Part 38
I would rather see smoke from my own chimney than the fire on another’s hearth, 374
Idleness is hunger’s mother, and of theft it is full brother, 331
Idleness is the devil’s bolster, 384
Idleness is the root of all evil, 162
If a beard were all, the goat would be the winner, 402
If a man has folly in his sleeve, it will be sure to peep out, 376
If a man would know what he is, let him anger his neighbours, 186
If a man would learn to pray let him go often to sea, 54
If a poor man gives to you, he expects more in return, 294
If envy were a fever, all the world would be ill, 402
If every one were wise, a fool would be the prize, 174
If folly were a pain, there would be groaning in every house, 257
If fools ate no bread, corn would be cheap, 178, 345
If God bids thee draw, he will find thee a rope; if he bids thee ride, he will find thee a horse, 349
If God gives not bushelfuls, he gives spoonfuls, 371
If he waits long enough, the world will be his own, 299
If I am a fool, put your finger in my mouth, 258
If I am seen, I am joking; if I am not seen, I steal, 169
If I am to be drowned, it shall be in clean water, 169
If I have lost the ring I still have the fingers, 125, 258
“If I rest, I rust,” says the key, 166
If I sleep, I sleep for myself; if I work, I know not for whom, 126
If I went to sea I should find it dry, 125
If it is to be luck, the bull may as well calve as the cow, 391
If it only depends on swearing, the cow is ours, 56
If it rained maccaroni, what a fine time for gluttons!, 126
If lies are to find belief, they must be patched with truth, 397
If lies were Latin, there would be many learned men, 403
If one, two, three say you are an ass, put on a tail, 258
If one won’t another will, 330
If pride were an art, how many doctors we should have, 125
If some men know who some men were, then some would pay the more honour there, 178
If the beard were all, the goat might preach, 357
If the bitch were not in such haste, she would not litter blind puppies, 142
If the child cries, let the mother hush it, and if it will not be hushed, let it cry, 257
If the eyes don’t see, the heart won’t break, 238
If the hen did not cackle, no one would know what she had been about, 357
If the hen had not cackled we should not know she had laid an egg, 126
If the landlady is fair, the wind is fair, 154
If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain, 257
If the pitcher knocks against a stone, woe to the pitcher; and if the stone knocks against the pitcher, woe to the pitcher, 257
If the prince wants an apple, his servants take the tree, 177
If the rings are lost, here are the fingers still, 125, 258
If the servant grows rich and the master poor, they are both good for nothing, 177
If the sky falls, hold up your hands, 256
If the sky falls there will be pots broken, 256
If the sky were to fall we should catch plenty of larks, 56
If the sun shines on me I care not for the moon, 125
If the weather is fine, put on your cloak; if it rains, do as you please, 56
If the wife sins, the husband is not innocent, 125
If the wolf had stayed in the wood there would have been no hue and cry after him, 136
If the wolf would cease his running, the people would cease their shouting, 159
If the young man knew, if the old man could, there is nothing but would be done, 125
If there be a hell, Rome is built over it, 178
If there were no receiver there would be no thief, 236
If this ball does not stick to the wall, it will at least leave a mark, 257
If thou touchest pitch thou shalt be defiled, 321 (_See_ He who touches)
If thoughts were legal witnesses, many an honest man would be proved a rogue, 402
If we pay for the music we will join in the dance, 56, 136
If wishes were true, shepherds would be kings (If wishes would bide, beggars would ride), 57
If wood-hewing were an order, there would be fewer monks, 174
If you are a mouse don’t follow frogs, 126
If you are an anvil, be patient; if you are a hammer, strike hard, 136
If you cannot get the bird, get one of its feathers, 367
If you cannot heal the wound, do not tear it open, 363
If you cannot say it, point to it with your finger, 57
If you can’t bite, don’t show your teeth, 126
If you can’t get it in bushels, take it in spoonfuls, 152
If you eat it up at supper, you cannot have it at breakfast, 257
If you have a friend who is a doctor, make your bow and send him to the house of your enemy, 258
If you have a friend who is a physician, send him to the house of your enemy, 294
If you have a loitering servant, set his dinner before him and send him on an errand, 197
If you have a sore eye wipe it with your elbow (Elbow-grease is a great preventive of disease), 32
If you have learnt to wait, you may be Queen of Sweden, 374
If you have no arrows in your quiver, go not with archers, 152
“If you have no money, turn placeman!” as the court fool said to his prince, 152
If you let them put the calf on your shoulders, it will not be long before they clap on the cow, 126
If you listen at a hole, you will hear ill of yourself as well as others, 222
If you love me, John, your acts will tell me so, 256
If you pay what you owe, what you’re worth you’ll know, 238
If you pull one pig by the tail all the rest squeak, 339
If you want clear water, draw it from the spring, 294
If you want fire, look for it in the ashes, 181
If you want to be dead, wash your head and go to bed, 257
If you want to be revenged, hold your tongue, 256
If you want to beat a dog, say he eat your iron, 239
If you want to know secrets, seek for them in trouble or in pleasure, 257
If you want to know what a ducat (or dollar) is worth, try to borrow one, 257, 294
If you want to thrash your wife, ask her for a drink of water in the sun, 257 (_i.e._ to find fault with its impurity)
If you will stir up the mire, you must bear the smell, 379
If you wish to be well served, serve yourself, 257, 294
If you would be a good judge, hear what every one says, 294
If you would be healthy, be wise betimes, 294
If you would catch a fox you must hunt with geese, 392
If you would earn (or deserve) fame, let not the sun shine on you (or find you) in bed, 257
If you would grow poor without perceiving it, employ workmen and go to sleep, 294
If you would have the dog follow you, give him bread, 253, 299
If you would have the lamp burn, you must pour oil into it, 169
If you would have your work ill done, pay beforehand, 87
If you would make a thief honest, trust him, 253
If you’ve money, take a seat; if you’ve none, take to your feet, 152
If your head is made of butter, don’t be a baker, 57 (_See_ He who has a head)
If youth knew! if age could!, 56 (_See_ If the young man, &c.)
Ill befal the belly that forgets eaten bread, 282
Ill begun, ill done, 331
Ill fares the young bird in the urchin’s hand, 282
Ill got, ill spent, 171
Ill-gotten goods never prosper, 172
Ill in kine and worse in beeves, 109
Ill luck comes by pounds and goes away by ounces, 102
Ill luck enters by fathoms and departs by inches, 218
Ill luck is good for something, 5
Ill luck upon ill luck, and a stone for a pillow, 230
Ill-matched horses draw badly, 336
Ill news comes apace (or travels fast), 77, 115
Ill tidings come soon enough, 331
Ill weeds are not hurt by frost, 262, 277
Ill weeds grow apace, 38, 106, 331, 336
Ill weeds grow the fastest and last the longest, 394
In a calm sea every man is a pilot, 177
In a golden sheath a leaden knife, 104
In a smith’s house the knife is wooden, 221
In a wood don’t walk behind another, 242
In at one ear and out at the other, 91, 120, 277
In borrowing an angel, in repaying a devil, 6
In default of bread, meal cakes are good, 265
In eating ’tis good to begin, one morsel helps the other in, 318
In frosty weather a nail is worth a horse, 222
In hawks, hounds, arms, and love, for one pleasure a thousand pains, 16
In hunting and in love you begin when you like, and leave off when you can, 221
In less than a thousand years we shall all be bald, 200
In marriage cheat who can, 17
In men every mortal sin is venial, in women every venial sin is mortal, 68
In my own house I am a king, 232
In old houses many mice, in old furs many lice, 154
In prosperity caution, in adversity patience, 329
In prosperity no altars smoke, 111
In prosperity think of adversity, 330
In small woods may be caught large hares, 329
In still water are the largest fish, 381
In still water the worms are worst, 381
In the division of inheritance friendship standeth still, 329
In the end it will be known who ate the bacon, 2
In the evening one may praise the day, 134
In the fiddler’s (or bagpiper’s) house every one is a dancer, 17, 221
In the fray the weak are strong, 111
In the garden more grows than the gardener sows, 233
In the land of promise a man may die of hunger, 329
In the land of the blind blessed is he that hath one eye, 104
In the land of the blind the one-eyed is a king, 329
In the long run the greyhound kills the hare, 195, 288
In the looking-glass we see the form, in wine the heart, 153
In the report of riches and goodness always bate one half, 211
In the rich woman’s house she always commands; he never, 221
In the tail lies the venom, 3
In the war of love who flies conquers, 111
In time a mouse will gnaw through a cable, 334
In time of war the devil makes more room in hell, 150
In too much disputing truth is lost, 44
In war, hunting, and love, for one pleasure a hundred pains, 279
In war it is best to tie your horse to a strange manger, 380
In war time there is pay for every horse, 104
Incense intoxicates, and every one wishes for it, 33
Industry is the parent of fortune, 148
Ingratitude is the world’s reward, 171
Ingratitude sickens benevolence, 171
Injurious is the gift that takes away freedom, 90
Intemperance is the doctor’s wet-nurse, 172
Invite your son-in-law to a fowl, and he will take away the lemon, 209
Iron may be rubbed so long that it gets heated, 42
Iron not used soon rusts, 278
It befits the king to be liberal, for he is sure of never falling into poverty, 266
It dawns none the sooner for all one’s early rising, 286
It does not become the sparrow to mix in the dance of the cranes, 363
It does not depend upon the dog when the horse shall die, 363
It fares ill with the house when the distaff commands the sword, 209, 282
It flows like a fountain from a broomstick, 325
It goes ill in the house where the hen sings and the cock is silent, 260
It grieveth one dog that the other goeth into the kitchen, 323
It hangs upon a silken thread, 322
It has been blowing hard—the dirt has been blown into high places, 362
It is a bad game where nobody wins, 98
It is a bad hand that refuses to guard the head, 359
It is a bad hen that eats at your house and lays at another’s, 235
It is a bad hen that lays her eggs away from the farm, 359
It is a bad hen that lays in neighbours’ houses, 171
It is a bad horse that does not earn his fodder, 143
It is a bad sheep that is too lazy to carry its own fleece, 361
It is a bad thing to be a knave, but worse to be known for one, 96
It is a bad well into which one must put water, 136, 323, 359
It is a bold mouse that makes her nest in the cat’s ear, 359
It is a good file that cuts iron without making a noise, 75
It is a good horse that never stumbles, 25
It is a great art to laugh at your own misfortunes, 361
It is a grief to one beggar that another stands at the door, 323
It is a hard morsel that chokes, 323
It is a lazy bird that will not build its own nest, 359
It is a long lane that has no turning, 323
It is a loss of soap to wash the ass’s head, 228
It is a poor fox that has but one hole, 145
It is a poor horse that is not worth its oats, 359
It is a poor mouse that has but one hole, 323, 347
It is a poor roast that gives no dripping, 359
It is a sorry house in which the cock is silent and the hen crows, 60, 128 (_See_ It fares ill and It goes ill)
It is a wise child that knows its own father, 146, 217, 359
It is all one whether you are bit by a dog or a bitch, 7
It is all one whether you die of sickness or love, 128
It is always good to have two strings to your bow, 97
It is always well to keep hold of your horse’s bridle, 21
It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest, 146, 201, 267
It is an ill turn that does no good to any one, 359
It is approved alchemy to have an income and spend nothing, 198, 265
It is as bad to spit out the fire and be shamed, as it is to swallow it and be burnt, 362
It is as well to be naked as to have no covering, 361
It is bad baking without flour and water, 165
It is bad for puppies to play with bear-cubs, 380
It is bad iron in which there is no steel, 361
It is bad marketing with empty pockets, 334
It is bad preaching to deaf ears, 170
It is bad to be between two fires, 361
It is bad to have a servant, but worse to have a master, 282
It is bad to lean against a falling wall, 394
It is best to play with equals, 384
It is better the child should cry than the father, 146
It is better to be the first of one’s race than the last (meanest), 27
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil, 27
It is better to bend than break, 27
It is better to blow than burn your mouth, 322
It is better to buy dearly than to hunger direly, 350
It is better to deal with a whole fool than half a fool, 146
It is better to have a husband without love than jealous, 110
It is better to have to do with God than with his saints, 26
It is better to hear the nightingale sing than the mouse gnaw, 97
It is better to irritate a dog than an old woman, 97
It is better to leap over the ditch than trust to the pleadings of good men, 232
It is better to leave than to lack, 96
It is better to leave the child’s nose dirty than wring it off, 22
It is better to lose than lose more (The first loss is the best), 232
It is better to make conditions in the bush than in prison, 349
It is better to scrape the cheese than to peel it, 363
It is better to strive with a stubborn ass than to carry the wood on one’s back, 231
It is better to turn back than go astray, 171
It is bitter fare to eat one’s own words, 360
It is courage that vanquishes in war, and not good weapons, 199
It is cowardly to fly from a living enemy, or to abuse a dead one, 384
It is dangerous to eat cherries with the great, they throw the stones at your head, 359
It is dear-bought butter that is licked off a woolcomb, 358
It is dear honey that must be licked off thorns, 170
It is difficult to get many heads under one hat, 361
It is difficult to hide what everybody knows, 361
It is difficult to spit honey out of a mouth full of gall, 361
It is difficult to tie an unborn horse to the manger, 372
It is difficult to trap an old fox, 394
It is easier to blame than do better, 170
It is easier to build two hearths than always to keep a fire on one, 146
It is easier to fill a rogue’s belly than his eyes, 386
It is easier to get away from the bank than the bottom, 21
It is easier to guard against a bushel of fleas than a woman, 146
It is easier to make a lady of a peasant-girl than a peasant-girl of a lady, 332
It is easier to stem the brook than the river, 349
It is easy robbing when the dog is quieted, 121
It is easy to be generous out of another man’s purse, 323, 360
It is easy to bid the devil be your guest, but difficult to get rid of him, 361
It is easy to cut thongs from other men’s leather, 324 (_See_ Good thongs)
It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog, 98, 332
It is easy to find the rod when another finds the bottom, 361
It is easy to give advice when all goes well, 122
It is easy to help him who is willing to be helped, 185
It is easy to manage when fortune favours, 360
It is easy to poke another man’s fire, 360
It is easy to preach fasting with a full belly, 95
It is easy to sit at the helm in fine weather, 371
It is easy to stride a tree when it is down, 361
It is easy to swim, when another holds up your head, 360
It is easy to threaten a bull from a window, 95
“It is easy to work with a good comb,” said the devil, when he combed his mother’s hair with a pitchfork, 360
It is fair and just to cheat the cheater, 225
It is folly to drown on dry land, 358
It is folly to fear what one cannot avoid, 351
It is folly to gape against an oven, 11, 361
It is folly to sing twice to a deaf man, 358
It is folly to take a thorn out of another’s foot and put it into your own, 358
It is good fishing in troubled waters, 43, 202, 329
It is good living under the shadow of the belfry, 126
It is good rowing with set sail, 336
It is good sailing with wind and tide, 341
It is good speaking that improves good silence, 323
It is good spinning from another’s yarn, 324
It is good to be a priest at Easter, child in Lent, peasant at Christmas, and foal in harvest-time, 360
It is good to beat a proud man when he is alone, 21
It is good to buy when another wants to sell, 95
It is good to go afoot when one is tired of riding, 324
It is good to have friends everywhere, 21, 95
It is good to hold the clothes of one who is swimming, 95
It is good to lend to God and to the soil—they pay good interest, 360
It is good to sleep in a whole skin, 134, 323, 360
It is good to warm oneself by another’s fire, 324
It is hard to blow with a full mouth, 334
It is hard to catch birds with an empty hand, 162
It is hard to catch hares with unwilling hounds, 334
It is hard to find a pin in the dark, 324
It is hard to glean after a niggardly husbandman, 394
It is hard to labour with an empty belly, 362
It is hard to lure hawks with empty hands, 361
It is hard to make a fire on a cold hearth, 361
It is hard to pay for bread that has been eaten, 395
It is hard to please every one, 317
It is hard to sail without wind, and to grind without water, 394
It is hard to steal where the host himself is a thief, 146, 324 (_See_ It is not easy)
It is hard to swim against the stream, 338
It is hard to teach an old dog tricks, 361
It is hard to teach old dogs to bark, 137, 336
It is hard to track the path the ship follows in the ocean, 356
It is harder work getting to hell than to heaven, 154
It is ill catching hares with drums, 324
It is ill sailing against wind and tide, 338
It is in putting it into the oven that the loaf is made crooked, 196
It is in vain for a man to rise early who has the repute of lying in bed all the morning, 20
It is in vain to cast nets in a river where there are no fish, 221
It is in vain to lay a net in sight of the birds, 104
It is in vain to lead the ox to the water if he is not thirsty, 41
It is just that the priest should live by the altar, 21
It is loving too much to die of love, 12
It is more necessary to guard the mouth than the chest, 146
It is no child’s play when an old woman dances, 146, 358
It is no honour for an eagle to vanquish a dove, 112
It is no time to play chess when the house is on fire, 112
It is no use hiding from a friend what is known to an enemy, 362
It is not all gold that glitters, 358
It is not all who turn their backs that flee, 352
It is not always good to be wise, 176
It is not easy to guard the hen that lays her eggs abroad, 361
It is not easy to know your butter in another man’s cabbage, 360
It is not easy to pluck hairs from a bald pate, 361
It is not easy to show the way to a blind man, 68
It is not easy to steal in thieves’ houses, 96 (_See_ It is hard to steal)
It is not easy to sting a bear with a straw, 360
It is not easy to walk upon the devil’s ice, 360
It is not enough to aim, you must hit, 91
It is not enough to have cabbage, one must have something to grease it, 10
It is not enough to know how to steal, one must know also how to conceal, 111
It is not enough to run; one must start in time, 11
It is not every flower that smells sweet, 113
It is not every hog that the crow will ride, 359
It is not every man that can carry a falcon on his hand, 360
It is not every one who takes the right sow by the ear, 360
“It is not for my own sake,” said the fox, “that I say there is a good goose-green in the wood,”, 382
It is not for nothing that the devil lays himself down in the ditch, 360
It is not for the good of the cow when she is driven in a carriage, 358
It is not for the swan to teach eaglets to sing, 358
It is not good to be the poet of a village, 146
It is not in the pilot’s power to prevent the wind from blowing, 235
It is not necessary to fish up every bucket that falls into the well, 112
It is not the big oxen that do the best day’s work, 34
It is not the cowl that makes the friar, 305
It is not the fine, but the coarse and ill-spun that breaks, 237
It is not the greatest beauties that inspire the most profound passion, 10
It is not the hen which cackles most that lays most eggs, 322
It is not the load but the overload that kills, 236
It is not the long day, but the heart that does the work, 102
It is not the surplice that makes parson or clerk, 382
It is not till the cow has lost her tail that she discovers its value, 178
It is nothing at all, only a woman drowning, 10
It is nothing, they are only thrashing (or killing) my husband, 235, 285
It is of no use making shoes for geese, 358
It is only at the tree loaded with fruit that people throw stones, 42
It is only good bargains that ruin, 26
It is only the bashful that lose, 26
It is only the blind who ask why they are loved who are fair, 363
It is only the first bottle that is dear, 25
It is pleasant driving where there is no danger of upsetting, 363
It is pleasant enough going afoot when you lead your horse by the bridle, 21
It is pleasant to cut thongs of another man’s leather, 340 (_See_ Good thongs)
It’s pleasant to look on the rain, when one stands dry, 323
It is poor comfort for one who has broken his leg, that another has broken his neck, 362
It is prophet-drink (_i.e._ water), 324
It is safe to lend barley to him who has oats, 353
It is safest sailing within reach of the shore, 301
It is the bait that lures, not the fisherman or the rod, 206, 230
It is the master-wheel that makes the mill go round, 11
It is the nature of the greyhound to carry a long tail, 274
It is the old cow’s notion that she never was a calf, 21
It is the petty expenses that empty the purse, 108
It is the raised stick that makes the dog obey, 375
It is the tone that makes the music, 11
It is time enough to take off your hat when you see the man, 362
It is too late for the bird to scream when it is caught, 60
It is too late to come with water when the house is burnt down, 128
It is too late to cover the well when the child is drowned, 359
It is too late to cry “Hold hard!” when the arrow has left the bow, 324
It is too late to lock the stable door when the steed is stolen, 21, 324
It is too late to throw water on the cinders when the house is burnt down, 359
It is too much to expect of a cat that she should sit by the milk and not lap it, 146
It is truth that makes a man angry, 91
It is useless to gape against an oven, 11, 361
It is vain to fish if the hook is not baited, 104
It is vain to fish without a hook, or learn to read without a book, 368
It is very savoury to eat scot free, 223
It is well to fly low on account of the branches, 8
It is well to have clean bread in one’s wallet, 371
It is well to know how to be silent till it is time to speak, 270
It is well to leave off playing when the game is at its best, 22
It little avails the unfortunate to be brave, 196
It must be a hard winter when one wolf devours another, 363
It needs a cunning hand to shave a fool’s head, 325
It needs a high wall to keep out fear, 357