=Either win the horse or lose the saddle.=
=Either make a spoon or spoil a horn.=
=He that takes the devil into his boat must carry him over the sound.=
=He that is embarked with the devil must make the passage along with
him.=
"He that is at sea must either sail or sink" (Danish). "He that is at
sea has not the wind in his hands" (Dutch).[342]
=Such things must be if we sell ale.=
This was the good woman's reply to her husband when he complained of
the exciseman's too demonstrative gallantry.
=If you would have the hen's egg you must bear with her cackling.=
=The cat loves fish, but she is loath to wet her feet.=
It is to this proverb that Lady Macbeth alludes when she upbraids her
husband for his irresolution:--
"Letting 'I dare not' wait upon 'I would,'
Like the poor cat in the adage."
"There's no catching trouts with dry breeches" (Portuguese).[343]
=Almost and hardly save many a lie.=
"Perhaps hinders folk from lying" (French).[344]
=Almost was never hanged.=
"All but saves many a man" (Danish).[345] "Almost kills no man"
(Danish).[346] "Almost never killed a fly" (German);[347] for
=An inch of a miss is as good as a mile.=
This is the original reading of the proverb, and better than that which
is now more current: "A miss is as good as a mile." The French say,
"For a point Martin lost his ass,"[348] and thereby hangs a tale. An
ecclesiastic named Martin, Abbot of Asello, in Italy, wished to have
this Latin line inscribed over the gate of the abbey:--