A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

between 1971 and 1981 is a great tribute to the wholehearted labours of thousands of

Welsh patriots who have made the language the centre-piece of the national effort.

Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb gallon. A nation without a language is a nation without a

heart. 2007 posting 11 Feb. on anthropology.net In Ireland we have a saying ’Tir gan

teanga, tir gan anam’ a country without a language is a country without a soul. The same

applies to a people. national characteristics

nation see also happy is the COUNTRY which has no history; the ENGLISH are a nation
of shopkeepers.

NATURE abhors a vacuum

Cf. L. natura abhorret vacuum, Nature abhors a vacuum.

1551 CRANMER Answer to Gardiner 299 Naturall reason abhorreth vacuum. 1642

T. FULLER Holy State v. ii. Queen Joan.. (hating widowhood as much as Nature doth

vacuum) maried James King of Majorca. 1686 R. BOYLE Free Inquiry V II. 292 The

Axiom of the Schools, that Nature abhors a Vacuum. 1771 S. JOHNSON Letter 20 June

(1952) I. 249 Whatever philosophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true

of intellectual nature, that it abhors a vacuum: our minds cannot be empty. 2001

Washington Times 30 Oct. A4 The White House should have expected this, of course,

since the media, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Nature; opportunity, taken

nature see also you can DRIVE out Nature with a pitchfork, but she keeps on coming
back; SELF-preservation is the first law of nature.

nay see he that WILL not when he may, when he will he shall have nay.

NEAR is my kirtle, but nearer is my smock

A justification for looking after one’s own closest interests; see also the next proverb. A
kirtle is a woman’s skirt or gown; a smock is an undergarment. Cf. PLAUTUS Trinummus 1.
1154 tunica propior palliost, my tunic is closer than my cloak.

1461 Paston Letters (1976) II. 228 Nere is my kyrtyl but nerre is my smok. 1545 R.

TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages (ed. 2) B7V The Englysshe prouerbe sayethe thus: nere

is my cote, but nerer is my shyrt. 1622 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 1 May (1903) 1. 126