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Bad news travels fast. A bad penny always turns up. A bad settlement is better than a good lawsuit. A bad workman blames his tools. George Herbert reports early English variants in Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, Etc. (1640): Never hand an ill workman good tools. An ill labourer quarrels with his tools. The Works of George Herbert in Prose and Verse; 1881, New York: John Wurtele Lovell, Pub.; pp. 440 & 454 Compare the older French proverb: Outil: ... Meſchant ouvrier ne trouvera ia bons outils: Prov. A bungler cannot find (or fit himself with) with good tools. Randle Cotgrave, A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues (1611) Galen explains clearly, if less succinctly, in De Causis Procatarcticis (2nd c. A.D.), VI. 63–65: They blame their tools: why did the carpenter make the bed so badly, if he was any good? He will reply: "Because I used a poor axe and a thick gimlet, because I did not have a rule, I lost my hammer, and the hatchet was blunt", and other things of this kind. And the scribe, asked why he wrote so badly, will say that the paper was rough, the ink too fluid, the pen blunt, that he did not have a smoother, so that he could not write any better. Once again, this man holds his material responsible, and blames his tools as well, in mentioning the pen and smoother. And who does not know that artisans make themselves responsible for the deficiencies in their work too, when they cannot pin the blame on material and tools? Galen On Antecedent Causes, Tr. R. J. Hankinson, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0521622506, p. 90–93 The ball is in your court. Barking dogs seldom bite. Barking up the wrong tree. Be careful before every step. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. A bean in liberty is better than a comfit in prison. Before criticizing a man, walk a mile in his shoes. Beggars can't be choosers. Beginning is half done. Quoted by Dr. Robert Schuller, West Coast clergyman. The belly has no ears. This Proverb intimates, that there is no arguing the Matter with Hunger, the Mother of Impatience and Anger. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [3] I don't argue with the body Jerry. It's an argument you can't win. - Kramer A bellyful is one of meat, drink, or sorrow. A bellyful of food is a good one. The best is yet to come. The best of friends need not speak face to face. The best things come in small packages. The best things in life are free. Better is the enemy of good. Better late than never. Better safe than sorry. Better the devil you know (than the one you don't). Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Variant: Better to remain silent and thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt. (often attributed to Abraham Lincoln but taken from Solomon's Proverbs) Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. A reference to the Trojan Horse Beware of the Bear when he tucks in his shirt. Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, and inwardly are ravening wolves. (Matthew; bible quote) A big tree attracts the woodsman's axe. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. John Bunyan cites this traditional proverb in The Pilgrim's Progress, (1678): So are the men of this world: They must have all their good things now; they cannot stay till the next year, that is, until the next world, for their portion of good. That proverb, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," is of more authority with them than are all the divine testimonies of the good of the world to come. Birds of a feather flock together. Variant: Birds of the same feather flock together. Bitter pills may have blessed effects. Blood is thicker than water. Blood will out. Bloom where you are planted. A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword. Robert Burton cites this traditional proverb in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621): It is an old saying, "A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword:" and many men are as much galled with a calumny, a scurrilous and bitter jest, a libel, a pasquil, satire, apologue, epigram, stage-play or the like, as with any misfortune whatsoever. Part I, Section II, Member IV, Subsection IV Compare: "The pen is mightier than the sword." Contrast: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." Born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth. Boys will be boys. Brag is a good Dog, but Holdfast is a better This Proverb is a Taunt upon Braggadoccio's, who talk big, boast, and rattle: It is also a Memento for such who make plentiful promises to do well for the future but are suspected to want Constancy and Resolution to make them good. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [4] Brain is better than brawn. Bread is the stuff of life. Break the Law as the Law should be beaten. A burnt child dreads the fire. Chinese Version: One bitten by a snake for a snap dreads a rope for a decade.一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳 Indian Version: The one burnt by hot milk drinks even cold buttermilk with precaution. Transliteration: Doodh ka jala chhanchh ko bhi phoonk phoonk ke peeta hai. Cf. "Once bitten, twice shy" This Proverb intimates, That it is natural for all living Creatures, whether rational or irrational, to consult their own Security, and Self-Preservation; and whether they act by Instinct or Reason, it still tends to some care of avoiding those things that have already done them an Injury. - Divers Proverbs, Nathan Bailey, 1721 [5] Buy the best and you only cry once. [edit]C The calm (comes) before the storm. A camel is a horse designed by committee. A candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. Attributed to Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi A cat may look at a king. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link. Cf. Thomas Reid Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man, 1786, Vol. II, p.377, Essay VII, Of Reasoning, and of Demonstration, ch. 1: "In every chain of reasoning, the evidence of the last conclusion can be no greater than that of the weakest link of this chain, whatever may be the strength of the rest." [6] Change is the only constant. A character never dies. The child is father to the man. A closed mouth catches no flies. A closed mouth don't get fed The coat makes the man. A coin of gold is delighting in a bag of silver coins Cometh the hour cometh the man. (Some information about the phrase and about its use by a 1940's cricketer) A constant guest is never welcome. A coward dies a thousand times before his death. The valiant never taste of death but once. From William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar[1] The cure is worse than the disease. The customer is always right. [edit]D Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Lorenzo Dow (d. 1834).[2] Decisions are never good or bad, consequences are. Deserving something and not getting is better than getting something undeserved. Desperate times call for desperate measures. The difference between a man and a cat or a dog is that only a man can write the names of the cat and the dog. Different strokes for different folks. Discretion is the better part of valour. Derived from "The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life." Falstaff in Shakespeare's Henry IV Part One. Does a One Legged Duck swim in circles? --alternate saying for "Does a bear shit in the woods" and a common response to an obvious answer yes to a silly question. Do it today, tomorrow it may be against the law. Don't ask God to guide your footsteps if you're not willing to move your feet. Don't bark if you can't bite. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Don't bring a knife to a gun fight. Don't burn your bridges. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Don't cross a bridge before you come to it. Don't cry over spilt milk. Don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork. Don't enter your nose in the affairs of others. Don't fall before you're pushed. Don't have too many irons in the fire. Don't judge a book by its cover. Don't judge a man by the size of his hat, but by the angle of his tilt. Don't let procrastination eat your own clock. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Don't make a mountain out of a molehill. Don't mend what ain't broken. Alternatively, If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Alternatively, Leave well enough alone. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't put the cart before the horse. Cf. Dan Michael of Northgate, Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340): "Many religious folk set the plough before the oxen." (Middle English: "Moche uolk of religion зetteþ þe зuolз be-uore þe oksen.") Don't raise more Demons than you can lay down. Don't shut the barn door after the horse is gone. Don't spit into the wind. Or, Don't piss into the wind. Don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar. A ha'p'orth (pronounced haypeth) is a halfpenny-worth, i.e. a very small amount. Don't take life too seriously; you'll never get out of it alive. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It doesn't work, and you'll annoy the pig. Don't worry, God has a plan. - Jiv Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Based on the Bible (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).[3] Doctors make the worst patients. The dog is nude though the clothing cost a penny. Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom. Dreams are not the ones which come when you sleep, but they are the ones which will not let you sleep. A drop of knowledge is greater than an ocean of strength. A dull pencil is greater than the sharpest memory. [edit]E Each to his own taste French: Chacun à son goût Alternatively: à chacun son goût - "To each his own". The early bird catches the worm. But the second mouse gets the cheese. The early bird gets (or catches) the worm. Early to bed and ea
