ADAGES & SAYINGS
Common sayings, adages and proverbs contain much wisdom. However, we tend to treat them as cliches without much worth. This page contains a searchable ist of sayings drawn from our culture's ‘folk memory’ and various other sources. I will gradually accumulate information as to their origins and add small essays illustrating their worth.
A
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
A drip of water wears away (the) stone.
A fish rots from the head.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
A herd of wild horses is never led by a wild boar.
A house leaks from the roof.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
A long journey begins with the first step.
All that glitters is not gold.
All philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato.
An old head on young shoulders.
As clever as a cartload of monkeys.
A stitch in time saves nine.
A word to the wise is enough.
B
beauty is only skin deep.
(to) beggar belief
To reduce the capacity to believe into a beggar&mdahs;to accept what's given; to be impossible to believe.
beggared for choice.
Beggars can't be choosers.
In the dialogue 'Phaedrus' (368BC), Socrates refers to this saying: “The old proverb says that ‘birds of a feather flock together’; I suppose that equality of years inclines them to the same pleasures, and similarity begets friendship.” Seems it was considered ‘old’ even then.
(To) bite off more than you can chew.
To take something on that you do not have the capacity to deal with or bring to completion.
By your deeds shall ye be known.
C
To offer something of great value or beauty to people who cannot appreciate or understand of it. (May even defile it.)
Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
comparing apples and oranges.
A phrase that calls out a comparison as oversimplified: generalising from perceived shared characteristics and ignoring obvious differences.
D
A common English phrasing of the ‘Golden Rule’, stated in:
Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise;.
E
Every knot used to be a straight piece of rope.
F
Any statement relies on the meanings attributed to its composite words and the semantic effect of their order of combination. Thus a determination of absolute truth or falsehood is impossible. The phrase thus usually signals a false dilemma logical fallacy (other possibilities are ignored).
Flattery will get you everywhere/nowhere.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
G
Give him an inch and he will take a mile.
Give me a platform on which to stand and I will move the earth.
H
hand in glove.
Hatred ultimately consumes the hater more than the hated.
(To) Have everything that opens and shuts.
To be equipped with every device and gadget currently available (and popular).
He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon.
If you have dealings with wicked, dangerous or malevolent people you should maintain as great a distance as possible lest you be corrupted or harmed by them.
Honour amongst thieves.
I
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
If wishes were horses beggars would ride.
If you open the window you'll let in a few flies.
If you hang out in the sewer you are going to meet a few rats.
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
The meaning of this saying might seem obvious and a necessary truth, in that a person with a skill or perception not possessed by others may come to have power over them.
However, if you survey history, many people with extraordinary skills have been cast out of society or killed for 'deviating' from the norm.
It beggars belief.
It's hard for an empty sack to stand upright.
It's not the vote that counts, it's who counts the vote.
(One version of a phrase attributed to Joseph Stalin.)
It's there in black and white.
It takes one to know one.
J
Thought to have originated with the 4th century BC Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu, who had a dream that he was a butterfly and upon waking posed the question: ‘am I Chuang Tzu who dreamt he was a butterfly or am I a butterfly dreaming that I am Chuang Tzu’. The message of this proverb defies simple verbal explication—they all seem to fall short. A reasonalbe version is: ‘When all seems lost, trust in your inner forces to deliver you’.
K
Merriam-Webster gives a history going back to a game played during the Great Depression, the only equipment required being an empty can. The current meaning first appearing in 1980s politics.
The metaphor has some similarity with the phrase: 'kick something into the long grass'; which means removing something from view or consideration.
L
John 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
John 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
John 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? ...
John 8:7 ... and he said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.
If you are watchful of the expenditure of small amounts of money, your possession of larger amounts will be assured.
looks aren’t everything.
M
Many hands make light work.
Measure twice, cut once.
To doubt of someone's sincerity, especially regarding the truth of a strong denial.1*
In Act III, Scene II of Shakespeare's Hamlet, Queen Gertrude says ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks;’ in response to the insincere overacting of a character in the play within a play created by Prince Hamlet to prove his uncle's guilt in the murder of his father.
Monkey see, monkey do.
N
needs must.
not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
not the full quid.
not the full shilling.
a sandwich short of a picnic.
the lights are on but no one’s home.
as smart as a stick.
dumber than paint.
the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead.
a few colors short of a rainbow.
running on three cylinders.
a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock.
O
Once bitten, twice shy.
One good turn deserves another.
One hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.
one step at a time.
Out of sight, out of mind.
P
penny wise, pound foolish.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
This saying is derived from verse 18 of Chapter 16 of the 'Book of Proverbs' in the Old Testament of the Bible:
'Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.'
Q
R
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
(to) run the gauntlet.
A form of corporal punishment in which the party judged guilty is forced to run between two rows of soldiers, who strike out and attack them with sticks or other weapons. Metaphorically, this expression is also used to convey a public trial that one must overcome.
S
Silence is golden.
Slowly, slowly catchee monkey.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Still waters run deep.
T
The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.
Shakespeare, 'Henry V', Act VI, scene IV. Spoken by a 'boy', referring to a saying.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu
The poor tradesman blames his tools.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
There is a time and place for everything.
There’s no fool like an old fool.
The sleeping fox catches no poultry.
the survival of the fittest. (Article.)
The tiny acorn to a mighty oak does grow.
The wise man realises his own ignorance.
An idiomatic expression for an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad, or in other words, rejecting the favorable along with the unfavorable.
This idiom derives from a German proverb, ‘das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten’. It appreared in 1512, in ‘Narrenbeschwörung’ (Appeal to Fools) by Thomas Murner.
Time and tide wait for no man.
To err is human; to forgive divine.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
U
V
W
Watch and wait.
Well fed horses don't rampage.
What goes up must come down.
What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve for.
When the axe came into the woods, the trees said: 'at least the handle is one of us'.
(Turkish proverb.)
X
Y
You can’t judge a book by its cover.
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
You know a man by the company he keeps. (See 'birds of a feather.')
You have to (learn to) walk before you (can) run.
Z
1. Wikipedia Link
