90, 211
From that dust comes this mud, 210
From the boat we get to the ship, 340
From the father comes honour, from the mother comfort, 340
From the same flower the bee extracts honey and the wasp gall, 90
From the soldier who has no cloak, keep your own in your chest, 276
From those I trust God guard me, from those I mistrust I will guard
myself, 90
From to-morrow till to-morrow time goes a long journey, 14
From trivial things great contests oft arise, 340
Froth is not beer, 337
Full bottles and glasses make swearers and asses, 341
Full vessels give the least sound, 174
Funeral sermon, lying sermon, 158
G.
Gain has a pleasant odour, come whence it will, 269
Geese are plucked as long as they have any feathers, 333
Gentleness does more than violence, 45
Get a good name, and go to sleep, 67, 208, 272
Get out of that place and let me take it, 43
Gifts are according to the giver, 140
Gifts are often losses, 127
Gifts break (or dissolve) rocks, 210, 273
Gifts make friendship lasting, 390
Give a clown your finger, and he’ll grasp your fist, 70, 299
Give a clown your foot, and he’ll take your hand, 198
Give a grateful man more than he asks, 266
Give a hint to the man of sense, and consider the thing done (A word
to the wise is enough), 264
Give a rogue an inch, and he will take an ell, 371
Give a traitor good words and you make him loyal, 213
Give an ass oats and he runs after thistles, 318
Give at first asking what you safely can; ’tis certain gain to help
an honest man, 322
Give him a foot and he’ll take four, 57
Give him an inch and he’ll take an ell, 318
Give him your finger and he will seize your hand, 70, 299
Give me a seat, and I will make myself room to lie down, 210
Give me the rhubarb and you may take the senna, 45
Give me money, not advice, 273
Give me the ass that carries me in preference to the horse that
throws me, 240
Give orders, and do it yourself, and you will be rid of anxiety, 282
Give orders, and do no more, and nothing will be done, 230, 282
Give out that you have many friends, and believe that you have but
few, 22
Give the priest drink, for the clerk is thirsty, 90
Give the wise man a hint and leave him to act, 66
Give time time, 90
Give to a pig when it grunts, and to a child when it cries, and you
will have a fine pig, and a bad child, 371
Give to him that has, 90
Give unto the king what is the king’s, and unto God what is God’s, 149
Give your wife the short knife, and keep the long one yourself, 384
Giving alms never lessens the purse, 217
Giving is fishing, 93
Glowworms are not lanterns, 108
Gluttony kills more than the sword, 29, 111
Go in God’s name, for he takes a loaf of mine, 261
Go not every evening to your brother’s house, 194
Go not with every ailment to the doctor, with every plaint to the
lawyer, or with every thirst to the can, 230, 286
Go not with every hunger to the cupboard, nor with every thirst to
the pitcher, 286
Go softly and look afar, 344
Go softly over bad bits of road, 67
Go to bed late, rise early, you will see your own harm and that of
others, 274
Go to bed without supper, and you will rise without debt, 194, 274
Go to the sea if you would fish well, 131
Go to your aunt’s house, but not every day, 194
Go to your rich friend’s house when invited; to your poor friend’s
without invitation, 264
God alone understands fools, 15
God comes at last, when we think he is farthest off, 372
God cures, and the doctor takes the fee (or gets the money; or God
healeth, and the physician hath the thanks), 92, 150, 214, 275, 323
God deliver me from a man of one book, 214, 319
God deliver us from a gentleman by day and a friar by night, 214
God does not pay weekly, but pays at the end, 319
God does not smite with both hands, 236
God give you luck, my son, for little wit must serve your turn, 261,
295
God gives a curst cow short horns, 65
God gives almonds to some who have no teeth, 210
God gives birds their food, but they must fly for it, 319
God gives clothes according to the cold, 273 (See God sends cold)
God gives every bird its food, but does not throw it into the nest,
372
God gives little folks small gifts, 372
God gives the will, necessity gives the law, 372
God gives wings to the ant that she may perish the sooner, 210
God grant, dear wife, that this son be ours, 253
God grant me to argue (or dispute) with those who understand me, 214,
275
God grant you fortune, my son, for knowledge avails you little, 214
God has given nuts to some who have no teeth, 273
God heals and the doctor has the thanks, 92 (_See_ God cures)
God help the sheep when the wolf is judge, 371
God helps the early riser, 201
God helps the strongest, 150, 319
God helps him who helps himself (or them that help themselves), 53,
85, 152, 191, 252, 274
God helps three sorts of people: fools, children, and drunkards, 15
God is everywhere, except where he has his delegate (_ironical_), 150
God keep me from my friends, from my enemies I will keep myself, 99
God keep you from “It is too late,” 223
God knows who is a good pilgrim, 15
God made us, and we admire ourselves, 224
God never sends mouths but he sends meat, 371
God permits, but not for ever, 274
God puts a good root in the little pig’s way, 6
God save me from one who does not drink, 92
God save me from the man of one book, 92
God save me from the man of one occupation, 92
God save me from those I trust in (or in whom I confide), 15
God save you from a bad neighbour, and from a beginner on the fiddle,
92
God save you from a man who has but one business, 16
God saves the moon from the wolves, 15
God sells knowledge for labour, honour for risk, 320
God sends cold according to the clothes, 15, 92, 372
God sends meat and the devil sends cooks, 92
God sends nothing but what can be borne, 92
God sent him meat, but the devil cooked it, 320
God take you, pound (of flax), drunk out and not yet spun, 194
God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, 1
God will provide, but a good bundle of straw will not be amiss, 214
God’s friend, the priest’s foe, 150
God’s mill goes slowly, but it grinds well, 150
God’s work is soon done, 17
Gold does not buy everything, 109
Gold is gold, though it be in a rogue’s purse, 372
Gold is proved in the fire, friendship in need, 380
Gold lies deep in the mountain, dirt on the highway, 150
Golden bishop, wooden crosier; wooden bishop, golden crosier, 17
Gone is gone; no Jew will lend upon it, 152
Good and bad make up a city, 270
Good bargains are ruinous, 34
Good bargains empty the purse, 108, 151
Good blood will never lie, 9
Good comes to better, and better to bad, 8
Good company makes short miles, 320
Good corn is not reaped from a bad field, 397
Good counsel comes overnight, 151
Good counsel is no better than bad counsel, if it be not taken in
time, 395
Good counsel never comes too late, 151
Good counsel will not rot, if it be got in dry, 371
Good day to you all! said the fox, when he got into the goose-pen, 320
Good drink drives out bad thoughts, 320
Good faith is a seldom guest, when you have him, hold him fast, 171
Good faith stole the cow, 170
Good fruit never comes from a bad tree, 287
Good, good, good, but God keep my ass out of his rye, 206
Good hunters track narrowly, 320
Good is good, but better beats it, 101
Good is the delay which makes sure, 269
Good is the fowl which another rears, 205
Good land should not be quitted for a bad landlord, 42
Good leading makes good following, 343
Good luck makes its way by elbowing, 201
Good management is better than good income, 281
Good manners and plenty of money will make my son a gentleman, 270
Good morrow spectacles, farewell lasses, 8
Good never comes too often, 371
Good news is rumoured, bad news flies, 216, 287
Good or bad we must all live, 115
Good people live far asunder, 148
Good repute is better than a golden belt, 9
Good repute is like the cypress: once cut, it never puts forth leaf
again, 105
Good right needs good help, 320
Good swimmers are drowned at last, 9, 100
Good table, bad will, 269
Good things require time, 320
Good thongs may be cut out of other people’s hides, 134
Good tree, good fruit, 320
Good ware was never dear, 105
Good watching drives away ill-luck, 8
Good wine is milk for the aged, 151
Good wine makes good blood, 76
Good wine makes the horse go, 4
Good wine needs no crier, 65, 151, 221, 261, 287, 320
Good wine needs no sign, 1
Good wine praises itself, 320
Good wine ruins the purse, and bad the stomach, 151
Good wine sells itself, 151, 216
Good words and bad deeds deceive both wise and simple, 206, 269
Got with the fife, spent with the drum, 161
Govern a horse with a bit, and a shrew with a stick, 399
Grain by grain the hen fills her crop, 223, 278
Grass grows not upon the highway, 336
Grease a churl’s boots and he’ll say you are burning them, 19
Grease the wheels, 130
Great boast, little roast, 321
Great boaster, little doer, 19
Great cry and little wool, 340
Great cry and little wool, as the man said who shaved the sow, 73
Great cry and little wool, said the fool, when he sheared his hogs,
173, 340
Great disputing repels truth, 19
Great fish are caught in great waters, 150
Great fishes break the net, 321
Great fools must have great bells, 320
Great griefs are mute, 101
Great lords have long hands, but they do not reach to heaven, 399
Great lords will have much, and poor folk can give but little, 399
Great men may jest with saints, 150
Great men’s requests are commands, 151, 374
Great men’s servants don’t think little of themselves, 151
Great promisers, bad paymasters, 151, 320
Great scholars are not the shrewdest men, 34
Great smoke, little roast, 100
Great talkers are commonly liars, 151
Great talkers are not great doers, 34, 321
Great thieves always have their sleeves full of gags, 34
Great thieves hang little ones, 34, 150
Great trees give more shade than fruit, 150
Great wealth, great care, 321
Great wits meet, 33
Greater fools than they of Zago, who dunged the steeple to make it
grow, 120
Greatness alone is not enough, or the cow would outrun the hare, 150
Green Christmas, a white Easter, 151
Grey hairs are death’s blossoms, 371
Grief for a dead wife lasts to the door, 93, 276
Guessing is missing, 319
H.
“Had I known” is a poor man, 151
Had it not been for an if, the old woman would have bitten a wolf, 374
Hair by hair, and the head gets bald, 364
Half a brain is enough for him who says little, 66
Half a house is half a hell, 151
Half a word to the wise is enough, 314
Half figs, half raisins, 39
Handsome apples are sometimes sour, 168, 337
Handsome is not what is handsome, but what pleases, 112
Handsome is that handsome does, 168
Handsome women generally fall to the lot of ugly men, 69
Handsomely asked, handsomely refused, 1
Hang the young thief, and the old one will not steal, 373
Hannibal is at the gate, 321
Happy he who can take warning from the mishaps of others, 397
Happy is she who is in love with an old dotard, 74
Happy is the man who has a handsome wife close to an abbey, 37
Happy the child whose father goes to the devil, 20
Happy the house in which there is no shaven crown, 205
Hard against hard never was good, 151
Hard is a new law imposed on old licence, 95
Hard upon hard never made a good wall, 95, 276
Hares are caught with hounds, fools with praise, and women with gold,
162
Hares are not caught with drums, 42, 333
Harm watch harm catch, 49, 78
Haste makes waste, 321
Hasten at leisure, 20, 142
Hastiness is the beginning of wrath, and its end repentance, 321
Hasty questions require slow answers, 336
Hasty speed don’t oft succeed, 321
Hat in hand goes through the land, 153
Hatred renewed is worse than at first, 116
Have a bill to pay at Easter, and your Lent will be short, 213
Have luck and sleep, 126 (_See_ Fortune and go to sleep)
Having is having, come whence it may, 151
He asks advice in vain who will not follow it, 46
He avoided the fly and swallowed the spider, 278
He beat the bushes and another caught the birds, 20
He begins to grow bad who believes himself good, 88
He burns the candle at both ends, 325
He buys honey dear who has to lick it off thorns, 327
He buys very dear who begs, 268
He buys well who is not called a donkey, 205
He came time enough who was hung by candlelight, 373
He can do but little who cannot threaten another, 203
He cannot find water in the sea, 235
He cannot lead a good life who serves without wages, 75
He cannot lay eggs, but he can cackle, 327
He carries fire and water, 26
He counts his chickens before they are hatched, 327
He cries out before he is hurt, 96
He dances well to whom fortune pipes, 73, 177
He did not invent gunpowder, 236
He does a good day’s work who rids himself of a fool, 9
He does not a little who burns his house: he frightens the rats and
warms himself, 235
He does not guard himself well who is not always on his guard, 24
He does not live in this world that can skin a grindstone, 354
He doubts nothing who knows nothing, 284
He drives a good waggonful into his farm who gets a good wife, 372
He earns a farthing and has a penn’orth of thirst, 327
He expects that larks will fall ready roasted into his mouth, 20
He expects to find water at the first stroke of the spade, 195
He falls into the pit who leads another into it, 207
He falls on his back and breaks his nose, 26
He fears the sack who has been in it, 355
He fishes on who catches one, 59
He forgot nothing except to say farewell, 23
He flays enough who holds the foot, 5
He gains enough who loses sorrow, 5
He gains much who loses a vain hope, 73
He gapes like a clown at a fair, 326
He gathers up ashes and scatters flour, 197
He gives twice who gives in a trice, 53, 79, 179, 247
He goes about it like a cat round hot milk, 145
He goes as willingly as a thief to the gallows, 145
He goes safely to trial whose father is a judge, 251
He goes safely who has nothing, 57
He got out of the mud and fell into the river, 131
He had need rise betimes who who would please everybody, 54, 355
He hangs the May-branch at every door. (Alluding to the Italian
custom of young men hanging out May-branches overnight before the
door of their mistress), 73
He has a good pledge of the cat who has her skin, 9
He has a head, and so has a pin, 276
He has a ton of knowledge, but the bottom is out, 326
He has a wolf-conscience, 326
He has beans in his ears. (Who so deaf as he that will not hear?) 145
He has command of the sack who is seated on it, 373
He has done like the Perugian who, when his head was broken, ran home
for his helmet, 95
He has eaten his corn in the blade, 20
He has enough to do who holds the handle of the frying-pan, 8
He has enough who is content, 5
He has given the hen for the egg, 145
He has great need of a fool who makes himself one, 19
He has him under his thumb, 326
He has lost the nest-egg, 326
He has much to do who would please everybody, 233
He has not done who who is beginning, 40
He has nothing, for whom nothing is enough, 55, 286
He has put all his eggs into one basket, 20
He has seen the wolf, 326
He has the Bible on his lips, but not in his heart, 326
He hauls at a long rope who expects another’s death, 70
He howls with the wolves, and bleats with the sheep, 326
He is a bad shot who cannot find an excuse, 143
He is a bad smith who cannot bear smoke, 143
He is a bad workman who cannot talk of work, 146
He is a fool that praises himself, and a madman that speaks ill of
himself, 353
He is a fool who boasts of four things: that he has good wine, a good
horse, a handsome wife, and plenty of money, 118
He is a fool who does not know from what quarter the wind blows, 118
He is a fool who loses the flight for the leap, 118
He is a fool who makes his physician his heir, 11
He is a fool who makes a mallet of his fist, 11
He is a fool who thinks that another does not think, 125, 233, 286
He is a great fool who forgets himself, 21
He is a great simpleton who starves himself to feed another, 224
He is a horse with four white feet (_i. e._ he is unlucky), 12
He is a man like a book, 303
He is a man who acts like a man, 353
He is a poor smith who is afraid of sparks, 359
He is a sorry barber who has but one comb, 128
He is a thief indeed who robs a thief, 8
He is a very bad manager of honey who leaves nothing to lick off his
fingers, 9
He is an essence of scoundrels, 326
He is an aristocrat in folio, 323
He is an old saint, and may leave it in the hands of God, 274
He is as easily caught as a hare with drums, 326 (_See_ Hares are not
caught, &c.)
He is as good a Catholic as Duke Alva’s dog, who ate flesh in Lent,
327
He is as good a divine as Judas was an apostle, 323
He is as poor as Job, 326
He is as sharp as a leaden dagger, 326
He is as welcome as the first day in Lent (alluding to fast-day), 327
He is blind enough who cannot see through a sieve, 224
He is called clever who cheats and plunders his friend, 21
He is easy to lure, who is ready to follow, 353
He is nowhere who is everywhere, 112
He is in safety who rings the tocsin, 202, 222
He is in search of a ram with five feet, 77
He is like a cat, he always falls on his feet, 21
He is like a singed cat, better than he looks, 26
He is like Jean de Nivelle’s dog, that runs away when he is called, 11
He is like the anchor that is always in the sea, yet does not learn
to swim, 95
He is like the gardener’s dog, who don’t eat cabbages and will let no
one else eat them, 21
He is lucky who forgets what cannot be mended, 150
He is master of another man’s life who is indifferent to his own, 97
He is most likely to spill who holds the vessel in his hand, 354
He is most cheated who cheats himself, 356
He is my friend who grinds at my mill, 222, 277
He is nearest to God who has the fewest wants, 353
He is nearest a thing who has it in his hands, 353
He is no friend that eats his own by himself, and mine with me, 285
He is no merchant who always gains, 323
He is no small knave who knows a great one, 361
He is noble who performs noble deeds, 326
He is not a bad driver who knows how to turn, 373
He is not a good mason who refuses any stone, 112
He is not a man who cannot say no, 112
He is not a thorough wise man who cannot play the fool on occasion, 90
He is not fit to be a baker whose head is made of butter, 353
He is not free who drags his chain after him, 24, 112
He is not happy who knows it not, 98
He is not so much of a devil as he is black, 24
He is not yet born who can please everybody, 355
He is of the race of Johnny Van Cleeve, who would always much rather
have than give, 326
He is out of danger who rings the alarm-bell, 202, 222
He is past preaching to who does not care to do well, 21
He is rich enough who is contented, 166
He is rich enough who owes nothing, 17, 97
He is rich enough who does not want, 73
He is so wise, that he goes upon the ice three days before it
freezes, 327
He is the devil’s valet, he does more than he is ordered, 11
He is the wisest man who does not think himself so, 33
He is the world’s master who despises it, its slave who prizes it, 97
He is too idle to fetch his breath, 326
He is too stupid to be trusted alone by the fire, 326
He is very blind who cannot see the sun, 75
He is wise who learns at another’s cost, 125
He is worthy of sweets who has tasted bitters, 353
He is young enough who has health, and he rich enough who has no
debts, 353
He is your friend who gets you out of a scrape, 201, 267
He keeps his word, as the sun keeps butter, 325
He knocks boldly at the door who brings good news, 19, 72, 373
He knows best where the shoe pinches who wears it, 356, 373
He knows enough who knows how to live and keep his own counsel, 5
He knows it as well as his Pater-noster, 255
He knows the water best who has waded through it, 374
He knows well where the thorn pricks him, 95
He knows where the devil carries his tail, 96, 124
He laughs at scars who never felt a wound, 139
He laughs well (or best) who laughs longest, 55, 124 (_See_ He who
laughs)
He lays his eggs beside his nest, 327
He lies like a tooth-drawer, 23
He lives in the land of promise, 327
He looks for his ass and sits on its back, 20
He lords it (or swaggers) like an eel in a tub, 325
He loses his market who has nothing to sell, 201
He loses least in a quarrel who keeps his tongue in check, 356
He loves well who never forgets, 75, 205, 268
He may lie boldly who comes from afar, 1, 95
He may swim boldly who is held up by the chin, 9
He means well, but has a bad way of showing it, 326
He measures others by his own standard, 95, 325
He must be a clever host that would take the devil into his hostelry,
355
He must be ill-favoured who scares the devil, 355
He must be pure who would blame another, 373
He must cry loud who would scare the devil, 373
He must gape wide who would gape against an oven, 327
He must have clean fingers who would blow another’s nose, 355
He must have crept out of hell while the devil was asleep, 326
He must have iron fingers who would flay the devil, 373
He must have keen eyes that would know a maid at sight, 145
He must have plenty of butter who would stop everybody’s mouth, 373
He must indeed be a good master who never errs, 325
He must keep a sharp look-out who would speak the truth, 373
He must rise betimes who would please everybody, 327
He must shoot well who always hits the mark, 323
He must stand high that would see the end of his own destiny, 355
He must stoop that has a low door, 94
He need have plenty of meal who would stop every man’s mouth
(_Scotch_: He behoves to have meal enou that sal stop ilka man’s
mou’), 98, 322, 355
He needs say nothing about the score who pays nothing, 20
He needs a long spoon that would eat out of the same dish with the
devil, 355
He never was a friend who ceased to be so for a slight cause, 287
He never was a friend who has ceased to be one, 48
He ought not to complain of the sea who returns to it a second time,
73
He pays for the glasses who breaks them, 48
He plays best who wins, 49,182
He preaches well who lives well, 78, 205
He pulls at a long rope who desires another’s death, 3
He puts his sickle into another man’s harvest, 23
He ruins himself in promises, and clears himself by giving nothing, 26
He runs as fast as if he had eggs in his shoes, 327
He runs far who never turns, 89
He runs heavily who is forced to run, 354
He’s a friend at sneezing-time,—the most that can be got from him is
a “God bless you,” 71
He said devil, but meant you, 327
He scolds most that can hurt the least, 374
He sells the bird on the branch, 96
He sets the wolf to guard the sheep, 95
He should not complain of being cheated who buys cloth by the sample,
287
He sins as much who holds the bag as he who puts into it, 7
He sits well who can rise without help, 355
He sleeps securely who has nothing to lose, 17
He slumbers enough who does nothing, 5
He sticks his nose in everything (He has his finger in every pie), 145
He struts as valiantly as an English cock, 327
He studies the Bible of fifty-two leaves (a pack of cards), 326
He sups ill who eats up all at dinner, 37
He swims on his own bulrush, 328
He takes out a nail and puts in a pin, 77
He that abideth low cannot fall hard, 310
He that at twenty is not, at thirty knows not, and at forty has not,
will never be, nor ever know, nor ever have, 79
He that bears the cross, blesses himself first, 354
He that buildeth upon the highway hath many advisers, 179, 308 (_See_
He who builds)
He that buys the office of magistrate must of necessity sell justice,
79
He that can be patient finds his foe at his feet, 309
He that chases another does not sit still himself, 308
He that climbs high falls heavily, 182
He that comes unbidden goes unthanked, 310
He that corrects not youth controls not age, 50
He that courts injury will obtain it, 373
He that creepeth falleth not, 310
He that cuts above himself will get splinters in his eye, 376
He that despises the little is not worthy of the great, 310
He that does ill never wants for excuses, 266
He that does not lie, does not come of good blood, 251
He that does not save pennies will never have pounds, 352
He that eats his fowl alone may saddle his horse alone, 252, 292
He that examines every bush will hardly get into the wood, 185
He that exceeds his commission must answer for it at his own cost, 80
He that finds fault wants to buy, 186, 248 (_See_ He who)
He that finds something before it is lost, will die before he is
sick, 309
He that has a choice has trouble, 309
He that has an hour’s start will not be hanged, 253
He that has but one pig easily fattens it, 82
He that has good legs has often bad boots, 182
He that has lost his credit is dead to the world, 180
He that has no head needs no hat, 183
He that has no ill luck grows weary of good luck, 250
He that has no money in his purse should have fair words on his lips,
376
He that has not money in his purse should have honey in his mouth, 50
He that has swallowed the devil may swallow his horns, 82
He that has the devil on his neck must find him work, 308
He that has the luck leads the bride to church, 309
He that hath a head of wax must not approach the fire, 48
He that hath a wife is sure of strife, 49
He that hath an ill name is half hanged, 309