A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

don’t want to be done with it,’ Trudy said. ‘I want it to go on and on.’ ‘Fat chance of that.

Men don’t buy the cow if they can get the milk for—’ marriage

cow see also a BELLOWING cow soon forgets her calf; BETTER a good cow than a cow
of a good kind; it is idle to SWALLOW the cow and choke on the tail; THREE things are not
to be trusted.

coward see a BULLY is always a coward; CONSCIENCE makes cowards of us all.

COWARDS die many times before their death

The popular form is a misquotation of Shakespeare (see quot. 1599) Cf. 1596 DRAYTON
Mortimeriados S1 Every houre he dyes, which ever feares.

1599 SHAKESPEARE Julius Caesar II. ii. 32 Cowards die many times before their

deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once. 1800 M. EDGEWORTH Castle

Rackrent p. xliv. In Ireland, not only cowards, but the brave ‘die many times before their

death.’ 1927 Sphere 3 Dec. 414 It is true that cowards die many times before their death,

and Noel Coward will come back again and again, and.. win his niche among the great

dramatists. cowardice

The COWL does not make the monk

Appearance is no reliable guide to a person’s true character. Cf. medieval L. cucullus non
facit monachum, the cowl does not make the monk; a 1250 Ancrene Wisse (1962) 10 Her in is
religiun, nawt i the wide hod ne i the blake cape.

1387 T. USK Testament of Love in Chaucer Complete Works (1897) II. xi. For habit

maketh no monk; ne weringe of gilte spurres maketh no knight. 1588 R. GREENE

Pandosto IV. 289 Trueth quoth Fawnia, but all that weare Cooles [cowls] are not Monkes.

1613 SHAKESPEARE Henry VIII III. i. 23 They should be good men, their affairs as

righteous; But all hoods make not monks. 1820 SCOTT Abbot II. xi. ‘Call me not doctor..

since I have laid aside my furred gown and bonnet.’.. ‘O, sir.. the cowl makes not the

monk.’ 1891 G. B. SHAW Music in London (1932) I. 217 Such impostures are sure of

support from the sort of people.. who think that it is the cowl that makes the monk. 1940

‘S. ASHE’ I Am Saxon Ashe 58 ‘Darling—there is a Latin tag that runs: A cowl does not

necessarily hide a monk. Let me vary it for you: the clown is not necessarily a fool.’

appearance, deceptive