Proverbs from Thomas Dekker

Found 382 related proverbs. Click on any proverb below to view the full analysis and original text.

• A16 To cast up ACCOUNTS
• A17 To cast up ACCOUNTS
• A143 ALL is lost that is put in a riven dish
• A172 Bear (Take, Suffer) this, bear (take, suffer) ALL
• A203 Take ALL and pay all
• A220 An ALMOND for parrot
• A233 The Welsh AMBASSADOR¹
• A303 An APPLE-SQUIRE
• A381 His ASS (breech, tail) makes buttons
• A388 An ASSHEAD of your own
• A391 It is as far from ATHENS (heaven, Highgate) to England (earth, London) as from England (earth, London) to Athens (heaven, Highgate)
• B1 He knows not a B from a battledore¹
• B4 As innocent (clear) as a newborn BABE (child, chrisom-child)
• B13 His BACK is broad enough to bear jests
• B32 To give one the BAG
• B50 The BAIT hides the hook
• B54 He should be a BAKER by his bowlegs
• B107 The BAVIN¹ burns bright but it is but a blaze
• B124 Three blue BEANS in a blue bladder, rattle, bladder, rattle
• B186 Go to BED with the lamb and rise with the lark
• B221 The BEETLE flies over many a sweet flower and lights in a cowshard
• B225 As drunk as a BEGGAR
• B234 I know him as well as the BEGGAR knows his dish¹
• B248 To swear by no BEGGARS (bugs)
• B252 He is lodged in BEGGARS' INN
• B272 As sound as a BELL
• B282 To take off your BELLS and let you fly
• B325 I see the BEST but follow the worst
• B374 I heard a BIRD sing (A little bird said so)
• B439 To have it in BLACK and white
• B480 BLUSHING (Bashfulness) is virtue's color (is a sign of grace)
• B481 He cannot say BO to a goose
• B537 To give one the BOOTS
• B546 He will creep into your BOSOM
• B567 Wide at the BOW HAND
• B626 Stolen BREAD is ever sweetest
• B702 To nip in the BUD (blossom)
• B719 He looks as big as if he had eaten BULL BEEF
• B736 BUSH natural, more hair than wit
• C13 It is CAKE and pudding to me
• C21 Essex CALVES
• C23 Everyone must walk (labor) in his own CALLING (vocation)
• C42 It is good to hold (set) a CANDLE before the devil
• C62 He may cast his CAP after him for ever overtaking him
• C98 A CARPET KNIGHT
• C111 The CASE is altered, quoth Plowden
• C175 When the CAT's away the mice will play
• C180 To have CAT's eyes
• C208 High CEDARS fall (are shaken) when low shrubs remain (are scarcely moved)
• C218 No more like than CHALK and cheese (To give chalk for cheese)
• C222 The CHAMELEON can change to all colors save white
• C230 CHANGE of pasture makes fat calves
• C369 CHRISTMAS comes but once a year
• C417 A CLOAK for the rain
• C432 Like Northern CLOTH, shrunk in the wetting
• C453 CLUBS are trump
• C553 The ten COMMANDMENTS
• C586 He is proper (noble) that has proper (noble) CONDITIONS
• C587 CONFESS and be hanged
• C667 The CORRUPTION of one is the generation of another
• C668 The CORRUPTION of the best is worst
• C725 In COURT, city, and country
• C782 To be cut in the COXCOMB (head)
• C868 To gather up one's CRUMBS
• C891 The CUCKOO sings all the year
• C934 CUSTOM makes sin no sin
• D70 Every DAY the night comes
• D95 Not worthy to be named the same DAY
• D126 To lament the DEAD avails not and to the living it is hurtful
• D133 After DEATH the doctor (physic)
• D142 DEATH is common to all
• D165 I will not die in your DEBT (your debtor)
• D182 To deceive the DECEIVER is no deceit
• D225 The DEVIL and his dam
• D242 The DEVIL is an ass
• D252 The DEVIL is known by his claws (cloven feet, horns)
• D284 He would have (To know) the DEVIL and all
• D322 To be a rough DIAMOND
• D323 DIAMONDS cut diamonds
• D324 DICING, drabbing, and drinking are the three D's to destruction
• D329 The sparing DIET is the spirit's feast
• D362 He is DISGUISED
• D452 A DOG in a doublet
• D455 The DOG returns to his vomit
• D506 To be old DOG at it
• D513 To play the DOG in the manger, not eat yourself nor let anybody else
• D526 All DOGS bark not (No dogs shall bark) at him
• D538 Hungry DOGS will eat (love) dirty puddings
• D556 Here is the DOOR and there is the way
• D574 DOVES (Pigeons) have no gall
• D642 Draw DUN¹ out of the mire
• D644 DUN is the mouse
• D646 As plain as DUNSTABLE¹ HIGHWAY (Plain Dunstable)
• D649 Play off your DUST
• E2 An EAGLE does not hatch a dove
• E3 Only the EAGLE can gaze at the sun
• E18 Lend me your EARS awhile
• E59 As nimble as an EEL in a sandbag
• E107 He is out of his ELEMENT
• E125 Remember (Mark) the END
• E126 There is an END of an old song (story)
• E134 You will dance at the END of a rope without teaching
• E147 ENGLAND is the paradise of women, the hell of horses, and the purgatory of servants
• E186 To wash an ETHIOP (blackamoor, Moor) white
• E203 Never do EVIL (ill) that good may come of it
• E207 Of two EVILS (ills) choose the least
• F3 Fair FACE foul heart
• F32 He pins his FAITH on another man's sleeve
• F80 To lick the FAT from one's beard (lips)
• F81 As sure (firm) as FATE
• F135 FEAR (Suspicion) is one part of prudence
• F224 Here I FOUND you and here (As I found you) I leave you
• F228 To have a FINGER (hand) in the pie (matter)
• F234 With a wet FINGER
• F236 His FINGERS are lime twigs
• F237 His FINGERS itch to be at it
• F359 All FLESH is grass
• F363 FLESH is frail
• F366 My own FLESH and blood
• F372 To break a FLINT (blade) on a feather bed
• F394 The FLY (moth) that plays too long in the candle singes its wings at last
• F443 As fat as a FOOL
• F496 Let him be begged for a FOOL
• F514 You have not a FOOL in hand
• F519 A FOOL's head of your own
• F570 To set the best (better) FOOT (leg) forward (before)
• F600 FORTUNE favors fools
• F655 When the FOX has got in his head (nose) he will soon make the body follow
• F692 A FRIEND in a corner
• F733 Farewell and be hanged, FRIENDS must part
• F755 Old FRIENDS and old wine are best
• F767 You fish fair and catch a FROG
• G160 You may GO farther and fare worse
• G182 GOD comes with leaden (woolen) feet but strikes with iron hands
• G196 GOD is a potter and we are the clay
• G220 GOD sends fortune to fools
• G223 GOD speed the plow
• G230 He is either a GOD or a painter, for he makes faces
• G237 I owe GOD a death
• G259 Where GOD has (builds) his church the devil has (builds) his chapel
• G366 A Winchester GOOSE
• G473 To swallow (gape for) a GUDGEON
• H18 It goes against the HAIR
• H26 To hit (fit) it to a HAIR
• H95 To get (have) the upper HAND
• H150 A HARE has crossed your way
• H161 Set the HARE's head (foot) against the goose giblets
• H165 So HARES may pull dead lions by the beard
• H170 To be able to do HARM and not to do it is noble
• H235 Make HAY while the sun shines
• H268 To be over HEAD and ears (up to the ears) in a thing
• H284 As welcome as HEALTH to sick men
• H292 To drink HEALTH is to drink sickness
• H323 Pluck up your HEART
• H392 To kick up one's HEELS
• H403 HELL is broke loose
• H477 He has (There is) no HO with him (Beyond all ho)
• H522 To pick a HOLE in a man's coat
• H534 HOME is home be it never so homely
• H591 To fish with a golden (silver) НOOK
• H655 He is undone, HORSE and man (foot)
• H660 He will lie as fast as a HORSE (dog) will trot
• H671 It is an ill HORSE that can neither whinny nor wag his tail
• H697 To go round like a blind HORSE in a mill
• H720 To fall away from a HORSELOAD to a cartload
• H756 He pulls an old HOUSE on his head
• H784 To eat one out of HOUSE and home
• H785 To throw the HOUSE out at the windows
• H811 HUNGER breaks down (pierces) stone walls
• H825 HUNTING is for kings
• H840 The calmest HUSBANDS make the stormiest wives
• I35 There is no ILL but may turn to one's good
• I49 Give an INCH and he will take an ell
• I80 As white as INNOCENCE
• I89 The IRISHMAN for his hand, Welshman for a leg, the Englishman for a face, and the Dutchman for beard
• I93 IRON (Brass) with use grows bright
• I96 The more you beat IRON (the stone of Sicilia) the harder it grows
• I99 He has many (other) IRONS in the fire
• I102 The ISLE OF WIGHT has no monks, lawyers, or foxes
• J10 Can JACKANAPES (an ape) be merry when his clog is at his heel?
• J21 To be JACK-ON-BOTH-SIDES
• J45 It is ill (no, not good) JESTING (meddling) with edged tools
• J74 I will jeopard (venture) a JOINT (limb)
• J81 Far from JOVE (Jupiter) far from thunder (lightning)
• K64 A KING (prince) loves the treason but hates the traitor
• K75 He clips the KING's English
• K130 The more KNAVE the better luck
• K160 A KNIGHT or a knitter of caps
• K164 A KNIGHT OF THE POST
• L34 As gentle (quiet, meek, mild) as a LAMB
• L92 LAUGH and lie down
• L96 To lay in LAVENDER
• L116 LAWS catch flies (little flies) but let the hornets (great flies) go free
• L131 I will LAY it on, take it off who will
• L146 To turn over a new LEAF
• L177 Like a LEEK, he has a white head and a green tail
• L202 To have (know) the LENGTH of one's foot
• L206 A LEOPARD (panther) cannot change his spots
• L228 London LICKPENNY¹
• L280 LIGHTNING (Thunder) bruises the tree (melts the marrow) but breaks not the bark (skin)
• L300 LINCOLN was, London is, and York shall be
• L358 LITTLE (Nothing) said, soon amended
• L385 We shall LIVE till we die
• L395 Let the longer LIVER take all
• L454 As good (Better) LOST as (than) found
• L484 I could not get any, neither for LOVE nor money
• L500 LOVE cannot be hid
• L553 Your LOVE is a million
• M39 There are more MAIDS than Malkin
• M94 A drunken MAN (Drunken folk) seldom catches (take) harm
• M135 Every MAN must eat a peck of dirt (ashes, salt) before he dies
• M162 He is (is not) a MAN of God's making
• M172 He that cannot be angry is no MAN (a fool)
• M177 He that would take a Lancashire MAN at any time or tide must bait his hook with a good egg pie¹ or an apple with a red side
• M184 An honest MAN is as good as his word
• M244 A MAN is a man though he have but a hose on his head
• M253 A MAN is nothing but worms' meat
• M333 No MAN is happy before his death
• M502 All Men are mortal
• M505 All MEN must die
• M514 Dying MEN speak true (prophesy)
• M568 Old MEN are covetous by nature
• M625 Ill MANNERS (lives) produce good laws
• M628 Let him mend his MANNERS, it will be his own another day
• M768 To match MAY with December (January)
• M842 To be MEAT and drink to one
• M865 As long as MEG OF WESTMINSTER
• M931 As white as MILK
• M980 What is MINE is yours and what is yours is mine (your own)
• M995 Better once a MISCHIEF than always an inconvenience
• M1004 MISCHIEFS, like waves, never come alone
• M1012 MISFORTUNE (Evil) never (seldom) comes alone
• M1017 To cast a MIST before one's eyes
• M1121 Once in a MOON
• M1259 Spit in his MOUTH and make him a mastiff (as men do with dogs)
• M1315 MURDER will out
• M1330 MUST is for the king
• M1338 He loves laced MUTTON
• N4 As naked (bare) as my NAIL
• N7 Not to stir a NAIL's breadth
• N25 He that has an ill (evil) NAME is half hanged
• N69 To slip one's NECK out of the collar
• N97 To seek a NEEDLE in a bottle¹ of hay
• N101 Two NEGATIVES make an affirmative
• N125 To feather one's NEST
• N126 To feather one's NEST
• N133 He that handles a NETTLE tenderly is soonest stung
• N138 A NEWGATE BIRD¹
• N178 To make a NIGHT of it
• N213 Out of the NORTH all ill comes forth
• N219 He puts his NOSE out of joint
• N224 If your NOSE itches you will kiss a fool
• N260 He is NOTHING but skin and bone
• N359 Crack me that NUT, quoth Bumstead
• O6 To sow his wild OATS
• O30 To add OIL to (pour oil on) the fire
• O40 Sweet OLIVER
• O54 ONE is no number
• P1 To remember one's P's and Q's
• P36 There went but a PAIR of shears between them
• P39 As flat as a PANCAKE
• P43 To stand on one's PANTOLFLES¹
• P109 PATIENCE is a virtue
• P122 To make PAUL's work of it
• P216 A PENNY FATHER
• P217 To be PENNY-WHITE
• P236 To be PEPPERED
• P281 As merry as a PIE (magpie)
• P326 To swallow (digest) a bitter PILL
• P356 He falls into the PIT he digs for another
• P363 Small (Little) PITCHERS have wide ears
• P386 Born under an unlucky PLANET
• P387 He that is born under a threepenny (three-halfpenny) PLANET will never be worth a groat¹
• P391 To water one's PLANTS
• P423 Stolen PLEASURES are sweetest
• P443 A PLYMOUTH CLOAK
• P444 A PLYMOUTH CLOAK
• P458 POISON is hidden in golden cups
• P461 To stink like (worse than) a POLECAT
• P494 You must kiss the POST
• P518 A POUND of care will not pay an ounce of debt
• P533 To send (come) with a POWDER
• P581 PRIDE will have a fall
• P620 As fit as a PUDDING for a friar's mouth
• R84 REPORT has a blister on her tongue
• R133 Soon RIPE soon rotten
• R151 As fixed (firm) as a ROCK
• R157 To have RODS in piss (pickle) for one
• S12 More SACKS to the mill
• S16 Set (Lay, Put) the SADDLE on the right horse
• S44 SAINT HUGH's bones
• S66 On SAINT VALENTINE's DAY¹ all the birds in couples do join
• S68 Would I were young for your SAKE
• S173 He that will learn to pray let him go to SEA
• S183 To laue (empty) the SEA with a nutshell (cockle-shell, spoon)
• S255 An old SERVINGMAN a young beggar
• S323 He casts a SHEEP's EYE at her
• S398 To pay the SHOT (scot)
• S435 To be like a SIEVE
• S470 It is a SIN to belie the devil
• S535 To laugh in one's SLEVE
• S559 To go westward for SMELTS
• S580 Like a SNAIL, he keeps his house on his back (head)
• S584 He has eaten a SNAKE
• S656 SORROW is dry
• S664 Small SORROWS (griefs) speak, great ones are silent
• S687 As they SOW so let them reap
• S691 One SOWS, another reaps
• S704 As flattering (fawning) as a SPANIEL
• S714 Of a little SPARK a great fire
• S788 A SPRINGE¹ to catch a woodcock²
• S805 Trust (Lean) not to a broken STAFF
• S807 To hold one at STAFF's (stave's) end
• S825 One may point (look) at a STAR but not pull (reach) at it
• S842 He is STEEL (metal) to the back
• S867 To beat one like a STOCKFISH¹
• S868 To wear yellow STOCKINGS and cross garters
• S874 To go against one's STOMACH
• S876 As cold as a STONE (whetstone)
• S878 As hard as a STONE (flint, rock)
• S908 After a STORM comes a calm (fair weather)
• S925 To pick STRAWs
• S945 To be in a brown STUDY
• S967 As good as one shall see in a SUMMER's day
• S1032 To live by the SWEAT of other men's brows
• S1046 SWITCH and spur
• T8 He frets like gummed TAFFETY (grogram, velvet)
• T9 TAG and rag, cut and longtail
• T23 Nine (Three) TAILORS make a man
• T109 Save a THIEF from the gallows and he will cut your throat
• T111 A THIEF (knave) and a whore are never far asunder
• T114 A THIEF in a candle
• T201 THINGS hardly attained are long retained (highly deemed)
• T204 THiNGS past cannot be recalled but may be repented
• T239 To sit (stand) upon THORNS
• T240 As swift as THOUGHT
• T246 I know your THOUGHTS (know you) as well as if I were within you (in your belly)
• T249 His THREAD is spun
• T273 To bite his Thumbs
• T274 To hit over the THUMBS
• T311 Take TIME (occasion) by the forelock, for she is bald behind
• T356 TIT for tat
• T402 To keep a good TONGUE in one's head
• T407 The TONGUE stings (is more venomous than a serpent's sting)
• T409 The TONGUE walks where the teeth speed not
• T423 From the TEETH outwards
• T429 To cast (hit) in the TEETH
• T430 To have one's TEETH to water at anything
• T431 To set one's TEETH on edge
• T609 To turn TURK
• T643 Two of a TRADE seldom agree
• V32 As sour as VERJUICE
• W143 They look one WAY and row another
• W148 There is no WAY but one
• W166 To go the WAY of all flesh
• W278 He shrinks in the WETTING
• W286 A fifth WHEEL to a coach
• W393 To take the WILL for the deed
• W455 He has WINDMILLS in his head
• W456 To come in at the WINDOW (o'er the hatch)
• W474 WINE and women make men runagates
• W498 To clip one's WINGS
• W531 To the WISE it is no shame to enter (come out of) a bawdyhouse, but not to know the way out on it (but to go in)
• W567 WIT is never good till it be bought (dearly bought)
• W570 WIT, whither wilt thou?
• W638 Trust not a WOMAN when she weeps
• W646 A WOMAN and a glass are ever in danger
• W652 A WOMAN has nine lives, like a cat
• W654 A WOMAN is never without an excuse
• W656 WOMAN is the woe of man
• W658 A WOMAN, like a German clock, is still¹ repairing (never goes true)
• W722 WOMEN will have the last word
• W727 WONDER (Marvel, Admiration) is the daughter of ignorance
• W728 A WONDER lasts but nine days
• W740 Old WOOD best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read
• W762 He has not a WORD to cast at a dog
• W797 Few WORDS and many deeds
• W820 Not WORDS but deeds
• W886 To have the WORLD (fortune) in a string
• W889 We weeping come into the WORLD and weeping hence we go
• W893 The WORLD goes (runs) on wheels
• W910 There cannot lightly come a WORSE except the devil come himself