Part 39

It needs a light spirit to bear a heavy fate, 357

It needs but slight provocation to make the wolf devour the lamb, 359

It never thunders but it rains, 115

It sticks to his fingers, like the charity-money to the matron, 321

It takes a good many mice to kill a cat, 357

It takes four living men to carry one dead man out of a house, 66

It takes many words to fill a sack, 356

It will all come out in the soap-suds, 259

“It will come back,” said the man, when he gave his sow pork, 362

It will not do to keep holidays before they come, 23

It won’t do to trifle with fire, 23

It would be a very big book that contained all the maybes uttered in a day, 42

Italian devotion and German fasting have no meaning, 403

It’s a bad mouthful that chokes, 98

It’s a very proud horse that will not carry his oats, 127

It’s bad combing where there is no hair, 324

It’s good dancing on another man’s floor, 324

It’s good feasting in another’s hall, 324

It’s good steering with wind and tide, 312

It’s hard to catch hawks with empty hands (With emptie hands men may no haukes lure—CHAUCER), 334

It’s ill jesting with edged tools, 324

J.

Jack gets on by his stupidity, 151

Jack is as good as his master, 295

Jacob’s voice, Esau’s hands, 154

Jealousy is a pain which eagerly seeks what causes pain, 142

Jest not in earnest (Motto of the Margrave of Brandenburg), 167

Jest so that it may not turn to earnest, 195

Jest with your equals, 389

Jesting costs money, 225

John has been to school to learn to be a fool, 28

Joy and sorrow are next-door neighbours (Joy and sorrow are to-day and to-morrow), 148

Joy is like the ague; one good day between two bad ones, 371

Judges should have two ears, both alike, 166

Justice, but not in my own house, 225

Justice has a waxen nose, 137

Justice oft leans to the side where the purse pulls, 400

K.

Keep good company and you shall be of the number, 264

Keep not two tongues in one mouth, 389

Keep to the little ones, and the big ones will not bite you, 374

Keep well with your neighbours, whether right or wrong, 151

Keep your mouth, and keep your friend, 370

Keep your nose out of another’s mess, 375

Keep yourself from opportunities and God will keep you from sins, 100

Kill and thou wilt be killed, and he will be killed who kills thee, 232

Kill no more than you can salt, or you will have tainted meat, 398

Kin or no kin, woe to him who has nothing, 118

Kind words and few are a woman’s ornament, 403

Kind words don’t wear out the tongue, 401

Kind words heal friendship’s wounds, 371

Kindness breaks no bones, 151

Kindred without friends, friends without power, power without will, will without effect, effect without profit, profit without virtue, are not worth a rush, 44

Kings’ entreaties are commands, 299

Kings have long hands, 36

Kisses are the messengers of love, 383

Know, cabbages, that there is spinach in the stew, 255

Knowing hens lay even in nettles, 157

L.

Labour has a bitter root, but a sweet taste, 347

Labour warms, sloth harms, 299

“Ladies have ladies’ whims,” said crazy Ann, when she draggled her cloak in the gutter, 369

Lambs don’t run into the mouth of the sleeping wolf, 384

Large thongs of another man’s leather (_See_ Good thongs), 211

Large trees give more shade than fruit, 99, 120

Lasses and glasses are always in danger, 99

Late fruit keeps well, 169

Late repentance is seldom worth much, 397

Laughter makes good blood, 103

Law helps the waking, luck may come to the sleeping, 385

Laws go the way kings direct, 196

Laws go where dollars please, 280

Laws have wax noses, 35

Laws were made for rogues, 108

Lawyers and painters can soon change white to black, 385

Lawyers are bad Christians, 156

Lawyers’ houses are built of fools’ heads, 35

Lawyers’ robes are lined with the obstinacy of suitors, 109

Lay your hand on your bosom and you will not speak ill of another, 283

Lean meat from a fat pig, 272

Learn thou of learned men, th’ unlearned of thee; for thus must knowledge propagated be, 332

Learned fools are the greatest of all fools, 140, 149

Leave no nail unclenched, 113

Leave the jest at its best, 195

Leave the minster where it is, 29

Lend to your friend, and ask payment of your enemy, 383

Lent, which seems so long, is short at other men’s tables, 107

Less advice and more hands, 177

Let a child have its will and it will not cry, 383

Let a dog get at a dish of honey, and he will jump in with both legs, 384

Let a saint be ever so humble, he will have his wax taper, 381

Let every bird sing its own note, 366

Let every fox take care of his own tail, 117

Let every man carry his own sack to the mill, 170, 366 (_See_ Every man must carry)

Let every man look to the bread upon which he must depend, 271

Let every man mind his own business, and leave others to theirs, 271

Let every man mind his own business, and the cows will be well tended, 12

Let every one be content with what God has given him, 271

Let every one keep off the flies with his own tail, 117

Let every one look to himself, and no one will be lost, 317

Let every one sweep before his own door, 155

Let every sheep hang by its own leg (Every man should support himself, and not hang upon another), 207, 270

Let God’s waters run over God’s acres, 319

Let him eat the tough morsel who eat the tender, 272

Let him not be a lover who has no courage, 70

Let him not complain of being cheated who buys cloth by the pattern, 237

Let him play the instrument who knows how, 249

Let him stay at the oar who has learnt to row, 383

Let him that has a mouth not say to another, Blow, 233

Let him that itches scratch himself, 53, 177

Let him who does not know you buy you, 251

Let him who feels he has a dirty nose wipe it, 53

Let him who is cold blow the fire, 48

Let him who is well off hold his tongue, 177

Let him who is well off stay where he is, 86

Let him who would reach another a brand, beware that he do not burn his own hand, 378

Let it be a husband, though it be but a log, 256

Let lie what is too heavy to lift, 303

Let me get over the lake, and I have no fear of the brook, 330

Let me go warm, and folks may laugh, 199, 266

Let no one say, “Of this water I will not drink,”, 235

Let no one take a pawn that eats, 242

Let no shovel-beaked bird ever enter your yard, 204

Let not him who has a mouth ask another to blow, 299

Let not the tongue utter what the head must pay for, 235, 284

Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth, 158

Let not your shirt know all your thoughts (or your secret), 48, 117, 129

Let people talk and dogs bark, 158

Let the blood be ever so thin, it is always thicker than water, 351

Let the dead rest, 158

Let the devil get into the church, and he will mount the altar, 158

Let the dog bark so he don’t bite me, 226, 280

Let the giver be silent and the receiver speak, 271

Let the guest go before the storm bursts, 158

Let the guts be full, for it is they that carry the legs, 228, 268

Let the injurer not forget, 84

Let the miracle be wrought, though it be by the devil, 223

Let the sun shine on me, for I care not for the moon, 220

Let them talk of me, and beg of me, 212

Let them whip me in the market-place, provided it be not known at home, 204

Let there be food in the pigeon-house, and the pigeons will come to it, 204, 235

Let there be writing before you pay, and receipt before you write, 222

Let those pater-nosters be for your own soul (Ironical against swearing), 242

Let us first catch the bear and then sell its skin, 120

Let us have florins and we shall find cousins, 65

Let what is lost go for God’s sake, 229

Liars should have good memories, 101, 159

Liberal hands make many friends, 396

Lies and gossip have a wretched offspring, 385

Lies and Latin go round the world, 385

Lies have short legs, 75, 159

Lies melt like snow, 159

Life at court is often a short cut to hell, 374

Life is half spent before one knows what life is, 31

Light burdens borne far become heavy, 6, 158

Light gains make a heavy purse, 332

Light is bad for sore eyes, 3

Light is light, though the blind man see it not, 158

Lightly come, lightly go, 332

Like a collier’s sack, bad without and worse within, 209

Like blood, like means, and like age, make the happiest marriage, 150

Like box-makers, more noise than work, 55

Like father, like son, 292

Like king, like law; like law, like people, 292

Like King Petaud’s court, where every one is master, 11

Like lips, like lettuce, 73, 187

Like master, like man, 58, 127, 187, 345

Like plays best with like, 384

Like pot, like cover, 345

Like saint, like incense (or offering), 56, 73

Like to like, Jack to Gill, a penny a pair, 319

Like well like bucket, 73

Like will to like, 53, 126

Like will to like—a scabbed horse and a sandy dike, 397

“Like will to like,” as the devil said to the coal-burner, 150

Like will to like, be they poor or rich, 317

Link by link the coat of mail is made, 37

Lion-skins were never had cheap, 26

Lip courtesy avails (or pleases) much and costs little, 118, 209

Listeners hear no good of themselves, 248

Little and often makes a heap in time, 177

Little beard, little modesty, 200, 240

Little bird, little nest, 194

Little brooks make great rivers, 35

Little by little one goes far, 240

Little by little the bird builds its nest, 45

Little children and headaches, great children and heartaches, 98

Little children, little sorrows; big children, great sorrows, 398

Little chips kindle the fire, and big logs sustain it, 291

Little enemies and little wounds are not to be despised, 157

Little fish are sweet (All is fish that comes to the net), 330

Little folks are fond of talking about what great folks do, 141

Little is done where many command, 296

Little pitchers have long ears, 45

Little pots soon run (or boil) over, 157, 330

Little presents maintain friendship, 35

Little saints also perform miracles, 398

Little sorrows are loud, great ones silent, 398

Little strokes fell great oaks, 330

Little thieves are hanged by the neck, great ones by the purse, 105, 330

Little thieves have iron chains, and great thieves gold ones, 330

Little wood, much fruit, 343

Live according to your means, 389

Live and learn, 132

Live and let live, 132, 158, 333

Loaves put awry into the oven come out awry, 3

Locks and keys are not made for honest fingers, 167

Long absence changes friends, 37

Long borrowed is not given, 158

Long choosing and cheapening ends in buying nothing, or bad wares, 183

Long fasting is no bread sparing, 158, 331

Long is not for ever, 158

Long life to the conqueror, 262

Long talk makes short days, 37

Long-talked-of (or looked-for) comes at last, 159

Long tongue, short hand, 37, 109

Longer than a day without bread, 120

Look before you leap, 100, 145

Look for the hog at the oak, 72

Look not a gift horse in the mouth, 2, 66, 149, 194, 313, 389

Look with suspicion on the flight of an enemy, 106

Lords and fools speak freely, 374

Lose no rights and commit no extortions, 230

Love, a cough, smoke, and money, cannot long be hid (or are hard to hide), 4, 4, 71, 159

Love and faith are seen in works, 216, 287

Love and lordship like no fellowship, 4, 71, 265

Love and poverty are hard to conceal, 347

Love begins at home, 158

Love Bertrand love his dog, 48

Love demands faith, and faith firmness, 71

Love does much, money everything, 4, 158, 199

Love does wonders, but money makes marriage, 30

Love expels jealousy, 30

Love, fire, a cough, the itch, and gout, are hard to conceal, 158

Love, grief, and money cannot be kept secret, 199

Love grows with obstacles (A wall between increases love), 158

Love has no law, 265

Love is an excuse for its own faults, 91

Love is blind, but sees afar, 71

Love is master of all arts, 93

Love is the true price at which love is bought, 71

Love knows hidden paths, 158

Love knows no law, 287

Love knows not labour, 71

Love levels all inequalities, 116

Love makes labour light, 332

Love makes time pass away, and time makes love pass away, 30

Love me little and love me long, 2, 70, 365

Love me, love my dog, 78 (_See_ Love Bertrand)

Love one that does not love you, answer one that does not call you, and you will run a fruitless race, 198

Love others well, but love thyself the most; give good for good, but not to thine own cost, 300

Love rules his kingdom without a sword, 71

Love rules without law, 71

Love subdues everything except the felon heart, 4

Love teaches asses to dance, 30

Love, thieves, and fear, make ghosts, 158

Love without return is like a question without an answer, 158

Love your friend with his faults, 70

Love your neighbour, but don’t pull down the fence, 158

Lovers’ purses are tied with cobwebs, 105

Lovers’ quarrels are love redoubled, 267

Lovers think others are blind (or have no eyes), 119, 240

Love’s anger is fuel to love, 159

Love’s merchandise is jealousy and broken faith, 71

Love’s plant must be watered with tears and tendered with care, 383

Loving and singing are not to be forced, 159

Luck comes to those who look after it, 261

Luck has but a slender anchorage, 385

Luck has much for many, but enough for no one, 385

Luck is better than a hundred marks, 350

Luck (or Fortune) taps at the door and inquires whether prudence is within, 385 (_See_ Fortune)

Luck will carry a man across a brook if he is not too lazy to leap, 385

Lying and gossiping go hand in hand, 219

Lying is the first step to the gallows, 159

Lying pays no tax, 289

M.

Mad dogs get their coats torn, 369

Mad love—I for you, and you for another, 199, 265

Maidens say no, and mean yes (Maids say nay, and take), 159

Make a silver bridge for a flying enemy, 196, 266

Make good flour and you need no trumpet (_So_: Good wine needs no bush), 224, 277

Make hay while the sun shines, 160, 174

Make me a prophet, and I will make you rich, 98

Make the night night, and the day day, and you will live pleasantly, 277

Make use of the sun while it shines, 388

Make way for a madman and a bull, 197

Make your son your heir and not your steward, 277

Make yourself a sheep and the wolves will eat you, 52, 86, 186

Make yourself an ass and every one will lay his sack on you, 186

Make yourself honey and the flies will eat you, 98, 277, 294

Man is fire, woman is tow, and the devil comes and blows (or with a bellows), 37, 217, 288

Man loves but once, 139

Man proposes and God disposes, 37, 139, 217, 226, 230, 279, 306, 390

Man without woman is head without body; woman without man is body without head, 161

Manual jokes are clowns’ jokes, 28, 206, 225

Many a cow stands in the meadow and looks wistfully at the common, 387

Many a good cow has a bad calf, 161

Many a man is a good friend but a bad neighbour, 387

Many a man labours for the day he will never live to see, 387

Many a one is good because he can do no mischief, 37

Many a one leaves the roast who afterwards longs for the smoke ofit, 127

Many a one suffers for what he can’t help, 58

Many a one threatens while he quakes for fear, 127, 161

Many a one would like to lay his own shame on another man’s back, 387

Many a sheep goes out woolly and comes home shorn, 387

Many a thing whispered into one ear is heard over the whole town, 387

Many a true word is spoken in jest, 123

Many are brave when the enemy flies, 110

Many can help one, 173

Many cooks spoil the broth, 173

Many desire the tree who pretend to refuse the fruit, 110

Many dogs are the death of the hare, 387

Many friends, and few helpers in need, 173

Many go out for wool and come home shorn, 161

Many grains of sand will sink a ship, 387

Many hands make quick work, 173, 340

Many have good intentions, but something comes across them, 161

Many have too much, but none have enough, 386

Many heads, many minds, 341

Many heirs make small portions, 173

Many hounds are the death of the hare, 173, 341

Many kiss the child for the nurse’s sake, 387 (_See_ He who kisses)

Many kiss the hand they would fain see chopped off, 233, 284

Many little rivulets make a great river, 386

Many littles make a mickle, 341

Many love to praise right and do wrong, 387

Many open a door to shut a window, 341

Many return from the war who cannot give an account of the battle, 124

Many scruple to spit in church, and afterwards defile the altar, 110

Many see more with one eye than others with two, 161

Many seek good nights and lose good days, 332

Many shun the brook and fall into the river, 161

Many shun the sword and come to the gallows, 161

Many stop their noses at ambergris, 71

Many take by the bushel and give with the spoon, 161

Many trades, begging the best, 173

Many words don’t fill the sack (_Scoticé_: Meikle crack fills nae sack), 340

Many words go to a sackful (Many words will not fill a bushel), 302

Marriage is heaven and hell, 140

Marriages are not as they are made, but as they turn out, 104

Marriages are written in heaven, 35

Married to-day, marred to-morrow, 6

Marry and grow tame, 208, 272

Marry in haste and repent at leisure, 52, 86, 152, 321

Marry, marry, and what about the housekeeping, 272

Marry, marry, sounds well but tastes ill, 272

Marry me without delay, mother, for my face is growing wrinkled, 280

Marry your son when you please, your daughter when you can, 38, 77, 208, 272, 370

Marrying in the blood is never good, 152

Marrying is easy, but housekeeping is hard, 152

Martha sings well when she has had her fill, 268, 271

Mary Busybody never wants a bad day, and Mary Drone has God to give and bring to her, 198

Master’s hints are commands, 101

Mastiff never liked greyhound (A churl never liked a gentleman), 41

May God not so prosper our friends that they forget us, 235

Measure thrice before you cut once, 110, 332

Meddle not with what you don’t understand, 286

Meddle with dirt and some of it will stick to you, 386 (_See_ He who touches pitch)

Men after the modern fashion, and asses after the ancient, 100

Men are as old as they feel, and women as they look, 100

Men are rare, 35

Men can bear all things except good days, 297

Men go not laughing to heaven, 333

Men make wealth, and women preserve it, 100

Men must sail while the wind serveth, 333

Men’s ignorance makes the pot boil for priests, 37

Merchant to-day, beggar to-morrow, 152

Merchants’ goods are ebb and flood, 331

Michael is quits; he lost a ducat and gained a rabbit, 213

Michael, Michael, you have no bees, and yet you sell honey!, 232, 283

Might and courage require wit in their suite, 386

Might is not right, 19, 319

Milk the cow, but don’t pull off the udder, 333

Millers and bakers do not steal, people bring to them, 162

Millers, tailors, and weavers are not hanged, or the trade would soon be extinct, 162

Mischief comes soon enough, 402

Misers’ money goes twice to market, 214, 288

Misfortune comes on horseback and goes away on foot, 32

Misfortune seldom comes alone to the house, 397

Misfortune upon misfortune is not wholesome, 37

Misfortune, wood, and hair, grow throughout the year, 172

Misfortunes never come single, 62, 108, 315

Misreckoning is no payment, 161

Money advances meacocks, 15

Money and friendship break the arms of justice, 123

Money borrowed is soon sorrowed, 5

Money burns many, 5

Money gets money, 214

Money in the purse dispels melancholy, 149

Money is a good servant but a bad master, 31

Money is an epitome of human power, 101

Money is lost only for want of money, 31

Money is money’s brother, 101

Money is more eloquent than a dozen members of parliament, 395

Money is not gained by losing time, 291

Money is power, 319

Money is round, and rolls, 5,101

Money is the measure of all things, 275

Money is the sinew of war, 322

Money lent, an enemy made, 275

Money makes dogs dance, 46

Money makes the man, 149

Money rules the world, 319

Money saved is money got (or as good as money gained), 354

Money soothes more than the words of a cavalier (or a gentleman’s words), 231, 281

Money taken, freedom forsaken, 149

Money turns bad into good, 217

Money wins the battle, not the long arm, 275

Monks, mice, rats, and vermin, seldom sunder without harming, 162

More are drowned in the bowl than in the sea, 153

More belongs to dancing than a pair of dancing-shoes, 302

More belongs to riding than a pair of boots, 191

More flies are caught with a spoonful of syrup (or drop of honey) than with a cask of vinegar, 333, 386

More grows in a garden than the gardener sows there, 286

More is done with words than with hands, 162

More luck than wit, 332

More people are slain by suppers than by the sword, 368

More unlucky than a dog in church, 121

Moses (_i.e._ a Jew) does not play because he has not the means, 236

Mother, I must have a husband, or I shall set fire to the house, 162

Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, storm and hail, 127

Mother, marry me, marry me, or the gull will fly away with me, 230

Mother, what is marrying? Spinning, bearing children, and crying, daughter, 230

Mother’s love is ever in its spring, 58

Mother’s truth keeps constant youth, 162

Mouth and heart are wide apart, 162

Mouth of honey, heart of gall, 269

Month shut and eyes open, 75

Much broth is sometimes made with little meat, 387

Much caution does no harm, 266

Much chatter, little wit, 284

Much kindred, much trouble, 5

Much laughter, little wit, 289

Much memory and little judgment, 7

Much money, many friends (Where money, there friends), 173

Much never cost little, 237, 287

Much noise and little wool, said the devil, when he was shearing the sow, 364 (_See_ Great cry and little wool)

Much smoke and little roast, 110

Much straw and little corn, 284

Much talk little work, 341

Much talking, much erring, 199

Much water passes by the mill that the miller perceives not, 73

Much water runs by while the miller sleeps, 357

Much wisdom is lost in poor men’s mouths, 154

Much wisdom is smothered in a poor man’s head, 329

Much wit is lost in a poor man’s purse, 147

Much worship, much cost, 35

Muddy water won’t do for a mirror, 67

Mules make a great fuss about their ancestors having been horses, 161

Must is a hard nut, 162

My chest locked, my soul safe, 283

My daughter-in-law tucked up her sleeves and upset the kettle into the fire, 202

My friend’s enemy is often my best friend, 161

My gossips don’t like me because I tell them truths, 230, 282

My life and soul at your service, but not the pack-saddle, 228, 274

My money your money, let us go to the tavern, 283

My neighbour’s goat gives more milk than mine, 225, 263

My neighbour’s hen lays more eggs than mine, 226

My No is as good as your Yes, 128

My shirt is nearer than my cloak, 322

My sister’s son is a kinsman beyond dispute, 239

My teeth are nearer than my kindred, 231, 242

N.

National customs are national honours, 384

Nature and love cannot be hid, 163 (_See_ Love)

Nature draws stronger than seven oxen, 163

Nature requires little, fancy much, 163

Near is my petticoat, but nearer is my smock, 120

Near the church far from God, 132

Necessity becomes will, 106

Necessity breaks iron, 164

Necessity is the mother of invention (or teaches arts), 40, 164, 303

Necessity knows (or has) no law, 40, 111, 164, 335, 393

Necessity seeks bread where it is to be found, 164

Necessity teaches the lame to dance, 164

Necessity unites hearts, 164

Need makes the old wife trot, 8, 227, 306, 393

Needle and thread are half clothing, 224

Neighbour once over the hedge, neighbour over it again, 163

Neither a dumb barber nor a deaf singer, 286

Neither a good friar for friend, nor a bad one for enemy, 233

Neither handsome enough to kill, nor ugly enough to frighten, 230, 286

Neither reprove nor flatter thy wife, where any one heareth or seeth it, 317

Neither serve one who has been a servant, nor beg of one who has been a beggar, 230