A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

quites el sayo, Do not leave off your Coat till May be past. 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia

no. 6193 Leave not off a Clout [item of clothing], Till May be out. 1832 A. HENDERSON

Scottish Proverbs 154 Cast ne’er a clout till May be out. 1948 R. GRAVES White

Goddess x. In ancient Greece, as in Britain, this [May] was the month in which people

went about in old clothes—a custom referred to in the proverb ‘Ne’er cast a clout ere

May be out,’ meaning ‘do not put on new clothes until the unlucky month is over.’ 1970

N. STREATFEILD Thursday’s Child xxv. I still wear four petticoats.. Ne’er cast a clout

till May be out. 1996 C. DUNN Murder on Flying Scotsman i. 7 Brought up on ‘Ne’er

cast a clout till May be out’ (May month or may blossom? she had always wondered),

Daisy was wearing her green tweed winter coat. calendar lore; dress

cast see also COMING events cast their shadows before; OLD sins cast long shadows; do
not throw PEARLS to swine.

castle see an ENGLISHMAN’S house is his castle.

casualty see TRUTH is the first casualty of war.

It doesn’t matter if a CAT is black or white, as long as it catches mice

Chinese saying advocating pragmatism, possibly coined by Deng Xiaoping (1904–97).

1997 Daily Telegraph 20 Feb. (obituary of Deng Xiaoping, quoting from early

1960s) It doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice. 2001 I.

CASES and v. DE LORENZO ‘The black cat/white cat principle of signal integration in

bacterial promoters’ in Embo Journal xx ‘Black cat, white cat: whatever catches the

mouse is a good cat’ (Chinese proverb). 2006 South China Morning Post 9 May (online)

Director of Broadcasting Chu Pui-hing.. said RTHK.. also had to abide by the rules.

‘There is a saying: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a black cat or white cat. It’s a good cat

as long as it catches mice.” .. [W]e are well aware that catching mice alone doesn’t make

us a good cat. We need to be a cat that catches mice according to the rules.’ efficiency

and inefficiency; pragmatism

A CAT in gloves catches no mice

Restraint and caution (or ‘pussyfooting’) achieve nothing. Cf. 14th-cent. Fr. chat engaunté
ne surrizera ja bien, a gloved cat will never mouse well.