Part 35
Fair words won’t fill the sack, 337, 398
Fall sick, and you will see who is your friend and who not, 215
Falsehood is the Devil’s daughter, and speaks her father’s tongue, 385
Falsehood never tires of going round about, 385
Falsehood travels and grows, 385
Falseness often lurks beneath fair hair, 367
Fame and repute follow a man to the door, 396
Fancy requires much, necessity but little, 174
Far fetched and dear bought is meat for ladies, 340
Far from the eyes, far from the heart, 109
Farewell baskets, the vintage is ended, 2
Fast as the hare runs, the greyhound outruns her, since he catches her, 241
Fat broth cannot be made of nothing, 42
Fat head, lean brains, 77
Fat hens lay few eggs, 148
Fat pastures make fat venison, 8
Father and mother are kind, but God is kinder, 367
Favour and gifts disturb justice, 372
Fear guards the vineyard, 107, 232
Fear is a great inventor, 30
Feather by feather the goose is plucked, 72
Feet accustomed to go cannot be still, 291
Feet that are used to move cannot remain quiet, 240
Feign death and the bull will leave you, 278
Few have luck, all have death, 367
Few women turn grey because their husbands die, 367
Fie upon a cloak in fair weather, 18
“Fie upon thee, how black thou art!” said the kettle to the sauce pan, 369
Fine and fine make but a slender doublet, 18
Fine birds are commonly plucked, 19
Fine feathers make fine birds, 28, 307
Fine linen often conceals a foul skin, 402
Fine words don’t fill the belly, 277, 336
Fine words without deeds go not far, 367
Fire and love do not say, “Go to your work,” 217
Fire and straw soon make a flame, 380
Fire and water are good servants but bad masters, 148, 380
Fire drives the wasp out of its nest, 102
Fire is not quenched with fire, 102
Fire in the heart sends smoke into the head, 148
First a turnip, then a sheep; next a cow, and then the gallows, 318
First come, first served, 36
First look at home, then censure me, 169
First weigh, then venture, 145
Fish and guests smell at three days old, 365
Fish begin to stink at the head, 138
Fit the foot to the shoe, not the shoe to the foot, 264
Five fingers hold more than two forks, 148
Flatterers are cats that lick before and scratch behind, 168
Flattery is sweet food for those who can swallow it, 398
Flies are easier caught with honey than with vinegar, 43
Flies don’t light on a boiling pot, 3, 69
Flies flock to the lean horse, 66
Flowers are the pledges of fruit, 351
Flying from the bull he fell into the river, 225
Folks say there is a lack of four sorts of people on earth: of priests, else one would not have six or seven benefices; of gentlemen, else every boor would not want to be a squire; of whores, else married women and nuns would not carry on the trade; of Jews, else Christians would not practise usury (_Trench quotes this as the longest Proverb known_), 160
Follow the customs, or fly the country, 389
Follow the river and you will reach the sea, 57
Follow the road and you will reach an inn, 271
Folly hath eagle’s wings, but the eyes of an owl, 304
Folly is the most incurable of maladies, 218
Fond of lawsuits, little wealth; fond of doctors, little health; fond of friars, little honour, 198
Fools and the perverse fill the lawyer’s purse, 233
Fools are free all the world over, 312
Fools ask what’s o’clock, but wise men know their time, 305
Fools build houses, wise men buy them, 163
Fools go in throngs, 3
Fools grow without watering, 104
Fools invent fashions and wise men follow them, 34
Fools make feasts, and wise men eat them, 104
Fools must not be set on eggs, 163
Fools sometimes give wise men counsel, 279
Foot firm till death, 268
For a bad tongue, scissors, 265
For a good companion good company, 193
For a good dinner and a gentle wife you can afford to wait, 365
For a stubborn ass a hard goad, 2
For a stubborn ass a stubborn driver, 5
For a voracious beast pebbles in his feed, 263
For a web begun God sends thread, 6, 73
For a wife and a horse go to your neighbour, 106
For all one’s early rising, it dawns none the sooner, 241
For an honest man half his wits are enough; the whole is too little for a knave, 68
For better for worse they have married me, 205
For evil tongues, scissors, 195
For extreme ills extreme remedies, 69
For great evils strong remedies, 341
For lack of men (or good men) they made my father a justice, 241, 292
For love of the ox the wolf licks the yoke (Catalan), 240
For love the wolf eats the sheep, 174
For one pleasure a thousand pains, 46
For overbuying there’s no help but selling again, 6
For poor people small coin, 264
For sake of the knight the lady kisses the squire, 46
For the buyer a hundred eyes are too few, for the seller one is enough, 66
For the flying enemy a golden bridge, 70
For the last comer, the bones, 6
For the upright there are no laws, 148
For want of a nail the shoe is lost, 242
For whom does the blind man’s wife adorn herself? 227
For whom sword and courage are not enough, corslet and lance will not be enough, 201
Forbear a quarrel with a friend to move: anger breeds hatred, concord sweetens love, 334
Forbearance is no acquittance, 134
Forbidden fruit is sweet (or the sweetest), 101, 172
Forced love does not last, 318
Fore-talk spares after-talk, 174
Forewarned, forearmed, 49
Forgive and forget, 172
Forgive thyself nothing and others much, 173
Forgiven is not forgotten, 172
Fortune aids the bold, 197
Fortune and glass soon break, alas! 319
Fortune, and go to sleep, 99
Fortune and misfortune are two buckets in a well, 150
Fortune and women are partial to fools, 150
Fortune can take from us only what she has given us, 29
Fortune comes to him who seeks her, 132
Fortune does not stand waiting at any one’s door, 322
Fortune gives many too much, but no one enough, 137
Fortune helps fools, 106
Fortune is a woman; if you neglect her to-day, expect not to regain her to-morrow, 29
Fortune is like women: loves youth and is fickle, 137
Fortune is round; it makes one a king, another a dunghill, 322
Fortune lost, nothing lost; courage lost, much lost; honour lost, more lost; soul lost, all lost, 320
Fortune often knocks at the door, but the fool does not invite her in, 385
Foster a raven and it will peck out your eyes, 210
Foul linen should be washed at home, 22
Four eyes see more than two, 131, 173, 232, 282
Four things put a man beside himself—women, tobacco, cards, and wine, 245
Foxes come at last to the furrier’s, 17
Fox’s broth, cold and scalding, 207
Free man, free goods (_So_: Free ships, free goods—_American_), 148
Fresh pork and new wine kill a man before his time, 242
Friar Modest never was prior (A modest friar never was prior), 99
Friends and mules fail us at hard passes (Galician), 199, 265
Friends are known in adversity, 287
Friends are known in time of need (Friends in need are friends indeed), 65, 329
Friendship broken may be soldered, but never made whole, 199
Friendship should be unpicked, not rent, 106
Friendships are cheap when they can be bought by doffing the hat, 108
From a bad paymaster take straw (_i.e._ any trifle), 90
From a closed door the devil turns away, 275
From a praying young man, and a fasting old one, God preserve my cloak, 212
From a silent man, and a dog that does not bark, deliver us, 211
From a silent person remove your dwelling, 212
From a spark the house is burnt, 340
From bishop to turn miller, 56
From children expect childish acts, 362
From confessors, doctors, and lawyers, do not conceal the truth of your case, 2
From great rivers come great fish, 274
From little things men go on to great, 340
From long journeys, long lies, 212
From my gossip’s bread a large piece for my godson, 212
From saying to doing is a long way, 90
From short pleasure long repentance, 14
From small beginnings come great things, 340
From smooth (or still) water God preserve me, from rough (or running) I will preserve myself, 90, 211
From snow, whether baked or boiled, you will get nothing but water, 90, 211
From that dust comes this mud, 210
From the boat we get to the ship, 340
From the father comes honour, from the mother comfort, 340
From the same flower the bee extracts honey and the wasp gall, 90
From the soldier who has no cloak, keep your own in your chest, 276
From those I trust God guard me, from those I mistrust I will guard myself, 90
From to-morrow till to-morrow time goes a long journey, 14
From trivial things great contests oft arise, 340
Froth is not beer, 337
Full bottles and glasses make swearers and asses, 341
Full vessels give the least sound, 174
Funeral sermon, lying sermon, 158
G.
Gain has a pleasant odour, come whence it will, 269
Geese are plucked as long as they have any feathers, 333
Gentleness does more than violence, 45
Get a good name, and go to sleep, 67, 208, 272
Get out of that place and let me take it, 43
Gifts are according to the giver, 140
Gifts are often losses, 127
Gifts break (or dissolve) rocks, 210, 273
Gifts make friendship lasting, 390
Give a clown your finger, and he’ll grasp your fist, 70, 299
Give a clown your foot, and he’ll take your hand, 198
Give a grateful man more than he asks, 266
Give a hint to the man of sense, and consider the thing done (A word to the wise is enough), 264
Give a rogue an inch, and he will take an ell, 371
Give a traitor good words and you make him loyal, 213
Give an ass oats and he runs after thistles, 318
Give at first asking what you safely can; ’tis certain gain to help an honest man, 322
Give him a foot and he’ll take four, 57
Give him an inch and he’ll take an ell, 318
Give him your finger and he will seize your hand, 70, 299
Give me a seat, and I will make myself room to lie down, 210
Give me the rhubarb and you may take the senna, 45
Give me money, not advice, 273
Give me the ass that carries me in preference to the horse that throws me, 240
Give orders, and do it yourself, and you will be rid of anxiety, 282
Give orders, and do no more, and nothing will be done, 230, 282
Give out that you have many friends, and believe that you have but few, 22
Give the priest drink, for the clerk is thirsty, 90
Give the wise man a hint and leave him to act, 66
Give time time, 90
Give to a pig when it grunts, and to a child when it cries, and you will have a fine pig, and a bad child, 371
Give to him that has, 90
Give unto the king what is the king’s, and unto God what is God’s, 149
Give your wife the short knife, and keep the long one yourself, 384
Giving alms never lessens the purse, 217
Giving is fishing, 93
Glowworms are not lanterns, 108
Gluttony kills more than the sword, 29, 111
Go in God’s name, for he takes a loaf of mine, 261
Go not every evening to your brother’s house, 194
Go not with every ailment to the doctor, with every plaint to the lawyer, or with every thirst to the can, 230, 286
Go not with every hunger to the cupboard, nor with every thirst to the pitcher, 286
Go softly and look afar, 344
Go softly over bad bits of road, 67
Go to bed late, rise early, you will see your own harm and that of others, 274
Go to bed without supper, and you will rise without debt, 194, 274
Go to the sea if you would fish well, 131
Go to your aunt’s house, but not every day, 194
Go to your rich friend’s house when invited; to your poor friend’s without invitation, 264
God alone understands fools, 15
God comes at last, when we think he is farthest off, 372
God cures, and the doctor takes the fee (or gets the money; or God healeth, and the physician hath the thanks), 92, 150, 214, 275, 323
God deliver me from a man of one book, 214, 319
God deliver us from a gentleman by day and a friar by night, 214
God does not pay weekly, but pays at the end, 319
God does not smite with both hands, 236
God give you luck, my son, for little wit must serve your turn, 261, 295
God gives a curst cow short horns, 65
God gives almonds to some who have no teeth, 210
God gives birds their food, but they must fly for it, 319
God gives clothes according to the cold, 273 (See God sends cold)
God gives every bird its food, but does not throw it into the nest, 372
God gives little folks small gifts, 372
God gives the will, necessity gives the law, 372
God gives wings to the ant that she may perish the sooner, 210
God grant, dear wife, that this son be ours, 253
God grant me to argue (or dispute) with those who understand me, 214, 275
God grant you fortune, my son, for knowledge avails you little, 214
God has given nuts to some who have no teeth, 273
God heals and the doctor has the thanks, 92 (_See_ God cures)
God help the sheep when the wolf is judge, 371
God helps the early riser, 201
God helps the strongest, 150, 319
God helps him who helps himself (or them that help themselves), 53, 85, 152, 191, 252, 274
God helps three sorts of people: fools, children, and drunkards, 15
God is everywhere, except where he has his delegate (_ironical_), 150
God keep me from my friends, from my enemies I will keep myself, 99
God keep you from “It is too late,” 223
God knows who is a good pilgrim, 15
God made us, and we admire ourselves, 224
God never sends mouths but he sends meat, 371
God permits, but not for ever, 274
God puts a good root in the little pig’s way, 6
God save me from one who does not drink, 92
God save me from the man of one book, 92
God save me from the man of one occupation, 92
God save me from those I trust in (or in whom I confide), 15
God save you from a bad neighbour, and from a beginner on the fiddle, 92
God save you from a man who has but one business, 16
God saves the moon from the wolves, 15
God sells knowledge for labour, honour for risk, 320
God sends cold according to the clothes, 15, 92, 372
God sends meat and the devil sends cooks, 92
God sends nothing but what can be borne, 92
God sent him meat, but the devil cooked it, 320
God take you, pound (of flax), drunk out and not yet spun, 194
God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, 1
God will provide, but a good bundle of straw will not be amiss, 214
God’s friend, the priest’s foe, 150
God’s mill goes slowly, but it grinds well, 150
God’s work is soon done, 17
Gold does not buy everything, 109
Gold is gold, though it be in a rogue’s purse, 372
Gold is proved in the fire, friendship in need, 380
Gold lies deep in the mountain, dirt on the highway, 150
Golden bishop, wooden crosier; wooden bishop, golden crosier, 17
Gone is gone; no Jew will lend upon it, 152
Good and bad make up a city, 270
Good bargains are ruinous, 34
Good bargains empty the purse, 108, 151
Good blood will never lie, 9
Good comes to better, and better to bad, 8
Good company makes short miles, 320
Good corn is not reaped from a bad field, 397
Good counsel comes overnight, 151
Good counsel is no better than bad counsel, if it be not taken in time, 395
Good counsel never comes too late, 151
Good counsel will not rot, if it be got in dry, 371
Good day to you all! said the fox, when he got into the goose-pen, 320
Good drink drives out bad thoughts, 320
Good faith is a seldom guest, when you have him, hold him fast, 171
Good faith stole the cow, 170
Good fruit never comes from a bad tree, 287
Good, good, good, but God keep my ass out of his rye, 206
Good hunters track narrowly, 320
Good is good, but better beats it, 101
Good is the delay which makes sure, 269
Good is the fowl which another rears, 205
Good land should not be quitted for a bad landlord, 42
Good leading makes good following, 343
Good luck makes its way by elbowing, 201
Good management is better than good income, 281
Good manners and plenty of money will make my son a gentleman, 270
Good morrow spectacles, farewell lasses, 8
Good never comes too often, 371
Good news is rumoured, bad news flies, 216, 287
Good or bad we must all live, 115
Good people live far asunder, 148
Good repute is better than a golden belt, 9
Good repute is like the cypress: once cut, it never puts forth leaf again, 105
Good right needs good help, 320
Good swimmers are drowned at last, 9, 100
Good table, bad will, 269
Good things require time, 320
Good thongs may be cut out of other people’s hides, 134
Good tree, good fruit, 320
Good ware was never dear, 105
Good watching drives away ill-luck, 8
Good wine is milk for the aged, 151
Good wine makes good blood, 76
Good wine makes the horse go, 4
Good wine needs no crier, 65, 151, 221, 261, 287, 320
Good wine needs no sign, 1
Good wine praises itself, 320
Good wine ruins the purse, and bad the stomach, 151
Good wine sells itself, 151, 216
Good words and bad deeds deceive both wise and simple, 206, 269
Got with the fife, spent with the drum, 161
Govern a horse with a bit, and a shrew with a stick, 399
Grain by grain the hen fills her crop, 223, 278
Grass grows not upon the highway, 336
Grease a churl’s boots and he’ll say you are burning them, 19
Grease the wheels, 130
Great boast, little roast, 321
Great boaster, little doer, 19
Great cry and little wool, 340
Great cry and little wool, as the man said who shaved the sow, 73
Great cry and little wool, said the fool, when he sheared his hogs, 173, 340
Great disputing repels truth, 19
Great fish are caught in great waters, 150
Great fishes break the net, 321
Great fools must have great bells, 320
Great griefs are mute, 101
Great lords have long hands, but they do not reach to heaven, 399
Great lords will have much, and poor folk can give but little, 399
Great men may jest with saints, 150
Great men’s requests are commands, 151, 374
Great men’s servants don’t think little of themselves, 151
Great promisers, bad paymasters, 151, 320
Great scholars are not the shrewdest men, 34
Great smoke, little roast, 100
Great talkers are commonly liars, 151
Great talkers are not great doers, 34, 321
Great thieves always have their sleeves full of gags, 34
Great thieves hang little ones, 34, 150
Great trees give more shade than fruit, 150
Great wealth, great care, 321
Great wits meet, 33
Greater fools than they of Zago, who dunged the steeple to make it grow, 120
Greatness alone is not enough, or the cow would outrun the hare, 150
Green Christmas, a white Easter, 151
Grey hairs are death’s blossoms, 371
Grief for a dead wife lasts to the door, 93, 276
Guessing is missing, 319
H.
“Had I known” is a poor man, 151
Had it not been for an if, the old woman would have bitten a wolf, 374
Hair by hair, and the head gets bald, 364
Half a brain is enough for him who says little, 66
Half a house is half a hell, 151
Half a word to the wise is enough, 314
Half figs, half raisins, 39
Handsome apples are sometimes sour, 168, 337
Handsome is not what is handsome, but what pleases, 112
Handsome is that handsome does, 168
Handsome women generally fall to the lot of ugly men, 69
Handsomely asked, handsomely refused, 1
Hang the young thief, and the old one will not steal, 373
Hannibal is at the gate, 321
Happy he who can take warning from the mishaps of others, 397
Happy is she who is in love with an old dotard, 74
Happy is the man who has a handsome wife close to an abbey, 37
Happy the child whose father goes to the devil, 20
Happy the house in which there is no shaven crown, 205
Hard against hard never was good, 151
Hard is a new law imposed on old licence, 95
Hard upon hard never made a good wall, 95, 276
Hares are caught with hounds, fools with praise, and women with gold, 162
Hares are not caught with drums, 42, 333
Harm watch harm catch, 49, 78
Haste makes waste, 321
Hasten at leisure, 20, 142
Hastiness is the beginning of wrath, and its end repentance, 321
Hasty questions require slow answers, 336
Hasty speed don’t oft succeed, 321
Hat in hand goes through the land, 153
Hatred renewed is worse than at first, 116
Have a bill to pay at Easter, and your Lent will be short, 213
Have luck and sleep, 126 (_See_ Fortune and go to sleep)
Having is having, come whence it may, 151
He asks advice in vain who will not follow it, 46
He avoided the fly and swallowed the spider, 278
He beat the bushes and another caught the birds, 20
He begins to grow bad who believes himself good, 88
He burns the candle at both ends, 325
He buys honey dear who has to lick it off thorns, 327
He buys very dear who begs, 268
He buys well who is not called a donkey, 205
He came time enough who was hung by candlelight, 373
He can do but little who cannot threaten another, 203
He cannot find water in the sea, 235
He cannot lead a good life who serves without wages, 75
He cannot lay eggs, but he can cackle, 327
He carries fire and water, 26
He counts his chickens before they are hatched, 327
He cries out before he is hurt, 96
He dances well to whom fortune pipes, 73, 177
He did not invent gunpowder, 236
He does a good day’s work who rids himself of a fool, 9
He does not a little who burns his house: he frightens the rats and warms himself, 235
He does not guard himself well who is not always on his guard, 24
He does not live in this world that can skin a grindstone, 354
He doubts nothing who knows nothing, 284
He drives a good waggonful into his farm who gets a good wife, 372
He earns a farthing and has a penn’orth of thirst, 327
He expects that larks will fall ready roasted into his mouth, 20
He expects to find water at the first stroke of the spade, 195
He falls into the pit who leads another into it, 207
He falls on his back and breaks his nose, 26
He fears the sack who has been in it, 355
He fishes on who catches one, 59
He forgot nothing except to say farewell, 23
He flays enough who holds the foot, 5
He gains enough who loses sorrow, 5
He gains much who loses a vain hope, 73
He gapes like a clown at a fair, 326
He gathers up ashes and scatters flour, 197
He gives twice who gives in a trice, 53, 79, 179, 247
He goes about it like a cat round hot milk, 145
He goes as willingly as a thief to the gallows, 145
He goes safely to trial whose father is a judge, 251
He goes safely who has nothing, 57
He got out of the mud and fell into the river, 131
He had need rise betimes who who would please everybody, 54, 355
He hangs the May-branch at every door. (Alluding to the Italian custom of young men hanging out May-branches overnight before the door of their mistress), 73
He has a good pledge of the cat who has her skin, 9
He has a head, and so has a pin, 276
He has a ton of knowledge, but the bottom is out, 326
He has a wolf-conscience, 326
He has beans in his ears. (Who so deaf as he that will not hear?) 145
He has command of the sack who is seated on it, 373
He has done like the Perugian who, when his head was broken, ran home for his helmet, 95
He has eaten his corn in the blade, 20
He has enough to do who holds the handle of the frying-pan, 8
He has enough who is content, 5
He has given the hen for the egg, 145
He has great need of a fool who makes himself one, 19
He has him under his thumb, 326
He has lost the nest-egg, 326
He has much to do who would please everybody, 233
He has not done who who is beginning, 40
He has nothing, for whom nothing is enough, 55, 286
He has put all his eggs into one basket, 20
He has seen the wolf, 326
He has the Bible on his lips, but not in his heart, 326
He hauls at a long rope who expects another’s death, 70
He howls with the wolves, and bleats with the sheep, 326
He is a bad shot who cannot find an excuse, 143
He is a bad smith who cannot bear smoke, 143
He is a bad workman who cannot talk of work, 146
He is a fool that praises himself, and a madman that speaks ill of himself, 353
He is a fool who boasts of four things: that he has good wine, a good horse, a handsome wife, and plenty of money, 118