A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1581 G. PETTIE tr. S. Guazzo’s Civil Conversation III. 51 If the prouerbe be true,..

that a fishe beginneth first to smell at the head,.. the faultes of our seruantes will be layed

vppon vs. 1611 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French & English s.v. Teste, Fish euer begins to

taint at the head; the first thing that’s deprau’d in man’s his wit. 1915 W. S.

CHURCHILL Letter 3 Dec. in M. Gilbert Winston S. Churchill (1972) III. Compan. II.

1309 The guilt of criminality attaches to those responsible. ‘Well,’ said the Aga Khan,

‘fish goes rotten by the head.’ 1981 Sunday Telegraph 3 May 16 ‘The fish’, as the saying

goes, ‘always stinks from the head downwards.’ Last Sunday we deplored Mr. Michael

Foot’s liking for the street politics of marches and ‘demos’. Since then, a hundred Labour

MPs.. have followed their leader’s example. 2002 Washington Post 19 Mar. A21 Cardinal

Law has to go. The Vatican has to speak up. This fish, as they say, rots from the head.

rulers and ruled

FISH and guests smell after three days

Cf. PLAUTUS Miles Gloriosus 1. 741 nam hospes nullus tam in amici hospitium devorti
potest, quin, ubi triduom continuom fuerit, iam odiosus siet, no host can be hospitable enough
to prevent a friend who has descended on him from becoming tiresome after three days.

1580 LYLY Euphues & his England II. 81 As we say in Athens, fishe and gestes in

three dayes are stale. 1648 HERRICK Hesperides 169 Two dayes y’ave larded here; a

third yee know, Makes guests and fish smell strong; pray go. 1736 B. FRANKLIN Poor

Richard’s Almanack (Jan.) Fish and visitors smell in three days. 1869 Notes & Queries

4th Ser. IV. 272 ‘See that you wear not out your welcome.’ This is an elegant rendering of

the vulgar saying that ‘Fish and company stink in three days’. 1985 J. S. BORTHWICK

Down East Murders iv. How long should she stay? She remembered the universal truth

that fish and guests smell after three days. 2001 Washington Times 21 Nov. B1 Fish and

visitors smell after three days, the old adage goes. Yet the experience of hosting a crowd

for an extended time over the holidays need not leave a bad taste—or odor—for someone

prepared to cope. hospitality

There are as good FISH in the sea as ever came out of it

Now often used as a consolation to rejected lovers: ‘there are plenty more fish in the sea’.

c 1573 G. HARVEY Letter-Book (1884) 126 In the mayne sea theres good stoare of

fishe, And in delicate gardens.. Theres alwayes greate varietye of desirable flowers. 1816

T. L. PEACOCK Headlong Hall xiv. There never was a fish taken out of the sea, but left