A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

the way, and hastie climers quicklie catch a fall. 1616 N. BRETON Crossing of Proverbs II. A4 Hasty climbers haue sodaine falls. ...

polity. Clothes have made men of us. 1933 J. HILTON Lost Horizon 3 Still, it did happen —and it goes some way to show that cloth ...

Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina 21 Cobler keepe to your last. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 242 Let not the Cobler go beyond his las ...

cock see also there’s many a GOOD cock come out of a tattered bag; the ROBIN and the wren are God’s cock and hen. COLD hands, wa ...

[Earthly] observation was of particular appropriateness during an epoch when the tempo of events was so speeded up. future comma ...

The COMPANY makes the feast 1653 I. WALTON Compleat Angler iii. Take this for a rule, you may pick out such times and such compa ...

1589 ‘MISOPHONUS’ De Caede Gallorum Regis A2V Confesse and be hangede man In English some saie. 1604 SHAKESPEARE Othello IV. i. ...

Proverbs 112 A clean conscience is a good pillow. conscience CONSCIENCE makes cowards of us all Quot. 1912 is a humorous pervers ...

LAWRENCE Letter 19 Dec. (1962) I. 169 She says a woman can only have one husband. .. Constant dropping will wear away a stone, a ...

COUNCILS of war never fight People discussing matters in a group never reach the decision to take action, which an individual wo ...

In the COUNTRY of the blind, the one-eyed man is king ‘A little wit, among foolish people, will pass a man for a great genius’ ( ...

language is a nation without a heart; OTHER times, other manners; a PROPHET is not without honour save in his own country. coupl ...

don’t want to be done with it,’ Trudy said. ‘I want it to go on and on.’ ‘Fat chance of that. Men don’t buy the cow if they can ...

cradle see the HAND that rocks the cradle rules the world. A CREAKING door hangs longest Usually said consolingly about, by, or ...

A US slogan particularly associated with the radio crime series The Shadow, in which it was spoken by The Shadow at the end of e ...

trouble cross (noun) see NO cross, no crown. CROSSES are ladders that lead to heaven There are two strands to the proverb, punni ...

cry see also MUCH cry and little wool; SING before breakfast, cry before night. It is no use CRYING over spilt milk It is pointl ...

that may nat be eschiwed But of force mot be sywed [followed]. 1579 SPENSER Shepherd’s Calendar (Sept.) 88 And cleanly couer, th ...

chickens, come home to roost.’ The Supreme Court taught that lesson one more time last week in an opinion that combined bad law ...

Actions should suit circumstances or resources. Also common as the metaphorical phrase to cut one’s coat according to one’s clot ...