Take the horse to the knacker, and throw in bridle and saddle, 190
Take the middle of the way and thou wilt not fall, 225
Take the world as it is, not as it ought to be, 164
Taking out without putting in soon comes to the bottom, 211, 276
Talk as you go, husband, to the gallows, 199
Talk little and well, and you will be looked upon as somebody, 223
Talk of sporting, and buy game in the market, 223
Talk of the devil and his imp appears, 178
Talk of the devil and you hear his bones rattle, 299
Talk of the wolf and behold his skin, 277
Talk of the wolf and his tail appears, 48, 299
Talking is easier than doing, and promising than performing, 166
Talking is silver, silence is gold, 166
Tall trees catch much wind, 328
Tell a lie and you’ll hear the truth, 167, 214
Tell everybody your business and the devil will do it for you, 92
Tell her she is handsome, and you will turn her head (or brain), 214,
275
Tell it her once, and the devil will tell it her ten times, 214
Tell, me the company you keep, and I’ll tell you what (or who) you
are, 16, 92, 214, 344
Tell me with whom thou goest, and I’ll tell thee what thou doest, 275
Tell no one what you would have known only to yourself, 303
Tell no tales out of school, 160
Tell not all you, know believe not all you hear, do not all you are
able, 67
Tell not all you know, nor judge of all you see, if you would live in
peace, 245
Tell your affairs in the market-place, and one will call them black
and another white, 255
Tell your friend a lie, and if he keeps it secret tell him the truth,
203, 268
Tell your friend your secret, and he will set his foot on your neck,
91, 213, 275
Ten noes are better than one lie, 401
Tender surgeons make foul wounds, 344
Thank you, pretty pussy, was the death of my cat, 119
That beer’s of your own brewing, and you must drink it, 303
That bench is well adorned that is filled with virtuous women, 352
That brings water to the mill, 9
That costs dear which is bought with begging, 77
That happens in a moment (or a day) which may not happen in a hundred
years, 20, 66
That is beggar’s fare, said the dame, when she fried eggs with the
sausages, 303
That is done soon enough which is well done, 5, 73
That is gold which is worth gold, 43, 118, 238, 290
That is good wisdom which is wisdom in the end, 324
That is not in the looking-glass which is seen in the looking-glass,
147
That is pleasant to remember which was hard to endure, 124
That is poor help that helps you from the feather-bed to the straw,
359
That may be soon done which brings long repentance, 362
That miller is honest who has hair on his teeth, 139
That mouse will have a tail (_i. e._ The thing will have a long train
of consequences), 303
That priest is a fool who decries his relics, 119
That usury is a sin some hold, but take for granted they’ve no gold,
185
That which burns thee not, cool not, 343
That which comes with sin, goes with sorrow, 375
That which covers thee discovers thee, 252
That which has been eaten out of the pot cannot be put into the dish,
362
That which has been thrown away has often to be begged for again, 393
That which is customary requires no excuse, 88
That which is stamped a penny will never be a pound, 352
That which is unsaid, may be said; that which is said, cannot be
unsaid, 363
That which must be, will be, 362
That’s all well and good, but gold is better, 303
That’s as much as a bean in a brewing copper, 325
That’s but an empty purse which is full of other men’s money, 354
That’s quickly done which is long repented, 324
Thaw reveals what has been hidden by snow, 362
The abbey does not fail for want of one monk, 46
The absent are always in the wrong, 33, 303
The absent were never in the right, 237
The accomplice is as bad as the thief, 294
The account is correct, but not a sixpence appears, 224
The act of treachery is liked, but not he that does it, 228
The aged in council—the young in action, 352
The ant gets wings that she may perish the sooner, 233 (_See_ God
gives wings)
The anvil is not afraid of the hammer, 138, 365
The anvil is used to noise, 138
The anvil lasts longer than the hammer, 95, 120
The archer that shoots badly has a lie ready, 261, 269
The arguments of the strongest have always the most weight, 31
The arms of Bruges: an ass in an arm-chair, 325
The art is not in making money, but in keeping it, 323
The ass and his driver do not think alike, 138, 304
The ass carries corn to the mill and gets thistles, 138
The ass dead, the barley at his tail, 195, 267
The ass does not know the worth of his tail till he has lost it, 107
The ass embraced the thistle, and they found themselves relations, 263
The ass of many owners is eaten by wolves, 202, 267
The ass that is common property is always the worst saddled, 30
The ass that is hungry eats thistles, 268
The ass that trespasses on a stranger’s premises will leave them
laden with wood (_i.e._ cudgelled), 268
The ass well knows in whose house he brays, 205, 269
The ass’s hide is used to the stick, 107
The ass’s son brays one hour daily, 288
The back door is the one that robs the house, 107
The bacon of paradise for the married man that does not repent, 220
The bad barber leaves neither hair nor skin, 220
The bad man always suspects knavery, 218
The bad neighbour gives a needle without thread (Galician), 198, 265
The bagpipe never utters a word till its belly is full, 27
The bailiff’s cow and another’s cow are two different cows, 140
The balance in doing its office knows neither gold nor lead, 18
The bath has sworn not to whiten the blackamoor, 225
The beadle’s cow may graze in the churchyard, 157, 331
The beadle of the parish is always of the vicar’s opinion, 31
The beard does not make the philosopher, 105
The beast dead, the venom dead, 39, 110
The beast that goes well is never without some one to try his paces,
225, 263
The beaten pay the fine, 33
The beggar’s wallet has no bottom, 103, 136
The beginning hot, the middle lukewarm, the end cold, 134
The bell does not go to mass, and yet calls every one to it, 112, 235
The belly does not accept bail, 263
The belly gives no credit, 351
The belly is a bad adviser, 138
The belly overrules the head, 36
The belly warm, the foot at rest, 268
The benefice must be taken with its liabilities, 22
The best always goes first, 125
The best cast at dice is not to play, 218
The best cause requires a good pleader, 303
The best cloth has uneven threads, 221
The best company must part, as King Dagobert said to his hounds, 26
The best driver will sometimes upset, 25
The best feed of a horse is his master’s eye, 218, 303
The best friends are in one’s purse, 140
The best goods are the cheapest, 321
The best horse stumbles sometimes, 321 (_See_ Even a horse)
The best is the cheapest, 102, 137
The best is what one has in his hand, 137
The best manure is under the farmer’s shoe, 357
The best of the mill is that the sacks can’t speak, 154
The best pears fall into the pigs’ mouths, 76
The best pilots are ashore, 303
The best spices are in small bags, 111 (_See_ Precious ointments)
The best swimmer is the first to drown himself, 85
The best trees are the most beaten, 104
The best wine has its lees, 32
The better day the better deed, 8, 221, 276
The better lawyer, the worse Christian, 328
The big fish eat the little ones, 34, 103
The bird once out of hand is hard to recover, 367
The bird ought not to soil its own nest, 37
The biter is sometimes bit, 57, 78
The bites of priests and wolves are hard to heal, 176
The blade wears out the sheath, 29
The blind man has picked up a coin, 264
The blunders of physicians are covered by the earth, 290
The boor looks after a cent as the devil after a soul, 303
The bow may be bent until it breaks, 396
The bow must not be always bent, 303
The bow that is always bent slackens or breaks, 202
The bowels support the heart, and not the heart the bowels, 260
The branch is seldom better than the stem, 397
The branch must be bent early that is to make a good crook, 363
The braying of an ass does not reach heaven, 124
The bread eaten, the company departed, 219, 291
The bucket goes so often to the well that it leaves its handle there,
128
The buckets take to fighting with the well, and get their heads
broken, 109
The bud becomes a rose, and the rose a hip, 31
The busy fly is in every man’s dish, 219
The candle that goes before gives the best light, 305
The candle that goes before is better than that which comes after, 28
The cask always smells of the herring, 28
The cask can give no other wine than what it contains, 105
The cask full, the mother-in-law drunk, 226
The cask smells of the wine it contains, 226
The cat always leaves her mark upon her friend, 203
The cat is a good friend, but scratches, 206, 269
The cat loves fish, but is loth to wet her feet, 106, 141
The cat well knows whose beard she licks, 269
The cats that drive away mice are as good as those that catch them,
147
The chamber-bell (chamber-clapper, or curtain lecture) is the worst
sound a man can have in his ears, 101
The chamois climbs high and yet is caught, 149
The child who gets a stepmother also gets a stepfather, 357
The church, the sea, or the royal household, for those who would
thrive, 225
The churl knows not the worth of spurs, 36
The coalheaver is master at home, 13
The cock is a lord (_or_ king, _or_ valiant) on his own dunghill, 95,
134, 138
The cock often crows without a victory, 400
The cook shuts his eyes when he crows, because he knows it by heart,
138
The concealer is as bad as the thief, 152
The corn falls out of a shaken sheaf, 15
The corn that is taken to a bad mill will be badly ground, 362
The counterfeit image of a pot with two ears, 305
The court of Rome likes not sheep without wool, 89
The cow does not know the value of her tail till she has lost it,
305, 383
The cow gives milk through her mouth, 141
The cow is milked, not the ox; the sheep is shorn, not the horse, 383
The cow licks no strange calf, 141
The cow that does not eat with the oxen, either eats before or after
them (Galician), 204
The cows that low most give the least milk, 141
The cross on his breast, and the devil in his acts, 226
The crow will find its mate (Like will to like), 383
The curse on the hearth wounds the deepest, 347
The danger past, the saint cheated, 118
The day I did not make my toilette, there came to my house one I did
not expect, 217
The day I did not sweep the house, there came to it one I did not
expect, 217
The day is never so holy that the pot refuses to boil, 352
The day is sure to come when the cow will want her tail, 352
The day you marry ’tis either kill or cure, 217
The days follow each other and are not alike, 35
The dead and the absent have no friends, 199, 265
The dead are soon forgotten, 35
The dead open the eyes of the living, 290
The dearer the child, the sharper must be the rod, 382
The debts go to the next heir, 141
The deceived sheep that went for wool and came back shorn, 216
The devil gets into the belfry by the vicar’s skirts, 241
The devil has his martyrs among men, 304
The devil is bad because he is old, 102
The devil is civil when he is flattered, 139
The devil is fond of his own (Galician), 238
The devil is not always at a poor man’s door, 32
The devil is not so black (or ugly) as he is painted, 102, 139, 285,
304
The devil is so fond of his son that he put out his eye, 258
The devil leads him by the nose, who the dice too often throws, 10
The devil likes to souse what is already wet, 139
The devil lurks (or sits) behind the cross, 15, 152, 213, 304
The devil may die without my inheriting his horns, 32
The devil tempts all, but the idle man tempts the devil, 102
The devil turns away from a closed door, 69, 212
The devil was handsome when he was young, 32
The devil will tempt Lucifer, 102
The devil’s in the cards, said Sam, four aces and not a single trump,
302
The devil’s meal turns half to bran, 28
The difficult thing is to get foot in the stirrup, 103
The doctor is often more to be feared than the disease, 32
The doctor seldom takes physio, 92
The dog barks and the ox feeds, 76
The dog does not get bread every time he wags his tail, 159
The dog gets into the mill under cover of the ass, 57
The dog rages at the stone, not at him who throws it, 138
The dog that barks much, bites little, 272 (_See_ Dogs that bark)
The dog that barks much is never good for hunting, 271
The dog that bites does not bark in vain, 76
The dog that has been beaten with a stick is afraid of its shadow, 101
The dog that has its bitch in town never barks well, 208
The dog that is forced into the woods will not hunt many deer, 354
The dog that is quarrelsome and not strong, woe to his hide, 77
The dog that kills wolves, is killed by wolves, 240, 271
The dog that licks ashes is not to be trusted with flour, 65
The dog that means to bite don’t bark, 101
The dog that starts the hare is as good as the one that catches it,
138
The dog wags his tail, not for you but your bread, 110, 232, 269
The dog will not get free by biting his chain, 379
The dogs bite the hindermost, 137
The dog’s kennel is not the place to keep a sausage, 380
The dress does not make the friar, 217
The drunken man’s joy is often the sober man’s sorrow, 363
The drunken mouth reveals the heart’s secrets, 171
The eagle does not catch (or hunt) flies, 29, 138 (_See_ Eagles)
The eagle does not war against frogs, 107
The early riser is healthy, cheerful, and industrious, 20
The earth covers the errors of the physician, 99
The earth hides, as it takes, the physician’s mistakes, 230
The earth is always frozen to lazy swine, 382
The earthen pan gains nothing by contact with the copper pot, 384
The egg will be more knowing than the hen, 137
The election of the abbot is not stopped for want of a monk, 119
The elephant does not feel a flea-bite, 108
The Emperor of Germany is the king of kings, the King of Spain king
of men, the King of France king of asses, the King of England king of
devils, 33
The empty waggon must make room for the full one, 139
The end crowns the work, 29, 102, 288, 322
The end of all things is death, 322
The end of mirth is the beginning of sorrow, 322
The end of the corsair is to drown, 102
The end of wrath is the beginning of repentance, 191
The envious man’s face grows sharp and his eyes big, 196, 266
The envious will die, but envy never, 34
The evil which issues from thy mouth falls into thy bosom, 218
The executioner is a keen shaver, 138
The eye is bigger than the belly, 140
The eye is blind if the mind is absent, 88
The eye is never satiated with seeing, 136
The eye of the master fattens the steed, 37, 109, 219, 380
The eye of the master makes the horse fat, and that of the mistress
the chambers neat, 325
The eyes are bigger than the belly, 306
The eyes believe themselves, the ears other people, 140
The fairer the hostess, the heavier the reckoning, 155
The false friend is like the shadow of a sun-dial, 32
The farther from Rome the nearer to God, 328
The farthest way about is the nearest way home, 143
The fat sow knows not what the hungry sow suffers, 353
The father a saint, the son a sinner (or devil), 92, 212, 275
The fatter the flea the leaner the dog, 154
The fault is as great as he that commits it, 28, 258
The fear of war is worse than war itself, 119
The feast passes and the fool remains, 118, 239
The fertile field becomes sterile without rest, 216
The fewer the words the better the prayer, 155
The fierce ox becomes tame on strange ground, 216
The fingers of the same hand are not alike, 290
The fire burns brightest on one’s own hearth, 351
The fire heeds little whose cloak it burns, 380
The fire is welcome within when icicles hang without, 351
The fire well knows whose cloak burns, 205
The first at the mill grinds first, 85
The first bird gets the first grain, 353
The first blow is as good as two, 33, 103
The first comer grinds first (First come, first served), 33
The first dish pleases every one, 107
The first in the boat has the choice of oars, 317
The first occasion offered quickly take, lest thou repine at what
thou didst forsake, 320
The first step binds one to the second, 33
The first step is all the difficulty, 26 (_See_ The difficult thing)
The first wife is a broom, and the second a lady, 228
The fish lead a pleasant life, they drink when they like, 140
The fisherman fishes in troubled water, 284
The flame is not far from the smoke, 385
The flatterer’s throat is an open sepulchre, 100
The flawed pot lasts longest, 36
The flitch hangs never so high but a dog will look out for the bone,
368
The fly flutters about the candle till at last it gets burnt, 306
The fly that bites the tortoise breaks its beak, 106
The fool cuts himself with his own knife, 32
The fool hunts for misfortune, 32
The fool knows more in his own house than the sage in other men’s, 120
The fool who is silent passes for wise, 19, 289
The foot of the farmer manures the field, 351
The forest has ears, and the field has eyes, 398
The fortress that parleys soon surrenders, 77
The fox advised the others to cut off their tails, because he had
left his own in the trap, 107
The fox changes his skin, but keeps the rogue, 138
The fox does not do as much mischief in a year as it pays for in an
hour, 235
The fox does not go twice into the same trap, 395
The fox does not prey near his hole, 188
The fox goes through the corn and does not eat, but brushes it down
with his tail (Galician), 204
The fox is knowing, but more knowing he who catches him, 233, 284
The fox knows well with whom he plays tricks, 205
The fox may lose his hair, but not his cunning, 316
The fox said the grapes were sour, 107
The fox says of the mulberries when he cannot get at them, they are
good for nothing, 2
The fox that sleeps in the morning has not his tongue feathered, 55
The fox that tarries long is on the watch for prey, 254
The fox thinks everybody eats poultry like himself, 20
The Frenchman sings well when his throat is moistened, 269
The friar (or monk) who begs for God begs for two, 222
The friendship of great men is like the shadow of a bush, soon gone, 4
The friendship of the great is fraternity with lions, 70
The frog does not bite, because it cannot, 107
The frog will jump back into the pool, although it sits on a golden
stool, 307
The fruit falls not far from the stem, 307
The fugitive finds everything impede him, 66
The full belly does not believe in hunger, 89
The full cask makes no noise, 105 (_See_ Full vessels)
The full-fed cow makes company of her tail, 228
The full-fed sheep is frightened at her own tail, 238, 290
The fuller the cask, the duller its sound, 155
The gallows takes its own, 226
The gallows was made for the unlucky, 106, 239
The game is not worth the candle, 32
The gardener’s dog neither eats greens (or lettuce) nor lets any one
else eat them, 76, 219, 290
The gardener’s dog, neither full nor hungry, 219
The gardener’s feet do no harm to the garden, 230
The generous man enriches himself by giving, the miser hoards himself
poor, 310, 354
The gentle calf sucks all the cows, 269
The gentle hawk mans herself, 41
The gentle lamb sucks any ewe as well as its mother, the surly lamb
sucks neither its own nor another, 216
The Germans carry their wit in their fingers, 33
The girl as she is taught, the flax as it is wrought, 227
The glass-dealer’s horses fell out, and he looked on to see which
kicked hardest, 254
The goat can’t well cover herself with her tail, 230
The golden ass passes everywhere, 202
The golden key opens every door, 88, 105
The good seaman is known in bad weather, 101
The good shepherd shears, not flays, 101
The good time comes but once, 103
The goose goes so often into the kitchen, till at last she sticks to
the spit, 369
The goose hisses, but does not bite, 305
The goose that has a good gander cackles loudly, 353
The goose that has lost its head no longer cackles, 353
The goslings would lead the geese out to grass, 35
The gossips fall out and tell each other truths, 254
The gown does not make the friar (or monk), 36, 105
The grapes are sour, said the fox when he could not reach them, 202,
304 (_See_ The fox said)
The greater the fear, the nearer the danger, 382
The greatest burdens are not the gainfullest, 17
The greatest conqueror is he who conquers himself, 185
The greatest cunning is to have none at all, 30
The greatest step is out of doors, 138
The green burns for the dry, and the righteous pay for sinners, 202
The greyhound that starts many hares kills none, 223, 278
The guests will go away, and we will eat the pasty, 279
The gutter by dropping wears the stone, 226
The handsomest snuffs the candle, 141
The handsomest woman can only give what she has, 30
The hardest step is over the threshold, 103
The hare always returns to her form, 32
The hare starts from where it is least expected, 91, 214, 241
The hasty man was never a traitor, 152
The headache is mine, and the cows are ours, 264
The heart does not lie, 322
The heart does not think all the mouth says, 113
The heart is no traitor, 216
The heart leads whither it goes, 32
The hen flies not far unless the cock flies with her, 399
The hen is ill off when the egg teaches her how to cackle, 360
The hen lays upon an egg, 258
The hen likes to lay in a nest where there are eggs already, 137
The hen lives by pickings, as the lion by prey, 396
The hen ought not to cackle in presence of the cock, 30
The hen that stays at home picks up the crumbs, 278
The hen’s eyes are with her chickens, 30
The hen’s eyes follow her eggs (Galician), 204, 289
The herb patience does not grow in every man’s garden, 400
The heron blames the water because he cannot swim, 374
The higher the ape climbs the more he shows his rump, 45, 154
The higher the bell is hung, the shriller it sounds, 154
The higher the mountain the lower the vale, the taller the tree the
harder the fall, 328
The higher the rise the greater the fall, 15, 69, 211
The hole invites the thief, 215
The honest man enjoys the theft, 216
The horse is not judged of by the saddle, 137
The horse must go to the manger, and not the manger to the horse, 374
The horse that draws best is the most whipped, 43, 137
The horse thinks one thing, and his rider another, 260
The horse’s best allowance is his master’s eye, 280 (_See_ The eye of
the master)
The horseshoe that clatters wants a nail, 224
The house completed, possession defeated, 77
The hunchback does not see his own hump, but sees his companion’s,
31, 216
The husband’s mother is the wife’s devil, 140
The ill year comes in swimming, 32
The injurer never forgives, 84
The interested friend is a swallow on the roof (Prepared to leave at
the approach of winter), 29
The Italianised Englishman is a devil incarnate, 109
The Italians are wise before the act, the Germans in the act, the
French after the act, 99
The Italians cry, the Germans bawl, and the French sing, 35
The Jew ruins himself with passovers, the Moor with wedding feasts,
and the Christian with lawsuits, 218
The kettle smuts the frying-pan, 31
The key at the girdle keeps me good and my neighbour too, 264
The key that is used grows bright, 139
The keys at the girdle, the dog in the larder, 228
The king cannot always rule as he wishes, 139
The king goes as far as he can, not so far as he would, 220
The king likes the treachery, but not the traitor, 239
The king of the bees has no sting, 290
The king’s chaff is better than other folk’s corn, 140
The kite’s malady, its wings broken and its beak sound, 218
The laggard cow gets the sour grass, 355
The lame goat does not take a siesta, 270
The land a man knows is his mother, 228
The last come is the best liked, 32
The last comers are often the masters, 34
The last shuts the door, 87, 139
The last stole the sack, 139
The late comer is ill lodged, 86
The later the evening the fairer the company, 155
The law devised, its evasion contrived, 278
The law says what the king pleases, 29
The lawyer’s pouch is a mouth of hell, 29
The lazy pig does not eat ripe pears, 121
The lazy servant takes eight steps to avoid one, 219, 289
The lean dog is all fleas, 197
The less said the sooner mended, 343
The letter enters with blood, 226
The liar is not believed when he speaks the truth, 69
The liar is sooner caught than the cripple, 200
The light is painful to sore eyes, 68
The lion had need of the mouse, 102
The lion is known by his claws, 90
The lion is not so fierce as he is painted, 235
The list is worse than the cloth, 29
The listener makes the backbiter, 32
The little alms are the good alms, 30
The lives of doctors, the souls of priests, and the property of
lawyers, are in great danger, 107
The longest way round is the shortest way home, 107
The Lord will not fail to come, though he may not come on horseback,
403
The loss which your neighbour does not know is no real loss, 267
The loyal man lives no longer than the traitor pleases, 237
The lucky man has a daughter for his first-born, 196, 264
The mad dog bites its master, 289