| |
| A bad beginning has a bad, or makes a worse, ending. | 1 |
| A bad dog never sees the wolf. | 2 |
| A bad thing is dear at any price. | 3 |
| A barren sow was never good to pigs. | 4 |
| A beggar’s purse is always empty. | 5 |
| A big head and little wit. | 6 |
| A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. | 7 |
| A black hen will lay a white egg. | 8 |
| A blind man should not judge of colours. | 9 |
| A bon chat bon rat—A good rat to match a good cat. Tit for tat. | 10 |
| A burnt child dreads the fire. | 11 |
| A careless master makes a negligent servant. | 12 |
| A carper will cavil at anything. | 13 |
| A carrion kite will never make a good hawk. | 14 |
| A child may have too much of its mother’s blessing. | 15 |
| A clear conscience is a sure card. | 16 |
| A cold hand, a warm heart. | 17 |
| A crafty knave needs no broker. Quoted in Hen. VI. | 18 |
| A crown is no cure for the headache. | 19 |
| A danger foreseen is half avoided. | 20 |
| |
|
|
| |
| A drop of honey catches more flies than a hogshead of vinegar. | 21 |
| A drowning man will catch at a straw. | 22 |
| Ægroto, dum anima est, spes est—While a sick man has life, there is hope. | 23 |
| Æmulatio æmulationem parit—Emulation begets emulation. | 24 |
| A fair face may hide a foul heart. | 25 |
| A fault confessed is half redressed. | 26 |
| A fonte puro pura defluit aqua—From a pure spring pure water flows. | 27 |
| A fool and his money are soon parted. | 28 |
| A fool is wise in his own conceit. | 29 |
| A fool knows more in his own house than a wise man in another’s. | 30 |
| A fool may give a wise man counsel. | 31 |
| A fool may make money, but it takes a wise man to spend it. | 32 |
| A fool when he is silent is counted wise. | 33 |
| A fool’s bolt may sometimes hit the mark. | 34 |
| A friend in court makes the process short. | 35 |
| A friend is never known till needed. | 36 |
| A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody. | 37 |
| A fronte præcipitium, a tergo lupus—A precipice before, a wolf behind. | 38 |
| A full cup is hard to carry. | 39 |
| A gold key opens every door. | 40 |
| A good bargain is a pick-purse. | 41 |
| A good beginning makes a good ending. | 42 |
| A good friend is my nearest relation. | 43 |
| A good horse should be seldom spurred. | 44 |
| A good marksman may miss. | 45 |
| A good name is sooner lost than won. | 46 |
| A good presence is a letter of recommendation. | 47 |
| A good road and a wise traveller are two different things. | 48 |
| A good surgeon must have an eagle’s eye, a lion’s heart, and a lady’s hand. | 49 |
| A good wife and health are a man’s best wealth. | 50 |
| A green winter makes a fat churchyard. | 51 |
| A growing youth has a wolf in his belly. | 52 |
| A guilty conscience needs no accuser. | 53 |
| A hair of the dog that bit him. | 54 |
| A hedge between, keeps friendship green. | 55 |
| A hook’s well lost to catch a salmon. | 56 |
| A hundred years cannot repair a moment’s loss of honour. | 57 |
| A hungry belly has no ears. | 58 |
| A leaden sword in an ivory scabbard. | 59 |
| A liar should have a good memory. | 60 |
| A lie has no legs, but scandal has wings. | 61 |
| A light heart lives long. | 62 |
| A little body often harbours a great soul. | 63 |
| A little is better than none. | 64 |
| A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. | 65 |
| A living dog is better than a dead lion. | 66 |
| A loan should come laughing home. | 67 |
| A man can do no more than he can. | 68 |
| A man at sixteen will prove a child at sixty. | 69 |
| A man cannot spin and reel at the same time. | 70 |
| A man cannot whistle and drink at the same time. | 71 |
| A man is a fool or his own physician at forty. | 72 |
| A man may do what he likes with his own. | 73 |
| A man must ask his wife’s leave to thrive. | 74 |
| A man’s best fortune or his worst is his wife. | 75 |
| A man’s gift makes room for him. | 76 |
| A man’s house is his castle. | 77 |
| A man’s walking is a succession of falls. | 78 |
| A miss is as good as a mile. | 79 |
| A new broom sweeps clean. | 80 |
| A peck of March dust is worth a king’s ransom. | 81 |
| A pet lamb makes a cross ram. | 82 |
| A place for everything, and everything in its place. | 83 |
| A plant often removed cannot thrive. | 84 |
| A pound of care won’t pay an ounce of debt. | 85 |
| A ragged colt may make a good horse. | 86 |
| A reconciled friend is a double enemy. | 87 |
| A rolling stone gathers no moss. | 88 |
| A saint abroad, a devil at home. | 89 |
| A silver key can open an iron lock. | 90 |
| A slow fire makes sweet malt. | 91 |
| A sorrow shared is but half a trouble, / But a joy that’s shared is a joy made double. | 92 |
| A spot is most seen on the finest cloth. | 93 |
| A spur in the head is worth two in the heels. | 94 |
| A stitch in time saves nine. | 95 |
| A tale never loses in the telling. | 96 |
| A tattler is worse than a thief. | 97 |
| A thief knows a thief, as a wolf knows a wolf. | 98 |
| A thing you don’t want is dear at any price. | 99 |
| A threatened blow is seldom given. | 100 |
| A travelled man has leave to lie. | 101 |
| A tree is known by its fruit. | 102 |
| A useful trade is a mine of gold. | 103 |
| A wilful man must have his way. | 104 |
| A willing mind makes a light foot. | 105 |
| A wise man is never less alone than when alone. | 106 |
| A wolf in sheep’s clothing. | 107 |
| A woman conceals what she does not know. | 108 |
| A word and a stone let go cannot be recalled. | 109 |
| Ab inopia ad virtutem obsepta est via—The way from poverty to virtue is an obstructed one. | 110 |
| Absens hæres non erit—The absent one will not be the heir. | 111 |
| Abusus non tollit usum—Abuse is no argument against use. | 112 |
| Accensa domo proximi, tua quoque periclitatur—When the house of your neighbour is on fire, your own is in danger. | 113 |
| Actions speak louder than words. | 114 |
| Adversus solem ne loquitor—Speak not against the sun, i.e., don’t argue against what is sun-clear. | 115 |
| Afflictions are blessings in disguise. | 116 |
| After dinner rest awhile; after supper walk a mile. | 117 |
| After-wit is everybody’s wit. | 118 |
| Agree, for the law is costly. | 119 |
| Agues come on horseback and go away on foot. | 120 |
| Alia res sceptrum, alia plectrum—Ruling men is one thing, fiddling to them another. | 121 |
| Aliam excute quercum—Go, shake some other oak (of its fruit). | 122 |
| Aliena optimum frui insania—It is best to profit by the madness of other people. | 123 |
| Alienos agros irrigas tuis sitientibus—You water the fields of others, while your own are parched. | 124 |
| Aliis lætus, sapiens sibi—Cheerful for others, wise for himself. | 125 |
| All are not hunters that blow the horn. | 126 |
| All are not saints that go to church. | 127 |
| All are not soldiers that go to the wars. | 128 |
| All are not thieves that dogs bark at. | 129 |
| All cats are grey in the dark. | 130 |
| All feet tread not in one shoe. | 131 |
| All his geese are swans. | 132 |
| All is good that God sends us. | 133 |
| All is not gold that glitters. | 134 |
| All is not lost that’s in peril. | 135 |
| All the keys don’t hang at one man’s girdle. | 136 |
| All the wit in the world is not in one head. | 137 |
| All things are in perpetual flux and fleeting. | 138 |
| All truth is not to be told at all times. | 139 |
| All women are good, viz., for something or nothing. | 140 |
| All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. | 141 |
| All’s well that ends well. | 142 |
| Almsgiving never made any man poor. | 143 |
| Alter ipse amicus—A friend is a second self. | 144 |
| Altera manu fert lapidem, altera panem ostentat—He carries a stone in one hand, and shows bread in the other. | 145 |
| Altera manu scabunt, altera feriunt—They tickle with one hand and smite with the other. | 146 |
| Always have two strings to your bow. | 147 |
| Amicorum esse communia omnia—Friends’ goods are all common property. | 148 |
| Among the blind the one-eyed is a king. | 149 |
| An archer is known by his aim, not by his arrows. | 150 |
| An Argus at home, a mole abroad. | 151 |
| An empty purse fills the face with wrinkles. | 152 |
| An evening red and morning grey, is a sure sign of a fair day. | 153 |
| An idle brain is the devil’s workshop. | 154 |
| An ill wind that blows nobody good. | 155 |
| An ill workman quarrels with his tools. | 156 |
| An indifferent agreement is better than a good verdict. | 157 |
| An old bird is not to be caught with chaff. | 158 |
| An old knave is no babe. | 159 |
| An open confession is good for the soul. | 160 |
| An open door may tempt a saint. | 161 |
| An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of wit. | 162 |
| An ounce of practice is worth a pound of preaching. | 163 |
| Animo ægrotanti medicus est oratio—Kind words are as a physician to an afflicted spirit. | 164 |
| Anything for a quiet life. | 165 |
| Apothecaries would not sugar their pills unless they were bitter. | 166 |
| Arbore dejecta qui vult ligna colligit—When the tree is thrown down, any one that likes may gather the wood. | 167 |
| Arenæ mandas semina—You are sowing grain in the sand. | 168 |
| Ars varia vulpis, ast una echino maxima—The fox has many tricks; the hedgehog only one, and that greatest of all. | 169 |
| As a tree falls, so shall it lie. | 170 |
| As good be out of the world as out of the fashion. | 171 |
| As he who has health is young, so he who owes nothing is rich. | 172 |
| As long lives a merry heart as a sad. | 173 |
| As proud go behind as before. | 174 |
| As the fool thinks, the bell clinks. | 175 |
| As the good man saith, so say we: / As the good woman saith, so it must be. | 176 |
| As the old cock crows, the young one learns. | 177 |
| As you do to others, expect others to do to you. | 178 |
| As you make your bed you must lie on it. | 179 |
| As you sow you shall reap. | 180 |
| Asinum sub fræno currere docere—To teach an ass to obey the rein, i.e., to labour in vain. | 181 |
| Asinus asino, et sus sui pulcher—An ass is beautiful to an ass, and a pig to a pig. | 182 |
| Asinus inter simias—An ass among apes, i.e., a fool among people who make a fool of him. | 183 |
| Astutior coccyge—More crafty than the cuckoo (who deposits her eggs in another bird’s nest). | 184 |
| Audax ad omnia fœmina, quæ vel amat vel odit—A woman, when she either loves or hates, will dare anything. | 185 |
| Auro loquente nihil pollet quævis ratio—When gold speaks, no reason the least avails. | 186 |
| Aurora musis amica—Aurora is friendly to the Muses. | 187 |
| Aut regem aut fatuum nasci oportere—A man ought to be born either a king or a fool. In Seneca. | 188 |
| Avarus, nisi cum moritur, nil recte facit—A miser does nothing right except when he dies. | 189 |
| Bêtise—Folly; piece of folly. | 190 |
| Barbæ tenus sapientes—Wise as far as the beard goes. | 191 |
| Barking dogs seldom bite. | 192 |
| Be as you would seem to be. | 193 |
| Be just before you be generous. | 194 |
| Be swift to hear, slow to speak. | 195 |
| Bear wealth, poverty will bear itself. | 196 |
| Beati monoculi in regione cæcorum—Blessed are the one-eyed among those who are blind. | 197 |
| Beauty without grace is a violet without smell. | 198 |
| Before you trust a man, eat a peck of salt with him. | 199 |
| Beggars must not be choosers. | 200 |
| Begun is half done. | 201 |
| Benignus etiam dandi causam cogitat—The benevolent man even weighs the grounds of his liberality. | 202 |
| Best time is present time. | 203 |
| Better a fortune in a wife than with a wife. | 204 |
| Better a living dog than a dead lion. | 205 |
| Better an egg to-day than a hen to-morrow. | 206 |
| Better be poor than wicked. | 207 |
| Better bend than break. | 208 |
| Better buy than borrow. | 209 |
| Better deny at once than promise long. | 210 |
| Better go back than go wrong. | 211 |
| Better it is to be envied than pitied. | 212 |
| Better lose a jest than a friend. | 213 |
| Better never begin than never make an end. | 214 |
| Better one-eyed than stone-blind. | 215 |
| Better say nothing than nothing to the purpose. | 216 |
| Better ten guilty escape than one innocent man suffer. | 217 |
| Better to ask than go astray. | 218 |
| Better to say “Here it is” than “Here it was.” | 219 |
| Better untaught than ill taught. | 220 |
| Between saying and doing there’s a long road. | 221 |
| Beware of “Had I wist.” | 222 |
| Beware of a silent dog and still water. | 223 |
| Beware of a silent man and a dog that does not bark. | 224 |
| Birds of a feather flock together. | 225 |
| Birth is much, but breeding is more. | 226 |
| Bis peccare in bello non licet—It is not permitted to blunder in war a second time. | 227 |
| Blessed be nothing. | 228 |
| Blood is thicker than water. | 229 |
| Bos alienus subinde prospectat foras—A strange ox every now and then turns its eyes wistfully to the door. | 230 |
| Bos in lingua—He has an ox on his tongue, i.e., a bribe to keep silent, certain coins in Athens being stamped with an ox. | 231 |
| Bos lassus fortius figit pedem—The tired ox plants his foot more firmly. | 232 |
| Bought wit is best—i.e., bought by experience. | 233 |
| Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is better. | 234 |
| Bread at pleasure, / Drink by measure. | 235 |
| Brevis voluptas mox doloris est parens—Short-lived pleasure is the parent of pain. | 236 |
| Bullies are generally cowards. | 237 |
| By bravely enduring it, an evil which cannot be avoided is overcome. | 238 |
| By doing nothing we learn to do ill. | 239 |
| By others’ faults wise men correct their own. | 240 |
| Cæsar non supra grammaticos—Cæsar has no authority over the grammarians. | 241 |
| Camelus desiderans cornua etiam aures perdidit—The camel begging for horns was deprived of his ears as well. | 242 |
| Capiat, qui capere possit—Let him take who can. | 243 |
| Caput artis est, decere quod facias—The chief thing in any art you may practise is that you do only the one you are fit for. | 244 |
| Car tel est votre plaisir—For such is our pleasure. | 245 |
| Care killed the cat. | 246 |
| Carte blanche—Unlimited power to act (lit. blank paper). | 247 |
| Catch not at the shadow and lose the substance. | 248 |
| Catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantas—Puss likes fish, but does not care to wet her feet. | 249 |
| Caution is the parent of safety. | 250 |
| Cave ab homine unius libri—Beware of a man of one book. | 251 |
| Charity begins at home. | 252 |
| Charta non erubescit—A document does not blush. | 253 |
| Chastity is like an icicle; if it once melts, that’s the last of it. | 254 |
| Cheapest is the dearest. | 255 |
| Chi si affoga, s’attaccherebbe a’ rasoj—A drowning man would catch at razors. | 256 |
| Children and chickens are always a-picking. | 257 |
| Children and drunk people speak the truth. | 258 |
| Children and fools speak the truth. | 259 |
| Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old. | 260 |
| Christmas comes but once a year. | 261 |
| Cleanliness is near of kin to godliness. | 262 |
| Close sits my shirt, but closer sits my skin. | 263 |
| Cold hand, warm heart. | 264 |
| Cold pudding settles one’s love. | 265 |
| Common fame is seldom to blame. | 266 |
| Commune naufragium omnibus est consolatio—A shipwreck (disaster) that is common is a consolation to all. | 267 |
| Compagnon de voyage—A fellow-traveller. | 268 |
| Confess you were wrong yesterday; it will show you are wise to-day. | 269 |
| Confine your tongue, lest it confine you. | 270 |
| Conscientia mille testes—Conscience is equal to a thousand witnesses. | 271 |
| Content is better than riches. | 272 |
| Content is the true philosopher’s stone. | 273 |
| Contre fortune bon cœur—Against change of fortune set a bold heart. | 274 |
| Courage against misfortune, and reason against passion. | 275 |
| Courage is the wisdom of manhood; foolhardiness, the folly of youth. | 276 |
| Courtesy costs nothing. | 277 |
| Cover yourself with honey and the flies will fasten on you. | 278 |
| Covetousness bursts the bag. | 279 |
| Cras credemus, hodie nihil—To-morrow we will believe, but not to-day. | 280 |
| Creditors have better memories than debtors. | 281 |
| Crimina qui cernunt aliorum, non sua cernunt, / Hi sapiunt aliis, desipiuntque sibi—Those who see the faults of others, but not their own, are wise for others and fools for themselves. | 282 |
| Crosses are ladders that lead to heaven. | 283 |
| Crows do not pick out crows’ eyes. | 284 |
| Cucullus non facit monachum—The cowl does not make the monk. | 285 |
| Cui placet, obliviscitur; cui dolet, meminit—Acts of kindness are soon forgotten, but the memory of an offence remains. | 286 |
| Cuilibet in arte sua perito credendum est—Every man is to be trusted in his own art. | 287 |
| Cuique suum—His own to every one. | 288 |
| Cura facit canos—Care brings grey hairs. | 289 |
| Curses are like chickens; they always return home. | 290 |
| Custom is the plague of wise men and the idol of fools. | 291 |
| Cut your coat according to your cloth. | 292 |
| Dames quêteuses—Ladies who collect for the poor. | 293 |
| Damnum appellandum est cum mala fama lucrum—Gain at the expense of credit must be set down as loss. | 294 |
| Danger past, God forgotten. | 295 |
| Dare pondus idonea fumo—Fit only to give importance to trifles (lit. give weight to smoke). | 296 |
| Dat Deus immiti cornua curta bovi—God gives the vicious ox short horns. | 297 |
| Daub yourself with honey, and you’ll be covered with flies. | 298 |
| De fumo in flammam—Out of the frying-pan into the fire. | 299 |
| De pilo, or de filo, pendet—It hangs by a hair. | 300 |
| Death pays all debts. | 301 |
| Debt is the worst kind of poverty. | 302 |
| Deliberat Roma, perit Saguntum—While Rome deliberates, Saguntum perishes. | 303 |
| Desperate diseases need desperate remedies. | 304 |
| Di irati laneos pedes habent—The gods when angry have their feet covered with wool. | 305 |
| Diet cures more than doctors. | 306 |
| Dii laboribus omnia vendunt—The gods sell all things to hard labour. | 307 |
| Dives aut iniquus est aut iniqui hæres—A rich man is an unjust man, or the heir of one. | 308 |
| Do not halloo till you are out of the wood. | 309 |
| [Greek]—Don’t pronounce sentence till you have heard the story of both parties. | 310 |
| Doing nothing is doing ill. | 311 |
| Dolium volvitur—An empty vessel rolls easily. | 312 |
| Domi manere convenit felicibus—Those who are happy at home should remain at home. | 313 |
| Don’t reckon your chickens before they are hatched. | 314 |
| Dulcibus est verbis alliciendus amor—Love is to be won by affectionate words. | 315 |
| Duos qui sequitur lepores neutrum capit—He who follows two hares is sure to catch neither. | 316 |
| Durum telum necessitas—Necessity is a hard weapon. | 317 |
| E flamma cibum petere—To live by desperate means (lit. to seek food from the flames). | 318 |
| E multis paleis paulum fructus collegi—Out of much chaff I have gathered little grain. | 319 |
| E tenui casa sæpe vir magnus exit—A great man often steps forth from a humble cottage. | 320 |
| Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. | 321 |
| Eat at your pleasure, drink in measure. | 322 |
| Eat what you like, but pocket nothing. | 323 |
| Eating little and speaking little can never do harm. | 324 |
| Ego apros occido, alter fruitur pulpamento—I kill the boars, another enjoys their flesh. | 325 |
| Eloignement—Estrangement. | 326 |
| Employment is enjoyment. | 327 |
| Empta dolore docet experientia—Experience bought with pain teaches effectually. | 328 |
| Empty vessels make the most noise. | 329 |
| En amour comme en amitié, un tiers souvent nous embarrasse—A third person is often an annoyance to us in love as in friendship. | 330 |
| Enough is as good as a feast. | 331 |
| Enough is better than too much. | 332 |
| Enquire not what is in another man’s pot. | 333 |
| Et sanguis et spiritus pecunia mortalibus—Money is both blood and life to men. | 334 |
| Eum ausculta, cui quatuor sunt aures—Listen to him who has four ears, i.e., who is readier to hear than to speak. | 335 |
| Even a hair casts a shadow. | 336 |
| Even a horse, though he has four feet, will stumble. | 337 |
| Every bean has its black. | 338 |
| Every bullet has its billet. | 339 |
| Every cock is proud on his own dunghill. | 340 |
| Every couple is not a pair. | 341 |
| Every day hath its night, every weal its woe. | 342 |
| Every door may be shut but death’s door. | 343 |
| Every good gift comes from God. | 344 |
| Every heart knows its own bitterness. | 345 |
| Every honest miller has a golden thumb. | 346 |
| Every light has its shadow. | 347 |
| Every little helps. | 348 |
| Every man has his weak side. | 349 |
| Every one draws the water to his own mill. | 350 |
| Every one for himself and God for us all. | 351 |
| Every one knows best where his shoe pinches him. | 352 |
| Every one should sweep before his own door. | 353 |
| Every one thinks his own burden the heaviest. | 354 |
| Every rose has its thorn. | 355 |
| Every shoe fits not every foot. | 356 |
| Every tub must stand on its own bottom. | 357 |
| Everybody is wise after the event. | 358 |
| Everybody’s business is nobody’s. | 359 |
| Everybody’s friend is nobody’s. | 360 |
| Everything is as you take it. | 361 |
| Evil comes to us by ells and goes away by inches. | 362 |
| Evil communications corrupt good manners. | 363 |
| Ex auribus cognoscitur asinus—An ass is known by his ears. | 364 |
| Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius—A Mercury is not to be made out of any log. | 365 |
| Ex scintilla incendium—From a spark a conflagration. | 366 |
| Ex umbra in solem—Out of the shade into the sunshine. | 367 |
| Exercitatio optimus est magister—Practice is the best master. | 368 |
| Experience is the mistress of fools. | 369 |
| Experience makes even fools wise. | 370 |
| Experience that is bought is good, if not too dear. | 371 |
| Experientia docet—Experience teaches. | 372 |
| Extra lutum pedes habes—You have got your feet out of the mud. | 373 |
| Extrema gaudii luctus occupat—Grief treads on the confines of gladness. | 374 |
| Extremes beget extremes. | 375 |
| Extremes meet. | 376 |
| Extremis malis extrema remedia—Extreme remedies for extreme evils. | 377 |
| Fabricando fabri fimus—We become workmen by working. | 378 |
| Fac et excusa—Do it and so justify yourself. | 379 |
| Facile est inventis addere—It is easy to add to or improve on what has been already invented. | 380 |
| Facile largiri de alieno—It is easy to be generous with what is another’s. | 381 |
| Faint heart never won fair lady. | 382 |
| Fair and softly goes far in a day. | 383 |
| Fair enough, if good enough. | 384 |
| Fair is not fair, but that which pleaseth. | 385 |
| Fair play’s a jewel. | 386 |
| Fair words butter no parsnips. | 387 |
| Famæ laboranti non facile succurritur—It is not easy to repair a damaged character. | 388 |
| Fame is but the breath of the people, and that often unwholesome. | 389 |
| Fames et mora bilem in nasum conciunt—Hunger and delay stir up one’s bile (lit. in the nostrils). | 390 |
| Familiarity breeds contempt. | 391 |
| Fancy surpasses beauty. | 392 |
| Fast bind, fast find. | 393 |
| Fate leads the willing, but drives the stubborn. | 394 |
| Faults are thick when love is thin. | 395 |
| Fear can keep a man out of danger, but courage only can support him in it. | 396 |
| Feasting makes no friendship. | 397 |
| Feather by feather the goose is plucked. | 398 |
| Feebleness is sometimes the best security. | 399 |
| Feed a cold and starve a fever. | 400 |
| Felicitas nutrix est iracundiæ—Prosperity is the nurse of hasty temper. | 401 |
| Felicity lies much in fancy. | 402 |
| Fervet olla, vivit amicitia—As long as the pot boils, friendship lasts. | 403 |
| Festina lente—Hasten slowly. | 404 |
| Festinatio tarda est—Haste is tardy. | 405 |
| Few are fit to be entrusted with themselves. | 406 |
| Few may play with the devil and win. | 407 |
| Few take wives for God’s sake, or for fair looks. | 408 |
| Fiat justitia, ruat cœlum—Let justice be done, though the heavens should fall in. | 409 |
| Fiat justitiam, pereat mundus—Let justice be done, and the world perish. | 410 |
| Fidelius rident tiguria—The laughter of the cottage is more hearty and sincere than that of the court. | 411 |
| Fides facit fidem—Confidence awakens confidence. | 412 |
| Find employment for the body, and the mind will find enjoyment for itself. | 413 |
| Fine feathers make fine birds. | 414 |
| Fingunt se medicos quivis idiota, sacerdos, Judæus, monachus, histrio, rasor, anus—Any untrained person, priest, Jew, monk, playactor, barber, or old wife is ready to prescribe for you in sickness. | 415 |
| Finis coronat opus—The end crowns the work, i.e., first enables us to determine its merits. | 416 |
| Fire and water are good servants but bad masters. | 417 |
| First come, first served. | 418 |
| Fit fabricando faber—A smith becomes a smith by working at the forge. | 419 |
| Fit words are fine, but often fine words are not fit. | 420 |
| Flattery brings friends, but the truth begets enmity. | 421 |
| Flattery sits in the parlour when plain dealing is kicked out of doors. | 422 |
| Fluvius cum mari certas—You but a river, and contending with the ocean. | 423 |
| Follow love and it will flee, flee love and it will follow thee. | 424 |
| Follow the river, and you will get to the sea. | 425 |
| Fontes ipsi sitiunt—Even the fountains complain of thirst. | 426 |
| Fools and obstinate men make lawyers rich. | 427 |
| Fools ask what’s o’clock, but wise men know their time. | 428 |
| Fools grow without watering. | 429 |
| For one rich man that is content there are a hundred who are not. | 430 |
| Forbidden fruit is sweetest. | 431 |
| Force without forecast is of little avail. | 432 |
| Forgetting of a wrong is a mild revenge. | 433 |
| Formidabilior cervorum exercitus, duce leone, quam leonum cervo—An army of stags would be more formidable commanded by a lion, than one of lions commanded by a stag. | 434 |
| Fortiter ferendo vincitur malum quod evitari non potest—By bravely enduring it, an evil which cannot be avoided is overcome. | 435 |
| Fortuna favet fatuis—Fortune favours fools. | 436 |
| Fortuna favet fortibus—Fortune favours the brave. | 437 |
| Fortune can take from us nothing but what she gave. | 438 |
| Four eyes see more than two. | 439 |
| Fretting cares make grey hairs. | 440 |
| Friends may meet, / But mountains never greet. | 441 |
| Friends, like mushrooms, spring up in out-of-the-way places. | 442 |
| Friendship made in a moment is of no moment. | 443 |
| [Greek]—From a bad crow a bad egg. | 444 |
| From a bad paymaster get what you can. | 445 |
| From hearing comes wisdom, from speaking repentance. | 446 |
| From our ancestors come our names, from our virtues our honours. | 447 |
| From pillar to post—originally from whipping-post to pillory, i.e., from had to worse. | 448 |
| Frost and fraud both end in foul. | 449 |
| Frugality is an estate. | 450 |
| Fruit is seed. | 451 |
| Frustra Herculi—In vain to speak against Hercules. | 452 |
| Frustra laborat qui omnibus placere studet—He labours in vain who studies to please everybody. | 453 |
| Fugere est triumphus—Flight (i.e., from temptation) is a triumph. | 454 |
| Full vessels give the least sound. | 455 |
| Furor fit læsa sæpius patientia—Patience, when outraged often, is converted into rage. | 456 |
| Fury wasteth, as patience lasteth. | 457 |
| Gallus in sterquilinio suo plurimum potest—The cock is proudest on his own dunghill. | 458 |
| Gear is easier gained than guided. | 459 |
| Get a good name and go to sleep. | 460 |
| Get money, honestly if you can, but get money. | 461 |
| Get spindle and distaff ready, and God will send the flax. | 462 |
| Gifts make their way through stone walls. | 463 |
| Give a dog an ill name and hang him. | 464 |
| Give a hint to a man of sense and consider the thing done. | 465 |
| Give a man luck and throw him into the sea. | 466 |
| Give a rogue rope enough, and he will hang himself. | 467 |
| Give and spend, / And God will send. | 468 |
| Give and take. | 469 |
| Give every man his due. | 470 |
| Give him an inch and he’ll take an ell. | 471 |
| Give neither counsel nor salt till you are asked for it. | 472 |
| Give the devil rope enough and he will hang himself. | 473 |
| Give way to your betters. | 474 |
| Gladiator in arena consilium capit—The gladiator is taking advice when he is already in the lists. | 475 |
| Gluttony kills more than the sword. | 476 |
| God comes at last, when we think He is farthest off. | 477 |
| God comes to see us without bell. | 478 |
| God comes with leaden feet, but strikes with iron hands. | 479 |
| God deals His wrath by weight, but His mercy without weight. | 480 |
| God defend me from the man of one book. | 481 |
| God gives all things to industry. | 482 |
| God helps those who help themselves. | 483 |
| God is where He was. | 484 |
| God never forsakes His own. | 485 |
| God permits, but not for ever. | 486 |
| God stays long, but strikes at last. | 487 |
| Gold is the sovereign of all sovereigns. | 488 |
| Good advice / Is beyond all price. | 489 |
| Good and quickly seldom meet. | 490 |
| Good bees never turn drones. | 491 |
| Good bread needs baking. In Goethe. | 492 |
| Good company upon the road is the shortest cut. | 493 |
| Good courage breaks ill-luck. | 494 |
| Good husbandry is good divinity. | 495 |
| Good is good, but better carrieth it. | 496 |
| Good laws often proceed from bad manners. | 497 |
| Good luck comes by cuffing. | 498 |
| Good mind, good find. | 499 |
| Good take heed / Doth surely speed. | 500 |
| Good to begin well, but better to end well. | 501 |
| Good ware makes a quick market. | 502 |
| Good wine needs no bush, i.e., advertisement. | 503 |
| Good words and no deeds. | 504 |
| Good words cool more than cold water. | 505 |
| Good words cost nothing and are worth much. | 506 |
| Good works will never save you, but you will never be saved without them. | 507 |
| Gossiping and lying go hand in hand. | 508 |
| Government of the will is better than increase of knowledge. | 509 |
| Grasp all, lose all. | 510 |
| Grass grows not on the highway. | 511 |
| Gratia gratiam parit—Kindness produces kindness. | 512 |
| Gratitude is the least of virtues, ingratitude the worst of vices. | 513 |
| Great boast, small roast. | 514 |
| Great cry but little wool, as the devil said when he shear’d his hogs. | 515 |
| Great gifts are for great men. | 516 |
| Great souls are not cast down by adversity. | 517 |
| Great talkers are like leaky pitchers, everything runs out of them. | 518 |
| Great talkers are little doers. | 519 |
| Greediness bursts the bag. | 520 |
| Grief divided is made lighter. | 521 |
| Gutta cavat lapidem non vi, sed sæpe cadendo—The drop hollows the stone not by force, but by continually falling. | 522 |
| Gutta fortunæ præ dolio sapientiæ—A drop of good fortune rather than a cask of wisdom. | 523 |
| Hæredis fletus sub persona risus est—The weeping of an heir is laughter under a mask. | 524 |
| Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables. | 525 |
| Half a loaf is better than no bread. | 526 |
| Handsome is that handsome does. | 527 |
| Hap and mishap govern the world. | 528 |
| Happy is he that is happy in his children. | 529 |
| Happy is the man whose father went to the devil. | 530 |
| Hard with hard builds no houses; soft binds hard. | 531 |
| Harm watch, harm catch. | 532 |
| Hasty resolutions seldom speed well. | 533 |
| Have not thy cloak to make when it begins to rain. | 534 |
| Have the French for friends, but not for neighbours. | 535 |
| He dances well to whom fortune pipes. | 536 |
| He frieth in his own grease. | 537 |
| He has hard work who has nothing to do. | 538 |
| He has seen a wolf. Of one who suddenly curbs his tongue. | 539 |
| He is a poor smith who cannot bear smoke. | 540 |
| He is a wise child that knows his own father. | 541 |
| He is all there when the bell rings. | 542 |
| He is lifeless that is faultless. | 543 |
| He is my friend that grinds at my mill. | 544 |
| He is my friend that helps me, and not he that pities me. | 545 |
| He is neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring. | 546 |
| He is not the best carpenter who makes the most chips. | 547 |
| He is richest that has fewest wants. | 548 |
| He is the greatest conqueror who has conquered himself. | 549 |
| He knocks boldly at the door who brings good news. | 550 |
| He knows best what good is that has endured evil. | 551 |
| He knows much who knows how to hold his tongue. | 552 |
| He knows not what love is that has no children. | 553 |
| He knows the water the best who has waded through it. | 554 |
| He loses his thanks who promises and delays. | 555 |
| He must needs go that the devil drives. | 556 |
| He needs a long spoon who eats out of the same dish with the devil. | 557 |
| He spends best that spares to spend again. | 558 |
| He that builds by the wayside has many masters. | 559 |
| He that buyeth magistracy must sell justice. | 560 |
| He that buys what he does not want, must often sell what he does want. | 561 |
| He that by the plough would thrive, / Himself must either hold or drive. | 562 |
| He that can be won with a feather will be lost with a straw. | 563 |
| He that cannot pay in purse must pay in person. | 564 |
| He that ceases to be a friend never was a good one. | 565 |
| He that cuts himself wilfully deserves no salve. | 566 |
| He that deserves nothing should be content with anything. | 567 |
| He that does what he can, does what he ought. | 568 |
| He that does you a very ill turn will never forgive you. | 569 |
| He that eats longest lives longest. | 570 |
| He that endureth is not overcome. | 571 |
| He that gives to the poor lends to the Lord. | 572 |
| He that goes a-borrowing goes a-sorrowing. | 573 |
| He that goes softly goes safely. | 574 |
| He that grasps at too much holds nothing fast. | 575 |
| He that has a head of wax should not walk in the sun. | 576 |
| He that has no sense at thirty will never have any. | 577 |
| He that has no shame has no conscience. | 578 |
| He that hears much and speaks not at all, / Shall be welcome both in bower and hall. | 579 |
| He that hinders not a mischief is guilty of it. | 580 |
| He that humbles himself shall be exalted. | 581 |
| He that is born of a hen must scrape for a living. | 582 |
| He that is doing nothing is seldom without helpers. | 583 |
| He that is down, the world cries “Down with him!” | 584 |
| He that is full of himself is very empty. | 585 |
| He that is ill to himself will be good to nobody. | 586 |
| He that is not handsome at twenty, strong at thirty, rich at forty, nor wise at fifty, will never be handsome, strong, wise, or rich. | 587 |
| He that is surety for another, is never sure himself. | 588 |
| He that kills a man when he is drunk must be hanged for it when he is sober. | 589 |
| He that lies down with dogs will rise up with fleas. | 590 |
| He that lives with cripples learns to limp. | 591 |
| He that lives with wolves will learn to howl. | 592 |
| He that marries for money sells his liberty. | 593 |
| He that on pilgrimages goeth ever, / Becometh holy late or never. | 594 |
| He that promises too much means nothing. | 595 |
| He that runs in the dark may well stumble. | 596 |
| He that runs may read. | 597 |
| He that seeks others to beguile, / Is oft o’ertaken in his own wile. | 598 |
| He that serves the altar should live by the altar. | 599 |
| He that sows in the highway loses his corn. | 600 |
| He that sows iniquity shall reap sorrow. | 601 |
| He that spares the bad injures the good. | 602 |
| He that spares the rod spoils the child. | 603 |
| He that speaks the thing he should not / Must often hear the thing he would not. | 604 |
| He that steals for others will be hanged for himself. | 605 |
| He that strikes with the sword shall perish by the sword. | 606 |
| He that talks much errs much. | 607 |
| He that talks much lies much. | 608 |
| He that will not when he may, / When he will he shall have nay. | 609 |
| He that will not work shall not eat. | 610 |
| He that would be rich in a year will be hanged in half a year. | 611 |
| He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of the hens. | 612 |
| He that would live in peace and rest / Must hear, and see, and say the best. | 613 |
| He that would reap well must sow well. | 614 |
| He who avoids the temptation avoids the sin. | 615 |
| He who ceases to pray ceases to prosper. | 616 |
| He who deals with honey will sometimes be licking his fingers. | 617 |
| He who does me good teaches me to be good. | 618 |
| He who has love in his heart has spurs in his heels. | 619 |
| He who is weighty is willing to be weighed. | 620 |
| He who is willing to work finds it hard to wait. | 621 |
| He who laughs at crooked men should need walk very straight. | 622 |
| He who lays out for God lays up for himself. | 623 |
| He who likes borrowing dislikes paying. | 624 |
| He who makes constant complaint gets little compassion. | 625 |
| He who pleased everybody died before he was born. | 626 |
| He who scrubs every pig he sees will not long be clean himself. | 627 |
| He who sends mouths will send meat. | 628 |
| He who serves God serves a good Master. | 629 |
| He who stays in the valley will never cross the mountain. | 630 |
| He who steals an egg would steal an ox. | 631 |
| He who waits for dead men’s shoes may go barefoot. | 632 |
| He whom God steers sails safely. | 633 |
| He will never set the Thames on fire. | 634 |
| He works hard who has nothing to do. | 635 |
| He would fain fly, but wants wings. | 636 |
| He’s a man who dares to be / Firm for truth when others flee. | 637 |
| Health is better than wealth. | 638 |
| Hear God, and God will hear you. | 639 |
| Hearsay is half lies. | 640 |
| Heaven is as near by sea as by land. | 641 |
| Hedges between keep friendship green. | 642 |
| Help which is long on the road is no help. | 643 |
| Help yourself and your friends will help you. | 644 |
| Hic funis nihil attraxit—This bait has taken no fish; this scheme has not answered. | 645 |
| Home is home, be it never so homely. | 646 |
| Homini ne fidas nisi cum quo modium salis absumpseres—Trust no man till you have eaten a peck of salt with him, i.e., known him so long as you might have done so. | 647 |
| Honesta paupertas prior quam opes malæ—Poverty with honour is better than ill-gotten wealth. | 648 |
| Honesty is the best policy. | 649 |
| Honesty is the poor man’s pork and the rich man’s pudding. | 650 |
| Honour and ease are seldom bedfellows. | 651 |
| Hope is a good anchor, but it needs something to grip. | 652 |
| Hope is a waking man’s dream. | 653 |
| Housekeeping without a wife is a lantern without a light. | 654 |
| How can he be godly who is not cleanly? | 655 |
| However far a man goes, he must start from his own door. | 656 |
| Hunger and cold betray a man to his enemy. | 657 |
| Hunger is the best sauce. | 658 |
| Hunger will break through stone walls. | 659 |
| Hungry bellies have no ears. | 660 |
| Husbands can earn money, but only wives can save it. | 661 |
| I am black, but I am not the devil. | 662 |
| I can’t work for nothing, and find thread. | 663 |
| “I don’t care,” is a deadly snare. | 664 |
| I have saved the bird in my bosom, i.e., kept my secret. | 665 |
| I know enough to hold my tongue, but not to speak. | 666 |
| I love my friends well, but myself better. | 667 |
| I stout and you stout, who will carry the dirt out? | 668 |
| I talk of chalk and you of cheese. | 669 |
| I will get it from his purse or get it from his skin. | 670 |
| I will lay a stone at your door, i.e., never forgive you. | 671 |
| Idle folks lack no excuses. | 672 |
| Idle people have the least leisure. | 673 |
| Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds and the holiday of fools. | 674 |
| Idleness is the greatest prodigality in the world. | 675 |
| Idleness is the root of all evil. | 676 |
| Idleness rusts the mind. | 677 |
| If a donkey bray at you, don’t bray at him. | 678 |
| If a man be born in a stable, that does not make him a horse. | 679 |
| If a man deceives me once, shame on him; if he deceives me twice, shame on me. | 680 |
| If a man once fall, all will tread on him. | 681 |
| If an ass goes a-travelling, he’ll not come home a horse. | 682 |
| If coals do not burn, they blacken. | 683 |
| If it rains—well! If it shines—well! | 684 |
| If it were not for hope, the heart would break. | 685 |
| If Jack were better, Jill would not be so bad. | 686 |
| If one door shuts, another will open. | 687 |
| If the cap fit, wear it. | 688 |
| If the counsel be good, no matter who gave it. | 689 |
| If the farmer cannot live who drives the plough, how can he live who drives a fast-trotting mare? | 690 |
| If the pills were pleasant, they would not be gilded. | 691 |
| If the sky fall, we shall catch larks. | 692 |
| If the sun shines on me, what matters the moon? | 693 |
| If the young knew, if the old could, there’s nothing but would be done. | 694 |
| If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun. | 695 |
| If there were no fools, there would be no knaves. | 696 |
| If virtue keep court within, honour will attend without. | 697 |
| If you agree to carry the calf, they’ll make you carry the cow. | 698 |
| If you can’t get a loaf, don’t throw away a cake. | 699 |
| If you cannot bite, never show your teeth. | 700 |
| If you cannot drive the engine, you can clear the road. | 701 |
| If you cannot have the best, make the best of what you have. | 702 |
| If you command wisely, you’ll be obeyed cheerfully. | 703 |
| If you desire to enjoy my light, you must supply oil to my lamp. | 704 |
| If you don’t do better to-day, you’ll do worse to-morrow. | 705 |
| If you don’t touch the rope, you won’t ring the bell. | 706 |
| If you have a good seat, keep it. | 707 |
| If you lie upon roses when young, you will lie upon thorns when old. | 708 |
| If you pity rogues, you are no great friend of honest men. | 709 |
| If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own. | 710 |
| If you raise one ghost, you will have the churchyard in motion. | 711 |
| If you run after two hares, you will catch neither. | 712 |
| If you say nothing, nobody will repeat it. | 713 |
| If you sell the cow, you sell her milk too. | 714 |
| If you trust before you try, / You may repent before you die. | 715 |
| If you want a pretence to whip a dog, say that he ate the frying-pan. | 716 |
| If you want to know a man, make a solitary journey with him. | 717 |
| If you want work done, go to the man who is already fully occupied. | 718 |
| If you would be a smith, begin with blowing the fire. | 719 |
| If you would be well served, you must serve yourself. | 720 |
| If you would have it well done, you must do it yourself; you must not leave it to others. | 721 |
| If your wife is short, stoop to her. | 722 |
| Ignavis semper feriæ sunt—To the indolent every day is a holiday. | 723 |
| Ignem ne gladio fodito—Do not stir the fire with a sword. | 724 |
| Ignorance is the mother of impudence. | 725 |
| Ignoti nulla cupido—There is no desire for what is unknown. | 726 |
| Ill comes upon war’s back. | 727 |
| Ill got, ill spent. | 728 |
| Ill news comes apace. | 729 |
| Ill weeds grow apace. | 730 |
| Ill-doers are ill thinkers. | 731 |
| Ill-gotten wealth seldom descends to the third generation. | 732 |
| Im Wasser kannst du dein Antlitz sehn, / Im Wein des andern Herz erspähn—In water thou canst see thine own face, in wine thou canst see into the heart of another. | 733 |
| In a calm sea, every man is a pilot. | 734 |
| In a thousand pounds of law there is not an ounce of love. | 735 |
| In annulo Dei figuram ne gestato—Wear not the image of the Deity in a ring, i.e., do not use the name of God on frivolous occasions, or in vain. | 736 |
| In aqua scribis—You are writing on water. | 737 |
| In arena ædificas—You are building on sand. | 738 |
| In caducum parietem inclinare—To lean against a falling wall. | 739 |
| In cauda venenum—Poison lurks in the tail; or, there is a sting in the tail. | 740 |
| In courtesy rather pay a penny too much than too little. | 741 |
| In deep waters men find great pearls. | 742 |
| In doubtful matters courage may do much; in desperate, patience. | 743 |
| In every beginning think of the end. | 744 |
| In every country the sun rises in the morning. | 745 |
| In every fault there is folly. | 746 |
| In for a penny, in for a pound. | 747 |
| In medio virtus—Virtue lies in the mean. | 748 |
| In much corn is some cockle. | 749 |
| In the coldest flint there is hot fire. | 750 |
| In the end / Things will mend. | 751 |
| In the evening one may praise the day. | 752 |
| In the husband, wisdom; in the wife, gentleness. | 753 |
| In utramvis dormire aurem—To sleep on both ears, i.e., soundly, as no longer needing to keep awake. | 754 |
| In water you may see your own face; in wine the heart of another. | 755 |
| Incedit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim—He falls into Scylla in struggling to escape Charybdis. | 756 |
| Incendit omnem feminæ zelus domum—The jealousy of a woman sets a whole house in a flame. | 757 |
| Industry is Fortune’s right hand, and Frugality her left. | 758 |
| Inimicus et invidus vicinorum oculus—An enemy and an envious man is an eye over his neighbour. | 759 |
| Injuriæ spretæ exolescunt, si irascaris agnitæ videntur—Injuries that are slighted and unnoticed are soon forgotten; if you are angry, they are seen to be acknowledged. | 760 |
| Injuriarum remedium est oblivio—Oblivion is the best remedy for injuries. | 761 |
| Insolence is pride when her mask is pulled off. | 762 |
| Inter delicias semper aliquid sævi nos strangulat—In the midst of our enjoyments there is always some wrong to torture us. | 763 |
| Inter pueros senex—An old man among boys. | 764 |
| Into a mouth shut flies fly not. | 765 |
| Ipse Jupiter, neque pluens omnibus placet, neque abstinens—Even Jupiter himself cannot please all, whether he sends rain or fair weather. | 766 |
| Is cadet ante senem, qui sapit ante diem—He will die before he is old who is prematurely wise. | 767 |
| Is your trumpeter dead, that you are obliged to praise yourself? | 768 |
| It chanceth in an hour that cometh not in seven years. | 769 |
| It costs more to revenge injuries than to bear them. | 770 |
| It is a foul bird that dirties its own nest. | 771 |
| It is a good horse that never stumbles, and a good wife that never grumbles. | 772 |
| It is a great journey to life’s end. | 773 |
| It is a great point of wisdom to find out one’s own folly. | 774 |
| It is a hard winter when one wolf eats another. | 775 |
| It is a long lane that has no turning. | 776 |
| It is a poor heart that never rejoices. | 777 |
| It is a poor mouse that has but one hole. | 778 |
| It is a reproach to be the first gentleman of one’s race, but greater to be the last. | 779 |
| It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock. | 780 |
| It is a sin against hospitality to open your doors and shut up your countenance. | 781 |
| It is a sorry goose that will not baste itself. | 782 |
| It is all in my eye, i.e., it is nowhere else. | 783 |
| It is always term time in the court of conscience. | 784 |
| It is an equal failing to trust everybody and to trust nobody. | 785 |
| It is an ill sign to see a fox lick a lamb. | 786 |
| It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. | 787 |
| It is as much intemperance to weep too much as to laugh too much. | 788 |
| It is best to take half in hand and the rest by and by. | 789 |
| It is better to do well than to say well. | 790 |
| It is cheap enough to say, “God help you.” | 791 |
| It is folly to live in Rome and strive with the Pope. | 792 |
| It is good to fear the worst; the best can save itself. | 793 |
| It is hard even to the most miserable to die. | 794 |
| It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright. | 795 |
| It is hard to be poor and honest. | 796 |
| It is hard to carry a full cup. | 797 |
| It is hard to kick against the pricks. | 798 |
| It is hard to put old heads on young shoulders. | 799 |
| It is hard to suffer wrong and pay for it too. | 800 |
| It is harder to marry a daughter well than to bring her up well. | 801 |
| It is ill standing in dead men’s shoes. | 802 |
| It is ill to take out of the flesh what is bred in the bone. | 803 |
| It is more painful to do nothing than something. | 804 |
| It is never too late to mend. | 805 |
| It is nobler to become great than to be born great. | 806 |
| It is not lost that comes at last. | 807 |
| It is not the beard that makes the philosopher. | 808 |
| It is one thing to speak much, and another to speak pertinently. | 809 |
| It is possible to sin against charity, when we do not sin against truth. | 810 |
| It is sure to be dark if you shut your eyes. | 811 |
| It is the company, and not the charge that makes the feast. | 812 |
| It is the frog’s own croak that betrays him. | 813 |
| It is the master-wheel which makes the mill go round. | 814 |
| It is the ordinary way of the world to keep folly at the helm, and wisdom under the hatches. | 815 |
| It is too late to husband when all is spent. | 816 |
| It is too late to spare when the bottom is bare. | 817 |
| It is truth that makes a man angry. | 818 |
| It is wise not to know a secret, and honest not to reveal it. | 819 |
| It never rains but it pours. | 820 |
| It never smokes but there’s fire. | 821 |
| It will be all the same a hundred years hence. | 822 |
| It will be an ill web to bleach. | 823 |
| It’s a poor man that always counts his sheep. | 824 |
| It’s dogged as does it. | 825 |
| It’s good sheltering under an old hedge. | 826 |
| It’s hard sailing when there is no wind. | 827 |
| It’s height makes Grantham steeple stand awry. | 828 |
| It’s ill living where everybody knows everybody. | 829 |
| It’s ill wool that will take no dye. | 830 |
| It’s never too late to learn. | 831 |
| It’s no use killing nettles to grow docks. | 832 |
| It’s no use pumping a dry well. | 833 |
| It’s not “What has she?” but “What is she?” | 834 |
| It’s too late to cast anchor when the ship is on the rocks. | 835 |
| Jack at a pinch. | 836 |
| Jack is as good as Jill. | 837 |
| Jack of all trades and master of none. | 838 |
| Jack will never be a gentleman. | 839 |
| Jack-o’-both sides is, before long, trusted by nobody, and abused by both parties. | 840 |
| Jack’s as good as his master. | 841 |
| Jeerers must be content to taste of their own broth. | 842 |
| Jest not with the eye, nor religion. | 843 |
| Jest with an ass, and he will flap you in the face with his tail. | 844 |
| Jesting brings serious sorrows. | 845 |
| Jesting lies bring serious sorrows. | 846 |
| Joan is as good as my lady in the dark. | 847 |
| Joy and sorrow / Are to-day and to-morrow. | 848 |
| Joy surfeited turns to sorrow. | 849 |
| Joys shared with others are more enjoyed. | 850 |
| Judge not of men and things at first sight. | 851 |
| Jugulare mortuos—To stab the dead; to slay the slain. | 852 |
| Justice pleaseth few in their own house. | 853 |
| Keep good company, and you shall be of the number. | 854 |
| Keep some till more come. | 855 |
| Keep the bowels open, the head cool, and the feet warm, and a fig for the doctors. | 856 |
| Keep the common road and you are safe. | 857 |
| Keep well while you are well. | 858 |
| Keep your shop, and your shop will keep you. | 859 |
| Keeping from falling is better than helping up. | 860 |
| Kind words are worth much and they cost little. | 861 |
| Kindle not a fire that you cannot extinguish. | 862 |
| Kindness is lost upon an ungrateful man. | 863 |
| Kindnesses, like grain, increase by sowing. | 864 |
| Kings alone are no more than single men. | 865 |
| Kings have long arms. | 866 |
| Kissing goes by favour. | 867 |
| Knavery may serve for a turn, but honesty is best in the long-run. | 868 |
| Know ere thou hint, and then thou may’st slack: / If thou hint ere thou know, then it is too late. | 869 |
| Knowledge humbleth the great man, astonisheth the common man, and puffeth up the little man. | 870 |
| Knowledge is no burden. | 871 |
| Lætus sorte tua vives sapienter—You will live wisely if you live contented with your lot. | 872 |
| La faiblesse de l’ennemi fait notre propre force—The weakness of the enemy forms part of our own strength. | 873 |
| Labour past is pleasant. | 874 |
| Lad’s love’s a busk of broom, hot awhile and soon done. | 875 |
| Land was never lost for want of an heir. | 876 |
| Lapis qui volvitur algam non generat—A rolling stone gathers no moss. | 877 |
| Largitio fundum non habet—Giving has no bottom. | 878 |
| Last in bed, best heard. | 879 |
| Latrante uno, latrat statim et alter canis—When one dog barks, another straightway begins to bark too. | 880 |
| Latrantem curatne alta Diana canem?—Does the high-stepping Diana care for the dog that bays her? | 881 |
| Laus in proprio ore sordescit—Self-praise is offensive. | 882 |
| Lavishness is not generosity. | 883 |
| Law cannot persuade when it cannot punish. | 884 |
| Law is a bottomless pit; keep far from it. | 885 |
| Law is a lottery. | 886 |
| Law-makers should not be law-breakers. | 887 |
| Laws, like cobwebs, catch flies, but let hornets go free. | 888 |
| Lawyers and painters can soon make black white. | 889 |
| Lawyers and woodpeckers have long bills. | 890 |
| Lawyers are needful to keep us out of law. | 891 |
| Lay by something for a rainy day. | 892 |
| Lay by, like ants, a little store, / For summer lasts not evermore. | 893 |
| Lay not all the load on the lame horse. | 894 |
| Lay the blame at the right door. | 895 |
| Lay thy hand upon thy halfpenny twice before thou partest with it. | 896 |
| Lay up and lay out should go together. | 897 |
| Lay up that you may lay out. | 898 |
| Laziness begins with cobwebs and ends with iron chains. | 899 |
| Laziness is nothing unless you carry it out. | 900 |
| Lazy as Ludlam’s dog, that laid his head against the wall to bark. | 901 |
| Lean liberty is better than fat slavery. | 902 |
| Learn a craft while you are young, that you may not have to live by craft when you are old. | 903 |
| Learn to creep before you leap. | 904 |
| Learn to say before you sing. | 905 |
| Learn wisdom from the follies of others. | 906 |
| Learning is a sceptre to some, a bauble to others. | 907 |
| Learning makes a man a fit companion for himself. | 908 |
| Learning makes a man wise, but a fool is made all the more a fool by it. | 909 |
| Learning without thought is labour lost. | 910 |
| Least said is soonest mended. | 911 |
| Leave a jest when it pleases you best. | 912 |
| Leave a welcome behind you. | 913 |
| Leave it if you cannot mend it. | 914 |
| Leave not the meat to gnaw the bones, / Nor break your teeth on worthless stones. | 915 |
| Leave off no clothes / Till you see a June rose. | 916 |
| Leave to-morrow till to-morrow. | 917 |
| Leave well alone. | 918 |
| Leaves enough, but few grapes. | 919 |
| Leaving for gleaner makes farmer no leaner. | 920 |
| Leberide cæcior—Blinder than a serpent’s slough. | 921 |
| Leges bonæ malis ex moribus procreantur—Good laws are begotten of bad morals. | 922 |
| Leisure is the reward of labour. | 923 |
| Lend only what you can afford to lose. | 924 |
| Leonem larva terres—You frighten a lion with a mask. | 925 |
| Leporis vitam vivit—He lives the life of a hare, i.e., always full of fear. | 926 |
| Less of your courtesy and more of your purse. | 927 |
| Less of your honey and more of your honesty. | 928 |
| Lessons hard to learn are sweet to know. | 929 |
| Let a good pot have a good lid. | 930 |
| Let a horse drink when he will, not what he will. | 931 |
| Let a man be a man, and a woman a woman. | 932 |
| Let anger’s fire be slow to burn. | 933 |
| Let another do what thou wouldst do. | 934 |
| Let another’s shipwreck be your beacon. | 935 |
| Let charity be warm if the weather be cold. | 936 |
| Let each tailor mend his own coat. | 937 |
| Let every fox take care of his own brush. | 938 |
| Let every man do what he was made for. | 939 |
| Let every man praise the bridge he goes over. | 940 |
| Let every tailor keep to his goose. | 941 |
| Let gleaners glean, though crops be lean. | 942 |
| Let him that does not know you buy you. | 943 |
| Let him that earns eat. | 944 |
| Let him who is well off stay where he is. | 945 |
| Let him who knows not how to pray go to sea. | 946 |
| Let John Bull beware of John Barleycorn. | 947 |
| Let not mirth turn to mischief. | 948 |
| Let not plenty make you dainty. | 949 |
| Let not poverty part good company. | 950 |
| Let not your money become your master. | 951 |
| Let not your mouth swallow you. | 952 |
| Let the best horse leap the hedge first. | 953 |
| Let the cobbler stick to his last. | 954 |
| Let the night come before we praise the day. | 955 |
| Let the world wag. | 956 |
| Let the young people mind what the old people say, / And where there is danger keep out of the way. | 957 |
| Let your purse be your master. | 958 |
| Let your trouble tarry till its own day comes. | 959 |
| Liberality is not giving largely but wisely. | 960 |
| Libido effrenata effrenatam appetentiam efficit—Unbridled gratification produces unbridled desire. | 961 |
| Lie not in the mire, and say, “God help!” | 962 |
| Lies hunt in packs. | 963 |
| Lies may be acted as well as spoken. | 964 |
| Lies need a great deal of killing. | 965 |
| Lies that are half true are the worst of lies. | 966 |
| Life would be too smooth if it had no rubs in it. | 967 |
| Light another’s candle, but don’t put out your own. | 968 |
| Light not your candle at both ends. | 969 |
| Light without life is a candle in a tomb; / Life without love is a garden without bloom. | 970 |
| Lightly come, lightly go. | 971 |
| Like a lusty winter, frosty but kindly. | 972 |
| Like a tailor’s needle, say, “I go through.” | 973 |
| Like author, like book. | 974 |
| Like cures like. | 975 |
| Like draws to like, the world over. | 976 |
| Like father, like son. | 977 |
| Like master, like man. | 978 |
| Like mistress, like maid. | 979 |
| Like mother, like daughter. | 980 |
| Like priest, like people. | 981 |
| Like prince, like people. | 982 |
| Like Scotsmen, aye wise ahint the hand (after the event). | 983 |
| Like the dog in the manger, he will neither eat himself nor let the horse eat. | 984 |
| Likely tumbles in the fire, / When unlikely rises higher. | 985 |
| Limit your wants by your wealth. | 986 |
| Lions are not frightened by cats. | 987 |
| Lions’ skins are not to be had cheap. | 988 |
| Lis litem generat—Strife genders strife. | 989 |
| Litem parit lis, noxa item noxam parit—Strife begets strife, and injury likewise begets injury. | 990 |
| Little and often fills the purse. | 991 |
| Little bantams are great at crowing. | 992 |
| Little boats must keep near shore. | 993 |
| Little bodies have great souls. | 994 |
| Little by little the little bird builds its nest. | 995 |
| Little children, little sorrows; big children, great sorrows. | 996 |
| Little chips light great fires. | 997 |
| Little enemies and little wounds must not be despised. | 998 |
| Little fishes should not spout like whales. | 999 |
| Little folks like to talk about great folks. | 1000 |
| Little griefs are loud, great sorrows are silent. | 1001 |
| Little is done when every man is master. | 1002 |
| Little minds, like weak liquors, are soonest soured. | 1003 |
| Little pigeons can carry great messages. | 1004 |
| Little pigs eat great potatoes. | 1005 |
| Little pitchers have long ears—i.e., children have. | 1006 |
| Little pot, / Don’t get hot / On the spot. | 1007 |
| Little strokes fell great oaks. | 1008 |
| Little things please little minds. | 1009 |
| Little troubles are great to little people. | 1010 |
| Little wealth, little sorrow. | 1011 |
| Little wit in the head makes much work for the feet. | 1012 |
| Little wrongs done to others are great wrongs done to ourselves. | 1013 |
| Live and let live. | 1014 |
| Live in to-day, but not for to-day. | 1015 |
| Live not for yourself alone. | 1016 |
| Live not to eat, but eat to live. | 1017 |
| Live only a moment at a time. | 1018 |
| Live to learn and learn to live. | 1019 |
| Live upon trust, / And pay double you must. | 1020 |
| Live with a singer if you would learn to sing. | 1021 |
| Live with your friend as if he might become your enemy. | 1022 |
| Living well is the best revenge. | 1023 |
| Loans and debts make worries and frets. | 1024 |
| Loans should come laughing home. | 1025 |
| Loaves put awry in the oven come out awry. | 1026 |
| Lock the stable before you lose the steed. | 1027 |
| Locking the stable door when the steed is stolen. | 1028 |
| Loin de la cour, loin du souci—Far front court, far from care. | 1029 |
| Long lent is not given. | 1030 |
| Long talk makes short work. | 1031 |
| Look above you, and then look about you. | 1032 |
| Look at paintings and fightings from a distance. | 1033 |
| Look at your own corn in May, / And you’ll come weeping away. | 1034 |
| Look before you leap. | 1035 |
| Look before you, or you’ll have to look behind you. | 1036 |
| Look for squalls, but don’t make them. | 1037 |
| Look not a gift horse in the mouth. | 1038 |
| Look through a keyhole, and your eye will be sore. | 1039 |
| Lookers-on see more than the players. | 1040 |
| Loquacity storms the ear, but modesty takes the heart. | 1041 |
| Lose thy fun rather than thy friend. | 1042 |
| Lost time is never found again. | 1043 |
| Loudness is a foe to melody. | 1044 |
| Love and lordship like not fellowship. | 1045 |
| Love and poverty are hard to hide. | 1046 |
| Love and pride stock Bedlam. | 1047 |
| Love asks faith, and faith asks firmness. | 1048 |
| Love can neither be bought nor sold; its only price is love. | 1049 |
| Love does much, but money does more. | 1050 |
| Love furthers knowledge. | 1051 |
| Love hath a large mantle. | 1052 |
| Love in the heart is better than honey in the mouth. | 1053 |
| Love is a secret no man knows / Till it within his bosom glows. | 1054 |
| Love is as warm in fustian as in velvet. | 1055 |
| Love is neither bought nor sold. | 1056 |
| Love is the mother of love. | 1057 |
| Love laughs at locksmiths. | 1058 |
| Love lightens labour and sweetens sorrow. | 1059 |
| Love me, love my dog. | 1060 |
| Love rules his kingdom without a sword. | 1061 |
| Love rules without a sword and binds without a cord. | 1062 |
| Love should not be all on one side. | 1063 |
| Love will creep where it cannot go. | 1064 |
| Love’s fire, if it once go out, is hard to kindle. | 1065 |
| Lovers’ purses are tied with cobwebs. | 1066 |
| Lovers’ time runs faster than the clock. | 1067 |
| Luck is the idol of the idle. | 1068 |
| Lupus non curat numerum (ovum)—The wolf is not scared by the number of the sheep. | 1069 |
| Lupus pilum mutat, non mentem—The wolf changes his coat, but not his disposition. | 1070 |
| Lying and stealing live next door to each other. | 1071 |
| Lying pays no tax. | 1072 |
| Lying rides on debt’s back. | 1073 |
| Mad bulls cannot be tied up with a pack-thread. | 1074 |
| Mad dogs cannot live long. | 1075 |
| Mad people think others mad. | 1076 |
| Magis gaudet quam qui senectam exult—He rejoices more than an old man who has put off old age, i.e., has become young again. | 1077 |
| Magis magni clerici non sunt magis sapientes—The greatest scholars are not the wisest men. | 1078 |
| Magni refert quibuscum vixeris—It matters a great deal with whom you live. | 1079 |
| Magnus Alexander corpore parvus erat—The great Alexander was small in stature. | 1080 |
| Maidens should be mild and meek, / Swift to hear, and slow to speak. | 1081 |
| Maids should be seen and not heard. | 1082 |
| Make a crutch of your cross. | 1083 |
| Make all sure, and keep all pure. | 1084 |
| Make every bargain clear and plain, / That none may afterwards complain. | 1085 |
| Make good cheese, if you make little. | 1086 |
| Make haste slowly. | 1087 |
| Make hay while the sun shines. | 1088 |
| Make not another’s shoes by your own foot. | 1089 |
| Make not thy friend too cheap to thee, nor thyself to thy friend. | 1090 |
| Make not thy tail broader than thy wings. | 1091 |
| Make not two sorrows of one. | 1092 |
| Make short the miles with talk and smiles. | 1093 |
| Make the plaster as large as the sore. | 1094 |
| Make your hay as best you may. | 1095 |
| Make your mark, but mind what your mark is. | 1096 |
| Mala gallina, malum ovum—Bad ben, bad egg. | 1097 |
| Mala ultro adsunt—Misfortunes come unsought. | 1098 |
| Male parta male dilabuntur—Things ill gotten go ill. | 1099 |
| Malo nodo malus quærendus cuneus—For a hard knot a hard tool must be sought. | 1100 |
| Malum vas non frangitur—A worthless vessel is seldom broken. | 1101 |
| Man doth what he can, and God what He will. | 1102 |
| Man is a bundle of habits. | 1103 |
| Man is fire and woman tow; the devil comes and sets them in a blaze. | 1104 |
| Man proposes, God disposes. | 1105 |
| Man’s best candle is his understanding. | 1106 |
| Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. | 1107 |
| Man’s life is filed by his foe. | 1108 |
| Man’s work lasts till set of sun; / Woman’s work is never done. | 1109 |
| Manners are stronger than laws. | 1110 |
| Many a cow stands in the meadow and looks wistfully at the common. | 1111 |
| Many a fine dish has nothing on it. | 1112 |
| Many a good cow hath a bad calf. | 1113 |
| Many a good drop of broth may come out of an old pot. | 1114 |
| Many a good father hath but a bad son. | 1115 |
| Many a man settleth more by an inch of his will than by an ell of his thrift. | 1116 |
| Many a one is good because he can do no mischief. | 1117 |
| Many a true word is spoken in jest. | 1118 |
| Many acres will not make a wiseacre. | 1119 |
| Many an honest man stands in need of help that has not the face to beg it. | 1120 |
| Many are wise in jest but fools in earnest. | 1121 |
| Many beat the sack, and mean the miller. | 1122 |
| Many can bear adversity, but few contempt. | 1123 |
| Many can make bricks, but cannot build. | 1124 |
| Many commit sin and blame Satan. | 1125 |
| Many cooks spoil the broth. | 1126 |
| Many cut broad thongs out of other people’s leather. | 1127 |
| Many estates are spent in the getting, / Since women, for tea, forsook spinning and knitting, / And men, for their punch, forsook hewing and splitting. | 1128 |
| Many find fault without any end, / And yet do nothing at all to mend. | 1129 |
| Many get into a dispute well that cannot get out well. | 1130 |
| Many go out for clothes, and come home stript. | 1131 |
| Many hands make light work. | 1132 |
| Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths. | 1133 |
| Many have come to port after a great storm. | 1134 |
| Many kiss the hand they wish cut off. | 1135 |
| Many lick before they bite. | 1136 |
| Many littles make a mickle. | 1137 |
| Many old camels carry the skins of the young ones to the market. | 1138 |
| Many rendings need many mendings. | 1139 |
| Many talk like philosophers and live like fools. | 1140 |
| Many there be that buy nothing with their money but repentance. | 1141 |
| Many ventures make a full freight. | 1142 |
| Many words hurt more than swords. | 1143 |
| Many would be cowards if they had courage enough. | 1144 |
| Many would have been worse if their estates had been better. | 1145 |
| Mar not what, marred, cannot be mended. | 1146 |
| March winds and April showers. | 1147 |
| Margarita e stercore—A pearl from a dunghill. | 1148 |
| Marriage with peace is the world’s paradise; with strife, this life’s purgatory. | 1149 |
| Marriages are made in heaven. | 1150 |
| Marry above your match, and you get a master. | 1151 |
| Marry for love, but only love that which is lovely. | 1152 |
| Marrying is easy, but housekeeping is hard. | 1153 |
| Masters are mostly the greatest servants in the house. | 1154 |
| Masters should be sometimes blind and sometimes deaf. | 1155 |
| Masters two / Will not do. | 1156 |
| Match-makers often burn their fingers. | 1157 |
| Mature fieri senem, si diu velis esse senex—You must become an old man soon if you would be an old man long. In Cicero. | 1158 |
| Maximus novator tempus—Time is the greatest innovator. | 1159 |
| “May-be” is very well, but “must” is the master. | 1160 |
| Meals and matins minish never. | 1161 |
| Measure men around the heart. | 1162 |
| Measure three times before you cut once. | 1163 |
| Meat and matins hinder no man’s journey. | 1164 |
| Meat is more than its carving, and truth is more than oratory. | 1165 |
| Medicines are not meant to feed on. | 1166 |
| Meekness is not weakness. | 1167 |
| Mellitum venerium, blanda oratio—A flattering speech is honied poison. | 1168 |
| Men apt to promise are apt to forget. | 1169 |
| Men are never wise but returning from law. | 1170 |
| Men are not to be measured by inches. | 1171 |
| Men are very generous with that which costs them nothing. | 1172 |
| Men chew not when they have no bread. | 1173 |
| Men rattle their chains to show that they are free. | 1174 |
| Men will blame themselves for the purpose of being praised. | 1175 |
| Men’s actions are not to be judged of at first sight. | 1176 |
| Mendico ne parentes quidem amici sunt—To a beggar not even his own parents show affection. | 1177 |
| Mendings are honourable, rags are abominable. | 1178 |
| Mens bona regnum possidet—A good mind possesses a kingdom. | 1179 |
| Merces virtutis laus est—Applause is the reward of virtue. | 1180 |
| Mere wishes are bony fishes. | 1181 |
| Merry be the first, / And merry be the last, / And merry be the first of August. | 1182 |
| Merx ultronea putret—Proffered service stinks (i.e., is despised). | 1183 |
| Mésalliance—A marriage with one of inferior rank. | 1184 |
| Mildness governs more than anger. | 1185 |
| Mind the corner where life’s road turns. | 1186 |
| Mind your P’s and Q’s. | 1187 |
| Mind your work, and God will find your wages. | 1188 |
| Minima de malis—Of two evils choose the least. | 1189 |
| Miramur ex intervallo fallentia—We admire at a distance things which deceive us. | 1190 |
| Misfortunes come on wings and depart on foot. | 1191 |
| Misfortunes never come single. | 1192 |
| Misfortunes when asleep are not to be wakened. | 1193 |
| Misreckoning is no payment. | 1194 |
| Misunderstanding brings lies to town. | 1195 |
| Moderate riches will carry you; if you have more, you must carry them. | 1196 |
| Modest dogs miss much meat. | 1197 |
| Modesty ruins all that bring it to court. | 1198 |
| Moles and misers live in their graves. | 1199 |
| Monday religion is better than Sunday profession. | 1200 |
| Money answers everything, / Save a guilty conscience sting. | 1201 |
| Money begets money. | 1202 |
| Money borrowed is soon sorrowed. | 1203 |
| Money calls, but does not stay: / It is round and rolls away. | 1204 |
| Money is the ruin of many. | 1205 |
| Money is the sinew of love as well as of war. | 1206 |
| Money makes the mare to go. | 1207 |
| Money masters all things. | 1208 |
| Money often unmakes the men who make it. | 1209 |
| Money refused loses its brightness. | 1210 |
| Money spent on the brain is never spent in vain. | 1211 |
| More credit may be thrown down in a moment than can be built up in an age. | 1212 |
| More light, more life, more love. | 1213 |
| More meat and less mustard. | 1214 |
| More springs up in the garden than the gardener sows there. | 1215 |
| More than we use is more than we want. | 1216 |
| Mores amid noveris, non oderis—Know well, but take no offence at the manners of a friend. | 1217 |
| Mortuo leoni et lepores insultant—Even hares insult a dead lion. | 1218 |
| Most felt, least said. | 1219 |
| Most of our evils come from our vices. | 1220 |
| Most things have two handles, and a wise man takes hold of the best. | 1221 |
| Mother’s darlings are but milksop heroes. | 1222 |
| Mother’s love is the cream of love. | 1223 |
| Mother’s truth keeps constant youth. | 1224 |
| Mourning tendeth to mending. | 1225 |
| Mrs. Chatterbox is the mother of mischief. | 1226 |
| Much bruit, little fruit. | 1227 |
| Much corn lies under the straw that is not seen. | 1228 |
| Much learning is a weariness of the flesh. | 1229 |
| Much meat, much disease. | 1230 |
| Much religion, but no goodness. | 1231 |
| Much rust needs a rough file. | 1232 |
| Mud chokes no eels. | 1233 |
| Muddy spring, muddy stream. | 1234 |
| Mules deliver great discourses because their ancestors were horses. | 1235 |
| Mulier quæ sola cogitat male cogitat—The thoughts of a woman when alone tend to mischief. | 1236 |
| Multæ manus onus levius faciunt—Many hands make light work. | 1237 |
| Multa docet fames—Hunger (i.e., necessity) teaches us many things. | 1238 |
| Multa novit vulpis, sed felis unum magnum—The fox knows many shifts, the cat only one great one, viz., to run up a tree. | 1239 |
| Multas amicitias silentium diremit—Silence, or neglect, dissolves many friendships. | 1240 |
| Multos in summa pericula misit / Venturi timor ipse mali—The mere apprehension of coming evil has driven many into positions of great peril. | 1241 |
| Multos ingratos invenimus, plures facimus—We find many men ungrateful; we make more. | 1242 |
| Multum sapit qui non diu desipit—He is very wise who does not long persist in folly. | 1243 |
| Music will not cure the toothache. | 1244 |
| My dame fed her hens on thanks, but they laid no eggs. | 1245 |
| My house is my castle. | 1246 |
| My house, my house, though thou art small, / Thou art to me the Escurial. | 1247 |
| My son is my son till he have got him a wife, / But my daughter’s my daughter all the days of her life. | 1248 |
| Nature abhors a vacuum. | 1249 |
| Nature is beyond all teaching. | 1250 |
| Nature passes nurture. | 1251 |
| Nature takes as much pains in the forming of a beggar as an emperor. | 1252 |
| Ne depugnes in alieno negrotio—Do not take up the cudgels in another man’s affairs. | 1253 |
| Ne Jupiter quidem omnibus placet—Not even Jupiter can please everybody. | 1254 |
| Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin. | 1255 |
| Nec caput nec pedes—In confusion, neither head nor tail. | 1256 |
| Nec cui de te plusquam tibi credas—Do not believe any man more than yourself about yourself. | 1257 |
| Nec obolum habet unde restim emat—He hasn’t a penny left to buy a halter. | 1258 |
| Necessity is the mistress of the arts. | 1259 |
| Necessity is the mother of invention. | 1260 |
| Necessity makes even cowards brave. | 1261 |
| Needles and pins, needles and pins! / When a man marries his trouble begins. | 1262 |
| Neither crow nor croak. | 1263 |
| Neither lead nor drive. | 1264 |
| Neither wise men nor fools / Can work without tools. | 1265 |
| Neither women nor linen by candlelight. | 1266 |
| Nemo læditur nisi a seipso—No man is harmed but by himself. | 1267 |
| Nemo potest nudo vestimenta detrahere—You cannot strip a garment off a naked man. | 1268 |
| Nemo sibi nascitur—No one is born for himself. | 1269 |
| Nequicquam sapit qui sibi non sapit—He is wise to no purpose who is not wise for himself. | 1270 |
| Never bray at an ass. | 1271 |
| Never burn your fingers to snuff another man’s candle. | 1272 |
| Never buy a pig in a poke. | 1273 |
| Never cackle till your egg is laid. | 1274 |
| Never despise the day of small things. | 1275 |
| Never do things by halves. | 1276 |
| Never fall out with your bread and butter. | 1277 |
| Never find fault with the absent. | 1278 |
| Never fish in troubled waters. | 1279 |
| Never fry a fish till it’s caught. | 1280 |
| Never give up the ship. | 1281 |
| Never grudge a penny for a pennyworth. | 1282 |
| Never grumble nor mumble. | 1283 |
| Never hang a man twice for one offence. | 1284 |
| Never have an idle hour, or an idle pound. | 1285 |
| Never hold a candle to the devil. | 1286 |
| Never is a long day. | 1287 |
| Never lean on a broken staff. | 1288 |
| Never leave a certainty for an uncertainty. | 1289 |
| Never look a gift-horse in the mouth. | 1290 |
| Never look for a knot in a bulrush. | 1291 |
| Never meet trouble half way. | 1292 |
| Never mind who was your grandfather. What are you? | 1293 |
| Never offer to teach fish to swim. | 1294 |
| Never preach beyond your experience. | 1295 |
| Never put your hand into a wasp’s nest. | 1296 |
| Never repeat old grievances. | 1297 |
| Never say die! / Up, man, and try! | 1298 |
| Never say of another what you would not have him hear. | 1299 |
| Never shirk the hardest work. | 1300 |
| Never sigh, but send. | 1301 |
| Never speak ill of those whose bread you eat. | 1302 |
| Never spur a willing horse. | 1303 |
| Never stint soap and water. | 1304 |
| Never swap horses while crossing a stream. | 1305 |
| Never tell in the parlour what you heard in the kitchen. | 1306 |
| Never throw a hen’s egg at a sparrow. | 1307 |
| Never too old to turn; never too late to learn. | 1308 |
| Never trouble yourself with trouble till trouble troubles you. | 1309 |
| Never trust a wolf with the care of lambs. | 1310 |
| Never try to prove what nobody doubts. | 1311 |
| Never venture all in one bottom. | 1312 |
| Never write what you dare not sign. | 1313 |
| New brooms sweep clean. | 1314 |
| New laws, new frauds. | 1315 |
| New lords, new laws. | 1316 |
| Nightingales will not sing in a cage. | 1317 |
| Nihil scire est vita jucundissima—To know nothing at all is the happiest life. | 1318 |
| Nil sole et sale utilius—Nothing so useful as the sun and salt. | 1319 |
| Nil tam difficile est quod non solertia vincat—There is nothing so difficult but skill will surmount it. | 1320 |
| Nimia cura deterit magis quam emendat—Too much pains may injure rather than improve your work. | 1321 |
| Nimium altercando veritas amittitur—In too eager disputation the truth is lost sight of. | 1322 |
| Nine tailors cannot make a man. | 1323 |
| No answer is also an answer. | 1324 |
| No autumn fruit without spring blossoms. | 1325 |
| No bees, no honey; / No work, no money. | 1326 |
| No cloth is too fine for moth to devour. | 1327 |
| No errors are so mischievous as those of great men. | 1328 |
| No fishing like fishing in the sea. | 1329 |
| No fool was ever so foolish, but some one thought him clever. | 1330 |
| No frost can freeze Providence. | 1331 |
| No gains without pains. | 1332 |
| No greater promisers than those who have nothing to give. | 1333 |
| No herb will cure love. | 1334 |
| No horse so blind as the blind mare. | 1335 |
| No house without mouse; no throne without thorn. | 1336 |
| No joy without alloy. | 1337 |
| No longer pipe, no longer dance. | 1338 |
| No man can gather cherries in Kent at the season of Christmas. | 1339 |
| No man can make a good coat with bad cloth. | 1340 |
| No man can see over his own height. | 1341 |
| No man has a worse friend than he brings with him from home. | 1342 |
| No man hath a velvet cross. | 1343 |
| No man is always wise except a fool. | 1344 |
| No man is born wise or learned. | 1345 |
| No man is the worse for knowing the worst of himself. | 1346 |
| No man lives so poor as he was born. | 1347 |
| No man loveth his fetters, be they made of gold. | 1348 |
| No mill, no meal. | 1349 |
| No need to teach your grandames to suck eggs. | 1350 |
| No news is good news. | 1351 |
| No one claims kindred with the poor. | 1352 |
| No one eats goldfish. | 1353 |
| No one knows the weight of another’s burden. | 1354 |
| No one knows where the shoe pinches but him who wears it. | 1355 |
| No one likes to bell the cat. | 1356 |
| No pains, no gains. | 1357 |
| No penny, no paternoster. | 1358 |
| No receiver, no thief. | 1359 |
| No safe wading in an unknown water. | 1360 |
| No tale so good but may be spoiled in the telling. | 1361 |
| No vice goes alone. | 1362 |
| No weather’s ill when the wind’s still. | 1363 |
| No weeping for shed milk. | 1364 |
| No whip cuts so sharply as the lash of conscience. | 1365 |
| No wonder lasts over three days. | 1366 |
| No word is ill spoken if it be not ill taken. | 1367 |
| No work, no recompense. | 1368 |
| Noble housekeepers need no doors. | 1369 |
| Nobody calls himself rogue. | 1370 |
| Nodum in scirpo quæris—You look for a knot in a bulrush, i.e., are too scrupulous. | 1371 |
| Non est bonum ludere cum Diis—It is not good to trifle with the gods. | 1372 |
| Non est de sacco tanta farina tuo—So much meal cannot have come from your own sack. | 1373 |
| Non est ejusdem et multa et opportuna dicere—The same person will not both talk much and to the purpose. | 1374 |
| Non progredi est regredi—Not to advance is to go back. | 1375 |
| Non purgat peccata qui negat—He who denies his sins does not atone for them. | 1376 |
| Non uti libet, sed uti licet, sic vivamus—We must live not as we like, but as we can. | 1377 |
| Nondum omnium dierum sol occidit—The sun of all days has not yet set. | 1378 |
| None are so well shod but they may slip. | 1379 |
| None can pray well but he who lives well. | 1380 |
| None is so deaf as he who will not hear. | 1381 |
| None so blind as they who will not see. | 1382 |
| None think the great unhappy but the great. | 1383 |
| Nosce tempus—Know your time; make hay while the sun shines. | 1384 |
| Not every parish priest can wear Dr. Luther’s shoes. | 1385 |
| Nothing comes amiss to a hungry man. | 1386 |
| Nothing for nothing, and very little for a halfpenny. | 1387 |
| Nothing for nothing. | 1388 |
| Nothing is cheap if you don’t want it. | 1389 |
| Nothing is lasting that is feigned. | 1390 |
| Nothing is safe from fault-finders. | 1391 |
| Nothing stands in need of lying but a lie. | 1392 |
| Nothing stings so bitterly as loss of money. | 1393 |
| Nothing that is violent is permanent. | 1394 |
| Nothing venture, nothing win. | 1395 |
| Novacula in cotem—He has met his match (lit. the razor against the whetstone). | 1396 |
| “Now” is the watchword of the wise. | 1397 |
| Nulla dies sine linea—Let no day pass without its line. | 1398 |
| Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia—Where there is prudence, a protecting divinity is not far away. | 1399 |
| Nullum simile quatuor pedibus currit—No simile runs on all fours, i.e., holds in every respect. | 1400 |
| Nuts are given us, but we must crack them ourselves. | 1401 |
| Oaks fall when reeds stand. | 1402 |
| Obedience is better than sacrifice. From Bible. | 1403 |
| Occasio facit furem—Opportunity makes the thief. | 1404 |
| Oculus domini saginat equum—The master’s eye makes the horse fat. | 1405 |
| Of all studies, study your present condition. | 1406 |
| Of two evils choose the least. | 1407 |
| Offenders never pardon. | 1408 |
| Old age is a heavy burden. | 1409 |
| Old age is honourable. | 1410 |
| Old age, though despised, is coveted by all. | 1411 |
| Old birds are hard to pluck. | 1412 |
| Old birds are not caught with chaff. | 1413 |
| Old head and young hand. | 1414 |
| Old head upon young shoulders. | 1415 |
| Old heads will not suit young shoulders. | 1416 |
| Old men are twice children. | 1417 |
| Old ovens are soon heated. | 1418 |
| Old oxen have stiff horns. | 1419 |
| Old shoes are easiest. | 1420 |
| Old wounds soon bleed. | 1421 |
| Olla male ferret—It does not look hopeful; the pot boils poorly. | 1422 |
| Omne nimium vertitur in vitium—Every excess develops into a vice. | 1423 |
| Omnem movere lapidem—To leave no stone unturned. | 1424 |
| Omnia bonos viros decent—All things are becoming in good men. | 1425 |
| Omnia ejusdem farinæ—All things are of the same stuff, lit. grain. | 1426 |
| Omnia venalia Romæ—All things can be bought at Rome. | 1427 |
| Omnis commoditas sua fert incommoda secum—Every convenience brings its own inconveniences along with it. | 1428 |
| On a long journey even a straw is heavy. | 1429 |
| On his own saddle one rides safest. | 1430 |
| On Monday morning don’t be looking for Saturday night. | 1431 |
| On prend le peuple par les oreilles, comme on fait un pot par les anses—The public are to be caught by the ears, as one takes a pot by the handles. | 1432 |
| On some men’s bread butter will not stick. | 1433 |
| On the sea sail, on the land settle. | 1434 |
| Once a knave, always a knave. | 1435 |
| Once a man and twice a child. | 1436 |
| Once is no custom. | 1437 |
| Once is no rule. | 1438 |
| One abides not long on the summit of fortune. | 1439 |
| One barking dog sets all the street a-barking. | 1440 |
| One beats the bush, and another catches the bird. | 1441 |
| One can live on little, but not on nothing. | 1442 |
| One chick keeps a hen busy. | 1443 |
| One cloud is enough to eclipse all the sun. | 1444 |
| One crow never pulls out another’s eyes. | 1445 |
| One dog can drive a flock of sheep. | 1446 |
| One enemy is too many, and a hundred friends too few. | 1447 |
| One enemy may do us more harm than a hundred friends can do us good. | 1448 |
| One eye of the master does more than both his hands. | 1449 |
| One eye-witness is better than ten hearsays. | 1450 |
| One false move may lose the game. | 1451 |
| One fool makes many. | 1452 |
| One good head is better than a hundred strong hands. | 1453 |
| One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters. | 1454 |
| One good turn deserves another. | 1455 |
| One grain fills not a sack, but helps his fellows. | 1456 |
| One hand washes another. | 1457 |
| One hard word brings on another. | 1458 |
| One head cannot hold all wisdom. | 1459 |
| One hour’s sleep before midnight is worth two after. | 1460 |
| One jeer seldom goeth forth but it bringeth back its equal. | 1461 |
| One keep-clean is better than ten make-cleans. | 1462 |
| One lie makes many. | 1463 |
| One lie needs seven lies to wait upon it. | 1464 |
| One link broken, the whole chain is broken. | 1465 |
| One loss brings another. | 1466 |
| One man makes a chair, and another man sits in it. | 1467 |
| One man may lead a horse to the water, but twenty cannot make him drink. | 1468 |
| One man may steal a horse more safely than another may look at him over a hedge. | 1469 |
| One man’s meat is another man’s poison. | 1470 |
| One man’s opinion is no man’s opinion. | 1471 |
| One may see that with half an eye. | 1472 |
| One must not look a gift horse in the mouth. | 1473 |
| One of these days is none of these days. | 1474 |
| One pirate gets nothing of another but his cask. | 1475 |
| One ploughs, another sows; / Who will reap, no one knows. | 1476 |
| One sheep follows another. | 1477 |
| One sickly sheep infects the flock. | 1478 |
| One sin opens the door to another. | 1479 |
| One swallow does not make a summer. | 1480 |
| One sword keeps another in the scabbard. | 1481 |
| One wrong step may give you a great fall. | 1482 |
| One’s too few, three’s too many. | 1483 |
| Onus segni impone asello—Lay the burden on the lazy ass. | 1484 |
| Open not your door when the devil knocks. | 1485 |
| Open rebuke is better than secret love. | 1486 |
| Opinion is the mistress of fools. | 1487 |
| Opportunities neglected are irrecoverable. | 1488 |
| Optimi consiliarii mortui—The best counsellors are the dead. | 1489 |
| Optimum obsonium labor—Labour is the best sauce. | 1490 |
| Otiosis nullus adsistit Deus—No deity assists the idle. | 1491 |
| Our fear commonly meets us at the door by which we think to run from it. | 1492 |
| Our flatterers are our worst enemies. | 1493 |
| Out of debt, out of danger. | 1494 |
| Out of the frying-pan into the fire. | 1495 |
| Ouvrage de longue haleine—A long-winded or tedious business. | 1496 |
| Overdone is worse than underdone. | 1497 |
| Oysters are not good in a month that hath not an R in it. | 1498 |
| Pain past is pleasure. | 1499 |
| Par le droit du plus fort—By the right of the strongest. | 1500 |
| Parents’ blessings can neither be drowned in water nor consumed in fire. | 1501 |
| Patch and long sit, / Build and soon flit. | 1502 |
| Patience is a plaister for all sores. | 1503 |
| Patience is a stout horse, but it will tire at last. | 1504 |
| Patience, money, and time bring all things to pass. | 1505 |
| Patient waiters are no losers. | 1506 |
| Patriæ fumus igne alieno luculentior—The smoke of our own country is brighter than fire in a foreign one. | 1507 |
| Paul Pry is on the spy. | 1508 |
| Pay beforehand if you would have your work ill done. | 1509 |
| Pay good wages, or your servants will pay themselves. | 1510 |
| Pay the reckoning over-night, and you won’t be troubled in the morning. | 1511 |
| Pay well when you are served well. | 1512 |
| Pay what you owe, and what you’re worth you’ll know. | 1513 |
| Pay without fail, / Down on the nail. | 1514 |
| Pelt all dogs that bark, and you will need many stones. | 1515 |
| Pence well-spent are better than pence ill-spared. | 1516 |
| Penny goes after penny, / Till Peter hasn’t any. | 1517 |
| Penny wise is often pound foolish. | 1518 |
| People throw stones only at trees which have fruit on them. | 1519 |
| People who are too sharp cut their own fingers. | 1520 |
| People who live in glass houses should never throw stones. | 1521 |
| “Perhaps” hinders folks from lying. | 1522 |
| Perimus licitis—We come to ruin by permitted things. | 1523 |
| Perseverance performs greater works than strength. | 1524 |
| Persevere and never fear. | 1525 |
| Persuasion is better than force. | 1526 |
| Peter’s in, Paul’s out. | 1527 |
| Pigs grow fat where lambs would starve. | 1528 |
| Pigs grunt about everything and nothing. | 1529 |
| Pigs when they fly go tail first. | 1530 |
| Plain dealing is dead, and died without issue. | 1531 |
| Plain dealing’s a jewel, but they that use it die beggars. | 1532 |
| Plaster thick, / Some will stick. | 1533 |
| Plough or not plough, you must pay your rent. | 1534 |
| Plures adorant solem orientem quam occidentem—More do homage to the rising sun than the setting one. | 1535 |
| Plures crapula quam gladius—Excess kills more than the sword. | 1536 |
| Poor folks must say “Thank ye” for little. | 1537 |
| Poor men’s tables are soon placed. | 1538 |
| Porte fermée, le diable s’en va—The devil goes away when he sees a shut door. | 1539 |
| Possession is nine-tenths of the law. | 1540 |
| Post epulas stabis vel passus mille meabis—After eating, you should either stand or walk a mile. | 1541 |
| Pot! don’t call the kettle black. | 1542 |
| Potatoes don’t grow by the side of the pot. | 1543 |
| Poverty breeds strife. | 1544 |
| Poverty has no greater foe than bashfulness. | 1545 |
| Poverty is no crime and no credit. | 1546 |
| Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it is. | 1547 |
| Practice makes perfect. | 1548 |
| Practise thrift, or else you’ll drift. | 1549 |
| Præcepta ducunt, at exempla trahunt—Precept guides, but example draws. | 1550 |
| Praise a fool, and you water his folly. | 1551 |
| Praise God more, and blame neighbours less. | 1552 |
| Praise makes good men better, and bad men worse. | 1553 |
| Praise Peter, but don’t find fault with Paul. | 1554 |
| Praise the bridge which carries you over. | 1555 |
| Praise the hill, but keep below. | 1556 |
| Pray devoutly, / And hammer stoutly. | 1557 |
| Pray to God, but keep the hammer going. | 1558 |
| Pray to God, sailor, but pull for the shore. | 1559 |
| Prayer and provender never hinder a journey. | 1560 |
| Prayer knocks till the door opens. | 1561 |
| Prayer must not come from the roof of the mouth, but from the root of the heart. | 1562 |
| Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night. | 1563 |
| Precious ointments are put in small boxes. | 1564 |
| Prejudice is a prophet which prophesies only evil. | 1565 |
| “Pretty Pussy” will not feed a cat. | 1566 |
| Prevention is better than cure. | 1567 |
| Pride and poverty are ill met, yet often live together. | 1568 |
| Pride feels no cold. | 1569 |
| Pride must suffer pain. | 1570 |
| Pride will have a fall; for pride goeth before, and shame cometh after. | 1571 |
| Pride with pride will not abide. | 1572 |
| Pride’s chickens have bonny feathers, but bony bodies. | 1573 |
| Priestcraft is no better than witchcraft. | 1574 |
| Private reproof is the best grave for private faults. | 1575 |
| Procul a Jove, procul a fulmine—Far from Jove, far from his thunderbolts. | 1576 |
| Proffered service stinks—i.e., is not appreciated. | 1577 |
| Prope ad summum, prope ad exitum—Near the summit, near the end. | 1578 |
| Prosperity destroys fools and endangers the wise. | 1579 |
| Proverbs are the wisdom of the streets. | 1580 |
| Providence may change, but the promise must stand. | 1581 |
| Providence often puts a large potato in a little pig’s way. | 1582 |
| Providence provides for the provident. | 1583 |
| Punctuality is the soul of business. | 1584 |
| Punishment follows hard upon crime. | 1585 |
| Put the saddle on the right horse. | 1586 |
| Put your foot down where you mean to stand. | 1587 |
| Put your hand no farther than your sleeve will reach. | 1588 |
| Put your hand quickly to your hat and slowly to your purse, and you’ll take no harm. | 1589 |
| Put your own shoulder to the wheel. | 1590 |
| Quæ e longinquo magis placent—Things please the more the farther fetched. | 1591 |
| Quæ infra nos nihil ad nos—The things that are below us are nothing to us. | 1592 |
| Quæ peccamus juvenes ea luimus senes—We pay when old for the excesses of our youth. | 1593 |
| Quæ supra nos nihil ad nos—Things which are above us are nothing to us. | 1594 |
| Quære verum—Seek the truth. | 1595 |
| Quævis terra alit artificem—Every land supports the artisan. | 1596 |
| Quackery has no friend like gullibility. | 1597 |
| Qualis rex, talis grex—Like king, like people. | 1598 |
| Quality is better than quantity. | 1599 |
| Quem Jupiter vult perdere dementat prius—Him whom Jupiter wishes to ruin, be first infatuates. | 1600 |
| Qui capit ille facit—He who takes it to himself has done it. | 1601 |
| Qui medice vivit, misere vivit—He who lives by medical prescription lives miserably. | 1602 |
| Qui non proficit, deficit—He who does not advance loses ground. | 1603 |
| Qui perd péche—He who loses sins. | 1604 |
| Qui spe aluntur, pendent, non vivunt—Those who feed on hope, hang on, they do not live. | 1605 |
| Quick removals are slow prosperings. | 1606 |
| Quick resentments are often fatal. | 1607 |
| Quick returns make rich merchants. | 1608 |
| Quick steps are best over miry ground. | 1609 |
| Quick to borrow is always slow to pay. | 1610 |
| Quicker by taking more time. | 1611 |
| Quit not certainty for hope. | 1612 |
| Quum Romæ fueris, Romano vivite more—When you are at Rome live after the fashion at Rome. | 1613 |
| Raison d’état—A reason of state. | 1614 |
| Re opitulandum non verbis—We should assist by deeds, not in words. | 1615 |
| Rebuke ought to have a grain more of salt than of sugar. | 1616 |
| Rebuke with soft words and hard arguments. | 1617 |
| Reckoners without their host must reckon twice. | 1618 |
| Religion lies more in walk than in talk. | 1619 |
| Remis velisque—With oars and sails; with tooth and nail. | 1620 |
| Remove the cause, and the effect will cease. | 1621 |
| Repentance costs very dear. | 1622 |
| Repentance is good, but innocence is better. | 1623 |
| Report makes crows blacker than they are. | 1624 |
| Reproof never does a wise man harm. | 1625 |
| Reputation is commonly measured by the acre. | 1626 |
| Reputation serves to virtue as light does to a picture. | 1627 |
| Reserve the master-blow. | 1628 |
| Respect a man, he will do the more. | 1629 |
| Respect yourself, or no one else will respect you. | 1630 |
| Rest and success are fellows. | 1631 |
| Rest is won only by work. | 1632 |
| Riches bring cares. | 1633 |
| Riches have wings. | 1634 |
| Right wrongs no man. | 1635 |
| Rivers need a spring. | 1636 |
| Robbing Peter to pay Paul. | 1637 |
| Rore vixit more cicadæ—He lived upon dew like a grasshopper. | 1638 |
| Roses grow among thorns. | 1639 |
| Round the world, but never in it. Of sailors. | 1640 |
| Sæpe est etiam sub palliolo sordido sapientia—Wisdom is often found even under a shabby coat. | 1641 |
| Sabbath profaned, / Whate’er may be gained, / Is sure to be followed by sorrow. | 1642 |
| Sabbath well spent / Brings a week of content. | 1643 |
| Sadness and gladness succeed each other. | 1644 |
| Safe bind, safe find. | 1645 |
| Sallow wits censure everything that is beyond their depth. | 1646 |
| Sapiens dominabitur astris—A wise man will lord it over the stars. | 1647 |
| Satan’s friendship reaches to the prison door. | 1648 |
| Satires run faster than panegyrics. | 1649 |
| Satius est recurrere, quam currere male—It is better to run back than run on the wrong way. | 1650 |
| Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. | 1651 |
| Save a thief from the gallows, and he’ll cut your throat. | 1652 |
| Save something for a sore foot. | 1653 |
| Say nay, and take it. | 1654 |
| Say no ill of the year till it be past. | 1655 |
| “Say well” is good, but “Do well” is better. | 1656 |
| Say well or be still. | 1657 |
| Saying and doing are two different things. | 1658 |
| Scald not thy lips with another man’s porridge. | 1659 |
| Scandal will not rub out like dirt when it is dry. | 1660 |
| Scatter with one hand, gather with two. | 1661 |
| Scotsmen reckon ay frae an ill hour. | 1662 |
| Screw not the chord too sharply lest it snap. | 1663 |
| Seek not to reform every one’s dial by your own watch. | 1664 |
| Seek till you find, and you’ll not lose your labour. | 1665 |
| Seek your salve where you got your sore. | 1666 |
| Self loves itself best. | 1667 |
| Send a fool to the market, and a fool he’ll return. | 1668 |
| Send a wise man of an errand, and say nothing to him. | 1669 |
| Send your charity abroad wrapt in blankets. | 1670 |
| Septem convivium, novem convitium—Seven is a banquet, nine a brawl. | 1671 |
| Septem horas dormisse sat est juvenique, senique—Seven hours of sleep is enough both for old and young. | 1672 |
| Sero clypeum post vulnera sumo—I am too late in taking my shield after being wounded. | 1673 |
| Sero sapiunt Phryges—The Trojans became wise when too late. | 1674 |
| Sero venientibus ossa—The bones for those who come late. | 1675 |
| Serpens ni edat serpentem, draco non fiet—Unless a serpent devour a serpent, it will not become a dragon, i.e., unless one power absorb another, it will not become great. | 1676 |
| Serum auxilium post prælium—Help comes too late when the fight is over. | 1677 |
| Serving one’s own passions is the greatest slavery. | 1678 |
| Set a beggar on horseback and he’ll ride to the devil. | 1679 |
| Set a thief to catch a thief. | 1680 |
| Set not your loaf in till the oven’s hot. | 1681 |
| Shallow streams make most din. | 1682 |
| Shame of poverty is almost as bad as pride of wealth. | 1683 |
| She that is ashamed to eat at table eats in private. | 1684 |
| She that is born handsome is born married. | 1685 |
| She that takes gifts herself she sells, / And she that gives them does nothing else. | 1686 |
| Short boughs, long vintage. | 1687 |
| Short prayers reach heaven. | 1688 |
| Short reckonings make long friends. | 1689 |
| Si caput dolet omnia membra languent—If the head aches, all the members of the body become languid. | 1690 |
| Si claudo cohabites, subclaudicare disces—If you live with a lame man you will learn to limp. | 1691 |
| Si gravis brevis, si longus levis—If severe, short; if long, light. | 1692 |
| Si jeunesse savait! si vieillesse pouvait!—If youth knew; if age could! | 1693 |
| Si leonina pellis non satis est, assuenda vulpina—If the lion’s skin is not enough, we must sew on the fox’s. | 1694 |
| Silence gives (or implies) consent. | 1695 |
| Silence is wisdom, when speaking is folly. | 1696 |
| Silent men, like still waters, are deep and dangerous. | 1697 |
| Simile gaudet simili—Like loves like. | 1698 |
| Sit in your own place, and no man can make you rise. | 1699 |
| Six feet of earth make all men equal. | 1700 |
| Skill is stronger than strength. | 1701 |
| Sloth is the key to poverty. | 1702 |
| Slow fire makes sweet malt. | 1703 |
| Slow help is no help. | 1704 |
| Small faults indulged let in greater. | 1705 |
| Small profits and quick returns. | 1706 |
| Small rain lays great dust. | 1707 |
| Smooth waters run deep. | 1708 |
| Smooth words make smooth ways. | 1709 |
| So many servants, so many enemies. | 1710 |
| So many slaves, so many enemies. | 1711 |
| Soft words win hard hearts. | 1712 |
| Soft, or fair, words butter no parsnips. | 1713 |
| Solitude is often the best society. | 1714 |
| Some evils are cured by contempt. | 1715 |
| Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away. | 1716 |
| Some men are wise, and some are otherwise. | 1717 |
| Some men go through a forest and see no firewood. | 1718 |
| Some that speak no ill of any do no good to any. | 1719 |
| Soon enough, if well enough. | 1720 |
| Soon hot, soon cold. | 1721 |
| Soon ripe, soon rotten. | 1722 |
| Sorex suo perit indicio—The mouse perishes by betraying himself. | 1723 |
| Sorrow is good for nothing but sin. | 1724 |
| Sorrow will pay no debt. | 1725 |
| Sow good works and you will reap gladness. | 1726 |
| Spare but to spend, and only spend to spare. | 1727 |
| Spare the rod and spoil the child. | 1728 |
| Speak little and to the purpose. | 1729 |
| Speak little, but speak the truth. | 1730 |
| Speak the truth and shame the devil. | 1731 |
| Speak well of your friend; of your enemy say nothing. | 1732 |
| Speak when you are spoken to, and come when you are called for. | 1733 |
| Speaking without thinking is shooting without aim. | 1734 |
| Speedy execution is the mother of good fortune. | 1735 |
| Step by step one goes far. | 1736 |
| Still swine eat all the draff. | 1737 |
| Still waters run deep. | 1738 |
| Storms make oaks take deeper root. | 1739 |
| Straws show which way the wind blows. | 1740 |
| Strike while the iron is hot. | 1741 |
| Striving to better, oft we mar what’s well. | 1742 |
| Stultus semper incipit vivere—The fool is always beginning to live. | 1743 |
| Stultus, qui, patre occiso, liberos relinquat—He who kills the father and leaves the children is a fool. | 1744 |
| Submitting to one wrong often brings on another. | 1745 |
| Supple knees feed arrogance. | 1746 |
| Surfeit has killed more than hunger. | 1747 |
| Sweep before your own door. | 1748 |
| Tête de fou ne blanchit jamais—A fool’s head never grows grey. | 1749 |
| Take a hair of the same dog that bit you, and it will heal the wound. | 1750 |
| Take care of the pence; the pounds will take care of themselves. | 1751 |
| Take heed of the vinegar of sweet wine. | 1752 |
| Take heed you find not that you do not seek. | 1753 |
| Take time in turning a corner. | 1754 |
| Talk of the devil and he’ll appear. | 1755 |
| Talking of love is making it. | 1756 |
| Tam Marte quam Minerva—As much by Mars as by Minerva; as much by courage as by wisdom. | 1757 |
| Tanquam ungues digitosque suos—As well as his nails and fingers; at his fingers’ ends. | 1758 |
| Tarde venientibus ossa—To those who come late the bones. | 1759 |
| Taurum tollet qui vitulum sustulerit—He who has carried the calf will be able by and by to carry the ox. | 1760 |
| Teaching others teacheth yourself. | 1761 |
| Tenterden steeple was the cause of Goodwin Sands. | 1762 |
| That grief is light which is capable of counsel. | 1763 |
| That is but an empty purse that is full of other men’s money. | 1764 |
| That is gold that is worth gold. | 1765 |
| That is well spoken that is well taken. | 1766 |
| That must be true which all men say. | 1767 |
| That one will not, another will. | 1768 |
| That suit is best that best fits me. | 1769 |
| That that comes of a hen will scrape. | 1770 |
| That which is good to take is good to keep. | 1771 |
| That which one least anticipates soonest comes to pass. | 1772 |
| That which proves too much proves nothing. | 1773 |
| That which two will takes effect. | 1774 |
| That which was bitter to endure may be sweet to remember. | 1775 |
| That which we may live without we need not much covet. | 1776 |
| That which will not be butter must be made into cheese. | 1777 |
| That which will not be spun, let it not come between the spindle and the distaff. | 1778 |
| That’s a lee wi’ a lid on, / And a brass handle to tak ho’d on. | 1779 |
| That’s my good that does me good. | 1780 |
| That’s the best gown that goes up and down the house. | 1781 |
| The absent party is still faulty. | 1782 |
| The archer who overshoots the mark misses, as well as he that falls short of it. | 1783 |
| The back of one door is the face of another. | 1784 |
| The back-door robs the house. | 1785 |
| The beaten road is the safest. | 1786 |
| The best fish swim near the bottom. | 1787 |
| The best is best cheap. | 1788 |
| The best mirror is an old friend. | 1789 |
| The best of the sport is to do the deed and say nothing. | 1790 |
| The best remedy against an ill man is much ground between both. | 1791 |
| The best use of money is to pay debts. | 1792 |
| The best work in the world is done on the quiet. | 1793 |
| The bishop has set his foot in it—i.e., the broth is singed. (The explanation of which, according to Grose, is: Whenever a bishop passed through a town or a village, all the inhabitants ran out to receive his blessing; this frequently caused the milk on the fire to be left till burnt.) | 1794 |
| The biter is often bit. | 1795 |
| The burden one likes is cheerfully borne. | 1796 |
| The cat shuts its eyes when stealing the cream. | 1797 |
| The charitable give out at the door, and God puts in at the window. | 1798 |
| The counsel thou wouldst have another keep, first keep thyself. | 1799 |
| The danger past and God forgotten. | 1800 |
| The darkest hour is nearest the dawn. | 1801 |
| The devil is an ass. | 1802 |
| The devil lurks behind the cross. | 1803 |
| The devil may get in by the keyhole, but the door won’t let him out. | 1804 |
| The dog that fetches will carry. | 1805 |
| The donkey means one thing and the driver another. | 1806 |
| The earthen pot must keep clear of the brass kettle. | 1807 |
| The evil that goeth out of thy mouth flieth into thy bosom. | 1808 |
| The evil wound is cured, but not the evil name. | 1809 |
| The example of good men is visible philosophy. | 1810 |
| The exception proves the rule. | 1811 |
| The eye is the mirror of the soul. | 1812 |
| The eye that sees all things else sees not itself. | 1813 |
| The face is the index of the mind. | 1814 |
| The fair maid who, the first of May, / Goes to the fields at break of day, / And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree, / Will ever after handsome be. | 1815 |
| The faithful servant is a humble friend. | 1816 |
| The falling out of faithful friends is the renewing of love. | 1817 |
| The fire in the flint shows not till it’s struck. | 1818 |
| The fire that does not warm me shall never scorch me. | 1819 |
| The first article that a young trader offers for sale is his honesty. | 1820 |
| The first breath / Is the beginning of death. | 1821 |
| The first faults are theirs that commit them, / The second are theirs that permit them. | 1822 |
| The first of the nine orders of knaves is he that tells his errand before he goes it. | 1823 |
| The first step towards greatness is to be honest. | 1824 |
| The first year let your house to your enemy; the second to your friend; the third, live in it yourself. | 1825 |
| The foot of the owner is the best manure for his land. | 1826 |
| The fox thrives best when he is most curst. | 1827 |
| The full moon brings fair weather. | 1828 |
| The good mother saith not, “Will you?” but gives. | 1829 |
| The gown is hers that wears it, and the world is his who enjoys it. | 1830 |
| “The grapes are sour,” said the fox when he could not reach them. | 1831 |
| The great thieves punish the little ones. | 1832 |
| The greatest expense we can be at is that of our time. | 1833 |
| The greatest scholars are not always the wisest men. | 1834 |
| The greatest vessel hath but its measure. | 1835 |
| The grey mare is the better horse. | 1836 |
| The groundsel speaks not save what it heard at the hinges. | 1837 |
| The hand that gives, gathers. | 1838 |
| The hardest step is over the threshold. | 1839 |
| The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart. | 1840 |
| The heart sees farther than the head. | 1841 |
| The heart that once truly loves never forgets. | 1842 |
| The highest price a man can pay for a thing is to ask for it. | 1843 |
| The horse thinks one thing, and he that rides him another. | 1844 |
| The house that is a-building looks not as the house that is built. | 1845 |
| The king’s errand may come in at the cadger’s gate. | 1846 |
| The last drop makes the cup run over. | 1847 |
| The last ounce breaks the camel’s back. | 1848 |
| The longest day soon comes to an end. | 1849 |
| The man who has imagination without learning has wings without feet. | 1850 |
| The mastiff is quiet while curs are yelping. | 1851 |
| The mill will never grind with the water that is past. | 1852 |
| The mob has many heads, but no brains. | 1853 |
| The more haste, the worse speed. | 1854 |
| The mother’s heart is always with her children. | 1855 |
| The nearer the church the farther from God. | 1856 |
| The noblest vengeance is to forgive. | 1857 |
| The old fox is caught at last. | 1858 |
| The owl of ignorance lays the egg of pride. | 1859 |
| The ox lies still while the geese are hissing. | 1860 |
| The pitcher goes so often to the water that it comes home broken at last. | 1861 |
| The poor man’s budget is full of schemes. | 1862 |
| The rainbow in the morning / Is the shepherd’s warning; / The rainbow at night / Is the shepherd’s delight. | 1863 |
| The road to ruin is always kept in good repair, and the travellers pay the expense of it. | 1864 |
| The road’s afore you, the sky’s aboon you. | 1865 |
| The shortest answer is doing. | 1866 |
| The smoke of a man’s own house is better than the fire of another’s. | 1867 |
| The snail sees nothing but his own shell, and thinks it the grandest place in the world. | 1868 |
| The soul is not where it lives, but where it loves. | 1869 |
| The stomach has no ears. | 1870 |
| The stone that lieth not in your way need not offend you. | 1871 |
| The stream can never rise above the springhead. | 1872 |
| The sun can be seen by nothing but its own light. | 1873 |
| The sun may do its duty, though your grapes are not ripe. | 1874 |
| The sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinegar. | 1875 |
| The thin edge of the wedge is to be feared. | 1876 |
| The tongue ever turns to the aching tooth. | 1877 |
| The tongue is not of steel, but it cuts. | 1878 |
| The tree is no sooner down than every one runs for his hatchet. | 1879 |
| The vulgar keep no account of your hits, but of your misses. | 1880 |
| The whole man to one thing at a time. | 1881 |
| The wife is the key of the house. | 1882 |
| The wished-for comes too late. | 1883 |
| The words of the wise are as goads. | 1884 |
| The world is as you take it. | 1885 |
| The worse things are, the better they are. | 1886 |
| The wrath of brothers is fierce and devilish. | 1887 |
| There are more ways to the wood than one. | 1888 |
| There are two sides to every question. | 1889 |
| There is a skeleton in every house. | 1890 |
| There is a snake in the grass. | 1891 |
| There is a time for all things. | 1892 |
| There is always life for a living one. | 1893 |
| There is more pleasure in loving than in being beloved. | 1894 |
| There is no better counsellor than time. | 1895 |
| There is no going to heaven in a sedan. | 1896 |
| There is no grief that time will not soften. | 1897 |
| There is no jesting with edge tools. | 1898 |
| There is no joy without alloy. | 1899 |
| There is no true love without jealousy. | 1900 |
| There is no venom like that of the tongue. | 1901 |
| There is not so much comfort in having children as there is sorrow in parting with them. | 1902 |
| There is not the thickness of a sixpence between good and evil. | 1903 |
| There is nothing like leather. A cobbler’s advice in an emergency. | 1904 |
| There is nothing so secret but it comes to light. | 1905 |
| There were no ill language if it were not ill taken. | 1906 |
| There’s always life for the living. | 1907 |
| There’s many a slip / ’Twixt the cup and the lip. | 1908 |
| There’s no seeing one’s way through tears. | 1909 |
| There’s nothing certain but uncertainty. | 1910 |
| They love most who are least valued. | 1911 |
| They love us truly who correct us freely. | 1912 |
| They must hunger in winter that will not work in summer. | 1913 |
| “They say so” is half a lie. | 1914 |
| They that are booted are not always ready. | 1915 |
| They that know one another salute afar off. | 1916 |
| They who seek only for faults see nothing else. | 1917 |
| Things will never be bettered by an excess of haste. | 1918 |
| Think and thank God. | 1919 |
| Those who do nothing generally take to shouting. | 1920 |
| Those who make the best use of their time have none to spare. | 1921 |
| Though he says nothing, he pays it with thinking, like the Welshman’s jackdaw. | 1922 |
| Though the cat winks a while, yet sure she is not blind. | 1923 |
| Though we lose our fortune, yet we should not lose our patience. | 1924 |
| Though you stroke the nettle ever so kindly, yet it will sting you. | 1925 |
| Threatened folks live long. | 1926 |
| Three things drive a man out of doors—smoke, a leaking roof, and a scolding wife. | 1927 |
| Thrift must begin with little savings. | 1928 |
| Throw no gift again at the giver’s head; / Better is half a loaf than no bread. | 1929 |
| Thursday come, and the week’s gone. | 1930 |
| Thy hand is never the worse for doing thy own work. | 1931 |
| Thy secret is thy prisoner. | 1932 |
| Tickle me, Bobby, and I’ll tickle you. | 1933 |
| Time and thinking tame the strongest grief. | 1934 |
| Time brings roses. | 1935 |
| Time devours all things. | 1936 |
| Time is money. | 1937 |
| Time trieth truth. | 1938 |
| Time works great changes. | 1939 |
| Timidi mater non flet—The mother of the coward has no occasion to weep. | 1940 |
| ’Tis a folly to fret; grief’s no comfort. | 1941 |
| ’Tis a good ill that comes alone. | 1942 |
| ’Tis better to cry over your goods than after them. | 1943 |
| ’Tis day still while the sun shines. | 1944 |
| Tit for tat is fair play. | 1945 |
| To be born with a silver spoon in the mouth. | 1946 |
| To do good to the ungrateful is to throw rose-water into the sea. | 1947 |
| To draw a long bow, i.e., exaggerate. | 1948 |
| To every deep there is a deeper still. | 1949 |
| To keep the wolf from the door. | 1950 |
| To open your windows be ever your care. | 1951 |
| To pour oil on the fire is not the way to quench it. | 1952 |
| To put the cart before the horse. | 1953 |
| To seem and not to be, is throwing the shuttle without weaving. | 1954 |
| To shoot wide of the mark—i.e., guess foolishly when you don’t know. | 1955 |
| To strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. | 1956 |
| Too many cooks spoil the broth. | 1957 |
| Tourner casaque—To change sides; become a turncoat. | 1958 |
| True blue will never stain. | 1959 |
| True coral needs no painter’s brush. | 1960 |
| Trust begets truth. | 1961 |
| Trust dies because bad pay poisons him. | 1962 |
| Trust, but not too much. | 1963 |
| Truth and oil are ever above. | 1964 |
| Truth hath always a fast bottom. | 1965 |
| Truth is God’s daughter. | 1966 |
| Truth is the daughter of Time. | 1967 |
| Truth may languish, but can never perish. | 1968 |
| Truth seeks no corners. | 1969 |
| Try and Trust will move mountains. | 1970 |
| Two dogs over one bone seldom agree. | 1971 |
| Two dogs strive for a bone, and a third runs away with it. | 1972 |
| Two heads are better than one, or why do folks marry? | 1973 |
| Two in distress make sorrow less. | 1974 |
| Two is company, but three is none. | 1975 |
| Two kitchen fires burn not on one hearth. | 1976 |
| Two may keep counsel, putting one away. | 1977 |
| Two of a trade seldom agree. | 1978 |
| Two removals are as bad as a fire. | 1979 |
| Two things a man should never be angry at; what he can help, and what he cannot. | 1980 |
| Ubi bene, ibi patria—Where it is well with me, there is my country. | 1981 |
| Ubi uber, ibi tuber—There are no roses without thorns. | 1982 |
| Ubt dolor, ibi digitus—Where the pain is, there the finger will be. | 1983 |
| Undertake no more than you can perform. | 1984 |
| Unequal marriages are seldom happy ones. | 1985 |
| Union is strength. | 1986 |
| Unkindness destroys love. | 1987 |
| Unus vir nullus vir—One man is no man. | 1988 |
| Upbraiding turns a benefit into an injury. | 1989 |
| Usus est tyrannus—Custom is a tyrant. | 1990 |
| Usus promptum facit—Practice makes perfect. | 1991 |
| Ut canis e Nilo—Like the dog by the Nile, i.e., drinking and running. | 1992 |
| Vache ne sait ce que vaut sa queue jusqu’à ce-qu’elle l’ait perdue—The cow doesn’t know the worth of her tail until she has lost it. | 1993 |
| Vainglory blossoms, but never bears. | 1994 |
| Valour is worth little without discretion. | 1995 |
| Vanity is a blue-bottle, which buzzes in the window of the wise. | 1996 |
| Vanity is the pride of Nature. | 1997 |
| Vel cæco appareat—Even a blind man could perceive it. | 1998 |
| Velocem tardus assequitur—The slow overtakes the swift. | 1999 |
| Velvet paws hide sharp claws. | 2000 |
| Vengeance is wild justice. | 2001 |
| Vent au visage rend un homme sage—Wind in the face (i.e., adversity) makes a man wise. | 2002 |
| Verbum sat sapienti—A word is enough to a wise man. | 2003 |
| Vestibulum domus ornamentum est—The hall is the ornament of a house, i.e., first impressions have great weight. | 2004 |
| Vestis virum facit—The garment makes the man. | 2005 |
| Vice is its own punishment. | 2006 |
| Violent fires soon burn out. | 2007 |
| Virtue is the queen of labourers. | 2008 |
| Vows made in storms are forgotten in calms. | 2009 |
| Vultus est index animi—The countenance is the index of the mind. | 2010 |
| Want is the mother of industry. | 2011 |
| Want makes wit. | 2012 |
| Watched pot never boils. | 2013 |
| Waters that are deep do not babble as they flow. | 2014 |
| We are bound to be honest, but not to be rich. | 2015 |
| We can live without our friends, but not without our neighbours. | 2016 |
| We hate delay, yet it makes us wise. | 2017 |
| We must take the world as we find it. | 2018 |
| We readily believe what we wish to be true. | 2019 |
| We should eat to live, and not live to eat. | 2020 |
| We should not spur a willing horse. | 2021 |
| Weave in faith and God will find thread. | 2022 |
| Welcome is the best cheer. | 2023 |
| Welcome, Misfortune, if thou comest alone. | 2024 |
| Well thriveth that well suffereth. | 2025 |
| Well to work and make a fire, / Doth both care and skill require. | 2026 |
| What belongs to everybody belongs to nobody. | 2027 |
| What comes from the heart goes to the heart. | 2028 |
| What devilry soever kings do, the Greeks must pay the piper. | 2029 |
| What God makes he never mars. | 2030 |
| What is bought is cheaper than a gift. | 2031 |
| What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh. | 2032 |
| What is done by night appears by day. | 2033 |
| What is done in a hurry is never done well. | 2034 |
| What is known to three is known to everybody. | 2035 |
| What is learned in the cradle is carried to the tomb. | 2036 |
| What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. | 2037 |
| What the eye does not admire, / The heart does not desire. | 2038 |
| What the eye don’t see, the heart don’t grieve. | 2039 |
| What will you have? quoth God; pay for it and take it. | 2040 |
| What’s good for the bee is good for the hive. | 2041 |
| What’s the good of a sun-dial in the shade? | 2042 |
| Whatever you are, be a man. | 2043 |
| When a man is going downhill, everybody gives him a kick. | 2044 |
| When a Sark-foot wife gets on her broomstick, the dames of Allonby are ready to mount. | 2045 |
| When Adam dolve and Eve span, / Who was then the gentleman? | 2046 |
| When caught by a tempest, wherever it be, / If it lightens and thunders, beware of a tree. | 2047 |
| When children stand quiet, they have done some harm. | 2048 |
| When clouds appear like rocks and towers, / The earth’s refreshed with frequent showers. | 2049 |
| When God will, no wind but brings rain. | 2050 |
| When it’s dark at Dover, / It is dark all the world over. | 2051 |
| When money’s taken, / Freedom’s forsaken. | 2052 |
| When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the window. | 2053 |
| When rogues fall out, honest men get their own. | 2054 |
| When the cat’s away, / The mice will play. | 2055 |
| When the devil dies, he never lacks a chief mourner. | 2056 |
| When the fox preaches, take care of your geese. | 2057 |
| When the heart is afire, some sparks will fly out at the mouth. | 2058 |
| When the hungry curate licks the knife, there is not much for the cleric. | 2059 |
| When the sun is highest, he casts the least shadow. | 2060 |
| When things are at their worst, they will mend. | 2061 |
| When three know it, all know it. | 2062 |
| When two friends have a common purse, one sings and the other weeps. | 2063 |
| When we can’t do as we would, we must do as we can. | 2064 |
| When whins are out of bloom, kissing is out of fashion. | 2065 |
| When you are all agreed upon the time, quoth the vicar, I’ll make it rain. | 2066 |
| When you see a snake, never mind where he came from. | 2067 |
| Where content is there is a feast. | 2068 |
| Where drink goes in, wit goes out. | 2069 |
| Where God helps, nought harms. | 2070 |
| Where it is weakest, the thread breaketh. | 2071 |
| Where no fault is, there needs no pardon. | 2072 |
| Where no oxen are, the crib is clean. | 2073 |
| Where one is wise, two are happy. | 2074 |
| Where the carcase is, the ravens will gather. | 2075 |
| Where there is no love, all are faults. | 2076 |
| Where there is no shame, there is no honour. | 2077 |
| Where there is smoke there is fire. | 2078 |
| Where there’s a will there’s a way. | 2079 |
| Where your will is ready, your feet are light. | 2080 |
| Wherever a man dwells he will be sure to have a thorn-bush near his door. | 2081 |
| Whether the pitcher strike the stone or the stone the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher. | 2082 |
| Whether you boil snow or pound it, you can have but water of it. | 2083 |
| While thy shoe is on thy foot, tread upon the thorns. | 2084 |
| Who chatters to you, will chatter of you. | 2085 |
| Who doth not work shall not eat. | 2086 |
| Who goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing. | 2087 |
| Who looks not before finds himself behind. | 2088 |
| Whoso does not good, does evil enough. | 2089 |
| Wide will wear, but tight will tear. | 2090 |
| Wilful waste makes woeful want. | 2091 |
| Willows are weak, yet they bind other wood. | 2092 |
| Wine neither keeps secrets nor fulfils promises. | 2093 |
| Wine washes off the daub. | 2094 |
| Wink at small faults. | 2095 |
| Wisdom sometimes walks in clouted shoes. | 2096 |
| Wit once bought is worth twice taught. | 2097 |
| Women, priests, and poultry have never enough. | 2098 |
| Women’s jars breed men’s wars. | 2099 |
| Words are fools’ pence. | 2100 |
| Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present. | 2101 |
| Yielding is sometimes the best way of succeeding. | 2102 |
| You can’t be lost on a straight road. | 2103 |
| You can’t see the wood for the trees. | 2104 |
| You can’t tell a nut till you crack it. | 2105 |
| You cannot climb a ladder by pushing others down. | 2106 |
| You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. | 2107 |
| You cannot push a man far up a tree. | 2108 |
| You gazed at the moon and fell in the gutter. | 2109 |
| You know not where a blessing may light. | 2110 |
| You may grow good corn in a little field. | 2111 |
| You must be content sometimes with rough roads. | 2112 |
| You must lose a fly to catch a trout. | 2113 |
| You must not measure every man’s corn by your own bushel. | 2114 |
| Zeal is like fire; it needs both feeding and watching. | 2115 |
| Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse. | 2116 |
| |
