English proverbs (alphabetically by proverb)

Proverbs are popularly defined as short expressions of popular wisdom. Use soft words and hard argument. Efforts to improve on the popular definition have not led to a more precise definition. The wisdom is in the observation about the world or a bit of advice, sometimes more nearly an attitude toward a situation.

See also English proverbs

A

 * All are not thieves that the dogs bark at.
 * Idiomatic translation: "All are not thieves that dogs bark at.”


 * All's fair in love and war.


 * All are not friends that speak us fair.


 * All roads lead to Rome.


 * All things come to those who wait.


 * All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
 * Meaning: Be sure to take breaks from work and do something entertaining.


 * An army marches on its stomach.


 * March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.
 * Meaning: Sometimes unpleasant things are required to bring good things.


 * As you make your bed, so you must lie on it.
 * Similar to You reap what you sow


 * A hedge between keeps friends green.
 * Meaning: It is best to have some sort of wall towards your neighbours.


 * A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.
 * Meaning: A verbal contract is completely useless.
 * Note: Originally said by Samuel Goldwyn.


 * Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
 * Meaning: When you're away from something, you miss it more.
 * From Isle of Beauty by Thomas Haynes Bayly


 * Actions speak louder than words.


 * A friend in need is a friend indeed.
 * John Heywood, A Dialogue Conteynyng Prouerbes and Epigrammes (1562) has Prove thy friend ere thou have need; but, in-deed A friend is never known till a man have need.


 * All cats love fish but hate to get their paws wet.
 * Meaning: Everyone wants success but many lack the self-discipline to become successful.


 * All for one and one for all.
 * Although people associate it with Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers it is much older. It is a translation of the Latin Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno, the motto for Switzerland.


 * All good things must come to an end.


 * All's well that ends well.
 * Title of a play by William Shakespeare
 * Variant: All is well that ends well. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721


 * All that glisters is not gold.
 * William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act II, scene 7.
 * Often corrupted to: All that glitters is not gold.


 * A staff is quickly found to beat a dog.
 * Meaning: Someone who wants to be mean will find things to be mean about no matter what.
 * Source:.


 * An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
 * Cf. Notes and Queries magazine, Feb. 24, 1866, p. 153: "Eat an apple on going to bed, // And you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread."
 * Adapted to its current form in the 1900s as a marketing slogan used by American growers concerned that the temperance movement would cut into sales of apple cider. (Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire, Random House, 2001, ISBN 0375501290, p. 22, cf. p. 9 & 50).


 * As the old cock crows, so crows the young.
 * Meaning: Children will become like older generations.
 * Source:.


 * Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies.
 * Cf. Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (1773): "Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no fibs".


 * A rotten apple injures its neighbors.
 * Variant: A bad apple ruins the bunch.
 * People are not satisfied with what they have, people are satisfied with what they don't have.

B

 * Potter, A. (2009). Be Careful What You Wish For, Hodder & Stoughton.
 * Well begun is half done.


 * A bellyful is one of meat, drink, or sorrow.


 * Bend the willow while it is young
 * Meaning: influence young people while they are young and impressionable.
 * The best things come in small packages.


 * The best things in life are free.


 * Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.


 * Better is the enemy of good.
 * Meaning: The aim for perfection or mastery might be in the way of progress.


 * Big thunder, little rain.


 * Better late than never.


 * Better safe than sorry.


 * Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
 * Jesus,
 * Meaning: The seemingly most respectable people are quiet often scoundrels; Evil people often act innocently.


 * Birds of a feather flock together.
 * Meaning: People with important similarities seek out one another's company, often to the exclusion of others.


 * Bitter pills may have blessed effects.
 * Note: Both a figurative and literal proverb.
 * Meaning: The remedy might be bitter, but the cure might be wonderful.


 * Blood is thicker than water.


 * Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder


 * A bad workman blames his tools.
 * George Herbert reports early English variants in Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, Etc. (1640):
 * Never hand an ill workman good tools.
 * An ill labourer quarrels with his tools.
 * The Works of George Herbert in Prose and Verse; 1881, New York: John Wurtele Lovell, Pub.; pp. 440 & 454.
 * Compare the older French proverb:
 * Outil: … Meſchant ouvrier ne trouvera ia bons outils: Prov. A bungler cannot find (or fit himself with) with good tools.
 * Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611)
 * Galen explains clearly, if less succinctly, in De Causis Procatarcticis (2nd c. A.D.), VI. 63–65:
 * They blame their tools: why did the carpenter make the bed so badly, if he was any good? He will reply: "Because I used a poor axe and a thick gimlet, because I did not have a rule, I lost my hammer, and the hatchet was blunt", and other things of this kind. And the scribe, asked why he wrote so badly, will say that the paper was rough, the ink too fluid, the pen blunt, that he did not have a smoother, so that he could not write any better. Once again, this man holds his material responsible, and blames his tools as well, in mentioning the pen and smoother. And who does not know that artisans make themselves responsible for the deficiencies in their work too, when they cannot pin the blame on material and tools?
 * Galen On Antecedent Causes, Tr. R. J. Hankinson, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0521622506, p. 90–93.


 * Barking dogs seldom bite.
 * Meaning: A person who often threatens rarely carries out his threats.


 * Before criticizing a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
 * Variant: Don't criticize someone before you walk a mile in their moccasins.


 * Beggars can't be choosers.
 * Meaning: If you are in a bad situation or do not have much to offer you must be content with whatever help you can get.


 * The belly has no ears.
 * This Proverb intimates, that there is no arguing the Matter with Hunger,the Mother of Impatience and Anger. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721


 * Better to be alone than in bad company.
 * Source:.


 * Better the devil you know (than the devil you don't).


 * Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
 * Variant: Better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.
 * Attributed to Abraham Lincoln.
 * cf. Solomon,, "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding."
 * Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
 * From Virgil's Aeneid Book II, line 48: Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. Translation: I fear the Grecians even when they offer gifts.


 * A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
 * John Bunyan cites this traditional proverb in The Pilgrim's Progress, (1678):
 * So are the men of this world: They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good. That proverb, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," is of more authority with them than are all the divine testimonies of the good of the world to come.


 * A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword.
 * Robert Burton cites this traditional proverb in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621):
 * It is an old saying, "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword:" and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever.
 * Part I, Section II, Member IV, Subsection IV
 * Compare: "The pen is mightier than the sword."
 * Contrast: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me."


 * Bloom where you are planted.
 * Meaning: It is often better to escalate your commitment rather than starting over with something new.
 * Other meaning: Make use of your geographical advantages.


 * Boys will be boys.


 * Brag is a good Dog, but Holdfast is a better.
 * Meaning: A variation of "Talk is cheap".
 * This Proverb is a Taunt upon Braggadoccio's, who talk big, boast, and rattle:It is also a Memento for such who make plentiful promises to do well for thefuture but are suspected to want Constancy and Resolution to makethem good. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721


 * A broken watch is right two times a day.
 * Meaning: A person who is wrong will eventually be right about something.


 * A burnt child dreads the fire.
 * Meaning: You will avoid an activity which has given you a bad experience for the rest of your life.
 * Chinese Version: One bitten by a snake for a snap dreads a rope for a decade.一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳
 * Persian Version: He who has been bitten by a snake will frighten of a black and white rope.__ مار گزیده از ریسمان سیاه و سفید میترسد
 * Indian Version: The one burnt by hot milk drinks even cold buttermilk with precaution. Transliteration: Doodh ka jala chhanchh ko bhi phoonk phoonk ke peeta hai.
 * Cf. "Once bitten, twice shy"
 * "This Proverb intimates, That it is natural for all living Creatures, whether rational or irrational,to consult their own Security, and Self-Preservation; and whether they act by Instinct or Reason, it stilltends to some care of avoiding those things that have already done them an Injury." - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721


 * By hook or by crook.
 * Meaning: A thing to be achieved will be done in a straightforward way, but if it cannot, then it will be achieved by any means necessary.
 * Indian Version: By Compromise, By Bribery, By Punishment, By Blackmail one can make his job done. Transliteration: Saam Daam Dand Bhedh.
 * John Heywood, Proverbs, Part I, Chapter XI; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639. In a letter of Sir Richard Morysin to the Privy Council in Lodge's Illustrations &c. I. 154. Holland's Suetonius, p. 169. John Wyclif, Works. Ed. by Arnold, III. 331. Rabelais, Bk. V, Chapter XIII. Du Bartas, The Map of Man. Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book III, Canto I, Stanza 17. Beaumont and Fletcher, Women Pleased, Act I, scene 3. Shelton, Duke of Clout. Compare "Which he by hook or crook has gather'd And by his own inventions father'd", Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part III (1678), Canto I, line 109; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.

C

 * The calm (comes) before the storm.
 * Meaning: Turbulent times wait just around the corner when it is calm.


 * A cat may look at a king.
 * Meaning: Mere formal signs of being an authority does not make you one.
 * Variant: The beard were all, the goat might preach.


 * Clothes make the man.
 * Meaning: The more dressed up a man is, the more influential he is.


 * The customer is always right.


 * A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
 * You don't lose anything by enlightening others.


 * Catch not a shadow and lose the substance.
 * Meaning: We should not waste time on trivial aspects of a matter and neglect the essential matter itself.


 * A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
 * Variant.: A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.
 * Meaning: A group is not stronger than its weakest member.
 * Cf. Thomas Reid Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, 1786, Vol. II, p. 377, Essay VII, Of Reasoning, and of Demonstration, ch. 1: "In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of this chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest.".


 * The child is father to the man.
 * The original version of this quote is "The child is father of the man" from William Wordsworth's poem "My Heart Leaps up When I Behold". See http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww194.html
 * Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a poem in answer to Wordsworth's use of this phrase, and uses the quote as given here on wikiquote. See http://www.bartleby.com/122/68.html


 * Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
 * Interpreted variously as "great people rise to the occasion"; "greatness depends on seizing an opportunity"; "a crisis produces a hero".
 * "QUOTE ... UNQUOTE" FAQ suggests its popularity among sports journalists springs from its ironical use by cricketer Cliff Gladwin of himself in an England–South Africa test match on 20 December 1948.
 * Earlier sources express in other words the same basic idea of an hour and a man coming together.
 * Earlier sources express in other words the same basic idea of an hour and a man coming together.


 * Common sense is not so common.
 * From Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1765)
 * Paraphrased by graphic designers as 'Comic Sans is not so comic'.


 * Confidence begets confidence.
 * Meaning: Confidence spills over to your coworkers.


 * Courage lost, all lost.


 * A coward dies a thousand times before his death. The valiant never taste of death but once.
 * From William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar The original is spoken by Caesar (Act II scene 2). The actual words as written were: 'Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.' Complete text at

D

 * Deal gently with the bird you mean to catch.


 * Deep calls to deep.
 * From "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me."


 * Desperate times call for desperate measures.


 * Different strokes for different folks.
 * Meaning: Different things suit different people.


 * Don't bark if you can't bite.
 * Meaning: Don't do things you haven't got the competence for.
 * Other Meaning: Don't give directions if you are incompetent at the subject at hand.
 * Sadler, P. (1873). Grammaire pratique de la langue anglaise: ou m√©thode facile pour apprendre cette langue, J.H. Truchy.
 * Don't bite off more than you can chew.


 * Don't bite the hand that feeds you.


 * Don't burn the candle at both ends.
 * Meaning: Don't work early in the morning and late into the evening as well.
 * Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
 * Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.


 * Don't cross a bridge before you come to it.
 * Meaning: Focus on a problem the moment you are facing it, and not earlier.


 * Don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
 * Meaning: Do not take action to spite others that will harm you more than them.


 * Don't fall before you're pushed.
 * Meaning: Don't give up in the face of adversity.


 * Don't have too many irons in the fire.


 * Don't judge a book by its cover.
 * Meaning: Never judge something based on its outward appearance.
 * Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
 * Meaning: Never criticize gifts.
 * Meaning: Never criticize gifts.


 * Don't make a mountain out of a molehill.
 * Meaning: Don't make a big deal out of a little thing.


 * Don't make clothes for a not yet born baby.


 * Don't mend what ain't broken.
 * Alternatively, If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 * Alternatively, Leave well enough alone.


 * Do not play with edged tools.


 * Doctors make the worst patients.


 * Discretion is the better part of valor.
 * Meaning: Being cautious is better than to merely be courageous.
 * Derived from "The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life." Falstaff in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1.


 * Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
 * Based on the Bible (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31). "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" in the King James version; "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." in the New International Version.


 * Don't carry coals to Newcastle.
 * Variation: Carrying coals to Newcastle.
 * The Newcastle region of England mined and shipped coal.
 * Meaning: Don't do things in a needlessly laborious way; don't pursue a goal already accomplished.


 * Don't go between the tree and the bark.
 * Meaning: Don't interfere when two people are having an argument.


 * Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
 * First recorded 1662, G. Toriano, Italian proverbial phrases ("To put all one's eggs in a paniard"); 1710, Samuel Palmer, Moral essays on proverbs ("Don't venture all your eggs in one basket")


 * Don't put the cart before the horse.
 * Cf. Dan Michael of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340): "Many religious folk set the plough before the oxen." (Middle English: "Moche uolk of religion зetteþ þe зuolз be-uore þe oksen.").


 * Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
 * Meaning: Don't reject an idea entirely because parts of it are bad.; Someone who is absolutely right about parts of an idea, can still be absolutely wrong about another part of it.


 * The door swings both ways.
 * Meaning: What you do to me, I can do to you.

E

 * Each to his own taste
 * French: Chacun ses goûts
 * Alternatively: à chacun son goût - "To each his own".
 * The early bird catches the worm. But the second mouse gets the cheese.
 * Meaning: Pioneers will get much.
 * Other meaning: Those who starts working early in the morning will get much done.
 * Other meaning: One person might discover or create something, but the person after him will become rich because of it.
 * Other meaning: One person might discover or create something, but the person after him will become rich because of it.


 * An empty vessel makes the most noise
 * French equivalent: It is not the cow that moos the most that gives the most milk.


 * An Englishman's home is his castle.
 * Variant of "A man's home is his castle."
 * Meaning: There is no place like home.


 * Every cloud has a silver lining.
 * Meaning: There is nothing bad that does not bring about something good.


 * Every rose has its thorn.
 * Meaning: No one is perfect.
 * Bradley, E. and H. Bradley Every Rose Has Its Thorn: The Rock 'n' Roll Field Guide to Guys, Penguin Group USA.


 * The exception proves the rule.
 * Note: Often mistakenly referred to as a misquote. In reality, the Latin probate may mean either to probe or to prove. The key is that prove in this case carries the older meaning of to test, as in the phrases proving (testing) ground or the proof (test) of the pudding is in the eating.


 * Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
 * Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1735 edition), "October".


 * Eat your own dog food.
 * Meaning: Consume your own product in order to recognize its flaws.


 * Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
 * Will Durant, quoted in "Books: The Great Gadfly", Time magazine, 8 October 1965.


 * The ends justify the means.
 * Ovid, Heroides (c. 10 BC): Exitus acta probat. See also: Means and ends.
 * Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
 * Meaning: An incompetent person will be right sometimes.


 * Even a dog can distinguish between being stumbled over and being kicked.


 * Every dog has its day.
 * Meaning: Everyone gets their chance eventually.
 * Variation on a quote from Hamlet: "...whatever Hercules says, the cat will mew and dog will have its day."


 * Every tub must stand upon its bottom.
 * Charles Macklin, Man of the World (1792), Act I, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639. Compare: "Every fat [vat] must stand upon his bottom", John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Part I; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Everyone talks of changing the world, but no one talks of changing himself.
 * Leo Tolstoy.


 * Evil begets evil.


 * An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
 * From Moses, "If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."
 * Cited by Jesus, referring to the Oral Law tradition regarding revenge, in, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away."
 * A response, often misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi, is "An eye for an eye (and a tooth for a tooth) will make the whole world blind (and toothless)."

F

 * Failure is the stepping stone for success.
 * Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.
 * Meaning: Women don't like wimps.
 * Manser, M. H. (2006). Dictionary of Proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
 * Familiarity breeds contempt.
 * Meaning: We easily find faults among those we spend a lot of time with.
 * Meaning: We easily find faults among those we spend a lot of time with.


 * Fifty percent of something is better than one hundred percent of nothing.
 * Meaning: Talking is a long way from working, thus a halfway done paltry project is better than an unstarted ambitious project.
 * Scaffidi, S. Ain't Dat Super!, Xlibris Corporation.
 * Fine feathers make fine birds.
 * Meaning: You will be judged by how you look.


 * Fine words butter no parsnips.
 * Cf. Actions speak louder than words.


 * First come, first served.


 * First deserve, then desire.
 * The first step to health is to know that we are sick.
 * Palta, N. (2006). Spoken English, Lotus Press.
 * First things first.
 * Meaning: The most important and most urgent worries should be taken care of first.
 * Meaning: The most important and most urgent worries should be taken care of first.


 * A fool and his money are soon parted.


 * Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.


 * Forewarned is forearmed.


 * Forgive and forget.
 * A fox smells its own lair first. Or: A fox smells its own stink first.
 * Meaning: You believe that others have the same faults as yourself.
 * Palta, N. (2006). Spoken English, Lotus Press.
 * Fretting cares make grey hairs.
 * Meaning: Worrying can age you prematurely.
 * Palta, N. (2006). Spoken English, Lotus Press.
 * A friend in need is a friend indeed.
 * A friend in need is a friend indeed.


 * Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
 * Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Criticism"
 * Meaning: Fools are often reckless in dangerous situations.


 * For want of a nail the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost, for want of a horse the rider is lost.
 * Meaning: A seemingly insignificant thing that goes wrong can result in problems of enormous proportions.
 * Proverb reported by George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651), #495.


 * From those to whom much is given, much is expected.
 * Biblical quote Luke 12:48.


 * Fortune favours the brave.


 * Footprints on the sands of time are not made by sitting down.
 * Meaning: Idle people will quickly be forgotten by history.

G

 * Garbage in, garbage out.
 * Meaning: Faulty instructions will only result in faulty results.


 * Give a dog a bad name and hang him.
 * Meaning: Once you have lost your reputation, it is very hard to regain it.


 * Give a dog a bad name and he'll live up to it. (or ...he'll repay you for it.)
 * Meaning: How well a dog behaves depends on how he has been treated.


 * Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
 * This quote is much older than 2006.citation needed
 * Give and take is fair play.
 * "I could have better spar'd a better man."
 * William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I (c. 1597), Act V, scene 4, line 104
 * William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I (c. 1597), Act V, scene 4, line 104


 * Give, and ye shall receive.
 * Luke 6:38
 * Give credit where credit is due.
 * Derived from Romans 13:7.
 * Variant: Give the Devil his due.
 * Give him an inch and he'll take a yard.
 * Variant: Give the Camel an inch and it will take an ell.
 * Variant: Give a nigger an inch and he'll take an ell.
 * Variant: Give him an inch and he'll take a mile.
 * Variant: Give him an inch and he'll take a mile.


 * Go with the flow.
 * Meaning: Accept your lot, but make the best out of it.


 * God cures and the physician takes the fee.


 * A golden bit does not make the horse any better.
 * Meaning: An ugly thing will remain ugly even if its appearance is taken care of.


 * Good fences make good neighbors.
 * Robert Frost, "Mending Wall"


 * Good men are hard to find.


 * A good surgeon has an eagle's eye, a lion's heart, and a lady's hand.


 * Good swimmers are often drowned.
 * Meaning: Beware of letting your competence lead you into overconfidence.


 * Good things come to those who wait.
 * Meaning: "If you are patient, you will have what you desire."
 * Source for meaning:.


 * Good wine needs no bush.
 * Note: It was customary since early times to hang a grapevine, ivy or other greenery over the door of a tavern or way stop to advertise the availability of drink within.
 * Meaning: A good product does not need advertising: it will spread through word of mouth or by the sight of others using it.


 * The grass is always greener on the other side.


 * Grasp all, lose all.
 * Meaning: Trying to get everything will often result in not gaining anything.


 * Great events cast their shadows before them.


 * Great minds agree.
 * Variant: Great minds think alike (and fools seldom differ).
 * Variant: Great minds think alike (and fools seldom differ).


 * Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
 * Albert Einstein
 * A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
 * A guilty conscience needs no accuser.

H

 * A half truth is a whole lie.


 * You can't have your cake and eat it too.
 * Cf. George Herbert The Sizz "Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it"


 * Hard words break no bones.
 * Meaning: It is often good to tell someone a harsh truth (including yourself).; Don't lie to yourself.; Don't live in denial.


 * Haste makes waste.


 * Hawks will not pick out Hawk's eyes.


 * The head and feet keep warm, the rest will take no harm.
 * Meaning: If you take care of the important matters, everything else will fall into place.


 * He laughs best who laughs last.
 * Meaning: He who wins in the end wins.


 * He that can have patience can have what he will.


 * He who dares wins.


 * Health is wealth.
 * Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
 * Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned


 * Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
 * 20-20 refers to perfect vision.
 * Meaning: It is easy to be prudent in hindsight.
 * Home is where the heart is
 * Home is where the heart is


 * He who hesitates is lost.
 * Meaning: The person who waits too long loses the opportunity.
 * Other meaning: Delay may have disastrous results.


 * Handsome is what handsome does.
 * Behaviour is more important than looks.

I

 * I complained I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.


 * Idle hands are the devil's playthings.


 * If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well.


 * If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
 * Cf. William Edward Hickson's Try and Try again "Tis a lesson you should heed: Try, try, try again. If at first you don't succeed, Try, try, try again"


 * If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 * Variation: If it isn't broken, don't fix it.


 * If it can't be cured, it must be endured.
 * From Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
 * If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.
 * Meaning: If something seems to be in a certain way, that is probably the case.


 * If it's too good to be true, then it probably is.


 * If God had wanted man to fly, He would have given him wings.
 * Bennett, W. J. (1993). The Book of Virtues, Simon & Schuster.
 * If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
 * Meaning: If you have had many bad experiences, make something good out of it.


 * If something can go wrong, it will.
 * Murphy's Law


 * If the shoe fits, wear it.
 * Meaning: Accept an accurate description of you, even if it is not flattering.


 * If the truth hurts, you are not living right.
 * From the television show The Killing.
 * If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets.


 * If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.


 * If you buy cheaply, you pay dearly.
 * Alternatively: You get what you pay for


 * If you buy quality, you only cry once.


 * If you can't be good, be careful.
 * Sandburg, C. (2002). The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg: Revised and Expanded Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
 * If you can't beat them, join them.


 * If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen.
 * Meaning: If the stress a task is giving is bothering you too much, leave it to others.


 * If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.


 * If you got it flaunt it.


 * If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were.


 * If you make yourself into a doormat, people will wipe their feet on you.
 * Meaning: Others will abuse you if you let them.


 * If you snooze you lose
 * Meaning: If you get distracted from your goals, someone else might beat you to them.
 * Lane, L. (2004). Confessions Of A Stripper: Tales From The Vip Room, Huntington Pr.
 * If you sup with the devil, use a long spoon.
 * Meaning: Someone who treats others badly will eventually turn on you.


 * If you trust before you try, you may repent before you die.
 * Meaning: Trust makes way for treachery.
 * Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.


 * If you want a thing done right, do it yourself.


 * If you're in a hole, stop digging.
 * Meaning: Cut your losses.


 * If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.


 * Ignorance is bliss.
 * Common mal-shortening of "Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise."
 * Thomas Gray, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" []
 * In for a penny, in for a pound.
 * Meaning: Commitment will often escalate.
 * Alternate version: In for a dime, in for a dollar.


 * In one ear and out the other.
 * Cf. Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales: "One eare it heard, at the other out it went"
 * In order to get where you want to go, you first have to leave where you are.
 * From Sandy Elsberg's Bread Winner, Bread Baker; Upline Press, Charlottesville, VA; 1977, p. 80.
 * In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.


 * In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
 * O'Hara, K. (2011). Lost and Found in London: How the Railway Tracks Hotel Changed Me, Xlibris Corp.
 * Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
 * Alternatively "Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results"
 * Smart, S. (2005). Flight Pattern, Lulu.com.
 * It ain't over till the fat lady sings.
 * Variation: Church ain't over until the fat lady sings.
 * Attributed as an old Southern saying in Smith & Smith, Southern Words and Sayings (1976), according to


 * It's a cracked pitcher that goes longest to the well.
 * Meaning: Frail people lasrs long.
 * Project, M. o. A. (1870). Harper's magazine, Harper's Magazine Co.
 * It's a good horse that never stumbles.
 * Chambers, W. and R. Chambers (1858). Chamber's information for the people: A popular encyclopædia, J.L. Gihon.
 * It's a long lane that has no turning.
 * Meaning: Bad times won't last for long (relatively speakiing)


 * It's always darkest before the dawn.


 * It's an ill wind that blows no good.
 * Meaning: There is nothing bad that does not bring about something good.


 * It's better to be safe than sorry.


 * It's better to be silent and thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt.
 * Marques, J. F. (2004). Empower The Leader In You!: An Analysis Of The Most Important Factors That Distinguish A Great Leader From An Average One, Authorhouse.
 * It is better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees.


 * It's better to give than to receive.
 * Spears, R. A. (2005). McGraw-Hill's dictionary of American idioms and phrasal verbs, McGraw-Hill.
 * It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.


 * It's cheaper to keep her.
 * Meaning: It is often costly to divorce someone.
 * Dattilio, F. M. (2001). Case Studies in Couple and Family Therapy: Systemic and Cognitive Perspectives, Guilford Press.
 * It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission.
 * Attributed to Grace Hopper.
 * It's easy to be wise after the event.


 * It's never too late to mend.


 * It's no use crying over spilt milk.


 * It ain't over till it's over.
 * Yogi Berra
 * Often attributed to sportscaster Dan Cook (1978)
 * Meaning: No matter how the outlook is things can always turn back. In other words you should not celebrate until you are 100% sure there is a reason to do so.


 * It's the early bird that gets the worm.
 * Meaning: Pioneers will get much.
 * Other meaning: Those who start working early in the morning get much done.


 * It's the empty can that makes the most noise.
 * French equivalent: It is not the cow that moos the most that gives the most milk.


 * It takes all sorts to make a world.
 * Alternatively: It takes all sorts to make the world go round.
 * Alternatively: It takes all kinds to make the world go round.


 * It takes two to make a quarrel.


 * It takes two to tango.

J

 * Jack of all trades and master of None. (18th century)
 * section
 * Joan is as good as my lady in the dark. (17th century)
 * Meaning: Ugliness is not noticed in the dark.
 * Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
 * Journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.
 * Laozi, Tao Te Ching, Ch. 64, line 12. 千里之行，始于足下
 * Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.
 * Note: Coined by Robert Louis Stevenson.
 * Battle Cries for the Underdog: Fightin' Words for an Extraordinary Life, Volume 1.


 * Justice delayed is justice denied. (Legal Proverb, India)

K

 * Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
 * Meaning: It is best to gather as much information about your enemies as possible. This might give the false impression that your enemies are your friends.


 * Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.
 * Manser, M. H., R. Fergusson, et al. (2007). The Facts on File Dictionary of Proverbs, Facts On File.


 * Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.
 * Titelman, G. (2000). Random House dictionary of America's popular proverbs and sayings, Random House.


 * Kill your darlings.
 * Meaning: Remove the favorite parts of your work.


 * Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.
 * Cavitt, C. (2007). Customer Service Superstars, Lulu.


 * Kindness, like grain, increase by sowing.


 * A kingdom is lost for want of a shoe.
 * See: "For want of a nail the shoe is lost, ..."
 * Knaves and fools divide the world.


 * Knowledge is power. (17th century)

L

 * Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and you cry alone.
 * Laugh and the world laughs with you. Cry and your mascara runs. - variation by advice columnist Ann Landers.


 * Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
 * Richardson, B. (2001). Working with challenging youth: lessons learned along the way, Brunner-Routledge.
 * The law is a jealous mistress.
 * Meaning: The law must constantly be updated.
 * - Professor Ferdinand Fairfax Stone, Tulane Law School, early and mid 1960s.
 * Law is the solemn expression of legislative will.
 * Johnson, A. and P. H. Bergeron (1997). The papers of Andrew Johnson: September 1867-March 1868, University of Tennessee Press.
 * Lead by example.


 * Learn to walk before you run.
 * Meaning: Learn the basics of any subject first.


 * Least said sooner mended.
 * Meaning: A bad event can more easily be forgotten if you do not talk about it.


 * Less is more.


 * Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
 * Jesus Christ
 * Let sleeping dogs lie.
 * From Troilus and Criseyde (bk. III, 764) by Geoffrey Chaucer - Chaucer wrote this in just the reverse form -- 'It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake.
 * Let the cobbler stick to his last.
 * Meaning: Don't talk about things you don't know anything about.


 * A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on.
 * Charles Spurgeon. A great lie may be widely accepted before the truth comes to light.
 * Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.
 * Meaning: You will become like your company.


 * Life begins at forty.


 * Life imitates art.
 * Bloom, H. (2007). Arthur Miller, Bloom's Literary Criticism.


 * Life imitates chess. - Garry Kasparov
 * Kasparov, G. (2008). How Life Imitates Chess, Random House.


 * Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.
 * Unknown origin, though sometimes attributed to Lou Holtz or Chuck Swindoll


 * Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
 * - From the film Forrest Gump.


 * Life is too short.
 * Variant: Life is too short to drink bad wine
 * Hoggart, S. (2009). Life's Too Short to Drink Bad Wine: 100 Wines for the Discerning Drinker, Quapuba.


 * Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
 * Attributed to John Lennon


 * Life is what you do while you're waiting to die.
 * Quote from song sung by Zorba from the musical Zorba by Kander and Ebb.


 * Life is what you make of it. Always has been, always will be.
 * Unknown origin, though sometimes attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt or Grandma Moses


 * Life's battle don't always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the one who thinks he can.
 * Lucier, T. J. (2005). How to make money with real estate options: low-cost, low-risk, high-profit strategies for controlling undervalued property-- without the burdens of ownership!, Wiley.


 * Lightning never strikes twice in the same place.
 * Meaning: The same misfortune won't happen to a person twice.


 * Like cures like.
 * Mallandaine, C. E., C. Shepperson, et al. (1901). Like cures like, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
 * Like father, like son.


 * Little by little and bit by bit.
 * Meaning: Many incremental changes will after some time transform what is pathetic into something grand.


 * A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
 * A little Learning is a dangerous Thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring: There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain, And drinking largely sobers us again. ~ Alexander Pope


 * Live and let live.
 * Meaning: Let others do whatever they want as long as it does not hurt anyone.
 * Alternative: Live simply to let others simply live.
 * Alternative: Live simply to let others simply live.


 * The longest mile is the last mile home.
 * Meaning: It is always the end of something that feels the most difficult.


 * Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.


 * Look before you leap.
 * Meaning: Think before you act.


 * Look on the sunny side of life.


 * Loose lips sink ships.
 * Eugene, D. (2002). 20 Good Reasons to Stay Sober, Booksurge Llc.
 * Love is blind.


 * Love is like war, Easy to start, Hard to end, Impossible to forget.
 * Kumar, E. S. The Unofficial Joke book of New SMS, Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.


 * Love is not finding someone to live with; it's finding someone whom you can't live without.
 * Lipper, D. and E. Sagehorn (2008). The Everything Wedding Vows Book: How to Personalize the Most Important Promise You'll Ever Make, Adams Media.


 * Love is stronger than any addiction, baby. Hell, it is one. - Madea
 * Williams, T. M. (2008). Black pain: it just looks like we're not hurting : real talk for when there's nowhere to go but up, Scribner.


 * Love laughs at locksmiths.
 * Meaning: Love is powerful.

M

 * Make the best of a bad bargain.


 * A man is known by the company he keeps.


 * A man's home is his castle.
 * William Blackstone refers to this traditional proverb in Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769), Book 4, Chapter 16:
 * And the law of England has so particular and tender a regard to the immunity of a man's house, that it stiles it his castle, and will never suffer it to be violated with immunity: agreeing herein with the sentiments of ancient Rome, as expressed in the works of Tully; quid enim sanctius, quid omni religione munitius, quam domus unusquisque civium?
 * Translation: What more sacred, what more strongly guarded by every holy feeling, than a man's own home?


 * A mans worst enemies are often those of his own house.


 * Man proposes but God disposes.
 * Meaning: Things often don't turn out as you have planned.


 * Manners maketh the man.
 * Meaning: A person who treats others like he would like to be treated himself is a real man.
 * From 'Manners makyth man' - the motto of William of Wykeham(1320 - 1404).
 * Many rats cannot all at once dig a hole for their home.
 * Many a mickle makes a muckle.


 * Meaning: Many small parts will eventually creat something impressive.


 * Many a true word is spoken in jest.


 * Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Part II, Chapter XXXVII; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Many hands make light work.


 * Many things are lost for want of asking.
 * Canfield, J. and M. V. Hansen (2003). Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living Your Dreams : Inspirational Stories, Powerful Principles, and Practical Techniques to Help You Make Your Dreams Come True, Health Communications.
 * Many words will not fill a bushel.
 * Meaning: Act, don't talk.
 * "This Proverb is a severe Taunt upon much Talking." - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * Marry in haste, and repent at leisure.


 * Measure twice, cut once.
 * Meaning: Think before you act.


 * Mind your P's and Q's.
 * British: Mind your manners (origin theories)
 * Makhene, E. R. W. (2008). Mind Your Ps and Qs, Lulu.com.
 * Misery loves company.


 * Misfortunes never come singly.


 * A miss by an inch is a miss by a mile.
 * Meaning: A miss is a miss regardless the distance.
 * Cf. Scottish Proverbs Collected and Arranged by Andrew Henderson, 1832, p. 103: "An inch o' a miss is as gude as a span". . William Camden, Camden's Remains (1614): "An inch in a miss is as good as an ell"; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639. Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732): "An inch in missing is as bad as an ell"; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Missing the wood for the trees.
 * Meaning: While tending to every detail you might miss out the big picture.


 * Money cannot buy happiness.


 * (Love of) Money is the root of all evil.


 * Money makes the mare go.


 * Money makes the world go around.
 * Garson, B. (2002). Money makes the world go around, Penguin Books.
 * Money talks.
 * Variant: Money talks, bullshit walks.
 * Related: Talk is cheap.
 * Related: Actions speak louder than words.
 * Monkey see, monkey do.
 * Meaning: People will do like others without thinking.
 * Meaning: People will do like others without thinking.


 * More haste, less speed.
 * Meaning: Hurry, but work slowly to make sure what you attend to gets done properly.


 * The more things change, the more they stay the same.
 * From the French: Plus ça change, plus c'est pareil.
 * Meaning: The only thing consistent is the absence of consistency.


 * The more you study, the more you know. The more you know, the more you forget. The more you forget, the less you know. The less you know, the more you study.
 * Riggs, J. L. and L. L. Bethel (1979). Industrial organization and management, McGraw-Hill.

N

 * The nail that sticks up will be hammered down.
 * Meaning: A person that sticks out will often be badly treated.


 * Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.
 * Meaning: A nature loving person does well in the nature.
 * Robinson, J. F. and J. J. Marshall (1902). The flora of the East Riding of Yorkshire: including a physiographical sketch, A. Brown & Sons.
 * Nature, time, and patience are three great physicians.
 * Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
 * Necessity is the mother of invention.
 * Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
 * Never cast a clout till May be out.
 * Meaning: Don't discard your winter clothing untill May is over.


 * Never judge a book by its cover.
 * Meaning: Never judge something based on its outward appearance.


 * Never let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
 * Meaning: Charity should be done in secret, so you won't do things just for praise.


 * Never lie to your doctor.


 * Never lie to your lawyer.


 * Never look a gift horse in the mouth.
 * Meaning: Don't criticize gifts.


 * Never put off till (until) tomorrow what you can do today.


 * Never say die.
 * Meaning: Don't give up if there is still a chance that you will succeed.
 * Jacoby, S. (2011). Never Say Die: The Myth and Marketing of the New Old Age, Pantheon Books.
 * Never say never - Justin Bieber


 * Never trouble trouble 'til trouble troubles you.
 * Meaning: Stay out of trouble, but be prepared in case you become troubled.


 * Never wear a brown hat in Friesland.
 * Meaning: When in Rome do as Rome does.


 * A new broom sweeps clean.
 * Meaning: Newcomers are the most ambitious.
 * ; previously reported as "A new broome sweepeth cleane", John Lyly, Euphues. Arber's Reprint, p. 89; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * A night with Venus and a life with mercury.
 * Anti-promiscuity adage, alluding to an 18th-century mercury-based folk treatment for syphilis
 * Cited in


 * No man can serve two masters.
 * Christian New Testament
 * No man is an island.
 * Meaning: We are all interdependent and influenced by each other.


 * No man is born into this world, whose work is not born with him.
 * Meaning: There is work to do, even for you.


 * No man is indispensable.


 * No news is good news.


 * No pain, no gain.
 * Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
 * No time like the present.
 * Meaning: Don't spend time regretting past actions or worrying about the future. Take care of the major problems you have today instead.


 * Noblesse oblige.
 * French expression: the nobility is obligated to care for the lower classes.
 * Applegate, S. (2009). Noblesse Oblige: Spending Your Life on What Matters Most, Tate Pub & Enterprises Llc.
 * None but the brave deserve the fair.
 * John Dryden, Alexander's Feast.


 * There are none so blind as they who will not see.
 * Source:.


 * Nothing succeeds like success.
 * Meaning: An inversion of "Misery loves company."
 * Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
 * Nothing to be feared in life, but understood.
 * Templeton, J. M. (1998). Worldwide Laws of Life: 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles, Templeton Foundation Press.
 * Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 * Variant: Nothing ventured, nothing have. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 ..

O

 * An old dog will learn no tricks.
 * Meaning: It is impossible, or almost impossible, to change people's habits or traits or mindset.
 * Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * Old habits die hard.


 * One good turn deserves another.
 * Meaning: Treat someone good who has been treating you good.
 * Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * One grain of sand can tip the scale.
 * Waldman, S. (2005). Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Feldheim Publishers.
 * One man's junk is another man's treasure.
 * Guyer, C. S. (2011). On the Money Journal, Atlasbooks Distribution.
 * One man's meat is another man's poison.


 * One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. - Ronald Reagan
 * Abdul-Nabi, R. (2002). "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter": the role of the media in constructing Palestinian identity.
 * One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb. - English, 17th century
 * Out of the frying pan into the fire.
 * Meaning: moving from a very difficult position to one that is worse
 * Meaning: moving from a very difficult position to one that is worse


 * One murder makes a villain, millions a hero.
 * Milton, J. (1996). Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin: The Life Of Charlie Chaplin, HarperCollins.
 * One rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel.
 * Meaning: One bad person can influence many others to behave in a bad way.
 * Other meaning: One flaw will ruin the overall impression.
 * Cf. Dan Michael of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340): "A rotten apple will spoil a great many sound ones''." (Middle English: "A roted eppel amang þe holen: makeþ rotie þe yzounde.")
 * One scabbed sheep mars the whole flock.
 * "This Proverb is apply'd to such Persons who being vicious themselves,labour to debauch those with whom they converse." - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * One swallow doesn't make a summer.
 * Webb, P. and C. Bain (2010). Essential Epidemiology: An Introduction for Students and Health Professionals, Cambridge University Press.
 * Once bitten, twice shy.
 * William Caxton, the first English printer, gave the earliest version of this saying in 'Aesope' (1484), his translation of Aesop's fables: 'He that hath ben ones begyled by somme other ought to kepe hym wel fro(m) the same.' Centuries later, the English novelist Robert Surtees referred to the saying in Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour (1853) with '(He) had been bit once, and he was not going to give Mr. Sponge a second chance.' The exact wording of the saying was recorded later that century in Folk Phrases of Four Counties (1894) by G.G. Northall and was repeated by, among others, the English novelist Joseph Conrad (1920, 'The Rescue'), the novelist Aldous Huxley (1928, 'Point Counter Point'), and the novelist Wyndham Lewis (1930, 'The Apes of God'). 'Once bitten, twice shy' has been a familiar saying in the twentieth century. From Wise Words and Wives' Tales by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).
 * A variation, once burned, twice shy, is also traced back to Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour. Once burned was First attested in the United States in Dead Sure (1949) by S. Sterling. The meaning of the saying is: One who has had an unpleasant experience is especially cautious. From The Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).
 * The only free cheese is in the mouse trap.
 * Russian saying.
 * Gage, R. (2010). Why You're Dumb, Sick & Broke...And How to Get Smart, Healthy & Rich!, John Wiley & Sons.
 * The only stupid question is the one that is not asked.
 * Hull, E., K. Jackson, et al. (2005). Requirements engineering, Springer.
 * Opportunity knocks only once.


 * An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit.


 * Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
 * Confucius


 * Out of sight... Out of mind.
 * Cf. Fulke Greville's sonnet "And out of minds as soons as out of sight"
 * Meaning: You will not see a thing which is out of your sight.


 * Out of small acorns grow mighty oaks.
 * A meager beginning can still result in something magnificent.
 * One should fight fire with fire.
 * Meaning: to use the same methods as someone else in order to defeat them
 * Meaning: to use the same methods as someone else in order to defeat them

P

 * Paddle your own canoe.
 * Meaning: Act independently.


 * The pen is mightier than the sword.


 * A penny saved is a penny earned.
 * Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.
 * Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, but actually 17th c. English
 * Penny wise, pound foolish.


 * People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
 * Variation: Whose house is of glass, must not throw stones at another.
 * George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640; cited in
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 1651, number 196.
 * Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. (a.k.a The six P's)
 * Mitchell, D. A. (2006). An Introduction to Oral And Maxillofacial Surgery, Oxford University Press.
 * A picture is worth a thousand words.
 * (originally a marketing slogan, promoting magazine display ads)
 * Sexton, P. (2008). A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words, F+W Media.
 * The pitcher which goes too often to the well gets broken.
 * Meaning: Long-term success will eventually result in failure.


 * Politeness costs nothing and gains everything. 


 * Politics makes strange bedfellows.
 * Meaning: Politics will create unholy alliances.


 * Poets are born, but orators are trained.
 * Meaning: Some things can be improved by training, others require innate talent.


 * Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
 * Attributed to Lord Acton


 * Practice before you preach.
 * Variation: Practice what you preach


 * Practice makes perfect.


 * Prevention is better than cure.
 * Variation: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
 * Meaning: It is best to be proactive.


 * Pride comes before the fall. (Pride comes before a fall.)


 * The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
 * Meaning: You will not really learn about something unless you test it.


 * Procrastination is the thief of time.


 * Proverbs run in pairs.
 * Meaning: Every proverb seems to be contradicted by another proverb with an opposed message, such as "too many cooks spoil the broth" and "many hands make light work."


 * Put a beggar on horseback and he'll ride it to death.
 * Meaning: If you get rich suddenly you will spend a lot of money.


 * Put a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil.


 * Put your money where your mouth is.

R

 * Reality is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.
 * Caper, R. (1999). A mind of one's own: a Kleinian view of self and object, Routledge.
 * Reality is often stranger than fiction.
 * Pearce, G. and C. McLaughlin (2007). Truth or dare: art & documentary, Intellect.
 * Repetition is the mother of memory.
 * Latin: REPETITIO MATER MEMORIAE


 * Revenge is a dish best served cold.


 * A rising tide lifts all boats.
 * Meaning: General improvements in the economy will benefit everyone.
 * This traditional proverb is sometimes attributed to John F. Kennedy because he repeated it several times, but he disclaimed originality in his address in the Assembly Hall at the Paulskirche in Frankfurt, West Germany, 25 June 1963:
 * As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all the boats.
 * The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
 * Earlier variants of this proverb are recorded as Hell is paved with good intentions. recorded as early as 1670, and an even earlier variant by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Hell is full of good intentions or desires. 
 * Similar from Latin: "The gates of hell are open night and day; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way" — Virgil, the Aeneid Book VI line 126.
 * A rolling stone gathers no moss.
 * Early versions include:
 * Saxum volutum non obducitur musco
 * A rolling stone does not gather moss.
 * Publius Syrus (var. Publilius), Sententiae (c. 42 BC), Maxim 524.
 * Musco lapis volutus haud obducitur.
 * A rolling stone is not covered with moss.
 * Desiderius Erasmus, Adagia (1500–1536), III, iv
 * The rollyng ſtone neuer gathereth moſſse.
 * The rolling stone never gathers moss.
 * John Heywood, Proverbs (1546), Part 1, Ch. 11.
 * Rome wasn't built in a day.
 * Meaning: It takes time to create something impressive.
 * Rome wasn't built in a day.
 * Meaning: It takes time to create something impressive.


 * The rotten apple injures its neighbors.


 * Rules were meant to be broken.

S

 * Say something nice or say nothing at all.


 * Seek and ye shall find.
 * Christian New Testament
 * Seeing is believing.
 * Meaning: You believe in something when it is confirmed by concrete evidence.


 * Self trust is the first secret of success.
 * Scorza, J. A. (2008). Strong liberalism: habits of mind for democratic citizenship, University Press of New England.
 * Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, he eats for the rest of his life.
 * Karl Marx
 * D'Ambrosio-Crabtree, G. (2008). Secondhand Hope, Lulu.com.
 * Set a thief to catch a thief.


 * Shit or get off the pot.
 * Meaning: Fulfill your goals or give up them.
 * Gaddis, W. (1975). J R, Knopf : distributed by Random House.
 * Shoemaker, not above the sandal
 * Meaning: Do not talk about things you do not know anything about.
 * Silence is golden.


 * Slow and steady wins the race.
 * Variant: Slowly but surely wins the race.
 * Smile, and the world smiles with you; cry, and you cry alone.
 * Dela Riva, M. Pebbles in the Pond, Goodwill Trading Co., Inc.
 * Some days you get the bear, other days the bear gets you.
 * Meaning: Some days you win, and some days you lose.
 * (2002). The economist, Economist Newspaper Ltd.
 * Someone who gossips to you will gossip about you.
 * Someone who gossips to you will gossip about you.


 * Something is better than nothing.


 * A son is a son 'till he gets him a wife; a daughter's a daughter all her life.


 * Spare the rod, spoil the child.


 * The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
 * Gospel of Matthew 26:41.
 * The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
 * Meaning: A person that complains about a service often gets much.


 * Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.
 * Contrast: "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword."
 * A still tongue makes a wise head.
 * From Lewis the (Black) Barber; Lake Charles, LA; who always told people, "Never let the right hand know what the left hand is doing; a still tongue makes a wise head; still water runs deep."
 * Still waters run deep.
 * Meaning: Taciturn people have the most interesting things to say.


 * A stitch in time saves nine.
 * Cf. Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs Collected by Thomas Fuller, 1732, Vol. II, p. 283, Nr. 6291 : "A Stitch in Time // May save nine."
 * Stolen fruit is the sweetest.
 * Meaning: Forbidden things are the most desirable.


 * Strike while the iron is hot.
 * George Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem, Act IV, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642. Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth, Chapter V. Webster, Westward Ho, III. 2. Geoffrey Chaucer, Troylus and Cresseyde, Book II, Stanza 178.
 * Variant: Make hay while the sun shines.


 * Success (only) comes after every necessary precaution.
 * Only time will tell (what was, or wasn't, necessary).
 * Success grows out of struggles to overcome difficulties.
 * Peterson, C. W. and D. C. Jones (1989). Wake up, Canada!: reflections on vital national issues, University of Alberta Press.
 * Success is a journey not a destination.
 * Puckridge, P. (2006). Success Is a Journey, Not a Destination, Success Technologies.
 * Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
 * Meaning: Don't worry about the future; focus on today's worries.
 * From Matthew 6:34.

T

 * Take an old dirty, hungry, mangy, sick and wet dog and feed him and wash him and nurse him back to health, and he will never turn on you and bite you. This is how man and dog differ.
 * (Possibly Lord Byron)
 * Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.


 * Talk of the devil and he's sure to appear.


 * That which does not kill you, makes you stronger.
 * Meaning: Unpleasant experiences will make you wiser.
 * Friedrich Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1888)
 * The dogs bark but the caravan goes on.
 * Meaning: Let the world say what it will.
 * Source:.


 * The man who sleeps with a machete is a fool every night but one.


 * The worth of a thing is what it will bring.
 * Carr, D. H., D. R. E. Education, et al. (2003). Mastering Real Estate Appraisal, Kaplan Publishing.
 * There is luck in odd numbers.


 * The teacher has not taught, until the student has learned.


 * There is no smoke without fire.
 * Meaning: Everything happens for a reason.
 * Other meaning: A rumour contains some truth.
 * Source:.


 * There are no small parts, only small actors.
 * Southgate, M. (2006). Third Girl from the Left, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.


 * There is a thin line between love and hate.
 * William T. Golson, J. (2007). On the Matter of Relationships, Xulon Press.
 * There's always a calm before a storm.
 * Mills, J. (2001). The Sacred Seal, Key Porter Books.
 * or The calm before the storm.
 * There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip.
 * Note: This comes from a Greek legend, as follows: One of the Argonauts returned from his voyage, and went home to his winery. He called for the local soothsayer, who had predicted before his voyage that he would die before he tasted another drop of his wine from his vinery. As he finished saying this, he raised a cup filled with wine to his lips, in toast to the soothsayer, who said something in reply. Just then, he was called away to hunt a wild boar that was approaching, and died in his attempt to kill it. The phrase that the soothsayer said is translated best as, There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.
 * Meaning: Don't celebrate until you are 100% sure there is a reason to do so.
 * Where there's muck there's brass.
 * Meaning: There is money to be made in dirty jobs.


 * There's more than one way to skin a cat.
 * Meaning: There is more than one way to solve a problem.


 * There's no accounting for taste.
 * From the Latin: De gustibus non est disputandum.


 * There's no fool like an old fool.
 * Meaning: An old person's experiences are supposed to make him wise.


 * There's no peace for the wicked.
 * Granger, P. (2011). No Peace For The Wicked, Transworld.
 * There's no place like home.


 * There is no royal road to learning.


 * There's no such thing as a free lunch.
 * Meaning: You can't get something for nothing.


 * There's no time like the present.
 * Meaning: Don't regret past actions or worry about the future. Focus on todays major worries instead.
 * Elkin, A. (1999). Stress management for dummies, John Wiley & Sons.
 * There is only eight years between success and failure in politics.
 * Jim Brown, Louisiana statesman..
 * A thief thinks everyone steals.
 * Sweeney, J. (1995). 350 Fabulous Writing Prompts: Thought-Provoking Springboards for Creative, Expository, and Journal Writing, Scholastic.
 * Think before you speak.
 * Lewicki, R. J., A. Hiam, et al. (1996). Think before you speak: the complete guide to strategic negotiation, J. Wiley.
 * This, too, shall pass.
 * Meaning: Things will often return to normal after bad times.


 * Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
 * Meaning: Don't be a hypocrite.


 * Time and tide wait for none.
 * Meaning: If you don't prepare for the future, you will fall behind.
 * Spender, D. (1984). Time and tide wait for no man, Pandora Press.
 * Time flies.
 * Cosby, B. (1988). Time flies, Bantam Books.
 * Latin: Tempus fugit!


 * Time flies when you're having fun.
 * Hauser, J. R., G. L. Urban, et al. (1992). Time flies when you're having fun: how consumers allocate their time when evaluating products, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 * Time is money.
 * Leonard, F. (1995). Time is money: a million dollar investment plan for today's twenty- and thirty-somethings, Perseus Books Group.
 * Time will tell.
 * Meaning: Sometime you just can't know.


 * 'Tis better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.
 * (Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam:27")
 * Tit for tat.
 * Meaning: Treat someone equally well as you have been treated yourself.
 * Smith, J. G. (2008). Tit for Tat: BiblioLife.
 * To each, his own.
 * Meaning: Mind your own business.
 * Sciascia, L., & Foulke, A. W. (2000). To each his own: New York Review Books.
 * To err is human; to forgive, divine.
 * Pope, Essay on Criticism.


 * To know the road ahead ask those coming back.
 * Meaning: Ask someone with the experience.
 * Peltason, R. (2008). I Am Not My Breast Cancer: Women Talk Openly about Love & Sex, Hair Loss & Weight Gain, Mothers & Daughters, and Being a Woman with Breast Cancer: HarperCollins.
 * Tomorrow is another day.
 * Meaning: You can't do everything today.
 * Too many arguments destroyed marriage negotiations
 * Too many cooks spoil the broth.
 * Too many cooks spoil the broth.


 * Too much of one thing, good for nothing.
 * From Shakespeare
 * Meaning: You can have too much of something good.


 * Tread on a worm and it will turn.
 * Meaning: Even the most weakest person will try to defend when he feels threatened.
 * "This Proverb is generally used by Persons who have received gross insults andInjuries from others (which they have for some time bore with Patience) to excuse theirbeing at last transported to some Warmth of Resentment and Passion." - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * Trouble shared is trouble halved.


 * Truth is stranger than fiction.
 * "Truth is always strange — stranger than fiction." Lord Byron, Don Juan.


 * The truth shall set you free, or The truth will set you free.
 * In the Bible, John 8:32.


 * Truth will out.


 * Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.
 * Wiersbe, W. W. (2001). Be Successful (1 Samuel): Attaining Wealth That Money Can't Buy: David C. Cook.


 * Two heads are better than one.
 * John Heywood, Proverbs, Part I, Chapter IX; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Two things prolong your life: A quiet heart and a loving wife.
 * Manser, M. (2006). The Wordsworth dictionary of proverbs, Wordsworth Editions, Limited.


 * Two wrongs don't make a right.


 * Two is a company; three is a crowd.
 * A loving couple wants to be left alone.
 * William Ickes, P. D., & Ickes, W. K. (2004). Two's Company; Three's a Crowd: Booksurge Llc.

U

 * Unity is strength.


 * Unprepare to prepare, be prepared to be unprepared.
 * supposedly said by W.B.Govo in 1916.
 * Use it or lose it.
 * Meaning: Not using a skill might lead you into losing it.


 * Use it up, wear it out, make do with, or do without.
 * Great Depression era proverb

V
That gives it all its flavour.
 * Variety is the spice of life.
 * An early version is found in William Cowper, The Task (1785), Book II, "The Timepiece", lines 606–7:
 * Variety's the very spice of life,


 * Virtue which parleys is near a surrender.
 * Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * The voice of the people is the voice of god.

W

 * Walk softly, carry a big stick.
 * Meaning: He affable, but be sure to have powerful punitive measures.
 * Variant of an African proverb that was made famous in the U.S. by Teddy Roosevelt, "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far".
 * Walk the walk and talk the talk.
 * Meaning: First do your task, then talk about it.


 * Waste not, want not.
 * Meaning: Not being wasteful will keep you away from poverty.


 * A watched pot never boils.
 * Meaning: While waiting for something to happen, it feels like time is moving slower.


 * The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.


 * We can't always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
 * By: Franklin D. Roosevelt
 * We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
 * By: Franklin D. Roosevelt
 * We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less without that drop.
 * Chinoda, A. K. (2009). Simply Significant: Leaving a Legacy of Hope: Morgan James Publishing.
 * The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
 * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi
 * Well begun is half done.
 * Variant: Well begun is half ended.
 * Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * "Well done" is better than "well said".
 * Whiting, B. J. (1977). Early American proverbs and proverbial phrases: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
 * What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
 * Meaning: A lie will always spawn a bigger lie.


 * What goes around comes around.
 * Meaning: Good acts will quite often reward you. Conversely, evil acts will quite often punish you.


 * What goes up must come down.
 * Meaning: You can't always be on top (figuratively speaking).


 * What you see is what you get.


 * What you sow is what you reap.


 * Where there is a will, there is a way.
 * Similar to You reap what you sow
 * Based on the Bible (Gal. 6:7): "for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
 * What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
 * Meaning: What is good for men is also good for women and vice versa.


 * When a thing is done advice comes too late.
 * Richardson, S. (2010). Clarissa Harlowe and Pamela: Clarissa Harlowe or the history of a young lady (in 9 volumes) and Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (Mobi Classics): MobileReference.
 * When in Rome, do as the Romans do.


 * When one door closes, another door opens.
 * Meaning: When you lose something, an opportunity for something else presents itself.


 * When the cat is away, the mice will play.
 * Similar to When the cat is away, the mice will rule.
 * Meaning: Mice do not generally like cats.


 * When the going gets tough, the tough get going.


 * Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. []
 * Thomas Gray, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"
 * Where there's a will, there's a way.
 * Maguire, L. (2006). Where there's a will there's a way: or, all I really need to know I learned from Shakespeare: Perigee Book.
 * Where vice goes before, vengeance follows after.
 * Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * The whole dignity of man lies in the power of thought.
 * B. Pascal
 * Willful waste makes woeful want.
 * Meaning: If you waste something, you might regret it in the future.


 * The wish is father to the thought.
 * Meaning: BLANK


 * Wise men learn by other men men's harms, fools by their own.


 * A woman is like a tea bag; you'll never know how strong she is until she's in hot water.
 * Massing, M. (2000). The Fix: University of California Press.
 * A woman's work is never done.
 * From a folk rhyme - "A man may work from sun to sun, but woman's work is never done."
 * Women need men like a fish needs a bicycle.
 * Gurian, M. (2002). The Wonder of Girls: Understanding the Hidden Nature of Our Daughters: Pocket Star.
 * A word spoken is past recalling.


 * The world is your oyster.
 * Meaning: You can create your own happiness.
 * Opdyke, J. D. (2008). The World Is Your Oyster: The Guide to Finding Great Investments Around the Globe, Crown Business.
 * Worship the Creator not His creation.
 * McDowell, S. (2010). Apologetics Study Bible for Students: B&H Publishing Group.
 * The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can't have them.
 * Hall, M., & Hunt, J. (2005). FW: FW : through the firewall: Publish On Demand.
 * Work is worship.
 * Furuseth, A. (1927). Work is worship: a call to and defense of freedom, labor and labor unions based upon Christian belief and historical evolution : delivered to the students at the California University, Labor Day, 1927: s.n.

Y

 * You always admire what you really don't understand, et al. (2007). The Book of Positive Quotations, Fairview Press.


 * You always find something in the last place you look.
 * Mass, W. (2008). Jeremy Fink and the meaning of life, Scholastic.


 * You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
 * Meaning: You can give someone an opportunity, but you can't force him to take advantage of it. Your control over a situation may be limited.


 * You know the tree by its fruit.
 * Meaning: You can judge someone based on his surroundings. For instance, a person living in a messy house is messy.


 * The younger brother the better gentleman.
 * Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721
 * You can't have an omelette unless you break the egg.
 * Meaning: You must sometimes sacrifice something in order to create a new thing.


 * You can't see the forest for the trees' mean
 * Meaning: While tending to every detail you might miss out the big picture.
 * Van Dertuin, R. L. (2006). Miracles: You Can't See the Forest for the Trees, iUniverse.
 * You don't shit where you eat.
 * Meaning: Different segments of your life must remain contiguous such as business, your love life and leisure.
 * Variant: Don't crap in the bag you sleep in.

Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations

 * Quotes reported as proverbs in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639-43.

Proverbs and Popular Phrases

 * (Alphabetically arranged by text of quote).


 * A baker's dozen.
 * François Rabelais, Works, Book V, Chapter XXII; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Add to golden numbers golden numbers.
 * Thomas Dekker, Patient Grissell (1599), Act I, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * A flea in his ear.
 * R. Armin, Nest of Ninnies (1608). T. Nash, Pierce Penniless (1592). R. Greene, Quip for an upstart Courier (1592). Teuton, Tragicall Discourses. (1579). Francis de l'Isle, Legendarie Life and Behavior of Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine (1577); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * After supper walk a mile.
 * Beaumont and Fletcher, Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding (c. 1609; printed 1629), Act II, scene 4; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * As clear as a whistle.
 * John Byrom, Epistle to Lloyd, I.


 * As cold as cucumbers.
 * Beaumont and Fletcher, Cupid's Revenge (1615), Act I, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * As high as Heaven, as deep as Hell.
 * John Fletcher, The Honest Man's Fortune, (1613; published 1647), Act IV, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * A thorn in the flesh.
 * II Corinthians, XII. 7; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Bag and baggage.
 * Richard Huloet, Abecedarium Anglico-Latinum pro Tyrunculas (1552). As You Like It, III. 2. How erst wee did them thence, sans bag and baggage, tosse. Burdet, Mirror for Magistrates, Stanza 75. "With bag and baggage, selye wretch, / I yelded into Beautie's hand." Tottel's Miscellany. Arber's Reprint, p. 173. Appears in translation. of Polydore Vergil's English History, edited by Sir Henry Ellis, Camden Society (1844). MS., in the handwriting of the reign of Henry VIII. (About 1540–50). Also in Camden Society Reprint, No. 53, p. 47. (1500). In Life of Lord Grey, Camden Society MS, p. 37. (About 1570). Credited to Froissart, in Lord Berner's translation, Volume I, Chapter CCCXX, p. 497. (Ed. 1523); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Barkis is willin'.
 * Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1849-1850), Chapter I; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Beat all your feathers as flat as pancakes.
 * Thomas Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act II, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Better a bad excuse, than none at all.
 * William Camden, Remaines, Proverbs, p. 293; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Big-endians and small-endians.
 * Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, Part I, Chapter IV. Voyage to Lilliput; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * But me no buts.
 * Henry Fielding, Rape upon Rape, Act II, scene 2. Aaron Hill, Snake in the Grass, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * By all that's good and glorious.
 * Lord Byron, Sardanapalus, Act I, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Curses are like young chickens, And still come home to roost!
 * Arabian Proverb quoted by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Lady of Lyons, Act V, scene 2. Chaucer, Persones Tale, Section 41; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Cut and come again.
 * George Crabbe, Tales VII, line 26; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Diamonds cut diamonds.
 * John Ford, The Lover's Melancholy (licensed 24 November 1628; printed 1629), Act I, scene 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Every one stretcheth his legs according to his coverlet.
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Every why hath a wherefore.
 * William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act II, scene 2, line 44; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Facts are stubborn things.
 * Alain-René Lesage, Gil Blas (1715-1735), Book X, Chapter I. Smollet's translation; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 639.


 * Fast bind, fast find; A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.
 * William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (late 1590s), Act II, scene 5, line 54; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * First come, first served.
 * John Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (with Philip Massinger; c. 1619–23; published 1647), Act II, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Fitted him to a T.
 * Samuel Johnson, reported in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1784); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * From the crown of our head to the sole of our foot.
 * John Fletcher, The Honest Man's Fortune, (1613; published 1647), Act II, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640. Thomas Middleton, A Mad World, My Masters, Act I, scene 3. Pliny, Natural History, Book VII, Chapter XVII. Much Ado About Nothing, Act III, scene 2.


 * Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack'd and never well mended.
 * Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard (1750); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * God save the mark!
 * William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I (c. 1597), Act I, scene 3, line 57; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Going as if he trod upon eggs.
 * Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part III. Sect, II. Memb. 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Go to Jericho. Let them all go to Jericho, And ne'er be seen againe.
 * Mercurius Aulicus (1648); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640; quoted in the Athenæum (Nov. 14, 1874).


 * Go West, young man! Go West.
 * John L. B. Soule, in the Terre Haute Express (1851); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Go West, young man, and grow up with the country.
 * Horace Greeley, Hints toward Reform, in an editorial in the Tribune; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Hail, fellow, well met.
 * Jonathan Swift, My Lady's Lamentation; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Harp not on that string.
 * William Shakespeare, Richard III (c. 1591), Act IV, scene 4, line 366; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * He can give little to his servant that licks his knife.
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * He comes not in my books.
 * Thomas Middleton, The Widow; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * He did not care a button for it.
 * François Rabelais, Works, Book II, Chapter XVI; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Here's metal more attractive.
 * William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600-02), Act III, scene 2, line 115; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Hide their diminished heads.
 * John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), Book IV, line 35; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Hier lies that should fetch a perfect woman over the coles.
 * Sir Gyles Goosecappe (1606); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * His bark is worse than his bite.
 * George Herbert, Country Parson, Chapter XXIX; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Hit the nail on the head.
 * Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure (c. 1612–13; revised c. 1625; published 1647), Act II, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Hold one another's noses to the grindstone hard.
 * Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part III, Section I. Memb. 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Hold their noses to the grindstone.
 * Thomas Middleton, Blurt, Master Constable, Act III, scene 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Honey of Hybla.
 * William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I (c. 1597), Act I, scene 2, line 47; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * How well I feathered my nest.
 * François Rabelais, Works, Book II, Chapter XVII; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * I have other fish to fry.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Part II, Chapter XXXV; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * I have you on the hip.
 * William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (late 1590s), Act IV, scene 1, line 334; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * I'll have a fling.
 * John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (licensed 19 October 1624; 1640), III, 5; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * I'll make the fur Fly 'bout the ears of the old cur.
 * Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part I (1663-64), Canto III, line 278; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * I'll put a spoke among your wheels.
 * John Fletcher, The Mad Lover; (acted 5 January 1617; 1647), Act III, scene 5; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations'' (1922), p. 640.


 * In the name of the Prophet—figs.
 * Horace and James Smith, Rejected Addresses, Johnson's Ghost; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Leap out of the frying pan into the fire.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Part I, Book III, Chapter IV; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Let the worst come to the worst.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Book III, Chapter V. Marston, Dutch Courtesan, Act III, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Love all, trust a few, Do wrong to none.
 * William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well (1600s), Act I, scene 1, line 73; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Love, and a Cough, cannot be hid.
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Made no more bones.
 * Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, The Maiden Blush; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Make ducks and drakes with shillings.
 * George Chapman, Eastward Ho, Act I, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 640.


 * Make three bites of a cherry.
 * François Rabelais, Works, Book V, Chapter XXVIII; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Many a smale maketh a grate.
 * Geoffrey Chaucer, Persones Tale; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Mariana in the moated grange.
 * Alfred Tennyson, Motto for Mariana. Taken from "There, at the moated grange, resides this dejected Mariana." Comedy of Errors, Act II, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Mind your P's and Q's.
 * Said to be due to the old custom of hanging up a slate in the tavern with P. and Q. (for pints and quarts), under which were written the names of customers and ticks for the number of "P's and Q's." Another explanation is that the expression referred to "toupées" (artificial locks of hair) and "queues" (tails); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Moche Crye and no Wull.
 * Fortescue, De Laudibus Leg. Angliæ, Chapter X; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Much of a muchness.
 * John Vanbrugh, The Provoked Husband, Act I, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Needle in a bottle of hay.
 * Nathan Field, A Woman's a Weathercock (reprint 1612), p. 20; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Neither fish, flesh nor good red herring.
 * Tom Browne, Æneus; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641. Sylvius. Letter. John Dryden, Epilogue to Duke of Guise. William Marsden, History of Christian Churches, Volume I, p. 267. In Sir John Mennes' (Mennis) Musarum Deliciæ. (1651). Thomas Nash, Lenten Stuff (1599). Reprinted in Harleian Miscellany. Sir H. Sheres, Satyr on the sea officers. Rede me and be nott wrothe. I, III. (1528).


 * No better than you should be.
 * Beaumont and Fletcher, The Coxcomb (c. 1608–10; 1647), Act IV, scene 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * No rule is so general, which admits not some exception.
 * Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part I, Section II. Memb. 2. Subsect. 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Nought venter nought have.
 * John Heywood, Proverbs, Part I, Chapter XI. Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, October's Extract; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.
 * William Cobbett. Also Gilray Caricature. May 22. 1797, after the bank stopped cash payments, Feb. 26, 1797. Sheridan, Life by Walter Sichel, p. 16. Refers to the bank as an elderly lady in the city, of great credit and long standing, who had recently made a faux pas which was not altogether inexcusable; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * On his last legs.
 * Thomas Middleton, The Old Law, Act V, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * One good turn deserves another.
 * John Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (with Philip Massinger; c. 1619–23; published 1647), Act III, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Originality provokes originality.
 * Goethe; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Passing the Rubicon. When he arrived at the banks of the Rubicon, which divides Cisalpine Gaul from the rest of Italy … he stopped to deliberate…. At last he cried out: "The die is cast" and immediately passed the river.
 * Plutarch, Life of Julius Cæsar; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Performed to a T.
 * François Rabelais, Works, Book IV, Chapter LI; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Pons Asinorum.
 * The asses' bridge.
 * Applied to Proposition 5 of the first book of Euclid; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Present company excepted.
 * O'Keefe, London Hermit (1793); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Push on—keep moving.
 * Thomas Morton, A Cure for the Heartache, Act III, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Put himself upon his good behaviour.
 * Lord Byron, Don Juan (1818-24), Canto V, Stanza 47; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Put your toong in your purse.
 * John Heywood, Dialogue of Wit and Folly, Part II, line 263; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Quo vadis?
 * Whither goest thou?
 * From The Vulgate. John, XIII. 36. Domine, quo vadis? [St. Peter's question.] St. Thomas asks a similar question in John, XIV. 5. The traditional story is told by St. Ambrose, Contra Auxentium (Ed. Paris, 1690), II, 867; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Safe bind, safe find.
 * Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, Washing; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Scared out of his seven senses.
 * Walter Scott, Rob Roy, Chapter XXIV; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Set all at sixe and seven.
 * John Heywood, Proverbs, Part I, Chapter XI. Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Cresseide, line 623. Also Towneley Mysteries. 143. Morte Arture. Manuscript at Lincoln. Degrevant. (1279). Richard II, Act II, scene 2, line 122. All reported as proverbial in Hoyt's New yclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 641.


 * Smell a rat.
 * Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part I (1663-64), Canto I, line 821; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642. Cervantes, Don Quixote, Part I, Book IV, Chapter X. Ben Jonson, Tale of a Tub, Act IV, scene 3. Thomas Middleton, Blurt, Master Constable, Act III, scene 3.


 * Snug as a bug in a rug.
 * The Stratford Jubilee (1779), II. 1.. Letter to Miss Georgiana Shipley (September, 1772); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Something given that way.
 * John Fletcher, The Lovers' Progress (licensed 6 December 1623; revised 1634; published 1647), Act I, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * So obliging that he ne'er oblig'd.
 * Alexander Pope, Prologue to Satires, line 207; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Sop to Cerebus.
 * If I can find that Cerebus a sop, I shall be at rest for one day.
 * William Congreve, Love for Love, Act I, scene 1; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * So was hir jolly whistel wel y-wette.
 * Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, The Reeve's Tale, line 4,155; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Spare your breath to cool your porridge.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Part II, Chapter V. Rabelais, Works, Book V, Chapter XXVIII; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Strike the iron whilst it is hot.
 * François Rabelais, Works, Book II, Chapter XXXI; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Strike while the iron is hot.
 * George Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem, Act IV, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642. Walter Scott, The Fair Maid of Perth, Chapter V. Webster, Westward Ho, III. 2. Geoffrey Chaucer, Troylus and Cresseyde, Book II, Stanza 178.


 * That was laid on with a trowel.
 * William Shakespeare, As You Like It (c.1599-1600), Act I, scene 2, line 112; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The coast was clear.
 * Michael Drayton, Nymphidia; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The fat's all in the fire.
 * Cobbe, Prophecies, Bullen's reprint (1614); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642. Marston, What You Will (1607). The Balancing Captain. Whole poem quoted by Walpole in a letter to Mann, Nov. 2, 1741.


 * The finest edge is made with the blunt whetstone.
 * John Lyly, Euphues. Arber's Reprint. (1579), p. 47; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The foule Toade hath a faire stone in his head.
 * John Lyly, Euphues. Arber's Reprint. (1579), p. 53; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The man that heweth over high, Some chip falleth in his eye.
 * Story of Sir Eglamour of Artoys. MSS. in Garrick Collection; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The more thou stir it the worse it will be.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Book III, Chapter VIII; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The next way home's the farthest way about.
 * Francis Quarles, Emblems, Book IV. Em. 2, Epistle 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The point is plain as a pike staff.
 * John Byrom, Epistle to a Friend; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The short and the long of it.
 * William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor (c. 1597; published 1602), Act II, scene 2, line 60; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * The total depravity of inanimate things.
 * Katherine K. C. Walker, title of an Essay in the Atlantic Monthly (Sept., 1864); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642. Mary Abigail Dodge, Epigram.


 * This is a pretty flimflam.
 * John Fletcher, The Little French Lawyer (with Philip Massinger; c. 1619–23; published 1647), Act III, scene 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Though this may be play to you, 'Tis death to us.
 * Roger L'Estrange, Fables, 398; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Thou will scarce be a man before thy mother.
 * Beaumont and Fletcher, Love's Cure (c. 1612–13; revised c. 1625; published 1647), Act II, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Three things are men most likely to be cheated in, a horse, a wig, and a wife.
 * Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard (1736); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Through thick and thin, both over bank and bush.
 * Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene (1589-96), Book III, Canto I, Stanza 17; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Through thick and thin, both over Hill and Plain.
 * Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, Divine Weekes and Workes, Second Week (1584), Fourth Day, Book IV; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Through thick and thin.
 * Samuel Butler, Hudibras, Part I (1663-64), Canto II, line 370; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642. Cowper, John Gilpin. Drayton, Nymphidia. Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel, Part II, line 414. Kemp, Nine Days' Wonder. Middleton, The Roaring Girl (1611), Act IV, scene 2. Alexander Pope, The Dunciad, Book II.


 * Though last, not least in love.
 * William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar (1599), Act III, scene 1, line 189. "Although the last, not least." King Lear, Act I, scene 1, line 85. Spenser, Colin Clout, line 444; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * Thursday come, and the week is gone.
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * 'Tis as cheap sitting as standing.
 * Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation (c. 1738), Dialogue I; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * 'Tis a stinger.
 * Thomas Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, Act III, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * 'Tis in grain, sir, 'twill endure wind and weather.
 * William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (c. 1601-02), Act I, scene 5, line 253; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * 'Tis neither here nor there.
 * William Shakespeare, Othello (c. 1603), Act IV, scene 3, line 58; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 642.


 * To rise with the lark, and go to bed with the lamb.
 * Breton, Court and Country (1618); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * To take the nuts from the fire with the dog's foot.
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations'' (1922), p. 643.


 * Turn over a new leaf.
 * Edmund Burke, letter to Miss Haviland; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643. Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part II, Act II, scene 1. Also A Health to the Gentlemanly Profession of Serving-Men (1598). Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life (1621), Act III, scene 3.


 * Walls have tongues, and hedges ears.
 * Jonathan Swift, Pastoral Dialogue, line 7; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643. Hazlitt, English Proverbs, etc. (Ed. 1869), p. 446. "Wode has erys, felde has sigt." King Edward and the Shepherd, Manuscript (Circa 1300). "Felde hath eyen, and wode hath eres." Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, The Knight's Tale, line 1,522. "Fieldes have eies and woodes have eares." Heywood, Proverbes, Part II, Chapter V.


 * Westward-ho!
 * William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night (c. 1601-02), Act III, scene 1, line 146; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh.
 * Pilpay, The Two Fishermen, Fable XIV; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643. "It will never come out of the flesh that's bred in the bone." Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, Act I, scene 1.


 * What is not in a man cannot come out of him surely.
 * Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman and Dorothea, Canto III, line 3; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * What is sauce for the goose is sauce for a gander.
 * Tom Brown, New Maxims, p. 123; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * What is the matter with Kansas?
 * W. A. White. Title of an editorial in the Emporia Gazette, August 15, 1896; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * What mare's nest hast thou found?
 * John Fletcher, The Tragedy of Bonduca (1611–14; published 1647), Act IV, scene 2; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * What you would not have done to yourselves, never do unto others.
 * Alexander Severus. See also "Golden Rule." Matthew, VII. 12; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * When a dog is drowning, every one offers him drink.
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Where McGregor sits, there is the head of the table.
 * Quoted in American Scholar by Ralph Waldo Emerson; attributed to The McGregor, a Highland Chief; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Whether the pitcher hits the stone or the stone hits the pitcher, it goes ill with the pitcher.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote, Volume II, Chapter XLIII; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad.
 * Robert Burns, Whistle, and I'll Come to You; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Whistle, and she'll come to you.
 * John Fletcher, Wit Without Money (c. 1614; published 1639), Act IV, scene 4; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Wind puffs up empty bladders; opinion, fools.
 * Socrates; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * With tooth and nail.
 * Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas, Divine Weekes and Workes, First Week, Second Day; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Within a stone's throw of it.
 * Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605-15), Part I, Book III, Chapter IX; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Whose house is of glass, must not throw stones at another.
 * George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651); reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * Why, then, do you walk as if you had swallowed a ramrod?
 * Epictetus, Discourses, Chapter XXI; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * You shall never want rope enough.
 * François Rabelais, Works, prologue to the Fifth Book; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.


 * You whirled them to the back of beyond.
 * Walter Scott, Antiquary; reported as a proverb in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 643.