PROVERBS.
He who lives with cripples learns to limp.
The best steersman stands ashore.
Self is the man.
He gives an egg to get a chicken.
They are not all princes who ride with the emperor.
He howls with the wolves when he is in the wood, and bleats with the sheep in the field.
A little too late, much too late.
Stand still a while, you lose a mile.
The nearer Rome the worse Christian.
Call no herring before he’s in the net.
He who has choice has anxiety.
Don’t put too many eggs under one hen.
If fools were silent they’d be wise.
No man dies of threats.
The fowl that cackles most does not lay most eggs.
No mad dog ever ran for seven years.
One can see by the stockings whose leg is broken.
You should hang your cloak towards the wind.
No man ever limped for another’s sore foot.
It’s ill stealing where the host is a thief.
’Tis ill eating cherries with lords.
When slovenly people turn over a new leaf they polish the bottoms of the saucepans.
What belongs to the ravens[30]will never drown.
All offices are greasy.[31]
What the sow does the little pigs must pay for.
With much pounding the stockfish becomes tender.
No man sees his own hump-back.
’Tis an ill water, said the horse, for he could not swim.
’Tis an ill morsel that chokes one.
Let them pump who are cold, I have my coat on.[32]
All that come of cats will go mewing.
Let the plover peck, I have the eggs in my hat.
Though the ape should wear a golden ring, yet he is an ugly thing.
He who has a fine cat should bring no furrier into his house.
Lands become sand, sands become land. (Landen versanden, sanden verlanden.An epitome of the physical history of Holland.)
The greater jurist the worse Christian.
When the gnats dance in January the farmer comes to beggary.
Beware of a fair Spaniard and a swarthy Englishman.
Better sit still with an owl than fly with a falcon.
The first man in the boat has the choice of oars.
It’s the third strand that holds the cable.
Man overboard—an eater the less.
A tired horse would rather see a dirty stable than a clean high-road.
A woman’s hair pulls worse than the main-topsail.
At Boulogne there are more traps than mice.
White and black[33]were the making of Venice.
A hundred Dutchmen, a hundred knives.A hundred Frenchmen, no knives.A hundred Scots, two hundred knives.[34]
A hundred Dutchmen, a hundred knives.A hundred Frenchmen, no knives.A hundred Scots, two hundred knives.[34]
A hundred Dutchmen, a hundred knives.A hundred Frenchmen, no knives.A hundred Scots, two hundred knives.[34]
A hundred Dutchmen, a hundred knives.
A hundred Frenchmen, no knives.
A hundred Scots, two hundred knives.[34]
In Italy—too many feasts, too many chiefs, too many storms.
The Spaniard seems wise, and is not.The Frenchman seems a fool, and is not.The Italian seems wise, and is so.The Portuguese seems a fool, and is so.[35]
The Spaniard seems wise, and is not.The Frenchman seems a fool, and is not.The Italian seems wise, and is so.The Portuguese seems a fool, and is so.[35]
The Spaniard seems wise, and is not.The Frenchman seems a fool, and is not.The Italian seems wise, and is so.The Portuguese seems a fool, and is so.[35]
The Spaniard seems wise, and is not.
The Frenchman seems a fool, and is not.
The Italian seems wise, and is so.
The Portuguese seems a fool, and is so.[35]
A husband’s mother is the devil on the floor.
A house full of daughters is a cellar full of sour beer.
’Tis easy piping to those who love dancing.
Smoke, bad air, and scolding wives, are what drive men out of the house.