A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

bicycle see a WOMAN without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.

Never BID the Devil good morrow until you meet him

1873 J. MORRIS Wanderings of Vagabond ii. 19 The firm of Giles & Morris never

looked ahead to meet trouble, but were firm believers in an old Irish adage, which affirms

that, ‘It’s time enough to bid the devil good morning when you meet him.’ 1905 A.

CARNEGIE James Watt iv. 77 Roebuck, on the contrary, continued hopeful and

energetic, and often rallied his pessimistic partner on his propensity to look upon the dark

side. He was one of those who adhered to the axiom, ‘Never bid the devil good-morning

till you meet him.’ 1923 Seanad Eireann 14 June (electronic ed.) MR. LINEHAN: Have

you any indication as to whether the National Health Insurance Bill will be certified as a

Money Bill? It looks very like the Unemployment Insurance Bill. AN

CATHAOIRLEACH: It may be, but never bid the devil good morrow until you meet him.

MR. LINEHAN: It may be too late then. 1929 F. D. GRIERSON Green Diamond Mystery

vi. 66 By the time they reached Calais Kit had wisely resolved, in the classic phrase, not

to bid the Devil good-morrow till he met him; in other words, to wait until he saw June,

and then be guided by her reception of him. 1998 Beloit Daily News 19 Mar. (electronic

ed.) Over the weekend, Ryan responded to hypothetical questions about having Fitzgerald

on the ticket by saying ‘We should never bid the devil good morning until we meet him.’

good and evil

BIG fish eat little fish

a 1200 Old English Homilies (EETS) 2nd Ser. 179 The more [bigger] fishes in the se

eten the lasse [smaller]. c 1300 in J. Small English Metrical Homilies (1862) 136 Al this

werld es bot a se,.. And gret fisches etes the smale. For riche men of this werd [world]

etes, That pouer [the poor] wit thair travail getes. 1608 SHAKESPEARE Pericles II. i. 27

Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.—Why, as men do a-land—the great ones

eat up the little ones. 1979 New Society 6 Dec. 557 The state today.. seems like nothing so

much [as] a huge aquarium. .. Big fish eat little fish, and the great fish eat the big. great

and small

BIG fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite them, and little fleas have lesser
fleas, and so ad infinitum

1733 SWIFT Poems II. 651 The Vermin only teaze and pinch Their Foes superior by

an Inch. So Nat’ralists observe, a Flea Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey, And these

have smaller Fleas to bite ’em, And so proceed ad infinitum. 1872 A. DE MORGAN

Budget of Paradoxes 377 Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ’em, And