A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

doorstep the city would soon be clean.’ 2002 Washington Times 14 Aug. B5 You’re right

—and if everyone swept his own doorstep, this world would be a cleaner place.

cleanliness; society

SWEEP the house with broom in May, you sweep the head of the house away

There was a widespread folk belief associating broom with witches and magic; hence,
flowering broom was considered unlucky and a harbinger of death in any house into which it
was brought.

1873 Folk-Lore Record I. 52 The old gentleman.. strictly forbade green brooms

being used in his house during the month of May, and, as a reason for the prohibition,

used to quote the adage—’If you sweep the house with broom in May, You’ll sweep the

head of that house away’. 1943 H. C. BAILEY Mr. Fortune Finds Pig (1948) xvi. 64

‘What hadn’t you thought of?’ Rosen demanded sharply.’ “Sweep the house with broom

in May”, Reggie murmured, ‘“You sweep the head of the house away. calendar lore;

superstition

sweep see also NEW brooms sweep clean.

With a SWEET tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant by a hair

Of Iranian origin; a variant is ‘.. drag a snake..’.

2001 Seattle Times 31 Mar. All With a sweet tongue and kindness you can drag an

elephant by a hair.—Persian proverb. 2006 Times 4 Sept. 20 Another local maxim appears

to capture the outside world’s response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions. It is akin to an

ancient remark: ‘A gentle hand may lead an elephant by a hair.’ For that is clearly the

approach that Kofi Annan, on behalf of the United Nations, and Javier Solana, for the

European Union, are adopting. gentleness; tact

sweet see also LITTLE fish are sweet; REVENGE is sweet; STOLEN fruit is sweet;
STOLEN waters are sweet.

sweeter see the NEARER the bone, the sweeter the meat.

From the SWEETEST wine, the tartest vinegar