It is better to have a husband without love than jealous, 110
It is better to have to do with God than with his saints, 26
It is better to hear the nightingale sing than the mouse gnaw, 97
It is better to irritate a dog than an old woman, 97
It is better to leap over the ditch than trust to the pleadings of
good men, 232
It is better to leave than to lack, 96
It is better to leave the child’s nose dirty than wring it off, 22
It is better to lose than lose more (The first loss is the best), 232
It is better to make conditions in the bush than in prison, 349
It is better to scrape the cheese than to peel it, 363
It is better to strive with a stubborn ass than to carry the wood on
one’s back, 231
It is better to turn back than go astray, 171
It is bitter fare to eat one’s own words, 360
It is courage that vanquishes in war, and not good weapons, 199
It is cowardly to fly from a living enemy, or to abuse a dead one, 384
It is dangerous to eat cherries with the great, they throw the stones
at your head, 359
It is dear-bought butter that is licked off a woolcomb, 358
It is dear honey that must be licked off thorns, 170
It is difficult to get many heads under one hat, 361
It is difficult to hide what everybody knows, 361
It is difficult to spit honey out of a mouth full of gall, 361
It is difficult to tie an unborn horse to the manger, 372
It is difficult to trap an old fox, 394
It is easier to blame than do better, 170
It is easier to build two hearths than always to keep a fire on one,
146
It is easier to fill a rogue’s belly than his eyes, 386
It is easier to get away from the bank than the bottom, 21
It is easier to guard against a bushel of fleas than a woman, 146
It is easier to make a lady of a peasant-girl than a peasant-girl of
a lady, 332
It is easier to stem the brook than the river, 349
It is easy robbing when the dog is quieted, 121
It is easy to be generous out of another man’s purse, 323, 360
It is easy to bid the devil be your guest, but difficult to get rid
of him, 361
It is easy to cut thongs from other men’s leather, 324 (_See_ Good
thongs)
It is easy to find a stick to beat a dog, 98, 332
It is easy to find the rod when another finds the bottom, 361
It is easy to give advice when all goes well, 122
It is easy to help him who is willing to be helped, 185
It is easy to manage when fortune favours, 360
It is easy to poke another man’s fire, 360
It is easy to preach fasting with a full belly, 95
It is easy to sit at the helm in fine weather, 371
It is easy to stride a tree when it is down, 361
It is easy to swim, when another holds up your head, 360
It is easy to threaten a bull from a window, 95
“It is easy to work with a good comb,” said the devil, when he combed
his mother’s hair with a pitchfork, 360
It is fair and just to cheat the cheater, 225
It is folly to drown on dry land, 358
It is folly to fear what one cannot avoid, 351
It is folly to gape against an oven, 11, 361
It is folly to sing twice to a deaf man, 358
It is folly to take a thorn out of another’s foot and put it into
your own, 358
It is good fishing in troubled waters, 43, 202, 329
It is good living under the shadow of the belfry, 126
It is good rowing with set sail, 336
It is good sailing with wind and tide, 341
It is good speaking that improves good silence, 323
It is good spinning from another’s yarn, 324
It is good to be a priest at Easter, child in Lent, peasant at
Christmas, and foal in harvest-time, 360
It is good to beat a proud man when he is alone, 21
It is good to buy when another wants to sell, 95
It is good to go afoot when one is tired of riding, 324
It is good to have friends everywhere, 21, 95
It is good to hold the clothes of one who is swimming, 95
It is good to lend to God and to the soil—they pay good interest, 360
It is good to sleep in a whole skin, 134, 323, 360
It is good to warm oneself by another’s fire, 324
It is hard to blow with a full mouth, 334
It is hard to catch birds with an empty hand, 162
It is hard to catch hares with unwilling hounds, 334
It is hard to find a pin in the dark, 324
It is hard to glean after a niggardly husbandman, 394
It is hard to labour with an empty belly, 362
It is hard to lure hawks with empty hands, 361
It is hard to make a fire on a cold hearth, 361
It is hard to pay for bread that has been eaten, 395
It is hard to please every one, 317
It is hard to sail without wind, and to grind without water, 394
It is hard to steal where the host himself is a thief, 146, 324
(_See_ It is not easy)
It is hard to swim against the stream, 338
It is hard to teach an old dog tricks, 361
It is hard to teach old dogs to bark, 137, 336
It is hard to track the path the ship follows in the ocean, 356
It is harder work getting to hell than to heaven, 154
It is ill catching hares with drums, 324
It is ill sailing against wind and tide, 338
It is in putting it into the oven that the loaf is made crooked, 196
It is in vain for a man to rise early who has the repute of lying in
bed all the morning, 20
It is in vain to cast nets in a river where there are no fish, 221
It is in vain to lay a net in sight of the birds, 104
It is in vain to lead the ox to the water if he is not thirsty, 41
It is just that the priest should live by the altar, 21
It is loving too much to die of love, 12
It is more necessary to guard the mouth than the chest, 146
It is no child’s play when an old woman dances, 146, 358
It is no honour for an eagle to vanquish a dove, 112
It is no time to play chess when the house is on fire, 112
It is no use hiding from a friend what is known to an enemy, 362
It is not all gold that glitters, 358
It is not all who turn their backs that flee, 352
It is not always good to be wise, 176
It is not easy to guard the hen that lays her eggs abroad, 361
It is not easy to know your butter in another man’s cabbage, 360
It is not easy to pluck hairs from a bald pate, 361
It is not easy to show the way to a blind man, 68
It is not easy to steal in thieves’ houses, 96 (_See_ It is hard to
steal)
It is not easy to sting a bear with a straw, 360
It is not easy to walk upon the devil’s ice, 360
It is not enough to aim, you must hit, 91
It is not enough to have cabbage, one must have something to grease
it, 10
It is not enough to know how to steal, one must know also how to
conceal, 111
It is not enough to run; one must start in time, 11
It is not every flower that smells sweet, 113
It is not every hog that the crow will ride, 359
It is not every man that can carry a falcon on his hand, 360
It is not every one who takes the right sow by the ear, 360
“It is not for my own sake,” said the fox, “that I say there is a
good goose-green in the wood,”, 382
It is not for nothing that the devil lays himself down in the ditch,
360
It is not for the good of the cow when she is driven in a carriage,
358
It is not for the swan to teach eaglets to sing, 358
It is not good to be the poet of a village, 146
It is not in the pilot’s power to prevent the wind from blowing, 235
It is not necessary to fish up every bucket that falls into the well,
112
It is not the big oxen that do the best day’s work, 34
It is not the cowl that makes the friar, 305
It is not the fine, but the coarse and ill-spun that breaks, 237
It is not the greatest beauties that inspire the most profound
passion, 10
It is not the hen which cackles most that lays most eggs, 322
It is not the load but the overload that kills, 236
It is not the long day, but the heart that does the work, 102
It is not the surplice that makes parson or clerk, 382
It is not till the cow has lost her tail that she discovers its
value, 178
It is nothing at all, only a woman drowning, 10
It is nothing, they are only thrashing (or killing) my husband, 235,
285
It is of no use making shoes for geese, 358
It is only at the tree loaded with fruit that people throw stones, 42
It is only good bargains that ruin, 26
It is only the bashful that lose, 26
It is only the blind who ask why they are loved who are fair, 363
It is only the first bottle that is dear, 25
It is pleasant driving where there is no danger of upsetting, 363
It is pleasant enough going afoot when you lead your horse by the
bridle, 21
It is pleasant to cut thongs of another man’s leather, 340 (_See_
Good thongs)
It’s pleasant to look on the rain, when one stands dry, 323
It is poor comfort for one who has broken his leg, that another has
broken his neck, 362
It is prophet-drink (_i.e._ water), 324
It is safe to lend barley to him who has oats, 353
It is safest sailing within reach of the shore, 301
It is the bait that lures, not the fisherman or the rod, 206, 230
It is the master-wheel that makes the mill go round, 11
It is the nature of the greyhound to carry a long tail, 274
It is the old cow’s notion that she never was a calf, 21
It is the petty expenses that empty the purse, 108
It is the raised stick that makes the dog obey, 375
It is the tone that makes the music, 11
It is time enough to take off your hat when you see the man, 362
It is too late for the bird to scream when it is caught, 60
It is too late to come with water when the house is burnt down, 128
It is too late to cover the well when the child is drowned, 359
It is too late to cry “Hold hard!” when the arrow has left the bow,
324
It is too late to lock the stable door when the steed is stolen, 21,
324
It is too late to throw water on the cinders when the house is burnt
down, 359
It is too much to expect of a cat that she should sit by the milk and
not lap it, 146
It is truth that makes a man angry, 91
It is useless to gape against an oven, 11, 361
It is vain to fish if the hook is not baited, 104
It is vain to fish without a hook, or learn to read without a book,
368
It is very savoury to eat scot free, 223
It is well to fly low on account of the branches, 8
It is well to have clean bread in one’s wallet, 371
It is well to know how to be silent till it is time to speak, 270
It is well to leave off playing when the game is at its best, 22
It little avails the unfortunate to be brave, 196
It must be a hard winter when one wolf devours another, 363
It needs a cunning hand to shave a fool’s head, 325
It needs a high wall to keep out fear, 357
It needs a light spirit to bear a heavy fate, 357
It needs but slight provocation to make the wolf devour the lamb, 359
It never thunders but it rains, 115
It sticks to his fingers, like the charity-money to the matron, 321
It takes a good many mice to kill a cat, 357
It takes four living men to carry one dead man out of a house, 66
It takes many words to fill a sack, 356
It will all come out in the soap-suds, 259
“It will come back,” said the man, when he gave his sow pork, 362
It will not do to keep holidays before they come, 23
It won’t do to trifle with fire, 23
It would be a very big book that contained all the maybes uttered in
a day, 42
Italian devotion and German fasting have no meaning, 403
It’s a bad mouthful that chokes, 98
It’s a very proud horse that will not carry his oats, 127
It’s bad combing where there is no hair, 324
It’s good dancing on another man’s floor, 324
It’s good feasting in another’s hall, 324
It’s good steering with wind and tide, 312
It’s hard to catch hawks with empty hands (With emptie hands men may
no haukes lure—CHAUCER), 334
It’s ill jesting with edged tools, 324
J.
Jack gets on by his stupidity, 151
Jack is as good as his master, 295
Jacob’s voice, Esau’s hands, 154
Jealousy is a pain which eagerly seeks what causes pain, 142
Jest not in earnest (Motto of the Margrave of Brandenburg), 167
Jest so that it may not turn to earnest, 195
Jest with your equals, 389
Jesting costs money, 225
John has been to school to learn to be a fool, 28
Joy and sorrow are next-door neighbours (Joy and sorrow are to-day
and to-morrow), 148
Joy is like the ague; one good day between two bad ones, 371
Judges should have two ears, both alike, 166
Justice, but not in my own house, 225
Justice has a waxen nose, 137
Justice oft leans to the side where the purse pulls, 400
K.
Keep good company and you shall be of the number, 264
Keep not two tongues in one mouth, 389
Keep to the little ones, and the big ones will not bite you, 374
Keep well with your neighbours, whether right or wrong, 151
Keep your mouth, and keep your friend, 370
Keep your nose out of another’s mess, 375
Keep yourself from opportunities and God will keep you from sins, 100
Kill and thou wilt be killed, and he will be killed who kills thee,
232
Kill no more than you can salt, or you will have tainted meat, 398
Kin or no kin, woe to him who has nothing, 118
Kind words and few are a woman’s ornament, 403
Kind words don’t wear out the tongue, 401
Kind words heal friendship’s wounds, 371
Kindness breaks no bones, 151
Kindred without friends, friends without power, power without will,
will without effect, effect without profit, profit without virtue,
are not worth a rush, 44
Kings’ entreaties are commands, 299
Kings have long hands, 36
Kisses are the messengers of love, 383
Know, cabbages, that there is spinach in the stew, 255
Knowing hens lay even in nettles, 157
L.
Labour has a bitter root, but a sweet taste, 347
Labour warms, sloth harms, 299
“Ladies have ladies’ whims,” said crazy Ann, when she draggled her
cloak in the gutter, 369
Lambs don’t run into the mouth of the sleeping wolf, 384
Large thongs of another man’s leather (_See_ Good thongs), 211
Large trees give more shade than fruit, 99, 120
Lasses and glasses are always in danger, 99
Late fruit keeps well, 169
Late repentance is seldom worth much, 397
Laughter makes good blood, 103
Law helps the waking, luck may come to the sleeping, 385
Laws go the way kings direct, 196
Laws go where dollars please, 280
Laws have wax noses, 35
Laws were made for rogues, 108
Lawyers and painters can soon change white to black, 385
Lawyers are bad Christians, 156
Lawyers’ houses are built of fools’ heads, 35
Lawyers’ robes are lined with the obstinacy of suitors, 109
Lay your hand on your bosom and you will not speak ill of another, 283
Lean meat from a fat pig, 272
Learn thou of learned men, th’ unlearned of thee; for thus must
knowledge propagated be, 332
Learned fools are the greatest of all fools, 140, 149
Leave no nail unclenched, 113
Leave the jest at its best, 195
Leave the minster where it is, 29
Lend to your friend, and ask payment of your enemy, 383
Lent, which seems so long, is short at other men’s tables, 107
Less advice and more hands, 177
Let a child have its will and it will not cry, 383
Let a dog get at a dish of honey, and he will jump in with both legs,
384
Let a saint be ever so humble, he will have his wax taper, 381
Let every bird sing its own note, 366
Let every fox take care of his own tail, 117
Let every man carry his own sack to the mill, 170, 366 (_See_ Every
man must carry)
Let every man look to the bread upon which he must depend, 271
Let every man mind his own business, and leave others to theirs, 271
Let every man mind his own business, and the cows will be well
tended, 12
Let every one be content with what God has given him, 271
Let every one keep off the flies with his own tail, 117
Let every one look to himself, and no one will be lost, 317
Let every one sweep before his own door, 155
Let every sheep hang by its own leg (Every man should support
himself, and not hang upon another), 207, 270
Let God’s waters run over God’s acres, 319
Let him eat the tough morsel who eat the tender, 272
Let him not be a lover who has no courage, 70
Let him not complain of being cheated who buys cloth by the pattern,
237
Let him play the instrument who knows how, 249
Let him stay at the oar who has learnt to row, 383
Let him that has a mouth not say to another, Blow, 233
Let him that itches scratch himself, 53, 177
Let him who does not know you buy you, 251
Let him who feels he has a dirty nose wipe it, 53
Let him who is cold blow the fire, 48
Let him who is well off hold his tongue, 177
Let him who is well off stay where he is, 86
Let him who would reach another a brand, beware that he do not burn
his own hand, 378
Let it be a husband, though it be but a log, 256
Let lie what is too heavy to lift, 303
Let me get over the lake, and I have no fear of the brook, 330
Let me go warm, and folks may laugh, 199, 266
Let no one say, “Of this water I will not drink,”, 235
Let no one take a pawn that eats, 242
Let no shovel-beaked bird ever enter your yard, 204
Let not him who has a mouth ask another to blow, 299
Let not the tongue utter what the head must pay for, 235, 284
Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth, 158
Let not your shirt know all your thoughts (or your secret), 48, 117,
129
Let people talk and dogs bark, 158
Let the blood be ever so thin, it is always thicker than water, 351
Let the dead rest, 158
Let the devil get into the church, and he will mount the altar, 158
Let the dog bark so he don’t bite me, 226, 280
Let the giver be silent and the receiver speak, 271
Let the guest go before the storm bursts, 158
Let the guts be full, for it is they that carry the legs, 228, 268
Let the injurer not forget, 84
Let the miracle be wrought, though it be by the devil, 223
Let the sun shine on me, for I care not for the moon, 220
Let them talk of me, and beg of me, 212
Let them whip me in the market-place, provided it be not known at
home, 204
Let there be food in the pigeon-house, and the pigeons will come to
it, 204, 235
Let there be writing before you pay, and receipt before you write, 222
Let those pater-nosters be for your own soul (Ironical against
swearing), 242
Let us first catch the bear and then sell its skin, 120
Let us have florins and we shall find cousins, 65
Let what is lost go for God’s sake, 229
Liars should have good memories, 101, 159
Liberal hands make many friends, 396
Lies and gossip have a wretched offspring, 385
Lies and Latin go round the world, 385
Lies have short legs, 75, 159
Lies melt like snow, 159
Life at court is often a short cut to hell, 374
Life is half spent before one knows what life is, 31
Light burdens borne far become heavy, 6, 158
Light gains make a heavy purse, 332
Light is bad for sore eyes, 3
Light is light, though the blind man see it not, 158
Lightly come, lightly go, 332
Like a collier’s sack, bad without and worse within, 209
Like blood, like means, and like age, make the happiest marriage, 150
Like box-makers, more noise than work, 55
Like father, like son, 292
Like king, like law; like law, like people, 292
Like King Petaud’s court, where every one is master, 11
Like lips, like lettuce, 73, 187
Like master, like man, 58, 127, 187, 345
Like plays best with like, 384
Like pot, like cover, 345
Like saint, like incense (or offering), 56, 73
Like to like, Jack to Gill, a penny a pair, 319
Like well like bucket, 73
Like will to like, 53, 126
Like will to like—a scabbed horse and a sandy dike, 397
“Like will to like,” as the devil said to the coal-burner, 150
Like will to like, be they poor or rich, 317
Link by link the coat of mail is made, 37
Lion-skins were never had cheap, 26
Lip courtesy avails (or pleases) much and costs little, 118, 209
Listeners hear no good of themselves, 248
Little and often makes a heap in time, 177
Little beard, little modesty, 200, 240
Little bird, little nest, 194
Little brooks make great rivers, 35
Little by little one goes far, 240
Little by little the bird builds its nest, 45
Little children and headaches, great children and heartaches, 98
Little children, little sorrows; big children, great sorrows, 398
Little chips kindle the fire, and big logs sustain it, 291
Little enemies and little wounds are not to be despised, 157
Little fish are sweet (All is fish that comes to the net), 330
Little folks are fond of talking about what great folks do, 141
Little is done where many command, 296
Little pitchers have long ears, 45
Little pots soon run (or boil) over, 157, 330
Little presents maintain friendship, 35
Little saints also perform miracles, 398
Little sorrows are loud, great ones silent, 398
Little strokes fell great oaks, 330
Little thieves are hanged by the neck, great ones by the purse, 105,
330
Little thieves have iron chains, and great thieves gold ones, 330
Little wood, much fruit, 343
Live according to your means, 389
Live and learn, 132
Live and let live, 132, 158, 333
Loaves put awry into the oven come out awry, 3
Locks and keys are not made for honest fingers, 167
Long absence changes friends, 37
Long borrowed is not given, 158
Long choosing and cheapening ends in buying nothing, or bad wares, 183
Long fasting is no bread sparing, 158, 331
Long is not for ever, 158
Long life to the conqueror, 262
Long talk makes short days, 37
Long-talked-of (or looked-for) comes at last, 159
Long tongue, short hand, 37, 109
Longer than a day without bread, 120
Look before you leap, 100, 145
Look for the hog at the oak, 72
Look not a gift horse in the mouth, 2, 66, 149, 194, 313, 389
Look with suspicion on the flight of an enemy, 106
Lords and fools speak freely, 374
Lose no rights and commit no extortions, 230
Love, a cough, smoke, and money, cannot long be hid (or are hard to
hide), 4, 4, 71, 159
Love and faith are seen in works, 216, 287
Love and lordship like no fellowship, 4, 71, 265
Love and poverty are hard to conceal, 347
Love begins at home, 158
Love Bertrand love his dog, 48
Love demands faith, and faith firmness, 71
Love does much, money everything, 4, 158, 199
Love does wonders, but money makes marriage, 30
Love expels jealousy, 30
Love, fire, a cough, the itch, and gout, are hard to conceal, 158
Love, grief, and money cannot be kept secret, 199
Love grows with obstacles (A wall between increases love), 158
Love has no law, 265
Love is an excuse for its own faults, 91
Love is blind, but sees afar, 71
Love is master of all arts, 93
Love is the true price at which love is bought, 71
Love knows hidden paths, 158
Love knows no law, 287
Love knows not labour, 71
Love levels all inequalities, 116
Love makes labour light, 332
Love makes time pass away, and time makes love pass away, 30
Love me little and love me long, 2, 70, 365
Love me, love my dog, 78 (_See_ Love Bertrand)
Love one that does not love you, answer one that does not call you,
and you will run a fruitless race, 198
Love others well, but love thyself the most; give good for good, but
not to thine own cost, 300
Love rules his kingdom without a sword, 71
Love rules without law, 71
Love subdues everything except the felon heart, 4
Love teaches asses to dance, 30
Love, thieves, and fear, make ghosts, 158
Love without return is like a question without an answer, 158
Love your friend with his faults, 70
Love your neighbour, but don’t pull down the fence, 158
Lovers’ purses are tied with cobwebs, 105
Lovers’ quarrels are love redoubled, 267
Lovers think others are blind (or have no eyes), 119, 240
Love’s anger is fuel to love, 159
Love’s merchandise is jealousy and broken faith, 71
Love’s plant must be watered with tears and tendered with care, 383
Loving and singing are not to be forced, 159
Luck comes to those who look after it, 261
Luck has but a slender anchorage, 385
Luck has much for many, but enough for no one, 385
Luck is better than a hundred marks, 350
Luck (or Fortune) taps at the door and inquires whether prudence is
within, 385 (_See_ Fortune)
Luck will carry a man across a brook if he is not too lazy to leap,
385
Lying and gossiping go hand in hand, 219
Lying is the first step to the gallows, 159
Lying pays no tax, 289
M.
Mad dogs get their coats torn, 369
Mad love—I for you, and you for another, 199, 265
Maidens say no, and mean yes (Maids say nay, and take), 159
Make a silver bridge for a flying enemy, 196, 266
Make good flour and you need no trumpet (_So_: Good wine needs no
bush), 224, 277
Make hay while the sun shines, 160, 174
Make me a prophet, and I will make you rich, 98
Make the night night, and the day day, and you will live pleasantly,
277
Make use of the sun while it shines, 388
Make way for a madman and a bull, 197
Make your son your heir and not your steward, 277
Make yourself a sheep and the wolves will eat you, 52, 86, 186
Make yourself an ass and every one will lay his sack on you, 186
Make yourself honey and the flies will eat you, 98, 277, 294
Man is fire, woman is tow, and the devil comes and blows (or with a
bellows), 37, 217, 288
Man loves but once, 139
Man proposes and God disposes, 37, 139, 217, 226, 230, 279, 306, 390
Man without woman is head without body; woman without man is body
without head, 161
Manual jokes are clowns’ jokes, 28, 206, 225
Many a cow stands in the meadow and looks wistfully at the common, 387
Many a good cow has a bad calf, 161
Many a man is a good friend but a bad neighbour, 387
Many a man labours for the day he will never live to see, 387
Many a one is good because he can do no mischief, 37
Many a one leaves the roast who afterwards longs for the smoke ofit,
127
Many a one suffers for what he can’t help, 58
Many a one threatens while he quakes for fear, 127, 161
Many a one would like to lay his own shame on another man’s back, 387
Many a sheep goes out woolly and comes home shorn, 387