A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

BE what you would seem to be

C f. AESCHYLUS Seven against Thebes 1. 592
for he wishes not to appear but to be the best;
SALLUST Catilina liv. Esse, quam videri, bonus malebat, he [sc. Cato] preferred to be good,
rather than to seem good.

c 1377 LANGLAND Piers Plowman B. X. 253 Suche as thow semest in syghte, be in

assay [trial] y-founde. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 724 Be what thou

wouldst seeme to be. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 68 Be what you seem, and seem

what you are. The best way! for Hypocrisy is soon discovered. 1865 ‘L. CARROLL

‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ix. It’s a vegetable. It doesn’t look like one, but it is.

.. the moral of that is—‘Be what you would seem to be.’ 1980 G. SIMS in H. Watson

Winter Crimes 12 158 The Benningworth family motto Esse quam videri, ‘To be rather

than to seem to be’. appearance

bean see CANDLEMAS day, put beans in the clay, put candles and candle-sticks away.

BEAR and forbear

Cf. EPICTETUS Fragments X. be patient and endure; ERASMUS
Adages II. vii. 13 sustine et abstine.

1573 T. TUSSER Husbandry (rev. ed.) II. 12V Both beare and forbeare, now and then

as ye may, then wench God a mercy [reward you], thy husband will say. 1688 BUNYAN

Discourse of Building, &c. House of God 53 To bear and forbear here, will tend to rest.

1871 S. SMILES Character xi. The golden rule of married life is, ‘Bear and forbear’.

1940 H. W. THOMPSON Body, Boots & Britches xix. You must take two bears two live

with you—Bear and Forbear. patience and impatience; tolerance

bear (noun) see don’t SELL the skin till you have caught the bear.

beard see it is MERRY in hall when beards wag all.

beast see when the WIND is in the east, ‘tis neither good for man nor beast.