A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

post see the post of HONOUR is the post of danger.

A POSTERN door makes a thief

Similar to OPPORTUNITY makes a thief. A postern door is a back door or small entrance
distinct from the main access.

c 1450 Proverbs of Good Counsel in Book of Precedence (EETS) 69 A nyse wyfe,

and a back dore, Makyth often tymus A ryche man pore. 1573 J. SANFORDE Garden of

Pleasure 107 The posterne dore destroyeth the house. 1611 J. DAVIES Scourge of Folly

146 The Posterne doore makes theefe and whore. But, were that dam’d with Stone, or

Clay, Whoores and Theeues would find a way. 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia no. 6176

The Postern Door Makes Thief and Whore. 1977 J. AIKEN Five-Minute Marriage xi. ‘I

shall never be able to sleep securely in this room, if thieves are to be always breaking in

and waking me up!’ ‘A postern door do always make a thief.’ honesty and dishonesty;

opportunity, taken

pot see if IFS and ands were pots and pans, there’d be no work for tinkers’ hands; a
LITTLE pot is soon hot; you cannot get a QUART into a pint pot; a WATCHED pot never
boils.

pound see IN for a penny, in for a pound; an OUNCE of practice is worth a pound of
precept; take care of the PENCE and the pounds will take care of themselves; PENNY wise
and pound foolish.

pour see it never RAINS but it pours.

When POVERTY comes in at the door, love flies out of the window

Similar in sentiment to 1474 CAXTON Game of Chess III. iii. Herof men saye a comyn
prouerbe in englond that loue lastest as longe as the money endurith.

1631 R. BRATHWAIT English Gentlewoman vi. It hath been an old Maxime; that as

pouerty goes in at one doore, loue goes out at the other. 1639 J. CLARKE Parœmio-logia

Anglo-Latina 25 When povertie comes in at doores, love leapes out at win-dowes. 1790

Universal Asylum Aug. 84 I hope, ladies, none of you may ever experience, that ‘when