Than either school or college,
It kindles wit, it waukens lair,
It pangs us fu' o' knowledge:
Be't whisky gill, or penny wheep,
Or ony stronger potion,
It never fails, on drinking deep,
To kittle up our notion,
By night or day."--_Burns._
Fair fa' the wife, and weel may she spin, that counts aye the lawin' wi'
a pint to come in.
Literally, good luck to the hostess who includes a pint _still to
come_ when the reckoning is called for. This saying, so far as we
can discover, is exclusively Scottish.
Fair fa' you, and that's nae fleaching.
"Fleach," to flatter. A good wish sincerely expressed.
Fair folk are aye foisonless.
Kelly says of the word "foisonless," that it means "without strength
or sap; dried up; withered." Scott, in _Old Mortality_, uses it in
the moral sense, "unsubstantial."
Fair gae they, fair come they, and aye their heels hindmost.
Meaning that they go and come regularly, decently, and in order.
Fair hair may hae foul roots.
Fair hechts mak fools fain.
"_Hope_ puts that haste into zour heid,
Quhilk boyls zour barmy brain;
Howbeit fulis haste cums huly speid,
Fair hechts will mak fulis fain."--_Cherrie and the Slae._
Fair in the cradle may be foul in the saddle.
Fair maidens wear nae purses.
Fair words are nae cause o' feuds.
Fair words hurt ne'er a bane, but foul words break mony a ane.
Fair words winna mak the pat boil.
Falkirk bairns dee ere they thrive.
Falkirk bairns mind naething but mischief.
Fa' on the feeblest, the beetle among the bairns.
"Spoken when we do a thing at a venture, that may be good for some
and bad for another; and let the event fall upon the most
unfortunate. Answers to the English 'Among you blind
harpers.'"--_Kelly._
Fancy flees before the wind.
Fancy was a bonnie dog, but Fortune took the tail frae't.
Fann'd fires and forced love ne'er dae weel.
Far ahint maun follow the faster.
Far ahint that mayna follow, an' far before that canna look back.
Far awa fowls hae fair feathers.
"She wad vote the border knight,
Though she should vote her lane;
For far-off fowls hae feathers fair,
And fools o' change are fain."--_Burns._
Far frae court far frae care.
Far frae my heart's my husband's mother.
Far sought and dear bought is gude for ladies.
Farewell frost, fair weather neist.
Fare-ye-well, Meg Dorts, and e'en's ye like.
A jocose adieu to those who go away in the sulks.
Farmer's fauch gars lairds laugh.
Farther east the shorter west.
Farthest frae the kirk aye soonest at it.
In contradistinction to those who are "near the kirk but far frae
grace."
Fashious fools are easiest flisket.
Troublesome or fretful persons are easily offended.
Fast bind, fast find.
This saying is very old, and common to many countries. Shakespeare
terms it "a proverb never stale to thrifty minds."
Fat flesh freezes soon.
Fat hens are aye ill layers.
Fat paunches bode lean pows.
Ray explains this by adding, "Full bellies make empty skulls."
Fause folk should hae mony witnesses.
Fausehood maks ne'er a fair hinder-end.
Meaning, that falsehood is sure to be exposed in the long run.
Favours unused are favours abused.
Feather by feather the goose is plucked.
February, fill the dike, be it black or be it white; if it's white, it's
the better to like.
Feckfu' folk can front the bauldest wind.
"I own 'tis cauld encouragement to sing,
When round ane's lugs the blattran' hailstanes ring;
But feckfu' folk can front the bauldest wind,
An' slunk through muirs, an' never fash their mind."
--_Allan Ramsay._
Feckless folk are fain o' ane anither.
"Feckless folk," silly people. Fools are fond of one another.
Feckless fools should keep canny tongues.
Silly or mischievous people should be cautious what they say.
Feed a cauld, but hunger a colic.
Feeding out o' course maks mettle out o' kind.
Feeling has nae fellow.
Few get what they glaum at.
Fiddlers, dogs, and flesh-flies come aye to feasts unca'd.
Fiddler's fare--meat, drink, and money.
Fiddler's wives and gamester's drink are free to ilka body.
Fight dog, fight bear; wha wins, deil care.
Fill fu' and haud fu', maks the stark man.
Plenty of meat and drink makes a strong man.
Fine feathers mak fine birds.
Fine to fine maks a bad line.
Or, "Butter to butter's nae kitchen," _q. v._
Fire and water are gude servants but ill maisters.
Fire is gude for the fireside.
All things are good in their proper places.
First come, first ser'd.
Fish guts an' stinkin' herrin' are bread and milk for an Eyemouth bairn.
"The small seaport town of Eyemouth was formerly distinguished for
its 'ancient fishlike smells,' its narrow, intricate streets, and
smuggling trade."--_G. Henderson._
Fish maun soom thrice.
First in water, second in sauce, third in wine.
Fleas and a girning wife are waukrife bedfellows.
Flee as fast as you will, your fortune will be at your tail.
Fleying a bird is no the way to grip it.
To frighten a bird is not the way to catch it; severity or constant
threatening do not tend to make children or servants better.
Fling at the brod was ne'er a gude ox.
Flit an auld tree and it'll wither.
Flitting o' farms mak mailens dear.
See "As ane flits," &c., of which this is merely a variation.
Folk are aye free to gie what's no their ain.
Folk maun grow auld or dee.
Folk's dogs bark waur than themsels.
Folk should never ask for mair than they can make a good use o'.
Follow love and it will flee thee: flee love and it will follow thee.
Folly is a bonnie dog, but a bad ane.
Fools and bairns shouldna see half-dune wark.
Fools are aye fond o' flittin', and wise men o' sittin'.
Fools are aye fortunate.
Fools are aye seeing ferlies.
Fools are fain o' flattery.
Fools are fain o' naething.
Fools are fond o' a' they forgather wi'.
Fools aye see ither folk's fauts and forget their ain.
Fools big houses and wise men buy them.
Fools' haste is nae speed.
Fools laugh at their ain sport.
Fools mak feasts and wise men eat them.
"This was once said to a great man in Scotland, upon his giving an
entertainment. He readily answered, 'Wise men make proverbs, and
fools repeat them.'"--_Kelly._
Fools ravel and wise men redd.
Literally, fools entangle affairs and circumstances, and require
"wise men" to assist them out of their troubles.
Fools set far trysts.
Fools shouldna hae chappin-sticks.
For as gude again, like Sunday milk.
"A precise woman in the country would not sell her milk on the
Sunday, but would give it for as good again. Spoken when we suspect
people's kindness to be mercenary."--_Kelly._
For a tint thing, carena.
Do not fret about a thing or opportunity which has been lost.
For better acquaintance' sake, as Sir John Ramsay said when he drank to
his father.
"Sir John Ramsay had been long abroad, and coming home he
accidentally met with his father, who did not know him; he invites
his father to a glass of wine, and drinks to him for more
acquaintance."--_Kelly._
Forbid a fool a thing, an' that he'll do.
Force without foresight aften fails.
Forewarned is forearmed.
For fashion's sake, as dogs gae to market.
For faut o' wise men fools sit on binks.
Forgotten pain, when follows gain.
For gude cheese and cheer mony haunt the house.
Many frequent the house for the sake of what they get to eat.
For my ain pleasure, as the man thrashed his wife.
For puir folk they seldom ring.
Fortune and futurity are no to be guessed at.
Fortune favours the brave.
Fortune gains the bride.
Fortune helps the hardy.
"For I haif aft hard suith men say,
And we may see oursells,
That fortune helps the hardy aye,
And pultrones aye repels."--_Cherrie and the Slae._
For want o' a steek a shoe may be tint.
"A stitch in time saves nine." The old nursery lines fully explain
the philosophy of this doctrine. "For want of a nail the shoe was
lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the
man was lost."
Foster the guest that stays--further him that maun gang.
Foul fa' nought, and then he'll get naething.
Used in satirical allusion to those who expect a legacy from a very
improbable source.
Foul water slockens fire.
Frae saving comes having.
Frae the teeth forward.
He speaks from the lips only, not from the heart.
Freedom's a fair thing.
Fresh fish and poor friends soon grow ill-faur'd.
Fresh fish and unwelcome friends stink before they're three days auld.
Friday flit, short time sit.
Meaning that to remove on a Friday is unlucky.
Friday rules Sunday.
Friends are like fiddle-strings, they mauna be screwed ower ticht.
Friends gree best separate.
Friendship canna stand aye on ae side.
Frost and fausehood hae baith a dirty wa' gang.
Fry stanes wi' butter and the broo will be gude.
Fu' o' courtesy, fu' o' craft.
[Illustration]
Gae shoe the goose.
Gae hap and hang yoursel, then you'll dee dancing.
Gae kiss your Lucky--she lives in Leith.
"A cant phrase, from what rise I know not, but it is made use of
when one thinks it is not worth while to give a distinct answer, or
think themselves foolishly accused."--_Allan Ramsay._
Gae to bed wi' the lamb and rise wi' the laverock.
Gae to the deil, and he'll bishop you.
Meaning, that the person addressed is so well versed in evil ways as
to be able to occupy a high position in the service of the Evil One.
Gae to the deil, for his name's sake.
Gane is the goose that laid the muckle egg.
Gang farther and fare waur.
Gardener's law--Eat your fill, but pouch nane.
Gar wood's ill to grow; chuckie stanes are ill to chow.
Gather haws before the snaws.
Gathering gear is weel liket wark.
Acquiring wealth is pleasant employment.
Gaunting bodes wanting ane o' things three--sleep, meat, or gude
companie.
Yawning is proverbially supposed to indicate the want of one of the
three things mentioned.
Gaunting gaes frae man to man.
Gawsie cow, gudely calf.
Handsome mother, goodly daughter.
Gaylie would be better.
When a person says he is "gaylie," _Anglice_, middling, he is
understood not to be so well as he would like to be.
Gear is easier gotten than guided.
Gentlemen are unco scant when a wabster gets a lady.
The "wabster," or weaving profession, seems to have stood very low
in the estimation of proverb makers.
Gentle partans hae lang taes.
Gentle servants are poor men's hardships.
Gentle servants are rich men's tinsel.
Gentry's dowff wi' an empty purse.
Get the word o' soon rising, an' ye may lie in bed a' day.
Obtain a reputation for early rising, and you may lie in bed all
day. The Spanish say, "Get a good name, and go to sleep."
Get and save, and thou wilt have.
"Get and saif and thou salt haif,
Len and grant and thou salt want;
Wha in his plenty taks not heid,
He sall haif falt in time of need."--_The Evergreen._
Get weel, keep weel.
Get what you can, and keep what you hae, that's the way to get rich.
Get your rock and spindle ready, God will send the tow.
"Let us do our duty, and refer the rest to God's
providence."--_Ray._
Gibbie's grace--Deil claw the clungiest.
This saying of the graceless Gibbie means literally, "Devil take the
hungriest."
Gie a bairn his will, and a whelp its fill, and nane o' them will e'er
do weel.
Gie a beggar a bed, and he'll pay you wi' a louse.
Gie a carl your finger, and he'll take your haill hand.
Gie a gaun man a drink, and a rising man a knock.
Gie a greedy dog a muckle bane.
Gie a thing, tak a thing, and that's the ill man's ring.
"Gie her her will, or she'll burst," quo' the man when his wife kamed
his head with the three-legged stool.
Gie him a hole, and he'll find a pin.
That is, give him an opportunity, and he will take advantage of it.
Gie him an inch, and he'll tak an ell.
Gie him tow enough, and he'll hang himsel.
Gie is a gude fellow, but he soon wearies.
Meaning, that one tires of giving at all times.
Gie losin' gamesters leave to talk.
Giff gaff maks gude friends.
Gie my cousin kail enow, and see my cousin's dish be fu'.
We presume that this is an ironical signification that the cousin's
"room" is preferred to his company.
Gie ne'er the wolf the wedder to keep.
Gie ower when the play's gude.
Gie't about, it will come to my faither at last.
Gie the deil his due, and ye'll gang to him.
Gie ye a use, and ye'll ca't a custom.
Gie ye meat, drink, and claes, and ye'll beg among your friends.
Applied to unreasonable people, who get everything they want, and
still are not satisfied.
Gie your heart to God, and your alms to the poor.
From the remarkable paucity of proverbs relating to religion in the
older collections, we infer that this saying is Henderson's own, as
it only appears in his collection.
Gie your tongue mair holidays than your head.
Girn when you knit, and laugh when you louse.
Meaning, that while enforcing discipline we should do so with
firmness, and relax it freely when occasion requires.
Glasgow for bells, Lithgow for wells, Falkirk for beans and pease.
Glasgow people, Greenock folk, and Paisley bodies.
"These words imply gradations of dignity, the Paisley bodies being
(how far deservedly would admit of much question) at the bottom of
the scale. Some years ago, when a public dinner was given to
Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh, in Paisley, which is his native
place, on his speaking of it as a town containing such and such a
number of souls, his friend, Thomas Campbell, who sat by his side,
whispered, 'Bodies, you mean.'"--_Robert Chambers._
Glasses and lasses are brittle ware.
Glib i' the tongue is aye glaiket at the heart.
A smooth tongue betokens a deceitful heart.
Glowering is nae gainsaying.
Glum folk's no easily guided.
"Glum" or morose people are difficult to manage.
God be wi' the gude Laird o' Balmaghie, for he ne'er took mair frae a
poor man than a' that he had.
God comes wi' leaden feet, but strikes wi' iron hands.
God helps them that help themselves.
God help the rich, for the poor can beg.
God help you to a hutch, for ye'll never get a mailing.
Spoken of an incompetent person, that he may succeed in making a
bare living, for his abilities will never secure him a fortune.
God keep ill gear out o' my hands; for if my hands ance get it, my heart
winna part wi't,--sae prayed the gude Earl of Eglinton.
God keep the cat out o' our gate, for the hens canna flee.
God ne'er measures men by inches.
God ne'er sent the mouth, but he sent the meat wi't.
God's aye kind to fu' folk and bairns.
As instanced by the marvellous manner in which men escape injury
while under the influence of drink.
God sends fools fortunes.
God sends meat and the deil sends cooks.
God sends men claith as they hae cauld.
God send us siller, for they're little thought o' that want it.
God send water to that well that folk think will ne'er be dry.
"Spoken when our poor kin and followers are always asking of us; as
if we should never be exhausted."--_Kelly._
God send ye mair sense, and me mair siller.
God send ye readier meat than running hares.
God send ye the warld you bode, and that's neither scant nor want.
God shapes the back for the burden.
God's help is nearer than the fair e'en.
Gold's gude, but it may be dear bought.
Go to Hecklebirnie.
"This term is used in a strange sort of imprecation. If one say, 'Go
to the d----l!' the other often replies, 'Go you to Hecklebirnie!'
which is said to be a place three miles beyond hell!"--_Jamieson._
Graceless meat maks folk fat.
Grass grows nae green in the common road.
Gratitude preserves auld friendships and begets new.
Great barkers are nae biters.
Great pains and little gains soon mak a man weary.
Great tochers makna aye the greatest testaments.
Great winning maks wark easy.
Greed is envy's auldest brither: scraggy wark they mak thegither.
Greedy folk hae lang arms.
Gree, like tykes and swine.
Greening wives are aye greedy.
Grey-eyed, greedy; brown-eyed, needy; black-eyed, never blin', till it
shame a' its kin.
Gude advice is never out o' season.
Gude ale needs nae wisp.
"A wisp of straw stuck upon the top of a country house is a sign
that ale is to be sold there; but if the ale be good, people will
haunt the house though there be none."--_Kelly._
Gude bairns are eith to lear.
Gude bairns get broken brows.
For they are as liable to injury as bad ones.
Gude be wi' auld langsyne, when our gutchers ate the trenchers.
Gude breeding and siller mak our sons gentlemen.
Gude cheer and cheap gars mony haunt the house.
Gude claes open a' doors.
Gude counsel is abune a' price.
Gude-enough has got a wife and Far-better wants.
Gude folk are scarce, tak care o' me.
Gude foresight furthers wark.
Gude gear gangs into little bouk.
Gude gear's no to be gaped at.
Gude health is better than wealth.
Gude kail is half meat.
Gude night, and joy be wi' you a'.
Gude reason and part cause.
Signifying that a person has _both_ good reason and cause to
complain.
Gude to fetch sorrow to a sick wife.
Gude! ye're common to kiss your kimmer.
Gude wares may come frae an ill market.
Gude wares mak a quick market.
Gude watch hinders harm.
Gudewill ne'er wants time to show itsel.
Gudewill should be ta'en in part payment.
Gude wit jumps.
Gude words cost naething.
Guessed work's best if weel done.
"Gulp!" quo' the wife when she swallowed her tongue.
Gunpowder is hasty eldin.
Gust your gab wi' that.
"He's no ill boden,
That gusts his gab wi' oyster sauce,
An' hen weel soden."--_Fergusson._
Gut nae fish till ye get them.
[Illustration]
Ha' binks are sliddry.
"Great men's favours are uncertain."--_Kelly._
Had I fish was never gude to eat mustard.
"An answer to them that say, Had I such a thing, I would do so or
so."--_Kelly._
"Had I wist," quo' the fool.
Had you sic a shoe on ilka foot, you would shochel.
Or, had you my sorrows to bear, you would look equally miserable.
Hae! gars a deaf man hear.
Hae God, hae a'.
Hae, lad,--rin, lad; that maks an olite lad.
Hae you gear or hae you nane, tine heart and a' is gane.
Hain'd gear helps weel.
"Hain'd gear"--saved money--is of great assistance.
Hair by hair maks the carl's head bare.
Hale sale is gude sale.
Hale claith's afore cloutit.
Half acres bear aye gude corn.
Meaning that when people have but little property, they take good
care of it.
Half a tale is enough for a wise man.
Hallowe'en bairns see far.
"And touching the bairn, it's weel kent she was born on Hallowe'en
was nine years gane, and they that are born on Hallowe'en whiles see
mair than ither folk."--_The Monastery._
Hame's a hamely word.
"Hame's hamely," quo' the deil when he found himsel in the Court o'
Session.
Hand in gear helps weel.
Hand in use is father o' lear.
The constant practice of our profession is the surest road to "lear"
or affluence.
Handle your tools without mittens.
Hand ower head, as men took the covenant.
"Alluding to the manner in which the covenant, so famous in Scottish
history, was violently taken by above sixty thousand persons about
Edinburgh, in 1638; a novel circumstance at that time, though
afterwards paralleled by the French, in voting by
_acclamation_."--_Fielding._
Handsome is that handsome does.
Hang a thief when he's young, and he'll no steal when he's auld.
Hang him that has nae shift, and hang him that has ower mony.
Hang hunger and drown drouth.
Hanging gaes by hap.
Hanging's nae better than it's ca'd.
Hanging's sair on the eesight.
Hankering an' hinging-on is a poor trade.
Hands aff is fair play.
Hap an' a ha'penny is world's gear enough.
Happiness and moderate means in this world are enough.
Happy for the son when the dad gaes to the deil.
"For commonly they who first raise great estates, do it either by
usury and extortion, by fraud and cozening, or by flattery, and by
ministering to other men's vices."--_Ray._
"Alas for the son whose father goes to heaven!"--_Portuguese._
Happy is the bride that the sun shines on; happy is the corpse that the
rain rains on.
Happy is the wooing that's no lang o' doing.
Happy man be his dool.
A good wish,--that happiness may be the greatest affliction sent
him.
Happy man, happy kavel.
Happy the man that belongs to nae party, but sits in his ain house, and
looks at Benarty.
"Sir Michael Malcolm, of Loch Ore, an eccentric baronet, pronounced
this oracular couplet in his old age, when troubled with the talk of
the French Revolution. As a picture of meditative serenity and
neutrality, it seems worthy of preservation."--_Robert Chambers._
Happy's the maid that's married to a mitherless son.
Hard fare maks hungry bellies.
Hardships seldom come single.
Haste and anger hinder gude counsel.
Haste maks waste, and waste maks want, and want maks strife between the
gudeman and the gudewife.
Hasty meet, hasty part.
"An observation upon marriage suddenly contracted, as if it were
ominous, and portended a sudden separation."--_Kelly._
Hasty was hanged, but Speed-o'-foot wan awa.
Haud the hank in your ain hand.
Do the difficult part of your work yourself, or retain every
advantage you can.
Haud your feet, Lucky Dad, auld folk's no fiery.
Literally, look to your feet, as you are not nimble: applied when
people stumble.
Haud you hand, your father slew a whaup.
Haud your hands aff ither folk's bairns till ye get some o' your ain.
Hawks winna pike out hawks' een.
"It was an unco thing to see hawks pike out hawks' een, or ae kindly
Scot cheat anither."--_Rob Roy._
Hearken to the hinder-end, after comes not yet.
Hearts may 'gree though heads may differ.
He begs frae them that borrowed frae him.
He bides as fast as a cat does to a saucer.
Meaning that a person will "bide" or stay only so long as he can get
anything, or serve his own purpose.
He blaws in his lug fu' brawly.
"Blaw his lug," to praise a person in an extravagant or fulsome
manner.
He blushes at it like a beggar at a bawbee.
He breeds o' the gowk that casts a' down at e'en.
He brings a staff to break his ain head.
He can do ill, and he may do gude.
He can haud the cat and play wi' the kitten.
He can ill rin that canna gang.
He can lee like a dog licking a dish.
He canna see an inch before his nose.
He can say "My Jo," and think it no.
That is, he can be complimentary in his speech, but not in his
intentions.
He can suck the laverock's frae the lift.
"In relation to one who possesses great power of wheedling. It
evidently alludes to the idea of the fascinating power of serpents
by means of their breath."--_Jamieson._
He can wile the flounders out o' the sea.
"'Heard ye ever the like o' that, laird?' said Saddletree to
Dumbiedikes, when the counsel had ended his speech. 'There's a chiel
can spin a muckle pirn out o' a wee tait o' tow!... And he's cleckit
this great muckle bird out o' this wee egg! He could wile the very
flounders out o' the Firth.'"--_Heart of Midlothian._
He caresna wha's bairns greet if his ain laugh.
He ca's me scabbed because I winna ca' him sca'd.
Meaning that a man has endeavoured to make his opponent in a
particular transaction lose his temper, but failing to do so, he
loses his own.
"Hech!" quo' Howie, when he swallowed his wife's clue.
"Hech!" is here used as an expression of surprise and relief that a
disagreeable operation has been performed. A "clue" is a ball of
worsted.
He comes oftener wi' the rake than the shool.
"Spoken of a poor friend whose business is not to give us, but to
get from us."--_Kelly._
He comes o' gude, he canna be ill.
A satirical expression applied to persons who are vain enough to
suppose that they can do no wrong.
He complains early that complains o' his parritch.
He counts his ha'penny gude siller.
Meaning that a person may confer a very small favour, and have a
greatly exaggerated idea of his own generosity.
He cuts near the wood.
To "cut near the wood" is to be very keen in driving a bargain.
He daurna say "Bo" to your blanket.
He doesna aye ride when he saddles his horse.
He doesna ken a B frae a bull's foot.
A saying denoting that a person is extremely ignorant.
He doesna ken what end o' him's upmost.
He doesna like his wark that says "Now!" when it's done.
He doubles his gift that gies in time.
He eats the calf i' the cow's wame.
Which means, in other words, he has spent his fortune before he
received it; that "He has eaten his corn in the blade."--_French._
Heedna says, or ye'll ne'er sit at ease.
He fells twa dogs wi' ae bane.
"Pate disna fend on that alane;
He can fell twa dogs wi' ae bane,
While ither folk
Must rest themselves content wi' ane,
Nor farer trock."--_Fergusson._
He flings the helve after the hatchet.
He fyles his neighbour's cog to get the brose himsel.
Meaning that a person has been wicked enough to injure the character
of another that he might supplant him in influence or position.
He gaed for oo' but came hame shorn.
"A camel going to seek horns lost his ears."--_Arabic._