A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1605 E. SANDYS Europx Speculum K3 This over-politick .. order may reach a note

higher than our grosse conceipts, who think honestie the best policie. a 1763 J. BYROM

Poems (1773) I. 75 I’ll filch no filching;—and I’ll tell no lye; Honesty’s the best policy,

—say I. 1854 R. WHATELY Detached Thoughts II. xviii. ‘Honesty is the best policy’;

but he who acts on that principle is not an honest man. 1928 J. GALSWORTHY Swan

Song vi. It had been in their systems just as the proverb ‘Honesty is the best policy’ was

in that of the private banking which then obtained. 2001 Washington Times 17 July A 18

It is not a phrase I’m particularly fond of, for it endorses a virtue not for itself but for

practical reasons, yet it bears repeating: Honesty is still the best policy. conduct;

honesty and dishonesty

HONEY catches more flies than vinegar

Soft or ingratiating words achieve more than sharpness. cf. St. Francis de Sales (1567–
1622) in L. de la Rivière Vie de..François de Sales (1624) 584: souvenez-vous que l’on prends
plus de mouches avec une cuillerée de miel qu’avec cent barils de vinaigre (remember that
one catches more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar).

1666 G. TORRIANO Italian Proverbs 149 Honey gets more flyes to it, than doth

viniger. 1744 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (Mar.) Tart Words make no

Friends: spoonful of honey will catch more flies than Gallon of Vinegar. 1955 W. C.

MACDONALD Destination Danger X. I .. know the old saying relative to honey catching

more flies than vinegar. .. If this is an act, you might as well save your breath. 1996

Washington Post 25 Oct. B4 Ask his advice frequently, and thank him profusely for his

wisdom and guidance. Remember that old adage ‘You can catch more flies with honey

than with vinegar.’ tact

honey see also where BEES are, there is honey; one DAY honey, one day onion.

There is HONOUR among thieves

The concept is found in c 1622–3 Soddered Citizen (1936) 1. 305 Theeues haue betweene
themselues, a truth, And faith, which they keepe firme, by which They doe subsist; 1703 P. A.
MOTTEUX Don Quixote II. lx. The old proverb still holds good, Thieves are never rogues
among themselves.

1802 J. BENTHAM Works (1843) IV. 225 A sort of honour may be found (according

to a proverbial saying) even among thieves. 1823 J. BEE Dict. Turf 98 ‘There is honour

among thieves, but none among gamblers,’ is very well antithetically spoken, but not true

in fact. 1984 J. REEVES Murder before Matins vi. Honour among thieves was an empty