Proverbs from John Lyly

Found 785 related proverbs. Click on any proverb below to view the full analysis and original text.

• A14 Better is one ACCIPE (take) than twice to say, Dabo tibi (I will give you)
• A22 From ACORNS come oaks
• A112 ALL are not friends that speak us fair
• A147 ALL is not gospel that comes out of his mouth
• A195 I have lost ALL and found myself
• A196 Let ALL live as they would die
• A209 Venture not ALL in one bottom
• A231 What cannot be ALTERED must be borne not blamed
• A247 ANGER punishes itself
• A256 The ANT had wings to do her hurt
• A264 The APE kills her young with kindness (by clipping)
• A313 A good ARCHER is not known by his arrows but his aim
• A391 It is as far from ATHENS (heaven, Highgate) to England (earth, London) as from England (earth, London) to Athens (heaven, Highgate)
• B26 To change the BAD for the better
• B50 The BAIT hides the hook
• B65 Be as be may is no BANNING (Be as be may)
• B83 As near as BARK to tree
• B99 The BASILISK's eye is fatal
• B107 The BAVIN¹ burns bright but it is but a blaze
• B119 Abstain from BEANS
• B130 Like a BEAR to a honeypot
• B132 Sell not the BEAR's skin before you have caught him
• B133 Are you there with your BEARS?
• B139 He that is BORN to be hanged (drowned) shall never be drowned (hanged)
• B160 To BEAT (pinch) one black and blue
• B163 BEAUTY and chastity (honesty) seldom meet
• B167 BEAUTY is a blaze (blast)
• B169 BEAUTY is but a blossom
• B173 BEAUTY may have fair leaves yet bitter fruit
• B174 BEAUTY without bounty avails nought
• B179 BECAUSE is woman's reason
• B185 Eat till you sweat and work till you freeze and lie in BED till your bones ache
• B186 Go to BED with the lamb and rise with the lark
• B202 As busy as a BEE
• B204 The BEE is often hurt with its own honey
• B205 The BEE sucks honey out of the bitterest flowers (thyme)
• B207 Where the BEE can suck no honey she leaves her sting behind
• B208 Where the BEE sucks honey the spider sucks poison
• B211 BEES that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails
• B221 The BEETLE flies over many a sweet flower and lights in a cowshard
• B261 An ill (bad) BEGINNING has an ill (bad) ending
• B269 We soon BELIEVE what we desire
• B287 The BELLY is not filled (fed) with fair words
• B293 A fat BELLY does not engender a subtle wit
• B299 I wish it were in your BELLY for me
• B313 I have the BENT of his bow
• B318 The BEST is behind
• B333 The BETTER the worse
• B338 He turns to his old BIAS again
• B380 The more the BIRD caught in lime strives the faster he sticks
• B401 You catch BIRDS by laying salt on their tails
• B408 No BISHOP no king
• B424 To take the BIT in the teeth
• B425 The hasty BITCH brings forth blind whelps
• B435 BLACK best sets forth white
• B436 BLACK will take no other hue
• B440 To make BLACK white
• B465 Like BLOOD, like good, and like age make the happiest marriage
• B497 The BODY is the prison of the soul
• B506 More (Not so) BOLD than (as) welcome (wise)
• B515 A broken BONE (leg) is the stronger when it is well set
• B537 To give one the BOOTS
• B561 A BOW long bent at last waxes weak
• B597 You will not believe he is bald (dead) till you see his BRAIN
• B607 His old BRASS (cloak) will buy you a new pan (kirtle)
• B622 He would eat finer BREAD than is made of wheat
• B711 He may bear (carry) a BULL that hath borne (carried) a calf
• B737 He that is afraid of every BUSH will never prove good huntsman
• B767 As fat as BUTTER
• B778 No BUTTER will stick on his bread
• C24 After a CALM comes a storm
• C29 A CAMEL when he means to drink troubles the water
• C33 As crooked as a CAMMOCK¹
• C34 The more CAMOMILE is trodden down the more it spreads
• C39 A CANDLE (torch) lights others and consumes itself
• C40 He that worst may must hold the CANDLE
• C41 His CANDLE burns within the socket
• C47 To burn one CANDLE to seek another
• C49 To go out like a CANDLE in a snuff
• C56 The CANKER soonest eats the fairest rose (flowers)
• C59 A CANTERBURY TALE
• C74 He has a sure CARD
• C110 To be one's own CARVER
• C111 The CASE is altered, quoth Plowden
• C118 To speak in one's CAST
• C122 A CASTLE that parleys and a woman that hears will both yield
• C129 As melancholy as a gibbed CAT
• C202 Remove the CAUSE and the effect will cease
• C211 Without CERES and Bacchus Venus grows cold
• C269 CHEESE digests all things but itself
• C278 CHERRIES and news fall price soonest
• C292 You count (reckon) your CHICKENS before they be hatched
• C349 He must needs swim that is held up by the CHIN
• C354 Look not too high lest a CHIP fall in your eye
• C409 The greatest CLERKS are not the wisest men
• C424 As cold as a CLOCK
• C429 The finest CLOTH is eaten by moths
• C431 It is a bad CLOTH (wool) that will take no color (dye)
• C473 I would not be in your COAT (skin) for anything
• C480 Let not the COBBLER (shoemaker) go beyond his last
• C503 Poorer than CODRUS
• C510 To play COLE-PROPHET
• C511 COLEWORTS (Cabbage) twice sodden
• C519 As many COLORS as there are in the rainbow
• C522 Of a ragged COLT comes a good horse
• C525 He has a COLT's tooth in his head
• C529 COME (Hap) what come (hap) may
• C552 He is not fit to COMMAND (govern) others that cannot command (govern) himself.
• C559 A merry COMPANION is a wagon in the way (is as good as a nag)
• C566 Good COMPANY makes short miles
• C571 It is good to have COMPANY in trouble (misery)
• C576 COMPARISONS are odious
• C579 Some complain to prevent COMPLAINT
• C582 He that is wise in his own CONCEIT is a fool
• C596 A clear CONSCIENCE is a sure card
• C597 A clear CONSCIENCE laughs at (fears not) false accusations
• C601 CONSCIENCE is a thousand witnesses
• C608 He has a CONSCIENCE like a cheverel's¹ skin
• C626 CONTENT lodges oftener in cottages than palaces
• C635a A good COOK is half a physician
• C644 A Cooling CARD
• C649 The right CORAL needs no coloring
• C656 CORN is not to be gathered in the blade but the ear
• C658 He eats his CORN in the blade
• C686 Good COUNSEL proceeds from a friendly mind
• C723 He that lives in COURT dies upon straw
• C727 One (Neither) of the COURT but none (nor) of the counsel
• C765 Who bulls the COW must keep the calf
• C768 A red COW's milk is restorative
• C788 Plant the CRAB TREE where you will, it will never bear sweet apples
• C805 The CRANE to avoid sleep holds a stone in its foot
• C806 You can well skill of CRANE's dirt, your father was a poulter
• C810 He cries CREAK
• C812 Every CREATURE thinks her own fair
• C822 CRETANS are liars (Use craft against Cretans)
• C828 If one dwell by (next door to) a CRIPPLE he will learn to halt
• C831 CROCODILE TEARS
• C855 I have a CROW to pluck with you
• C865 The CROW's-FOOT grows under her eye
• C868 To gather up one's CRUMBS
• C908 To drink of the same CUP
• C928 To miss the CUSHION
• C945 Like CYPRESS TREES, that have fair leaves but no fruit
• D28 DANGER and delight grow both upon one stalk (stock)
• D57 As merry as the DAY is long
• D90 The longest DAY has an end
• D93 No DAY without a line
• D99 One may see DAY at a little hole
• D103 This DAY there is no trust, but come tomorrow
• D161 DEATH's day is doomsday
• D180 He that once DECEIVES is ever suspected
• D230 The DEVIL can cite Scripture for his purpose
• D233 The DEVIL dances in an empty pocket
• D273 Give the DEVIL his due
• D294 Speak of the DEVIL and he will appear
• D309 Where none else will, the DEVIL himself must bear the cross
• D321 To move as does the DIAL HAND, which is not seen to move
• D329 The sparing DIET is the spirit's feast
• D334 There is DIFFERENCE between staring and stark-blind (stark-mad)
• D335 There is no DIFFERENCE of bloods in a basin
• D377 All her DISHES are chafing dishes
• D381 The DISPOSITION of the mind follows the constitution (composition) of the body
• D383 DISPRAISE by evil men is praise
• D386 He that cannot DISSEMBLE knows not how to live (rule)
• D430 Not worth a DODKIN
• D449 The DOG (wolf) barks in vain at the moon
• D455 The DOG returns to his vomit
• D480 The hindmost DOG may catch the hare
• D508 To call a DOG a dog
• D513 To play the DOG in the manger, not eat yourself nor let anybody else
• D515 A waking DOG afar off barks at a sleeping lion
• D542 Silly DOGS are more angry with the stone than with the hand that had flung it
• D571 He that casts all DOUBTS shall never be resolved
• D574 DOVES (Pigeons) have no gall
• D581 DRAFF was his errand but drink he would have
• D582 Every DRAM of delight has a pound of pain
• D604 To snatch a DRINK like the dogs of Egypt (at the Nile)
• D609 It is best DRINKING at the fountain (wellhead, spring)
• D623 He that fears DROWNING comes near no wells
• D640 To be in the DUMPS
• E1 The EAGLE does not catch flies
• E3 Only the EAGLE can gaze at the sun
• E14 When your EAR tingles (burns) people are talking about you
• E25 Who has EARS let him hear
• E29 The EARTH makes not the gold the worse
• E32 The EARTH that yields food yields also poison
• E35 EASE is the sauce of labor
• E62 Hold fast an EEL with a fig leaf
• E81 To come of the same EGG (nest)
• E85 From the EGGS to the apples
• E113 The END of fishing is not angling but catching
• E152 To speak plain ENGLISH
• E157 Eat ENOUGH and it will make you wise
• E198 He sucked EVIL from the dug
• E207 Of two EVILS (ills) choose the least
• E214 A bad EXCUSE (shift) is better than none at all
• E219 EXPERIENCE is the father of wisdom and memory the mother
• E220 EXPERIENCE is the mistress of fools
• E230 The EYE is the pearl of the face
• E235 Have an EYE (Look) to the main chance
• E246 The sore EYE infects the sound
• F7 A good FACE needs no paint
• F17 To set a good FACE on the matter (on a bad matter)
• F27 FAIR and far off
• F31 Grecian FAITH
• F32 He pins his FAITH on another man's sleeve
• F40 The FALLING-OUT of lovers is a renewing of love
• F41 There is FALSEHOOD (flattery) in fellowship
• F44 FAME (Report) is a liar
• F80 To lick the FAT from one's beard (lips)
• F92 Such a (Like) FATHER such a (like) son
• F110 He may find FAULT that cannot amend
• F116 Where no FAULT is there needs no pardon
• F123 Wink at small FAULTS
• F161 To set this FEATHER to my arrow
• F174 Better FED than taught
• F176 The greatest FELICITY is never to be born
• F188 To sell one (feed on) FENNEL
• F206 FIDDLERS, dogs, and flies (flatterers) come to feasts uncalled
• F224 Here I FOUND you and here (As I found you) I leave you
• F231 To thrust away with the little FINGER what one pulls back with the whole hand
• F250 Cut not the FIRE with a sword
• F251 Do not blow the FIRE (coal) thou wouldst quench
• F255 FIRE cannot be hidden in flax (straw)
• F256 FIRE descends not
• F257 FIRE divided burns with less force
• F264 FIRE raked up in ashes keeps its heat a long time
• F267 He bears (carries) FIRE in one hand and water in the other
• F277 One FIRE (heat) drives out another
• F278 Put not FIRE to tow (flax)
• F279 The same FIRE which purifies gold burns straw
• F281 That FIRE which lights us at a distance will burn us when near
• F282 There is no FIRE without some smoke
• F283 To come to fetch FIRE
• F285 To go through FIRE and water
• F287 To quench FIRE with oil
• F288 To weigh the FIRE and measure the wind
• F298 All FISH are not caught with flies
• F310 Fresh FISH and newcome guests smell by that time they be three days old
• F312 He angles for the FISH already caught
• F322 Some FISH some frogs
• F324 That FISH will soon be caught that nibbles at every hook (bait)
• F365 It will not out of the FLESH that is bred in the bone
• F371 In the coldest FLINT there is hot fire
• F372 To break a FLINT (blade) on a feather bed
• F383 All FLOUR has its bran
• F391 The fairest FLOWERS (freshest colors) soonest fade
• F393 The FLY has her spleen and the ant her gall
• F394 The FLY (moth) that plays too long in the candle singes its wings at last
• F443 As fat as a FOOL
• F463 A FOOL is fulsome
• F483 He is a FOOL that makes his physician his heir
• F489 He that sends a FOOL means to follow him
• F506 There is no FOOL to¹ the old fool
• F508 To cough one a FOOL (daw, mome¹)
• F510 We must answer a FOOL with silence
• F515 A FOOL's bolt is soon shot
• F535 FOOLS had never less wit in a year
• F536 FOOLS have fortune (are fortunate)
• F537 FOOLS have wit enough to come in out of the rain
• F555 Two FOOLS in a house are too many
• F562 Do not make the FOOT the head
• F567 Measure yourself (not another) by your own FOOT
• F597 FORGIVE and forget
• F621 FOUR make up a mess
• F630 Either a FOX (hare) or a fern bush (fernbrake)
• F659 The FOX's wiles will never enter into the lion's head
• F665 FRANKINCENSE is burned before it smells
• F685 Before you make a FRIEND eat a bushel of salt with him
• F687 Better is a FRIEND in court than (A friend in court is worth) a penny in purse
• F688 A faithful FRIEND is like a phoenix
• F695 A FRIEND is not so soon gotten as lost
• F696 A FRIEND is one's second self
• F729 Among FRIENDS all things are common
• F755 Old FRIENDS and old wine are best
• F761 Perfect FRIENDSHIP (love) cannot be without equality
• F767 You fish fair and catch a FROG
• F769 Farewell FROST
• F774 Sharp FROSTS bite forward springs
• G10 GALEN gives goods, Justinian honors
• G19 To be hanged on a fair GALLOWS (with a silken halter)
• G27 GAMING (Play), women, and wine, while they laugh they make men pine
• G37 No GARDEN (wheat) without weeds (darnel)
• G81 Farewell, gentle GEOFFREY
• G97 A GIFT is valued by the mind of the giver
• G102 To get is the GIFT of fortune, to keep is the gift of wisdom
• G136 As smooth as GLASS
• G146 Better fill a GLUTTON's belly than his eye
• G148 GLUTTONY (Surfeit) kills more than the sword
• G151 The farther we GO the farther behind
• G182 GOD comes with leaden (woolen) feet but strikes with iron hands
• G189 GOD has provided a remedy for every disease
• G272 Out of GOD's blessing into the warm sun
• G321 To know one's (one's own) GOOD
• G345 As deep drinks the GOOSE as the gander
• G358 It is a blind GOOSE that comes to a fox's sermon
• G359 It is a blind GOOSE that knows not a fox from a fern bush
• G362 There's no GOOSE so gray in the lake that cannot find a gander for her make¹
• G363 To kill the GOOSE that lays the golden eggs
• G368 Young (Old) is the GOOSE that will eat no oats
• G411 One cannot gather GRAPES of thorns or figs of thistles
• G420 To cut the GRASS whereof another meant to make hay
• G421 To let no GRASS (moss) grow on one's heel
• G450 That GRIEF is light which is capable of counsel
• G473 To swallow (gape for) a GUDGEON
• G476 An unbidden GUEST knows not where to sit (must bring his stool with him)
• H25 There is no HAIR so small but has its shadow
• H29 Within a HAIR's breadth
• H38 HALF a pea a day will serve a lady
• H60 It is hard (ill) HALTING before a cripple
• H68 Give not your right HAND to every man
• H87 One HAND washes another and both (both wash) the face
• H88 Put not your HAND between the bark and the tree
• H90 The same HAND that gave must heal the wound
• H99 To make a HAND (fair hand) of a thing
• H101 A wet HAND will hold a dead herring
• H158 To hold (run) with the HARE and run (hold, hunt) with the hound
• H160 You shall as soon catch a HARE with a tabor
• H163 He that hunts two HARES loses both
• H169 He that drinks well sleeps well and he that sleeps well thinks no HARM
• H175 As blind as a HARPER
• H184 A long HARVEST of a little corn
• H210 The greatest HATE proceeds from the greatest love
• H269 To break one's HEAD and give him a plaster
• H273 To run one's HEAD against a stone wall
• H283 It is ill HEALING an old sore
• H290 HEALTH is not valued till sickness comes
• H311 A HEART as hard as a stone (flint, marble)
• H315 His HEART (mind, hand) is on his halfpenny
• H321 Nearest the HEART nearest the mouth
• H330 To eat one's HEART out
• H333 What is in the HEART of the sober man is in the tongue (mouth) of the drunkard
• H335 Where the HEART is past hope the face is past shame
• H368 HEDGEHOGS lodge among thorns because themselves are prickly
• H416 As fat as a HEN in the forehead
• H479 HOB nob (Hab nab, Hab or nab)
• H509 There is no more HOLD of a new friend than of a new fashion
• H533 He is gone to his long (last) HOME
• H539 He that loses his HONESTY has nothing else to lose
• H560 Too much HONEY cloys the stomach
• H563 It is but HONEYMOON with them
• H576 It is better to die with HONOR than to live with shame
• H591 To fish with a golden (silver) НOOK
• H594 When the HOP grows high it must have a pole
• H620 Pluck (Pull) in your HORNS
• H622 To wear a HORN (To be a cuckold) and not know it will do one no more harm than to eat a fly and not see it
• H656 He that cannot beat the HORSE (ass) beats the saddle (packsaddle)
• H671 It is an ill HORSE that can neither whinny nor wag his tail
• H692 Some may better steal a HORSE than others look on (look over the hedge)
• H723 In my (your) t'other HOSE
• H726 He that reckons without his (Reckoners without their) HOST must reckon twice
• H741 It happens in one HOUR that happens not in seven years
• H750 Better one HOUSE filled than two spilled
• H760 He that has no HOUSE must lie in the yard
• H805 In HUGGERMUGGER
• H825 HUNTING is for kings
• H839 When the HUSBAND is sad (merry) the wife will be merry (sad)
• I7 Better to be IDLE than not well occupied
• I8 Neither IDLE nor well occupied
• I9 IDLENESS begets lust
• I13 IDLENESS is the mother (nurse, root) of all evil (vice, sin)
• I40 ILL today and worse tomorrow
• I62 Better an INCONVENIENCE than a mischief
• I84 To be high in the INSTEP
• I88 You are IPSE (he, the man)
• I91 IRON not used soon rusts
• I92 IRON (Gold) with often handling is worn to nothing
• I93 IRON (Brass) with use grows bright
• I96 The more you beat IRON (the stone of Sicilia) the harder it grows
• I97 To digest IRON (To have a stomach), like an ostrich
• I99 He has many (other) IRONS in the fire
• J37 Like JANUS, two-faced
• J81 Far from JOVE (Jupiter) far from thunder (lightning)
• J82 JOVE laughs at lovers' perjuries
• J89 Your JOY is that of the Pyrausta (Pyralis)
• J101 To drink the JUICE of mandrake (mandragora)
• K16 Neither in KENT nor Christendome
• K23 As cold as a KEY
• K38 The nearer in KIN the less in kindness
• K87 KINGS have long arms (ears, hands)
• K90 For a KINGDOM any law may be broken
• K140 Walk, KNAVE, walk
• K157 The same KNIFE cuts both bread and the finger
• K160 A KNIGHT or a knitter of caps
• K188 In KNOWING nothing is the sweetest life
• L14 If you go into a LABYRINTH take a clew with you
• L36 The LAMB is more in dread of the wolf than of the lion
• L68 The LAPWING cries most when farthest from her nest
• L82 LAST but not least
• L95 The LAUREL is ever green
• L121 He that will sell (buy) LAWN before he can fold it shall repent him before he has sold it
• L165 Whom we love best to them we can say LEAST
• L202 To have (know) the LENGTH of one's foot
• L247 An ill LIFE an ill end
• L249 LIFE is a pilgrimage
• L251 LIFE is a span
• L254 LIFE is sweet
• L274 The LIGHT is nought for sore eyes
• L276 To stand in one's own LIGHT
• L280 LIGHTNING (Thunder) bruises the tree (melts the marrow) but breaks not the bark (skin)
• L286 LIKE will to like
• L313 A LION is known by his paw (claw)
• L316 The LION spares the suppliant
• L332 To preach over one's LIQUOR (cup, pot)
• L333 With what LIQUOR a vessel is first seasoned, it will long keep the scent of it
• L379 LIVE and learn
• L386 He LIVES long that lives well
• L397 LIVING WELL is the best revenge
• L406 No LOCK will hold against the power of gold
• L449 I have dined as well as my LORD MAYOR of London
• L454 As good (Better) LOST as (than) found
• L479 Follow LOVE (pleasure, glory) and it will flee, flee love (pleasure, glory) and it will follow thee
• L490 LOVE and a cough (smoke, itch) cannot be hid
• L499 LOVE cannot be compelled (forced)
• L501 LOVE comes by looking (in at the eyes)
• L505 LOVE has no respect of persons
• L505a LOVE is a sweet torment
• L506 LOVE is blind
• L508 LOVE is lawless
• L510 LOVE is never without jealousy
• L513 LOVE is sweet in the beginning but sour in the ending
• L517 LOVE is without reason
• L527 LOVE overcomes all
• L535 Natural LOVE descends but it does not ascend
• L538 One LOVE drives out (expels) another
• L549 When LOVE puts in friendship is gone
• L551 Where LOVE is there is faith (Where there is no trust there is no love)
• L555 LOVE's beginning is fear, middle sin, and end grief and annoyance
• L558 It is impossible to LOVE and be wise
• L565 The LOVER is not where he lives but where he loves
• L578 Left-handed LUCK is ill luck
• M61 I stand in a MAMMERING
• M64 As a MAN lives so shall he die, as a tree falls so shall it lie
• M66 As good a MAN as ever trod on shoe (neat's) leather (as ever went on legs)
• M101 Every MAN (one) as he loves (likes)
• M182 The healthful MAN can give good counsel to the sick
• M196 If every MAN mend one all shall be mended
• M201 It is meet that every MAN be at his own bridal
• M238 MAN honors the place, not the place the man
• M254 A MAN is weal or woe as he thinks himself so
• M279 A MAN must not be too venturous
• M297 A MAN or a mouse
• M334 No MAN is his craft's master the first day
• M366 The rich MAN walks to get a stomach to his meat, the poor man to get meat for his stomach.
• M421 A wise MAN commonly has a fool to his heir (has foolish children)
• M426 A wise (valiant) MAN makes every country his own
• M460 I am no MAN's wife
• M468 A MAN's country is where he does well
• M501 All MEN are made of the same metal
• M542 MEN are made of clay but women are made of men
• M610 Young MEN think old men fools but old men know that young men be fools
• M626 It is not good MANNERS to offer salt or brains
• M631 You know good MANNERS but you use but a few
• M639 The fine MARBLE needs no painting
• M670 As the MARKET goes wives must sell
• M676 You may know how the MARKET goes by the market folks
• M682 MARRIAGE is destiny
• M683 MARRIAGE is honorable
• M688 MARRIAGES are made in heaven
• M720 If the MASTER say the crow is white the servant must not say 'tis black
• M733 The MASTER's eye makes the horse fat
• M763 As fresh as MAY
• M801 With what MEASURE you mete it shall be measured unto you
• M806 There is a MEASURE (mean) in all things
• M832 No MEAT for mowers (your mowing)
• M863 MEDLARS¹ are never good till they be rotten
• M896 I cry you MERCY, I killed your cushion
• M897 I cry you MERCY, I took you for a joint stool
• M953 An honest MILLER has a golden thumb
• M965 I can see as far into a MILLSTONE as another man
• M971 His MIND is on his meat
• M1016 A Scotch MIST will wet an Englishman to the skin
• M1020 He that makes (makes not) his MISTRESS (wife) a goldfinch may perhaps find her a wagtail
• M1120 The MOON is not seen where the sun shines
• M1128 He strives for the MOONSHINE in the water
• M1144 The MORE a man has the more he desires
• M1183 Backare,¹ quoth MORTIMER to his sow
• M1196 If your MOTHER had not lost her virginity you would not have been born
• M1215 The MOUNTAIN was in labor and brought forth a mouse
• M1231 It is a bold (wily) MOUSE that breeds (nestles) in the cat's ear
• M1319 A MUSHROOM grows in a night
• N36 To take one NAPPING
• N37 To take one NAPPING
• N41 He that follows NATURE is never out of his way
• N45 NATURE is content with a little
• N47 NATURE passes nurture
• N48 NATURE will have her course
• N50 Though you cast out NATURE with a fork it will still return
• N88 You NEED not be so crusty, you are not so hard-baked
• N123 Dead in the NEST
• N133 He that handles a NETTLE tenderly is soonest stung
• N134 It is better to be stung by a NETTLE than pricked by a rose
• N156 This NEWS is too good to be true
• N277 I thank you for NOTHING
• N307 NOTHING is well said or done in a passion (in anger)
• N317 NOTHING so good but it (The best things, Everything) may be abused
• N321 NOTHING violent can be permanent
• N351 NOW or never
• N357 NURTURE is above (passes) nature
• N360 Sweet is the NUT but bitter (hard) is the shell
• N367 The foolish NYAS¹ will never away
• O9a To ask what it is O'CLOCK
• O13 Bad ODORS attract the vulture (beetle), perfumes repel him
• O54 ONE is no number
• P1 To remember one's P's and Q's
• P26 As it pleases the PAINTER
• P36 There went but a PAIR of shears between them
• P37 The straighter (higher) grows the PALM the heavier the weight it bears
• P45 PAP with a hatchet
• P67 Pinch on the PARSON's side
• P81 One PARTICULARITY concludes no generality
• P83 Praise at PARTING
• P109 PATIENCE is a virtue
• P111 PATIENCE perforce
• P136 As like as two PEAS (as one PEA is like another)
• P158 The PEACOCK has fair feathers but foul feet
• P181 I will take you a PEG (buttonhole, hole) lower
• P187 To sit on PENNILESS BENCH¹
• P194 He thinks his PENNY (farthing, halfpenny) good silver
• P199 No PENNY no paternoster
• P203 A PENNY for your thought
• P231 He takes PEPPER in the nose
• P253 PHILOSOPHERS must be captains (kings) and captains (kings) philosophers
• P256 As rare as the PHOENIX
• P267 PHYSICIAN, heal thyself
• P295 PIE LID makes people wise
• P319 To take (catch) two PIGEONS (doves) with one bean
• P326 To swallow (digest) a bitter PILL
• P327 Bitter PILLS may have wholesome effects
• P329 To sew PILLOWS under one's elbows
• P391 To water one's PLANTS
• P401 To PLAY fast and loose
• P430 Better to have one PLOW going than two cradles
• P453 The first POINT of hawking is hold fast
• P458 POISON is hidden in golden cups
• P537a PRACTICE what you preach
• P570 The PREY entices the thief
• P592 To live (fare) like a PRINCE (king)
• P600 The PROFIT of the commonwealth should be preferred to a private pleasure
• P602 Great PROMISE small performance
• P620 As fit as a PUDDING for a friar's mouth
• P661 The PURSE is threadbare
• Q1 To be in a QUANDARY
• Q3 To pick a QUARREL
• Q13 He touches him to the QUICK
• R25 What the RAKE gathers the fork scatters
• R58 To give one a RECUMBENTIBUS
• R59 Do not wear RED before a bull nor white before an elephant
• R62 The RELAPSE is more dangerous than the disease
• R81 To buy REPENTANCE too dear
• R82 To buy REPENTANCE too dear
• R84 REPORT has a blister on her tongue
• R89 The REVEALING of griefs is a renewing of sorrow
• R92 To pardon is a divine REVENGE
• R106 RICHES and sin are oft married together
• R107 RICHES are but the baggage of fortune
• R119 Good RIDING at two anchors men have told, for if the one fail the other may hold
• R122 Extreme RIGHT (justice) is extreme wrong (injustice, injury)
• R132 RING OF GYGES
• R139 A RIVER running into many brooks becomes shallow
• R148 Many speak (talk) of ROBIN HOOD that never shot in his bow
• R157 To have RODS in piss (pickle) for one
• R182 No ROSE without a thorn (prickle)
• R210 He RUNS far that never turns again
• R213 Strew green RUSHES¹ for the stranger
• S8 An old SACK asks (craves) much patching (clouting)
• S29 Every SAINT will have his candle (feast, shrine)
• S42 Like SAINT GEORGE, who is ever on horseback yet never rides
• S75 Better eat SALT with philosophers of Greece than sugar with courtesans (courtiers) of Italy
• S81 It is a strange SALT FISH that no water can make fresh
• S82 He has but one SALVE for all sores
• S83 Seek your SALVE where you got your sore
• S98 Though the SAUCE be good yet you need not for-sake the meat for it
• S114 Though I SAY it that should not say it
• S115 He who SAYS (does) what he would he would not
• S150 SCORN at first makes afterlove the more
• S153 Those that are stung by the SCORPION are healed by the scorpion
• S169 Between SCYLLA and Charybdis
• S196 Trust no SECRET with a woman
• S198 It is done SECUNDUM USUM SARUM
• S211 Of little SEEDS grow great cedars (trees)
• S214 Be what thou would SEEM to be
• S225 Whited SEPULCHERS (Women are whited sepulchers)
• S296 A black SHEEP is a biting (perilous) beast
• S302 If you cannot tell,¹ you are nought to keep SHEEP
• S366 A great (Hercules') SHOE will not fit a little (a child's) foot
• S368 He that makes the SHOE cannot tan the leather
• S371 The SHOE will hold with the sole
• S397 She is SHORT-HEELED
• S412 It is better to be a SHREW than a sheep
• S425 He knows on which SIDE his bread is buttered
• S446 SILENCE is (gives) consent
• S448 Better SILENT than saucy
• S449 As soft as SILK
• S450 The fairest SILK is soonest soiled
• S459 White SILVER draws black lines
• S474 Who swims in SIN (vice) shall drown in it (in vanity)
• S491 Better (As good) SIT still than (as) rise and fall
• S517 When (If) the SKY (heaven) falls we shall have (catch) larks
• S542 SLOTH turns the edge of wit
• S569 No SMOKE without some fire
• S572 The SMOKE of a man's own house (country) is better than the fire of another's
• S581 The SNAIL in time climbs up the castle's tower
• S584 He has eaten a SNAKE
• S590 As seasonable (welcome) as SNOW in summer (harvest)
• S591 As white as the driven SNOW
• S599 It works like SOAP (wax) in a sow's tail (ear)
• S602 It is a bad SOIL (ground) where no flowers will grow
• S640 SOON enough if well enough
• S691 One SOWS, another reaps
• S692 Thick SOWN and (but) thin comes up
• S705 The SPANIEL, that fawns when he is beaten, will never forsake his master
• S712 SPARING is the first gaining (getting)
• S714 Of a little SPARK a great fire
• S716 Old SPARROWS are ill to tame
• S725 To SPEAK (Not to speak) as one thinks
• S731 The SPEAR of Achilles could both wound and heal
• S746 If you beat (pound) SPICE it will smell the sweeter
• S769 To set (put) a SPOKE in one's cart (wheel)
• S825 One may point (look) at a STAR but not pull (reach) at it
• S827 To look at the STARS and fall into a ditch
• S828 He has gotten the START of him
• S842 He is STEEL (metal) to the back
• S856 You would be (leap) over the STILE before you come at it
• S878 As hard as a STONE (flint, rock)
• S912 To be STRAIT-LACED
• S929 The STREAM (current, tide) stopped swells the higher
• S935 He harps on that STRING that gives no melody (makes no good music)
• S936 To harp upon one (the same) STRING
• S940 Great STROKES make not sweet music
• S941 Many (Little) STROKES fell great oaks
• S945 To be in a brown STUDY
• S951 Lose not the SUBSTANCE for the shadow
• S964 To be sick of the SULLENS
• S967 As good as one shall see in a SUMMER's day
• S979 The rising, not the setting, SUN is worshiped by most men
• S982 The SUN is never the worse for shining on a dunghill
• S985 The SUN shines upon all alike
• S989 When the SUN is highest he casts the least shadow
• S1020 SUSPICION makes many to sin
• S1026 SWALLOWS, like false friends, fly away upon the approach of winter
• S1027 As rare as a black SWAN
• S1048 A leaden (wooden) SWORD (dagger) in an ivory (golden, painted) sheath (scabbard)
• S1053 There is no SWORD made of steel but has iron
• S1056 SYMPATHY (Similitude) of manners makes the conjunction of minds
• T24 TAILORS and writers must mind the fashion
• T27 TAKE it as you will (list, please)
• T31 Everything is as it is TAKEN
• T75 To him that has lost his TASTE sweet is sour
• T86 TELL me it snows
• T88 When? Can you TELL?
• T144 One THING said twice deserves a trudge¹
• T174 All THINGS that breed in the mud are not efts¹ (eels)
• T189 Little THINGS catch light minds (please fools)
• T191 Many THINGS happen (fall) between the cup and the lip
• T197 Taste not of THINGS that have black tails
• T200 THINGS done cannot be undone
• T203 THINGS past cannot be recalled
• T204 THiNGS past cannot be recalled but may be repented
• T206 The THINGS that are above us are nothing to us
• T215 What pretty THINGS are made for money, quoth the woman when she saw a monkey (squirrel)
• T225 I had THOUGHT to have asked you
• T232 It early pricks (It pricks betimes) that will be a THORN
• T239 To sit (stand) upon THORNS
• T241 I had no THOUGHT of catching you when I fished for another
• T244 THOUGHT is free
• T257 THREE (Two) may keep counsel if two (one) be away
• T278 The THUNDERBOLT has but his clap
• T298 In TIME all haggard hawks will stoop to lure
• T303 In TIME the ox (bull) will bear the yoke
• T309 Love as in TIME to come you should hate and hate as you should in time to come love
• T314 There is a TIME for all things (Everything has its time)
• T322 TIME and thought tame the strongest grief
• T323 TIME and tide (The tide) tarries (stays for) no man
• T337 TIME tries friends as fire tries gold
• T341 When TIME has turned white sugar to white salt
• T356 TIT for tat
• T380 TOMORROW is a new day
• T391 A honey TONGUE a heart of gall (poison)
• T419 Better TOOTH out than always ache
• T420 To have a sweet (wanton) TOOTH
• T424 Good that the TEETH guard the tongue
• T429 To cast (hit) in the TEETH
• T430 To have one's TEETH to water at anything
• T443 A TORCH turned downward is extinguished by its own wax
• T448 As the TOUCHSTONE tries gold, so gold tries men
• T468 It is easy to fall into a TRAP (net) but hard to get out again
• T490 The most fruitful TREE (The ripest fruit) is eaten by worms (the caterpillar)
• T493 Soon (Timely) crooks the TREE that good cammock¹ (gambrel) will be
• T511 Straight TREES have crooked roots
• T528 Like the TROJANS, we were wise too late
• T543 TRUE BLUE will never stain
• T572 TRUTH has a scratched face
• T589 The TRUTH shows best being naked
• T590 The TRUTH, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
• T595 TRY (Try your friend) before you trust
• T624 As true as a TURTLE to her mate
• T645 You TWO are finger and thumb
• U24 USE (Practice) makes mastery (perfectness)
• V31 VENUS was choice, yet a wart (mole) on her cheek
• V36 Empty VESSELS sound most
• V46 VICE rules where gold reigns
• V50 Do not triumph before the VICTORY
• V62 The young VINE yields the most but the old one yields the best
• V71 It is a VIRTUE to abstain from pleasures
• V85 VIRTUE is the true nobility
• V86 VIRTUE (Counsel) must be practiced (honored) not praised
• W10 It is good WALKING with a horse in one's hand
• W28 Born in the WANE of the moon
• W58 WARs are sweet to them who know them not
• W61 All his WARDROBE is on his back
• W87 As WATER in a smith's forge, that serves rather to kindle than quench
• W89 As welcome as WATER into a ship
• W92 Foul WATER as soon as fair will quench hot fire
• W107 To fetch (wring) WATER (blood) out of a stone (flint)
• W114 To write in WATER (sand)
• W123 WATER runs smoothest where it is deepest
• W129 He would find WATERS with the first stroke of his spade
• W136 Soft WAX will take any impression
• W138 To work upon one (anything) like WAX
• W147 The old WAY (fashion) is best
• W158 The farthest WAY about is the nearest way home
• W167 To go the wrong WAY to the wood
• W185 The WEAKEST goes to the wall
• W240 One ill WEED (turd) mars a whole pot of pottage (porridge)
• W241 WEEDS come forth on the fattest soil if it is untilled
• W247 To WEEP Irish
• W248 To come home by WEEPING CROSS¹
• W282 No WHEAT (corn) without its chaff
• W299 A WHETSTONE cannot itself cut but yet it makes tools cut
• W351 A good WIFE makes a good husband
• W388 Old WIVES' tales
• W412 As wavering (changeable, fickle, inconstant) as the WIND
• W416 He catches the WIND in a net
• W417 He that weighs the WIND must have a steady hand
• W420 It is a good WIND that blows a man to the wine
• W434 To have one in the WIND
• W461 Good WINE makes good blood
• W465 In WINE there is truth
• W466 No WINE without lees
• W467 Of WINE the middle, of oil the top, and of honey the bottom is best
• W468 Put not good WINE into an ill bottle (vessel)
• W470 The sweetest WINE makes the sharpest vinegar
• W481 WINE is the glass of the mind
• W509 It is a hard WINTER (The hunger must be great) when one wolf eats another
• W552 He has WIT at will
• W567 WIT is never good till it be bought (dearly bought)
• W575 He is at his WIT's end
• W576 The finest WITS are soonest subject to love
• W582 His WITS go a woolgathering
• W614 A WOLF in a lamb's (sheep's) skin
• W623 A dishonest WOMAN cannot be kept in and an honest one will not
• W631 If she (he) were the only WOMAN (man) in the world
• W637 To be born of WOMAN
• W640 Who has a WOMAN has an eel by the tail
• W651 A WOMAN either loves or hates to extremes
• W655 A WOMAN is the weaker vessel
• W670 A WOMAN's answer is never to seek
• W681 All WOMEN may be won
• W698 WOMEN are as wavering (changeable, inconstant) as the wind
• W718 WOMEN receive perfection by men
• W722 WOMEN will have the last word
• W723 WOMEN will have their wills
• W728 A WONDER lasts but nine days
• W731 WOO, wed, and bed (wear) her
• W734 Every WOOD has its worm
• W750 The WOOING was a day after the wedding
• W755 There is no WOOL so white but a dyer can make it black
• W777 A WORD and a stone let go (A word spoken) cannot be called back
• W779 A WORD is the shade (shadow) of an action
• W781 A WORD to a wise man is enough (Few words to the wise suffice)
• W820 Not WORDS but deeds
• W825 To eat one's WORDS
• W839 WORDS hurt (cut) more than swords
• W852 The last WORKS of men (God) are best
• W878 It is a WORLD¹ to see
• W886 To have the WORLD (fortune) in a string
• W888 To traverse (travel through) the WORLD safely one must have the eye of a falcon, the ears of an ass, the countenance of an ape, the tongue of a mountebank, the shoulders of a camel, the mouth of a hog, and the feet of a hind
• W927 A green WOUND is soon healed
• W930 The WOUND that bleeds inwardly is most dangerous
• Y1 You measure everyone by your own YARD
• Y12 It is hard to wive and thrive both in a YEAR
• Y36 You shall never be (labor) YOUNGER
• Y44 YOUTH and white paper take any impression
• Y48 YOUTH will have its course (swing)