A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

That king.. having too many irons in the fire at his own home.. answered them that his

shirt was nearer to him than his doublet. 1861 C. READE Cloister & Hearth IV. xxix.

You must not think all of him and none of yourself. Near is your kirtle, but nearer is your

smock. self-preservation

NEAR is my shirt, but nearer is my skin

See also the preceding proverb. Cf. early 14th-cent. Fr. plus pres m’est char que n’est
chemise, my skin is nearer to me than my shirt.

c 1570 in J. P. Collier Old Ballads (1840) 99 Neerer is my skin then shirte. 1631 J.

HENSHAW Spare Hours of Meditations 63 His charitie beginnes at home, and there it

ends; neere is his coat, but neerer is his skinne. 1712 J. ARBUTHNOT Lewis Baboon v.

My Shirt (quoth he) is near me, but my Skin is nearer: Whilst I take care of the Welfare

of other Folks, no body can blame me, to apply a little Balsam to my own Sores. 1890 T.

H. HALL CAINEBondman II. X. ‘We can’t trust you.’.. ‘Not your own brother?’ said

Jacob. ‘“Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin,” as the saying is.’ self-preservation

The NEARER the bone, the sweeter the meat

a 1398 J. TREVISA tr. Bartholomew’s On Properties of Things (1975) xix. 1 The

nerer the boon the swetter is the flesshe. a 1661 T. FULLER Worthies (Wales) 2 As the

sweetest flesh is said to be nearest the bones, so most delicious vallies are interposed

betwixt these Mountains. 1778 in B. Franklin Writings (1906) VIII. 258 We all agree the

nearer the bone the sweeter the meat. 1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise i. ‘The nearer the

bone the sweeter the meat,’ they used to say, and they were getting very near the bone. ..

Their children.. would have to depend wholly upon whatever was carved for them from

the communal joint. 1979 ‘TREVANIAN’Shiborni I. 38 A little skinny.. for my taste, but,

like my ol’ daddy used to say: the closer the bone, the sweeter the meat. 1996 Washington

Post 27 Nov. B7 He inserts the rib in his mouth. ‘The closer to the bone, the sweeter the

meat,’ he notes. value

The NEARER the church, the farther from God

1303 R. BRUNNE Handlyng Synne (EETS) 1. 9242 Tharfor men seys, an weyl ys

trowed [believed], ‘the nere the cherche, the fyrther fro God.’ 1620 T. SHELTON tr.

Cervantes’ Don Quixote II. xlvii. Eat nothing of all this meat.. for this dinner was

presented by Nunnes, and it is an olde saying, The neerer the Church, the farther from

God. 1879 J. E. HOPKINS Work amongst Working Men i. I fear it was a practical