Transcriber's note.
A list of the changes made can be found at the end of the book. Formatting and special characters are indicated as follows:
italic =bold=
PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS.
PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS,
COMPARED,
EXPLAINED, AND ILLUSTRATED.
BY WALTER K. KELLY.
"Even the best proverb, though often the expression of the widest experience in the choicest language, can be thoroughly misapplied. It cannot embrace the whole of the subject, and apply in all cases like a mathematical formula. Its wisdom lies in the ear of the hearer."--FRIENDS IN COUNCIL.
LONDON: W. KENT & CO. (LATE D. BOGUE), 86, FLEET STREET, AND PATERNOSTER ROW. 1859.
WINCHESTER: PRINTED BY HUGH BARCLAY, HIGH STREET.
PREFACE.
ENGLISH LITERATURE, in most departments the richest in Europe, is yet the only one in which there has hitherto existed no comprehensive collection of proverbs adapted to general use. To supply this deficiency is the object of the present attempt.
Dean Trench, in the preface to his "Proverbs and their Lessons," adverts to "the immense number and variety of books bearing on the subject;" but adds, that among them all he knows not one which appears to him quite suitable for all readers. "Either," he says, "they include matter which cannot fitly be placed before all--or they address themselves to the scholar alone; or, if not so, are at any rate inaccessible to the mere English reader--or they contain bare lists of proverbs, with no endeavour to compare, illustrate, or explain them--or, if they do seek to explain, they yet do it without attempting to sound the depths or measure the real significance of that which they attempt to unfold."
My own experience in this department of literature is entirely in accordance with these views. I have, therefore, during the preparation of the following pages, kept constantly before my mind the Dean of Westminster's precise statement of things to be done, and things to be avoided.
British proverbs for the most part form the basis of this collection. They are arranged according to their import and affinity, and under each of them are grouped translations of their principal equivalents in other languages, the originals being generally appended in footnotes. By this means are formed natural families of proverbs, the several members of which acquire increased significance from the light they reflect on each other. At the same time, a source of lively interest is opened for the reader, who is thus enabled to observe the manifold diversities of form which the same thought assumes, as expressed in different times and by many distinct races of men; to trace the unity in variety which pervades the oldest and most universal monuments of opinion and sentiment among mankind; and to verify for himself the truth of Lord Bacon's well-known remark, that "the genius, wit, and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs."
Touching as they do upon so wide a range of human concerns, proverbs are necessarily associated with written literature. Sometimes they are created by it; much oftener they are woven into its texture. Personal anecdotes turn upon them in many instances; and not unfrequently they have figured in national history, or have helped to preserve the memory of events, manners, usages, and ideas, some of which have left little other record of their existence. From the wealth of illustration thus inviting my hand, I have sought to gather whatever might elucidate and enliven my subject without overlaying it. In this way I hope to have overcome the general objection alleged by Isaac Disraeli against collections of proverbs, on the ground of their "unreadableness." It is true, as he says, that "taking in succession a multitude of insulated proverbs, their slippery nature resists all hope of retaining one in a hundred;" but this remark, I venture to believe, does not apply to the present collection, in which proverbs are not insulated, but presented in orderly, coherent groups, and accompanied with appropriate accessories, so as to fit them for being considered with some continuity of thought.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
WOMEN, LOVE, MARRIAGE, ETC. 1 PARENTS AND CHILDREN 26 YOUTH AND AGE 29 NATURAL CHARACTER 32 HOME 36 PRESENCE, ABSENCE, SOCIAL INTERCOURSE 39 FRIENDSHIP 42 CO-OPERATION, RECIPROCITY, SUBORDINATION 47 LUCK, FORTUNE, MISFORTUNE 51 FORETHOUGHT, CARE, CAUTION 61 PATIENCE, FORTITUDE, PERSEVERANCE 66 INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS 71 THRIFT 73 MODERATION, EXCESS 77 THOROUGHGOING, THE WHOLE HOG 84 WILL, INCLINATION, DESIRE 89 CUSTOM, HABIT, USE 96 SELF-CONCEIT, SPURIOUS PRETENSIONS 101 SELF-LOVE, SELF-INTEREST, SELF-RELIANCE 104 SELFISHNESS IN GIVING, SPURIOUS BENEVOLENCE 113 INGRATITUDE 116 THE MOTE AND THE BEAM 119 FAULTS, EXCUSES, UNEASY CONSCIOUSNESS 122 FALSE APPEARANCES AND PRETENCES, HYPOCRISY, DOUBLE DEALING, TIME-SERVING 127 OPPORTUNITY 138 UNCERTAINTY OF THE FUTURE, HOPE 141 EXPERIENCE 148 CHOICE, DILEMMA, COMPARISON 152 SHIFTS, CONTRIVANCES, STRAINED USES 155 ADVICE 159 DETRACTION, CALUMNY, COMMON FAME, GOOD REPUTE 161 TRUTH, FALSEHOOD, HONESTY 165 SPEECH, SILENCE 168 THREATENING, BOASTING 171 SECRETS 177 RETRIBUTION, PENAL JUSTICE 182 WEALTH, POVERTY, PLENTY, WANT 187 BEGINNING AND END 191 OFFICE 195 LAW AND LAWYERS 200 PHYSIC, PHYSICIANS, MAXIMS RELATING TO HEALTH 203 CLERGY 208 SEASONS, WEATHER 211 NATIONAL AND LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS, LOCAL ALLUSIONS 216
PROVERBS OF ALL NATIONS.
WOMEN, LOVE, MARRIAGE, ETC.
=What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.=
This is an Englishwoman's proverb. The Italian sisterhood complain that "In men every mortal sin is venial; in women every venial sin is mortal."[1] These are almost the only proverbs relating to women in which justice is done to them, all the rest being manifestly the work of the unfair sex.
=If a woman were as little as she is good, A peascod would make her a gown and a hood.=
This is Ray's version of an Italian slander.[2] The Germans say, "Every woman would rather be handsome than good;"[3] and that, indeed, "There are only two good women in the world: one of them is dead, and the other is not to be found."[4] The French, in spite of their pretended gallantry, have the coarseness to declare that "A man of straw is worth a woman of gold;"[5] and even the Spaniard, who sometimes speaks words of stately courtesy towards the female sex, advises you to "Beware of a bad woman, and put no trust in a good one."[6]
"The crab of the wood is sauce very good For the crab of the sea; But the wood of the crab is sauce for a drab, That will not her husband obey."
=A spaniel, a woman, and a walnut tree,= =The more they're beaten the better they be.=
There is Latin authority for this barbarous distich.[7] The Italians say, "Women, asses, and nuts require rough hands."[8] Much wiser is the Scotch adage,--
=Ye may ding the deil into a wife, but ye'll ne'er ding him out o' her.=
The French make the rule more general--"Take a woman's first advice, &c."[9] There is good reason for this if the Italian proverb is true, "Women are wise offhand, and fools on reflection."[10] They have less logical minds than men, but surpass them in quickness of intuition, having, says Dean Trench, "what Montaigne ascribes to them in a remarkable word, l'esprit prime-sautier--the leopard's spring, which takes its prey, if it be to take it at all, at the first bound." "Summer-sown corn and women's advice turn out well once in seven years,"[11] say the Germans; and the Spaniards hold that "A woman's counsel is no great thing, but he who does not take it is a fool."[12] In Servia they say, "It is sometimes right even to obey a sensible wife;" and they tell this story in elucidation of the proverb. A Herzegovinian once asked a Kadi whether a man ought to obey his wife, whereupon the Kadi answered that he needed not to do so. The Herzegovinian then continued, "My wife pressed me this morning to bring thee a pot of beef suet, so I have done well in not obeying her." Then said the Kadi, "Verily, it is sometimes right even to obey a sensible wife."