Scots proverbs

Proverbs in Scots, a language similar to English spoken in parts of Scotland.

A

 * A close mouth catches nae flees.
 * English equivalent: A closed mouth catches no flies.
 * Variant of the Sumerian proverb: Flies enter an open mouth.


 * A fule may gie a wise man counsel.
 * English equivalent: A fool may give a wise man counsel.
 * "Some men never spake a wise word, yet doe wisely; some on the other side doe never a wise deed, and yet speake wisely."
 * Sir Thomas Overbury, Crumms fal'n from King James Talk. In Works


 * A gude beginning maks a gude ending.
 * English equivalent: A good beginning makes a good ending.
 * Meaning: "Starting properly ensures the speedy completion of a process. A – beginning is often blocked by one or more obstacles (potential barriers) the removal of which may ensure the smooth course of the process."
 * Source for meaning:
 * Source for proverb:


 * Anger begins wi' folly, and ends wi' repentance.
 * English equivalent: Whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.
 * "But he whom reason, not anger, animates is a peer of the gods."
 * Claudian, Panegyricus dictus Manlio Theodoro consuli, lines 227-228.


 * As the old Cock craws, the young Cock lears.
 * English equivalent: As the old cock crows, so crows the young.
 * "Be the change you want to see in your parents."
 * Steven Jagger, Twitter (12 November 2020)

B

 * Bees that hae honey in their mouths, hae stings in their tales.
 * Literal translation: Who wants to lick honey must not shy away from the bees.
 * English equivalent: Honey is sweet, but the bees sting.
 * "To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it; to go through intrigue spotless; and to forgo even ambition when the end is gained — who can say this is not greatness?"
 * William Makepeace Thackeray, The Virginians (1857-1859), Chapter 92.


 * By chance a cripple may catch a hare.
 * English equivalent: Even a blind pig may occasionally pick up an acorn.
 * Meaning: "An incompetent person or an unsystematic approach is bound to succeed every now and then by chance."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:

D

 * Delays are dangerous.
 * English equivalent: There is danger in delay.
 * "Hesitation or procastination may lead to trouble or disaster."


 * Diffidence is the mother o' safety.
 * English equivalent: Diffidence is the right eye of prudence.
 * "Time destroys the groundless conceits of men; it confirms decisions founded on reality."
 * Cicero, De Natura Deorum, II. 2..

E

 * Eagles catch nae flees.
 * Meaning: "People of high rank are considered – or consider themselves – too important to deal with trivial things or lowly folk."
 * English equivalent: "The higher, the fewer."
 * Source for meaning:


 * Eild should hae honour.
 * English equivalent: Gray hairs are honorable.


 * Empty barrels mak maist din.
 * English equivalent: Empty vessels make the greatest sound.

G

 * Good ware makes a quick market.
 * "If a man has good corn, or wood, or boards, or pigs to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles, or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad, hard-beaten road to his house, tho it be in the woods. 'tis certain that the secret can not be kept: the first witness tells it to a second, and men go by fives and tens and fifties to his door."
 * Ralph Waldo Emerson, Works, Volume VIII. In his Journal. (1855), p. 528. (Ed. 1912)


 * Gude health is better than wealth.
 * English equivalent: Good health is above wealth.

H

 * Happy for the son, when the dad gaes to the deil.
 * English equivalent: Happy is the child whose father went to the devil.


 * He gangs lang barefoot that waits for dead men's shune.
 * English equivalent: Don't wait for dead mens shoes.


 * He suld hae a langshankit spune that wad sup kail wi the deil.
 * English equivalentː He who sups with the devil must use a long spoon.


 * He that canna do as he would maun do as he may.
 * English equivalent: Do as you may, if you can't do as you could.


 * He that keeks through a keyhole may see what will vex him.
 * English equivalent: Eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves.
 * Meaning: "People who eavesdrop on the conversations of others risk hearing unfavorable comments about themselves; used as a warning or reprimand."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:


 * He wha marries for love without money, has merry nights and surry days.
 * English equivalent: Never marry for money, but marry where money is.

I

 * If ifs and ans were kettles and pans, there would be nae use for tinklers.
 * English equivalent: How many ifs fill a bushel?


 * If wishes were horses, beggars wad ride, And a' the world be drown d' in pride.
 * English equivalent: If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.


 * If ye like the nut, crack it.
 * English equivalent: He that would eat the kernel must crack the nut.
 * Meaning: "Nothing is achieved without effort."
 * Source for meaning:


 * In at ae lug and out at the ither.
 * English equivalent: Advice most needed are the least heeded.
 * Meaning: "For various reasons a good advice or a genuine warning is often disregarded or considered of no importance."
 * Source for meaning and proverb:


 * It is a mean mouse that has but ae hole.
 * English equivalent: It is a poor mouse that has only one hole.
 * Meaning: It is dangerous to always depend on just one thing, because if it fails you, you will not have any alternatives.

L

 * Loud cheeps the mouse, when the cat's no rustling.
 * English equivalent: If the cat is away, the mice play.
 * Meaning: "In the absence of the person in authority those under his control will often neglect the duties/rules imposed on them."
 * Source for meaning and proverbs:

N

 * Naething venture, naething have.
 * English equivalent: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 * Meaning: It is necessary to take risks in order to achieve something.


 * Necessity ' s the mither o invention.
 * English equivalent: Necessity is the mother of invention.

O

 * Our ain reek's better than ither folk's fire.
 * English equivalent: Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad.

R

 * The remedy is worse than the disease.
 * English equivalent: The remedy is often worse than the disease.

S

 * Seldom lies the dell dead by the dyke side.


 * Meaning: "You are not to expect that difficulties and dangers will vanish without any effort on your own."
 * Source for meaning and proverb:
 * "Society is now one polish'd horde, Form'd of two mighty tribes, the Bores and Bored."
 * Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto XIII (1823) Stanza 95


 * Speak well of the highlands, but dwell in the laigh.
 * English equivalent: Praise the mountains, but love plains.

T

 * The nearer the bane the sweeter.
 * English equivalent: The sweetest flesh is near the bones.


 * The smiths mear and the souters wife are aye warst shod.
 * English equivalent: The cobbler's wife is the worst shod.
 * Meaning: "Working hard for others one may neglect one's own needs or the needs of those closest to him."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:


 * Time and tide for nae man bide.
 * English equivalent: Time and tide waits for no man.
 * "Anyone who says they're not afraid at the time of a hurricane is either a fool or a liar, or a little bit of both."
 * Attributed to Anderson Cooper

W

 * What carlins hain, cats eat.
 * English equivalent: Cats eat what hussies spare.
 * Note: "Cat" is a slang term for prostitute.
 * Meaning: An inferior workman might defeat his competition by making the services he provides more remarkable.


 * When ae door steeks anither opens.
 * English equivalent: When one door closes another opens.
 * "The opening up of new markets, foreign or domestic, and the organizational development from the craft shop and factory to such concerns as U. S. Steel illustrate the same process of industrial mutation-if I may use that biological term-that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism."
 * Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, 1942; Third Edition, 2014. Part II, Chapter VII, pg.83


 * Weel is that weel does.
 * English equivalent: Handsome is that handsome does.
 * Meaning: "People should be valued for their good deeds, not their good looks, also occasionally used of things, or as a warning not to be misled by an attractive appearance."
 * Source for meaning of English equivalent:

Y

 * Ye maun tak the will for the deed.
 * English equivalent: Take the will for the deed.
 * Meaning: Judge by the well intentioned effort, and not its effects.