45. | He who prates much lies much. | Ger. |
46. | He who says nothing never lies. | Ital. |
47. | He who tells a lie must invent twenty more to maintain it. | Pope. |
48. | He who utters falsehoods shall not be credited when he tells the truth. | Aristotle. |
49. | He's a long-bow man; i.e., a liar. | |
50. | I give him joy that's awkward at a lie.[663] | Young. |
51. | I hate a liar. | Plautus. |
52. | “I heard one say so,” is half a lie. | |
53. | If lies are to be believed they must be patched with truth. | Dan. |
54. | If lies were Latin there would be many learned men. | Dan. |
55. | It is better to save one's self by a falsity than to innocently suffer an infamous death. | Timæus. |
56. | Liars begin by imposing upon others but end by deceiving themselves. | |
57. | Liars generally pay the penalty of their guilt. | Phædrus. |
58. | Liars should have good memories. | Ital., Ger. |
59. | Lie for him and he'll swear for you. | |
60. | Lies and gossips have a wretched offspring. | Dan. |
61. | Lies and Latin go round the world. | Dan. |
62. | Lies have short legs. | Ital., Ger. |
63. | Lies melt like snow. | Ger. |
64. | Lies pass away, truth endures. | Ger. |
65. | Long voyages occasion great lies. | |
66. | Lords and fools speak falsely. | Dan. |
67. | Lying and gossipping go hand in hand. | Sp. |
68. | Lying is the first step to the gallows. | Ger. |
69. | Lying lips are an abomination unto the Lord. | Bible. |
70. | Lying pays no tax. | Por. |
71. | Lying rides on debt's back. | |
72. | No law for lying. | |
73. | No lie so gross that it does not find believers. | Ger. |
74. | Old men and far travellers may lie by authority. | |
75. | One lie draws ten after it. | |
76. | One lie in the sultan's head will keep out twenty truths. | Moorish. |
77. | One lie makes many. | |
78. | One lie reaches its hand to another. | Ger. |
79. | One must adorn a lie with many others. | Ger. |
80. | Painters and poets have liberty to lie. | |
81. | Show me a liar and I'll show you a thief. | Fr., Ger., Dutch. |
81. | Singers, lovers and poets are privileged liars. | Ger. |
83. | Some lies are better than truth. | Turk. |
84. | Tell a lie and you'll hear the truth. | Ger., Sp. |
85. | The credit got by a lie, lasts only till the truth comes out. | |
86. | The greatest liars talk most of themselves. | |
87. | The liar is not believed when he speaks the truth. | Ital. |
88. | The liar is sooner caught than the cripple. | Sp. |
89. | The mou' that lies slays the saul. | |
90. | The nimblest footman is a false tale. | |
91. | The official that cannot lie may as well be out of the world. | Sp. |
92. | The thief and liar live under the same roof. | Ger. |
93. | There is no vice that hath not its beginning in a lie. | Dryden. |
94. | Thou canst not better reward a liar than in not believing what he speaketh. | Aristippus. |
95. | Though a lie be swift truth overtakes it. | Ital. |
96. | Though a lie be well dressed it is ever overcome. | |
97. | Two may lie so long as to hang a third. | Dan. |
98. | Who dares think one thing and another tell, My heart detests him as the gates of hell. | Pope. |
99. | Who is the greatest liar? Who talks most of himself. | Chinese. |
100. | Who knows to lie, knows neither to love nor respect his parents. | Chinese. |
101. | You may shut your doors against a thief but |
Xerxes. | ||
1. | Xerxes did die and so must I. | New England Primer. |
For the html version, I've combined both volumes, and I've removed the “title page” from volume two.
I've renumbered the pages to follow a logical sequence, but have indicated where volume two starts.
I have used a hover like this to indicate changed or corrected items.
Inconsistencies in accented words and hyphenated words have been standardized. There were several missing full stops. All of which have been silently corrected.
Page 33—Typo corrected from magestic to majestic.
Page 63—Typo corrected from Britania to Britannia
Page 64—Typo corrected from millon to million.
Page 139—Could not identify the word “sairy”, however it could be dialect, and therefore I've left it as in the original.
Page 172—Typo corrected from Tillitson to Tillotson.
Page 187—The word “Courtesie” is used, but I believe it's intensional, so I've left it as in the original.
Page 310—Typo corrected from occulist to oculist.
Page 313—Typo corrected from Machiavel to Machiavelli.
Page 339—Typo corrected from Quintilian to Quintillian.
Page 376—Typo corrected from pedlers to peddlers.
Page 405—Typo corrected from Marechal to Marechall.
Page 475—Typo corrected from pedler to peddler
Page 491—Typo corrected from lie to life.
Page 493—“A liel heart never lied.” I could not find a reference for liel, and therefore have left it as in the original.
Page 509—Typo corrected from wan to won.
Page 545—“Ssw-ma”—Could not find a reference for this word, however by its usage it is most likely a proper name. Left as in the original.
Page 629—Typo corrected from Guadalaxara to Guadalajara.
Page 630—Typo corrected from sieze to seize.
The cited name: Laberias, Laberius, Labernus and Labertius all seem to refer to Laberius, a Roman writer of pantomimes, contemporary with Julius Cæsar. (www.bibliomania.com).
There are two spellings of Sanskrit and Sanscrit, left as in the original as both are valid words.
Page 15—Typo corrected Janivier corrected to Janvier.
Page 18—Typo corrected from mate to meat.
Page 19—Typo corrected from wierd to weird.
Page 57—Typo corrected from it's to its.
Page 95—Typo corrected from occulist to oculist.
Page 124—Typo corrected from spirt to spirit.
Page 150—Typo corrected from pedler to peddler.
Page 187—“Rare” the word good could be a possible typo for gold, however I've left it as in the original, because good also makes sense.
Page 210—Typo corrected from Desert to Dessert.
Page 237—Typo corrected from Scottisman to Scotsman.
Page 293—Typo corrected from batallions to battalions.
Page 308—Typo corrected from sieze to seize.
Page 317—Typo corrected from stabbard to scabbard.
Page 403—Typo corrected from Carthagenian to Carthaginian.
Page 417—Typo corrected from Labernus to Laberius.
Page 420—Typo corrected from ememy to enemy.
Page 464—Typo corrected from freend to friend.
Page 505—Typo corrected from Goliah to Goliath.
Page 521—Typo corrected from Yoeman to Yeoman, and typo corrected from yoeman to yeoman.
Page 562—Legacy—vol. 1, p 51.@mdash;Should read Legacy—See Honesty No. 51.
Page 566—Medlars—vol. 2, p 31.—Duplicate entry and out of alphabetical order. Removed the first entry as the second was in the correct place.
Gallician corrected to Galician.
There were three spellings of Shakespeare and I have made them all consistent.
[The end of Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of all ages by Robert Christy]