A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs Comprising French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and Danish, with English Translations and a General Index

Part 34

Chapter 344,451 wordsPublic domain

By lamplight every country wench seems handsome, 70

By night all cats are grey, 30, 92, 135, 301

By slow degrees the bird builds his nest, 331

By telling our woes we often assuage them, 5

By the living we bury the dead, 334

By the street of “By-and-by” one arrives at the house of “Never,” 241

By the thread we unwind the skein, 241

By their marks the bales are known, 72

By working in the smithy one becomes a smith, 17

C.

Cabbage for cabbage, 13

Call me not fortunate till you see me buried, 236

Call me not olive till you see me gathered, 113, 236

Call not the devil, he will come fast enough unbidden, 382

Cap in hand never did any harm, 75

Care, and not fine stables, makes a good horse, 374

Care brings on grey hairs, and age without years, 169

Caress your dog, and he’ll spoil your clothes, 338

Carry bread in your hood to Don Garcia’s wedding, 195

Caution is the mother of tender beer-glasses, 341

Cent-wisdom and dollar-folly (Penny wise and pound foolish), 302

Chairs sink and stools rise, 263

Change yourself, and fortune will change with you, 284

Charity begins at home, 306

Charity gives (or bestows) itself rich, covetousness hoards itself poor, 138

Charity well regulated begins at home, 226

Chastise a good child, that it may not grow bad, and a bad one, that it may not grow worse, 389

Chastise one that is worthless, and he will presently hate you, 208

Chastise the good and he will mend, chastise the bad and he will grow worse, 74, 272

Cheat me in the price and not in the goods, 221, 277

Cheating is more honourable than stealing, 136

Cheating is the chapman’s cart and plough, 136

Cheerful company shortens the miles, 149

Cheerfulness and good-will make labour light, 385

Cheese and bread make the cheeks red, 156

Cheese from the ewe, milk from the goat, butter from the cow, 245

Cheese is gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at night, 156

Cherries are bitter to the glutted blackbird, 3

Children and drunken men speak the truth, 397

Children and fools are prophets, 16

Children and fools speak the truth, 157, 230

Children are certain sorrow, but uncertain joy, 351

Children are the riches of the poor, 351

Children are what they are made, 34

Children married, cares increased, 278

Children tell in the highway what they hear by the fireside, 275

Choose a Brabant sheep, a Guelder ox, a Flemish capon, and a Friezeland cow, 335

Choose neither a woman nor linen by candlelight, 227

Chop, and you will have splinters, 379

Christians have no neighbours, 136

Christmas comes but once a year, 111

Christmas is talked of so long that it comes at last, 41

Claw me, and I’ll claw thee, 157, 167, 187, 331

Clay and lime conceal much evil, 204

Clothes make the man, 305

Coffee has two virtues, it is wet and warm, 330

Cold hand, a warm heart, 156

Colts by falling, and lads by losing, grow prudent, 242

Come fish, come frog, all goes into the basket (All’s fish that comes to the net), 255

Common fame is seldom to blame, 149

Common fame seldom lies (_An English proverb says_, Common fame is a common liar), 319

Common goods, no goods, 319

Communities begin by building their kitchen, 13

Company in distress makes trouble less, 51

Comparison is not proof, 14

Comparisons are odious, 14, 59, 104

Conceal not your secret from your friend, or you deserve to lose him, 263

Confidence begets confidence, 173

Conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses, 105

Constant dropping wears the stone, 169

Contrivance is better than force, 38

Copper begets copper, and not (the labour of) men’s bones (_We say_, Money gets money), 208

Correction bringeth fruit, 339

Correction is good when administered in time, 348

Corsair against corsair, nothing to win but empty casks, 128, 210

Could a man foresee events he would never be poor, 52

Could everything be done twice, everything would be done better, 157

Counsel after action is like rain after harvest, 395

Counsel before action, 337

Counsel is nothing against love, 89

Counted sheep are eaten by the wolf, 9

Counterfeit coin passes current at night, 283

Coupled sheep drown one another, 319

Courtesy that is all on one side cannot last long, 14

Cover up the pot, there’s an eel in it, 306

Covetousness bursts the bag, 226

Covetousness is never satisfied till its mouth is filled with earth, 319

Coward against coward, the assailant conquers, 212

Cowards have no luck, 190

Cowards’ weapons neither cut nor pierce, 107

Crazy wheels run longest, 166

Creaking carts last the longest, 331

Credit is better than ready money, 150

Credit is dead, bad pay killed it, 89

Crooked iron may be straightened with a hammer, 383

Crooked wood burns quite as well as straight, 157

Crows do not peck out crows’ eyes, 273

Cunning has little honour, 384

Cunning men’s cloaks sometimes fall, 72

Cunning surpasses strength, 159

Curses are like processions: they return to whence they came, 108

Curses on accounts with relations, 254

Custom becomes law, 210

Custom is second nature, 105, 150, 226, 305, 319

Cut off the dog’s tail, he remains a dog, 127

Cut your coat according to your cloth, 337

D.

Damage suffered makes you wise (or knowing), but seldom rich, 346

Darkness and night are mothers of thought, 322

Daughter-in-law hates mother-in-law, 169

Daughters are easy to rear, but hard to marry, 170

Daughters are brittle ware, 311

Daughters may be seen but not heard, 311

Daylight will come, though the cock do not crow, 358

Dead dogs don’t bite, 170, 312

Dear is cheap, and cheap is dear, 288

Dear physic always does good, if not to the patient, at least to the apothecary, 170

Dearness gluts, 13

Dearth foreseen never came, 77

Death does not blow a trumpet, 363

Death is in the pot, 322

Death keeps no almanack, 304

Death spares neither Pope nor beggar, 294

Deceit and treachery make no man rich, 346

Deceive not thy physician, confessor, or lawyer, 197

Deeds are love, and not sweet words (or fine phrases), 238, 287

Deep draughts, and long morning slumbers, soon make a man poor, 399

Deep swimmers and high climbers seldom die in their beds, 310

Deferred is not annulled (Forbearance is no acquittance), 172

Delays are dangerous, 109

Desire beautifies what is ugly, 217

Desperate ills require desperate remedies, 7

Despise not a small wound, a poor kinsman, or an humble enemy, 381

Despise your enemy and you will soon be beaten, 275

Devils must be driven out with devils, 170

Diamond cut diamond, 18

Different times different manners, 70

Diligent work makes a skilful workman, 380

Dirty water does not wash clean, 67

Discover not your silent money (_i.e._ your hoarded money) to anybody, 260

Disputing and borrowing cause grief and sorrowing, 166

Distrust is poison to friendship, 390

Do as others do, and few will mock you, 368

Do good, and care not to whom, 98, 277

Do good to a knave, and pray God he may not do the same to thee, 370

Do ill, and expect the like, 277

Do not abstain from sowing for fear of the pigeons, 23

Do not buy a carrier’s ass, or marry an innkeeper’s daughter, 230

Do not divide the spoil till the victory is won, 140

Do not fret for news, it will grow old and you will know it, 241

Do not give a dog bread every time he wags his tail, 112

Do not hang all on one nail, 152

Do not judge of the ship from the land, 113

Do not judge the dog by his hairs, 389

Do not lend your money to a great man, 40

Do not lose honour through fear, 242

Do not make two devils of one, 23

Do not put in more warp than you can weave, 403

Do not rear a bird of a bad breed, 274

Do not rejoice at my grief, for when mine is old yours will be new, 237

Do not ship all in one bottom, 158

Do not spread your corn to dry at an enemy’s door (Asturian), 230

Do not steal a loaf from him that kneads and bakes, 197

Do not strip before bedtime, 24

Do not stuff your servant with bread, and he won’t ask for cheese, 203

Do not talk Arabic in the house of a Moor, 221

Do not tell your secrets behind a wall or a hedge, 259

Do not wade where you see no bottom, 402

Don’t be a baker if your head is made of butter, 285 (_See_ He that _and_ He who)

Don’t believe in the saint unless he works miracles, 112

Don’t believe what you see, husband, but only what I tell you, 230

Don’t bite till you know whether it is bread or a stone, 113

Don’t budge, if you sit at ease, 166

Don’t buy a cat in a bag (Don’t buy a pig in a poke), 160, 331

Don’t carry your head too high, the door is low, 159

Don’t cross the water unless you see the bottom, 84

Don’t cry fried fish before they are caught, 113

Don’t cry herrings till they are in the net, 337

Don’t cry holloa! till you’re out of the bush, 337

Don’t cry hurra! till you’re over the bridge (or ditch, or hedge), 167, 168, 337

Don’t divide the spoil before the victory is won, 160

Don’t find fault with what you don’t understand, 40

Don’t fly till your wings are feathered, 148

Don’t go a-fishing to a famous stream, 68

Don’t kill the man at the count’s desire, 222

Don’t learn too much, Jack, else you must do a great deal, 151

Don’t leave the high road for a short cut, 284

Don’t make an oven of your cap or a garden of your belly, 40

Don’t make yourself poor to one who won’t make you rich, 286

Don’t mention the cross to the devil, 114

Don’t play with the bear if you don’t want to be bit, 113

Don’t pull hard enough to break the rope, 286

Don’t put your finger into too tight a ring, 40, 115

Don’t reckon your eggs before they are laid, 98

Don’t reckon without your host, 160

Don’t rely on the label of the bag, 24

Don’t scuffle with the potter, for he makes money by the damage, 237

Don’t sell the bearskin before the bear is dead, 333

Don’t sell the bearskin before you have caught (or killed) the bear, 115, 140, 341

Don’t sell the skin till you have caught the fox, 397

Don’t send away your cat for being a thief, 196

Don’t show your teeth if you can’t bite, 51

Don’t snap your fingers at the dogs before you are out of the village, 24

Don’t stop the way of a bull or of a current of air, 198

Don’t talk Latin before the Franciscans, 23

Don’t teach fishes to swim, 23

Don’t throw away your dirty water till you have got clean, 160

Don’t throw away your old shoes till you have got new ones, 318

Don’t throw the handle after the bill, 333

Don’t yoke the plough before the horses, 333

Do what I say well, and not what I do ill, 224

Do what the friar says, and not what he does, 224

Do what thou doest (Age quod agis), 170

Do what you ought, come what may, 18, 98

Do you carry the trough, husband, and I will carry the sieve, which is as heavy as the devil, 228

Do you speak English? (_Meaning_, Have you got any money? _We used to say in England_, Have you got any Spanish?), 338

Do you want better bread than wheaten? 63

Do you want to buy cheap? Buy of a needy fool, 253

Do you want to see a wolf with young (_i.e._ an insatiable plunderer)? Marry your daughter, 254

Doctor Luther’s shoes do not fit every parish priest, 141

Does your neighbour bore you? Lend him a sequin, 127

Dogs bark at those they don’t know, 101

Dogs have teeth in all countries, 328

Dogs that bark much don’t bite, 153

Doing nothing teaches doing ill, 164

Dominies come for your wine, and officers for your daughters, 312

Dread the anger of the dove, 14

Dreams are froth (or lies), 57, 171

Dress slowly when you are in a hurry, 19

Dressed like a windmill, 19

Drink nothing without seeing it, sign nothing without reading it, 284

Drink upon salad costs the doctor a ducat; drink upon eggs costs him two, 144

Drink wine and let water go to the mill, 75

Drink wine upon figs, 258

Drive not away what never came near you, 370

Drop by drop fills the tub, 19

Drop by drop wears away the stone, 19, 68

Drop the jest when it is most amusing, 107

Dry wood makes a quick fire, 401

Ducats are clipped, pence are not, 141

Dull scissors make crooked-mouthed tailors, 365

Dumb dogs and still water are dangerous, 170

Dung is no saint, but where it falls it works miracles, 217

E.

Eagles catch no fleas, 299

Eagles do not breed doves, 133, 299

Early marriage, long love, 148

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise, 148

Early to rise and late to bed, lifts again the debtor’s head, 148

Earnestness and sport go well together, 347

East or west, home is best, 165, 336

Easy to say is hard to do, 2

Eat bread at pleasure, drink wine by measure, 44

Eat bread that’s light, and cheese by weight, 302

Eat of your own, and call yourself mine (_i. e._ Be my servant and find yourself), 272

Eat with him, and beware of him, 272

Eaten bread is soon forgotten, 103

Eating sets the head to rights, 195

Eating teaches drinking, 102

Economy is a great revenue, 345

Eggs and oaths are easily broken, 364

Eggs are put to hatch on chance, 3

Either fight not with priests or beat them to death, 160

Either rich or hanged, 238

Either the ass will die, or he that goads it, 238

Empty casks (or vessels) make the most noise, 36, 158, 331, 401

Empty rooms make giddy housewives, 63

Empty waggons make most noise, 401

Enjoy your little whilst the fool is seeking for more, 223

Enough is as good as a feast, 319

Enough is better than a sackful, 149

Enough is better than too much, 38, 319

Enough is enough, and too much spoils, 73

Enough is great riches, 393

Entreat him in jackass fashion; if he won’t carry the sack, give him a whack, 188

Entreat the churl and the bargain is broken off, 121

Entreaties to get him to sing, and entreaties to leave off, 254

Entreaty and right do the deed, 254

Envy crieth of spite where honour rideth, 335

Envy does not enter an empty house, 348

Envy envies itself, 163

Envy goes beyond avarice, 17

Envy is its own torturer, 348

Envy was never a good spokesman, 348

Erring is not cheating (A mistake is no fraud), 154

Error is no payment, 97

Escaping from the smoke he falls into the fire, 306

Even a fly has its anger (or spleen), 71, 106

Even a frog would bite if it had teeth, 71

Even a hair casts its shadow, 134, 206, 270 (_See_ Every hair)

Even a horse, though he has four feet, stumbles, 72, 76, 134, 315

Even among the apostles there was a Judas, 72

Even clever hens sometimes lay their eggs among nettles, 383

Even counted sheep are eaten by the wolf, 9, 71, 140

Even crumbs are bread, 398

Even foxes are caught, 71

Even hares pull a lion by the beard when he is dead, 336

Even he gets on who is drawn by oxen, 373

Even old foxes are caught in the snare, 72

Even that fish may be caught that strives the hardest against it, 388

Even the best hack stumbles once, 134 (_See_ Even a horse)

Even the dog gets bread by wagging his tail, 72

Even the fool says a wise word sometimes, 71

Even the just has need of help, 71

Even the lion must defend himself against the flies, 134

Even the sea, great as it is, grows calm, 71

Even woods have ears, 71

Ever one hair, only one, and the man is bald at last, 154

Every ant has its ire, 270 (_See_ Even a fly)

Every beginning is hard, said the thief, when he began by stealing an anvil, 133, 296

Every bird needs its own feathers, 366

Every bird sings as it is beaked, 317

Every bird thinks its own nest beautiful, 68

Everybody is wise after the thing has happened, 59

Everybody knows best where his own shoe pinches (_Also Scotch_), 156 (_See_ Every one)

Everybody knows good counsel except him that has need of it, 133

Everybody must live, 22

Everybody must wear out one pair of fool’s shoes, if he wear no more, 156

Everybody says it, nobody does it, 156, 375

Everybody thinks his own cuckoo sings better than another’s nightingale, 155

Everybody’s business is nobody’s business, 175

Everybody’s companion is nobody’s friend, 156

Everybody’s friend and nobody’s friend is all one, 199, 265

Everybody’s friend is everybody’s fool, 156, 297, 375

Everybody’s friend, nobody’s friend, 71

Every cask smells of the wine it contains, 207, 270

Every clown can find fault, though it would puzzle him to do better, 170

Every cock crows on his own dunghill, 207

Every cock is valiant on his own dunghill, 284, 314

Every country has its custom, 221

Every day a thread makes a skein in the year, 297

Every day has its night, 116, 366

Every day is not a holiday, 113, 116, 324

Every ditch is full of after-wit, 91

Every dog is not a lion at home, 116

Every dog is valiant in his own kennel, 13

Every flood hath its ebb, 297

Every fly has its shadow, 271

Every foal is not like its sire, 368

Every fool is pleased with his bauble, 193

Every fool is wise when he holds his tongue, 116

Every fool thinks he is clever enough, 366

Every fool wants to give advice, 116

Every fox likes a henroost, 68

Every fox looks after his own skin, 375

Every glowworm is not fire (Every light is not the sun), 116, 163

Every hair casts its shadow, 134, 206, 270 (_See_ Even a hair)

Every hare may pluck the dead lion’s mane, 137 (_See_ Even hares)

Every hill has its valley, 116

Every hooked beak is maintained by prey, 59

Every house has its cross, 317

Every labourer is worthy of his hire, 155

Every land its own custom, every wheel its own spindle, 271

Every law is broken to become a king, 241

Every life has its joy, every joy its law, 376

Every little fish expects to become a whale, 356

Every little helps, 296

Every little helps, said the sow, when she snapped at a gnat, 347

Every little helps to lighten the freight, said the captain, as he threw his wife overboard, 296

Every man carries an enemy in his own bosom, 365

Every man for himself, and God for us all, 155 (_See_ Every one)

Every man has a fool in his sleeve, 12, 88

Every man has a good wife and a bad trade, 117

Every man has his liking, 375

Every man has his lot, and a wide world before him, 368

Every man has his value, 12

Every man his own is not too much, 317

Every man is dearest to himself, 155

Every man is master in his own house, 314

Every man is the architect of his own fortune, 155, 366

Every man is the best interpreter of his own words, 155

Every man is the son of his own works, 207

Every man likes his own praise best, 375

Every man must carry his own sack to the mill, 118, 375

Every man rides his own hobby, 147

Every man thinks his own copper gold, 155, 366

Every man thinks his own owl a falcon, 317

Every man to his taste, 12

Every man to his trade, 271

Every medal has its reverse, 13, 116

Every mother’s child is handsome, 156

Every one bears his cross, 12

Every one can navigate in fine weather, 117

Every one counts for as much as he has, 155

Every one draws the water to his own mill, 12, 117

Every one feels his own burden heavy, 1

Every one feels the cold according as he is clad, 207

Every one finds fault with his own trade, 117

Every one finds sin sweet and repentance bitter, 375

Every one for himself and God for us all, 12, 117, 155, 207, 271, 317

Every one gives himself credit for more brains than he has, and less money, 117

Every one goes with his own sack to the mill, 118, 375

Every one has his master, 145

Every one his own is but fair, 12

Every one in his own house, and God in all men’s, 207

Every one is a king in his own house, 270

Every one is a preacher under the gallows, 314

Every one is a thief in his own craft, 317

Every one is emperor on his own ground, 143

Every one is wise after the event (or when the mischief is done), 163, 213

Every one is wise for his own profit, 271

Every one knows best where the shoe pinches him, 12, 117, 156, 207, 271

Every one likes justice in another’s house, none in his own, 117

Every one likes to wipe his shoes on poverty, 134

Every one must pay his debt to nature, 155

Every one must row with the oars he has, 317

Every one praises his own saint, 117

Every one preaches for his own saint, 12

Every one rakes the fire under his own pot, 366

Every one reaps as he sows, 270

Every one says: My right is good, 12

Every one sees his smart coat, no one sees his shrunken belly, 347

Every one should sweep before his own door, 12

Every one sings as he has the gift, and marries as he has the luck, 270

Every one sneezes as God pleases, 207

Every one speaks as he is, 271

Every one speaks of the feast (or fair) as he finds it, 207, 271

Every one stretches his legs according to the length of his coverlet (Cut your coat according to your cloth), 207, 271

Every one takes his flogging in his own way, 12

Every one takes his pleasure where he finds it, 12

Every one thinks he has more than his own share of brains, 91

Every one thinks himself without sin because he has not that of others, 117

Every one thinks his owl a falcon, 155

Every one thinks his own cross the heaviest, 68

Every one thinks that all the bells echo his own thoughts, 155

Every one to his equal, 271

Every one to his own calling, and the Ox to the plough, 117

Every one tries to cross the fence where it is lowest, 366

Every one wishes to bring water to his own mill, and leave his neighbour’s dry, 207 (_See_ Every one draws)

Every pedlar praises his own needles, 206, 270

Every pig has its Martinmas, 271

Every potter praises his pot, and the more if it is cracked, 116, 207

Every potter vaunts his own pot, 13

Every priestling conceals a popeling, 154

Every promise is a debt, 117

Every road leads to Rome, 59, 259

Every rose has its thorn, 117

Every saint has his festival, 68

Every shop has its trick (There are tricks in all trades), 116

Every shot does not bring down a bird, 317

Every ten years one man has need of another, 116

Everything comes in time to him who can wait, 59

Everything does not fall that totters, 59

Everything goes by favour and cousinship, 59

Everything goes to him who does not want it, 59

Everything has an end—except a sausage, which has two, 347

Everything has an end excepting God, 297

Everything has its time, 270

Everything has two handles (or two sides), 297

Everything in its season, and turnips in Advent, 207

Everything is good for something, 116

Everything is good in its season, 90

Everything is of every year, 116

Everything may be borne except good fortune, 116

Everything may be bought except day and night, 41

Everything may be repaired except the neckbone, 129

Everything must have a beginning, 6, 116, 292

Everything new is beautiful, 92

Everything passes, everything breaks, everything wearies, 59

Everything would be well were there not a “but,” 133

Every to-morrow brings its bread, 13

Every truth is not to be told, 117

Every tub must stand on its own bottom, 367

Every vine must have its stake, 117

Every why has its wherefore, 297

Every wind does not shake down the nut, 117

Every wind is against a leaky ship, 366

Every woman would rather be handsome than good, 156

Evil be to him who evil thinks, 82

Evil is soon done, but slowly mended, 395

Evil must be driven out by evil, 390

Evil wastes itself, 395

Evil words corrupt good manners, 302

Exchange is no robbery, 170

Expect not at another’s hand what you can do by your own, 197

Experience is the best teacher, 145

Extravagant offers are a kind of denial, 116

Extremes meet, 34

Eye-service is the courtier’s art, 394

F.

Faint heart is always in danger, 273

Faint heart never won fair lady, 27, 136, 173, 348

Faint praise is akin to abuse, 372

Fair and softly goes far, 45, 283

Fair flowers do not remain long by the wayside, 168

Fair, good, rich, and wise, is a woman four stories high, 8

Fair is he that comes, but fairer he that brings, 54

Fair money can cover much that’s foul, 337

Fair promises bind fools, 74

Fair things are soon snatched away, 8

Fair words and rotten apples, 74

Fair words, but look to your purse, 74

Fair words don’t butter the cabbage, 168

Fair words don’t fill the pocket, 168

Fair words please the fool, and sometimes the wise, 367

Fair words won’t feed a cat, 74