A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

fiction see FACT is stranger than fiction; TRUTH is stranger than fiction.

fiddle see there’s many a GOOD tune played on an old fiddle.

fiddler see they that DANCE must pay the fiddler.

FIELDS have eyes, and woods have ears

The urban equivalent is WALLS have ears.

c 1225 in Englische Studien (1902) XXXI. 8 Veld haued hege [eye], and wude haued

heare—Campus habet lumen et habet nemus auris acumen. c 1386 CHAUCER Knight’s

Tale 1.1522 But sooth is seyd, go sithen many yeres, That ‘feeld hath eyen and the wode

hath eres’. 1640 J. HOWELL Dodona’s Grove A4V Hedges have eares, the rurall Proverb

sayes. 1738 SWIFT Polite Conversation iii. 199 ‘O, Miss; ‘tis nothing what we say

among ourselves.’.. ‘Ay Madam; but they say Hedges have Eyes, and Walls have Ears.’

1905 S. J. WEYMAN Starvecrow Farm xxviii. Heedful of the old saying, that fields have

eyes and woods have ears, she looked carefully round her before she laid her hand on the

gate. eavesdroppers

FIGHT fire with fire

An injunction to counter like with like. Cf. early 14th-cent. Fr. lung feu doit estaindre
lautre, one fire must put out another; 1608 SHAKESPEARE Coriolanus IV. vii. 54 One fire
drives out one fire; one nail, one nail.

1846 J. F. COOPER Redskins III. i. If ‘Fire will fight fire’, ‘Indian’ ought to be a

match for ‘Injin’ any day. 1869 P. T. BARNUM Struggles & Triumphs xl. I write to ask

what your intentions are. .. Do you intend to fight fire with fire? 1980 C. SMITH Cut-out

ix. ‘You think the other Palestinians have hired some heavies as well?’ ‘Why not? Fight

fire with fire.’ similarity and dissimilarity; ways and means

fight see also COUNCILS of war never fight; when ELEPHANTS fight, it is the grass that
suffers; while TWO dogs are fighting for a bone, a third runs away with it.

He who FIGHTS and runs away, may live to fight another day