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Babblers.
1.The great church bells rarely sound, the full cask returns no sound. (A proverb of the Chinese directed against babblers for whom they have a great aversion.)
Babe.
1.A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure.Tupper.
2.A babe is a mother's anchor. She cannot swing far from her moorings.Beecher.
3.A babe is an angel whose wings decrease as his legs increase.Fr.
4.A bairn maun creep ere it gang.
5.At first babes feed on the mother's bosom, but always on her heart.Beecher.
6.None of us like the crying of another person's baby.Punch.
7.Too many nurses spoil the broth of a boy.Punch.
8.To the well-bred doctor all babies are angels.Punch.
9.Where God sends babies he sends penny loaves.
Bacchus.
1.Bacchus hath drowned more than Neptune.
2.Bacchus kills more than Mars.Ger.
3.Bacchus loves freedom.Ger.
4.If you make Bacchus your God, Apollo will not keep you company.
5.When Bacchus pokes the fire, Venus sits by the oven.Ger.
Bachelor.
1.Bachelor, a peacock, betrothed a lion, married an ass.Sp.
2.A bachelor's bed is the pleasantest.Cicero.
3.An old bachelor is only the half of a pair of scissors.Ben. Franklin.
4.Bachelors' wives and maids' children are well taught.
5.Commend a wedded life, but keep thyself a bachelor.
6.Hold your hands off other folks' bairns till you get some of your own.
7.If you trust a man let him be a bachelor; let him be a bachelor.George Eliot.
8.Marriage has its pains, but a bachelor's life has no pleasures.Wolofs.—(Africa.)
9.Praise a wife, but remain a bachelor.Ital.
10.Who would avoid all strife, should be a bachelor.
11.Wisely I say, I am a bachelor.Shaks.
12.Whoever is free from wrangling is a bachelor.St. Jerome.
Back.
1.The back is shaped to the burden.
Backbiting.
1.Backbiting oftener proceeds from pride than malice.
Bad.
1.A bad bush is better than the open field.
2.A bad knife cuts one's fingers instead of the stick.Por.
3.A bad padlock invites a picklock.
4.A bad reaper never gets a good sickle.Gaelic.
5.A bad shift is better than no shift.
6.A bad thing never dies.
7.A bad tree does not yield good apples.Dan.
8.A bad vessel breaks not easily.Hungarian.
9.A bad vessel is seldom broken.Latin.
10.All bad alike. Literal, putrid flesh is all of a flavor.Chinese.
11.Bad is never good until worse happens.Dan.
12.Bad is the sack that will not bear patching.Ital.
13.Bad is the wool that cannot be dyed.Ital.
14.Bad mind bad heart.Terence.
15.He who has a bad name is half hanged.Ital.
16.Nothing so bad as not to be good for something.
17.Nothing so bad but it finds its master.Dutch.
18.There is no man so bad but has a secret respect for the good.
19.There is nothing so bad but may be of some use.Ger.
20.Those who are once found to be bad are presumed to be so forever.Latin.
21.What is bad for one is good for another.Fr.
22.Where bad's the best naught must be the choice.
23.You may keep yourself safe from fire but not from a bad man.Por.
24.Bad men leave their mark wherever they go.Chinese.
25.Who is bad to his own is bad to himself.Ital.
Bag.
1.An empty bag cannot stand upright.
Bag-pipe.
1.Bring not a bag-pipe to a man in trouble.
2.He's like a bag-pipe, you never hear him till his belly's full.
3.The bag-pipe never utters a word till its belly's full.Fr.
Bailiff's Cow.
1.The bailiff's cow and another's cow are two different cows.Ger.
Baker.
1.Be not a baker if your head be of butter.Sp.
2.He is not fit to be a baker whose head is made of butter.Dan.
Balance.
1.The balance distinguishes not between gold or lead.
2.The balance in doing its office knows neither gold or lead.Fr.
Bankrupt.
1.A bankrupt and a usurer do not disagree, i.e., they easily conclude a bargain.Arabian.
2.A bankrupt Jew searches his old accounts.Modern Greek.
Bankruptcy.
1.Men of their broken debtors take a third, A sixth, a tenth, letting them thrive again.Shaks.
Banishment.
1.Blood-thirsty is the man who returns from banishment.Ancient Proverb.
Banquet.
1.There never was a banquet so sumptuous but some one dined ill at it.Fr.
Barber.
1.He is a sorry barber that has but one comb.Ital.
2.Neither a dumb barber nor a deaf singer.Por.
3.On a fool's beard the barber learns to shave.Fr., Ital.
4.One barber shaves another.Fr.
5.One barber shaves not so close but another finds work.
6.Softly, barber, the water scalds.Ital.
7.The bad barber leaves neither hair nor skin.Sp.
8.The barber learns to shave on the orphan's face.Arabian.
9.There is no beard so well shaven but another barber will find something more to shave from it.Ital.
Bargain.
1.A bargain is a bargain.
2.A good bargain is a pick purse.
3.A man loseth his time that comes early to a bad bargain.
4.Bargains are costly.Ger., Sp.
5.Bargaining is as necessary to a trade as poleing to a vessel.Chinese.
6.Good cheap is dear at long run.
7.He who hunts after bargains will scratch his head.Catalan.
8.It is a bad bargain where both are losers.
9.It is a silly bargain where nobody gets.
10.It is only good bargains that ruin.
11.It takes two to make a bargain.
12.Make the best of a bad bargain.
13.Many have been ruined by buying good pennyworths.
14.More words than one go to a bargain.
15.No one will get a bargain he does not ask for.Fr.
16.On a good bargain think twice.
17.One word will not settle a bargain, though prices vary from morning to night.Chinese.
18.They spit upon the same stone. (A custom practised in the north of England when concluding a bargain.)
19.Twa words maun gang to that bargain.
(Rash) Bargain.
1.It is a rash bargain to sell the bird on the bough.Ital.
2.The man that once did sell the lion's skin Was killed in hunting him.Shaks.
Barley Corn.
1.The barley corn is the heart's key.
Base.
1.Incline to nothing base.
2.It is a base thing to betray a man because he trusted you.
3.It is a base thing to tear a dead lion's beard off.
4.It is a base thing to tread upon a man who is down.
Bashfulness.
1.A scoff is the reward of bashfulness.
2.At table bashfulness is out of place.
3.Bashfulness is an enemy to poverty.
4.Bashfulness is an ornament to youth but a reproach to old age.Aristotle.
5.Bashfulness is no use to the needy.Dutch.
6.He that wants should not be bashful.Ital.
7.His bashful mind hinders his good intent.
8.It is only the bashful that lose.Fr.
9.To cast a sheep's eye at one.
Basle.
1.It takes nine Jews to cheat a native of Basle.
Bath.
1.The bath has sworn not to whiten the blackamoor.Sp.
Battle.
1.It is a hard battle where none escape.
2.Many walk into a battle and are carried out of it.Fielding.
3.Nothing but a battle lost can be so melancholy as a battle won.Wellington.
4.The battle is over when the foe hath fallen.Ovid.
5.The battle is weak that is waged with one hand.Euripides.
6.The danger is great if thy foot stumble when thou goest to battle.Volsunga Saga.
7.The winds and the waves in a naval battle are always on the side of the ablest navigator.Gibbon.
Bazaar.
1.The bazaar knows neither father nor mother.Turk.
Bear.
1.An old bear is slow in learning to dance.Ger.
2.Catch the bear before you sell his skin.
3.Don't play with the bear if you don't want to be bit.Ital.
4.He must have iron nails that scratches with a bear.
5.He that hath eaten a bear pie will always smell of the garden.
6.If it were a bear it would bite you. (Applied to a person hunting for a thing mislaid, by a person observing him near to it.)
7.One cannot teach a bear to dance in a day.Ger.
8.One must catch the bear before he draws a ring through his nose.Ger.
9.One must not play on the nose of the sleeping bear.Ger.
10.One must not reach his hand to the hungry bear.Ger.
11.Savage bears agree with one another.Juvenal.
12.The bear wants a tail and cannot be lion.
13.The she bear thinks her cubs pretty.Ital.
Beard.
1.Beard was never the true standard of brains.T. Fuller.
2.If the beard were all the goat would be the winner.Dan.
3.If my beard is burnt others try to light their pipes at it.Turk.
4.Little beard little modesty.Sp.
5.Red beard and black head catch him with a good trick and take him dead.
6.The beard does not make the philosopher.Ital.
7.To beards with money cavaliers pay respect.Sp.
8.Where there is no beard there is no understanding.Ger.
9.Whoever hath a divided beard the whole world will not prevail against him.
10.You can scarcely pull a hair from a thin beard.M. Greek.
Bearing.
1.A man may bear till his back breaks.
2.Bear and blame not what you cannot change.Syms.
3.Bear and forbear.Ovid.
4.Bear the best humbly and the worst resigned.Homer.
5.Bear with a soul resigned the will of Jove.Homer.
6.Bear with evil and expect good.
7.To bear is to conquer our fate.Campbell.
8.You must bear that which hurts that you may gain that which profits.Syrus.
Beast.
1.In order to manage an ungovernable beast he must be stinted in his provender.Queen Elizabeth.
2.The beast dead the venom dead.Fr., Ital.
3.The beast is more savage than man when he is possessed of power equal to his passion.Plutarch.
4.The beasts are by instinct their own physicians.Fr., Ital.
5.The beast that goes well is never without some one to try his paces.Sp., Por.
6.There is no beast so savage but it sports with its mate.Sp.
7.There is no beast that does not roar in its den.Kaffir.
Beauty.
1.A fair face may be a foul bargain.
2.A fair face may hide a foul heart.
3.A fair face is half a portion.
4.A fair face will get its praise though the owner keep silent.Dan.
5.A pretty face is as good as a drummer.Ger.
6.A pretty face is half a dowry.Ger.
7.A thing of beauty is a joy forever.Keats.
8.All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth.Shaks.
9.All that's fair must fade.Ital.
10.Beauties without fortune have sweethearts plenty but husbands none at all.
11.Beauty and charity have always a mortal quarrel between them.
12.Beauty and folly are often companions.Fr., Ital.
13.Beauty and folly are sisters.Ger.
14.Beauty and understanding go rarely together.Ger.
15.Beauty blemished once forever's lost.Shaks.
16.Beauty carries its dower in its face.Dan.
17.Beauty comes not by forcing.Turk.
18.Beauty doth varnish age.Shaks.
19.Beauty draws more than oxen.
20.Beauty draws us with a single hair.Pope.
21.Beauty in the unworthy is poison in a casket of gold.Tamil.
22.Beauty is a frail advantage.Ovid.
23.Beauty is a good letter of introduction.Ger.
24.Beauty is a witch against whose charms faith melteth into blood.Shaks.
25.Beauty is as good as ready money.Ger.
26.Beauty is but dross if honesty be lost.Dutch.
27.Beauty is but skin deep.
28.Beauty is worse than wine; it intoxicates both the holder and the beholder.Zimmerman.
29.Beauty is no inheritance.
30.Beauty is one of God's gifts.Lewes.
31.Beauty is potent but money is more potent.
32.Beauty is the eye's food and the soul's sorrow.Ger.
33.Beauty is the subject of a blemish.
34.Beauty is the wife's best dowry.
35.Beauty is truth, truth beauty.Keats.
36.Beauty lives with kindness.Shaks.
37.Beauty may have fair leaves but bitter fruit.
38.Beauty opens locked doors.Ger.
39.Beauty provoketh thieves sooner than gold.
40.Beauty—the fading rainbow's pride.Halleck.
41.Beauty vanishes, virtue endures.Ger.
42.Beauty will buy no beef.
43.Beauty without bounty avails not.
44.Beauty without modesty is infamous.Ger.
45.Beauty without understanding is vain talk.Ger.
46.Beauty without virtue is a curse.
47.Beauty without virtue is a rose without fragrance.Ger., Dan.
48.Beauty's tears are lovelier than her smiles.Campbell.
49.Good looks buy nothing in the market.
50.Health and wealth create beauty.
51.How goodness brightens beauty.Hannah Moore.
52.It is not the greatest beauties that inspire the most profound passion.Fr.
53.Man cannot divide beauty into dollars.Polish.
54.One cannot live on beauty.Ger.
55.One does not put beauty in the kettle.Ger.
56.Over the greatest beauty hangs the greatest ruin.
57.She that is born a beauty is half married.
58.She who is born a beauty is born betrothed.Ital.
59.She who is born handsome is born married.
60.The beautiful are never desolate, but some one always loves them.Bailey.
61.The beautiful is always true.Fr.
62.The beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother.African Negro.
63.The very autumn of a form once fine retains its beauties.Euripides.
64.We seize the beautiful and reject the useful.La Fontaine.
65.Without the smile from partial beauty won, Say what were man? a world without a sun.
Becoming.
1.That best becomes every man, which he is by nature intended to perform.Scribleomania.
2.What is becoming is honorable and what is honorable is becoming.Cicero.
Bee.
1.A drone is one who does not labor.Bea.
2.A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay, But a swarm in July is not worth a fly.
3.Bees do not become hornets.
4.Better two drones be preserved than one good bee perish.
5.Drones suck not eagles' blood but rob bee-hives.Shaks.
6.From the same flower the bee extracts honey and the wasp gall.Ital.
7.Good bees never turn drones.
8.He has a bee in his bonnet lug.
9.I want no drones in my bee-hive.Ger.
10.Old bees yield no honey.
11.One bee is better than a handful of flies.Ger., Sp.
12.The bee from his industry in the summer eats honey all the winter.
13.Whatever the bee sucks turns to honey and whatever the wasp sucks turns to venom.Por.
14.When bees are old they yield no honey.
15.When the bee sucks it makes honey, when the spider, poison.Sp.
16.Where bees are there is honey.
Beer.
1.Better weak beer than an empty cask.Dan.
2.Beware: froth is not beer.Dan.
3.Hops, reformation and beer, Came to England all in one year.
4.Small beer comes the last.Dan.
5.The beer's of your own brewing and you must drink it.Dutch.
6.What two ideas are more inseparable than beer and Britannia?Sidney Smith.
Beggar.
1.A beggar is never out of his road.Fr.
2.A beggar nowhere suffers from famine.Tamil.
3.A beggar's estate lies in all lands.Dutch.
4.A beggar's hand is a bottomless basket.Dutch.
5.A beggar's wallet empty is heavier than a full one.Ger.
6.A beggar's wallet is never full.Por.
7.A lordly taste makes a beggar's purse.
8.A lord's heart and a beggar's purse agree not.
9.A prince wants a million, a beggar but a groat.
10.A shameless beggar must have a short denial.
11.Ae beggar is wae that anither by the gate gae.
12.Bare gentry—braggart beggars.
13.Beggars and borrowers must not be choosers.
14.Beggars breed and rich men feed.
15.Beggars can never be bankrupt.
16.Beggars fear no rebellion.
17.Beggars mounted run their horse to death.Shaks.
18.Better die a beggar than live a beggar.
19.Even the beggar envies the beggar.
20.He makes a beggar first that first relieves him.Heywood.
21.He'll soon be a beggar that canna say na.
22.I know him as well as the beggar knows his dish.
23.If wishes were butter cakes, beggars might bite.
24.If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
25.If wishes were thrushes beggars would eat birds.
26.It is a grief to the beggar that another stands by the door.Dutch.
27.One beggar likes not that another has wallets.Dan.
28.One day a beggar the next a thief.Ger.
29.Neither beg of him, who has been a beggar, nor serve him who has been a servant.Sp.
30.Set a beggar on horseback and he won't trot but gallops.Dutch.
31.Set a beggar on horseback and he'll ride to the devil.
32.She loves the poor well but cannot abide beggars.
33.Small invitation will serve a beggar.
34.So soon as the beggar's sack warms in one's hands, he never does good any more.Ger.
35.The beggar is never out of his way.
36.The beggar is the enemy of the hound and the hound of the beggar.Ger.
37.The beggar may sing before the thief.
38.The beggar stands sure, he cannot become bankrupt.Ger.
39.The beggar's sack never cries “hold enough.”Ger.
40.The beggar's wallet has no bottom.Ital., Ger.
41.There is no pride like that of a beggar grown rich.Fr.
42.'Tis one beggar's woe to see another by the door go.
43.To see a beggar's brat in riches flow, Adds not a wrinkle to my even brow.Dryden.
44.When it rains porridge the beggar has no spoon.Dan.
Begging.
1.All do not beg for one saint.Sp.
2.Beggary is valiant.Shaks.
3.Begging a courtesy is selling liberty.
4.Better beg than steal.Dutch.
5.Better leave to my foes than beg frae my friends.
6.Better to beg than steal, but better to work than beg.Russian.
7.Better to beg than to borrow.
8.He begs at them who borrowed at him.
9.He buys very dear who begs.Por.
10.He who beggeth for others is contriving for himself.
11.He who begs timidly courts a refusal.Seneca.
12.He who knows how to beg may leave his money at home.Dan.
13.I would rather buy than beg.Latin.
14.Let them talk of me and beg of me.Sp.
15.Many trades begging the best.Ger.
16.That costs dear which is bought with begging.Ital.
17.The Friar who begs for God's sake begs for two.Sp.
18.What is got by begging is dearly bought.Dan.
19.Who is not ashamed to beg soon is not ashamed to steal.Ger.
Beginning.
1.A bad beginning makes a good ending.Ger.
2.A beginner is always a good man.Martial.
3.A good beginning is half the work.Ger.
4.A good beginning makes a bad ending.
5.A good beginning makes a good ending.
5½.All beginnings are easy, said the ragpicker.Ger.
6.All beginnings are hard, said the thief, and began by stealing an anvil.Dutch.
7.Begin in time to finish without hurry.Ger.
8.Beginning and ending shake hands.Ger.
9.Begun is half done.Ger.
10.Better not begin than not end.Ger.
11.Everything must have a beginning.Fr., Ital., Por., Ger.
12.For a web begun God sends thread.Fr., Ital.
13.From small beginnings come great things.Dutch.
14.Good to begin well, better to end well.
15.He is not done who is beginning.Fr.
16.He is half done who has made a beginning.Horace.
17.He who begins and does not finish loses his labor.Fr.
18.He who begins badly ends badly.Sp.
19.He who begins much finishes little.Ger.
20.If you know the beginning well the end will not trouble you.Wolofs.—(Africa.)
21.If you wish to reach the highest begin at the lowest.Syrus.
22.Ill begun ill done.Dutch.
23.It is better to begin in the evening than not at all.
24.Mischief lurks in the beginning, a good beginning is half the task.Euripides.
25.No beginnings of things however small are to be neglected because continuance makes them great.Plutarch.
26.Right beginning makes right ending.Ger.
27.So begun, so done.Dutch.
28.Some think they are done when they are only beginning.Fr.
29.The beginning and the end are seldom alike.Ger.
30.The beginning and the end extend hands to each other.Ger.
31.The beginning hot, the middle lukewarm, the end cold.Ger.
32.The beginning is half the whole.Hesiod.
33.The beginning is no masterpiece.Ger.
34.The beginning of excellence is to be free from error.Quintillian.
35.The beginning of the dollar is the bank shilling.Ger.
36.The golden rule in life is “make a beginning.”
37.The merit belongs to the beginner should his successor do even better.Egyptian.
38.To men who would be fortunate the beginning is everything.Don Quixote.
39.Well begun is half done.Fr., Ital., Ger., Sp., Por., Dan., Dutch.
40.What raging rashly is begun, challengeth shame before half done.
41.Who begins amiss ends amiss.Ger.
42.Who begins too much accomplishes little.Ger.
43.Everything is difficult at first.Chinese.
Beg Pardon.
1.Beg pardon is the best penitence.Ger.
2.It is for those who have done an injury to beg pardon.Cato the Younger.
3.Never ask pardon before you are accused.
Beguiling.
1.He that seeks to beguile is overtaken in his wile.
Belief.
1.Believe no man in his own cause.Dr. Johnson.
2.Believe no woman though she is dead.Ger.
3.Believe one who has tried it.Virgil.
4.Believe only half you hear of a man's wealth and goodness.
5.Believe that and drink some water (to wash it down).
6.Believe well and have well.
7.Better believe it than go where it was done to prove it.
8.Don't believe what you see but only what I tell you.Sp.
9.For they can conquer who believe they can.Virgil.
10.He does not believe who does not live according to his belief.
11.He will never prosper who readily believes.Latin.
12.I would not believe such a thing though affirmed by Cato.Latin.
13.It is always safer to believe nothing you hear.Hans Andersen.
14.Men are prone to believe what they least comprehend.Pliny.
15.Men willingly believe what they wish to be true.Cæsar.
16.That which is easily done is soon believed.
17.We are apt to believe what we wish for.
18.What a man desires he easily believes.
19.Who are ready to believe are easy to deceive.Ger.
20.Who believe all can easily come to harm.Ger.
21.Who believes does not reason.Ger.
22.Who does not believe must feel in the end.
23.Who neither believes heaven or hell The devil heartily wishes well.Ger.
24.Who quick believes late repents.Ger.
Believers.
1.Quick believers need broad shoulders.
Bell.
1.A cracked bell can never be sound.
2.Bells call others to church but go not themselves.
3.Every one thinks that all the bells echo his own thoughts.Ger.
4.Fear not the loss of the bells more than the loss of the steeple.
5.He is like a bell that will answer every pull.
6.If you love not the sound of bells why pull the ropes?
7.One bell serves a parish.Ital.
8.People make the bells say what they please.Ger.
9.The bell does not go to mass and yet calls every one to itItal., Sp.
10.The higher the bell is hung the shriller it sounds.Ger.
11.They are like bells every one in a several note.
12.While the great bells are ringing no one hears the little ones.Dan.
13.Who hears but one bell, hears but one sound.Fr.
Belly.
1.A belly full of gluttony will never study willingly.
2.A fat belly did not invent gun powder.M. Greek.
3.A full belly counsels well.Fr.
4.A full belly neither fights nor flies well.
5.An empty belly hears nobody.
6.Full bellies make empty sculls.
7.If it were not for the belly the back might wear gold.
8.Ill befall the belly that forgets eaten bread.Por.
9.The back an' the belly haud every one busy.
10.The belly does not accept bail.Por.
11.The belly gives no credit.Dan.
12.The belly hates a long sermon.
13.The belly hath no cares.
14.The belly is a bad adviser.Ger.
15.The belly is not filled with fair words.
16.The belly (hunger) is the bestower of genius.Latin.
17.The belly is the commanding part of the body.Homer.
18.The belly is the teacher of art and the bestower of genius.Persius.
19.The belly overreaches the head.Fr.
20.The belly teaches all arts.
21.The belly that's full may well fast.
22.The belly thinks the throat cut.
23.The belly warm—the foot at rest.Por.
24.When the belly is full the bones are at rest.
Bend.
1.Bend the willow while it is young.Ital., Dan.
2.Best to bend it while a twig.
3.Better bend than break.
4.Better bend the neck than bruise the forehead.
5.Better is the branch that bends than the branch that breaks.Dan.
6.It is a good blade that bends well.
7.It is better to bend than break.Fr.
8.Oaks may fall when reeds brave the storm.
Benefactors.
1.The benefactor engraves his name in the hand that receives the benefit.
Benefits.
1.Benefits grow old betimes, but injuries are long livers.
2.Benefits like flowers please most when they are fresh.
3.Benefits oblige, and obligation is thraldom and unrequited obligation perpetual thraldom, which is hateful.Hobbs.
4.Benefits turn poison in bad minds.Byron.
5.He is more noble that deserves than he who confers benefits.
6.He that requites a benefit pays a great debt.
7.Let him who has bestowed a benefit be silent, let him who has received it tell of it.Seneca.
8.The last benefit is the most remembered.
9.There is no benefit so small that a good man will not magnify it.Seneca.
10.There is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.
11.To receive a benefit is to sell one's liberty.
Best.
1.Best is best cheap, if you hit the nail on the head.
2.The best always goes first.Ital.
3.The best armor is to keep out of gunshot.Horace.
4.The best brewer sometimes makes bad beer.Ger.
5.The best cloth has uneven threads.Sp.
6.The best cloth may have a moth in it.
7.The best is cheapest.Ital., Ger.
8.The best is what one has in his hand.Ger.
9.The best manure is under the farmer's shoe.Dan.
10.The best medals lose their lustre unless brightened by use.
11.The best metal is iron, the best vegetable wheat, the worst animal man.
12.The best pears fall into the pig's mouth.
Betray.
1.He alone won't betray in whom none will confide.Congreve.
2.Who betrays me once wrongs me, who betrays me twice serves me just right.Ger.
3.Who last betrays is master.Ger.
4.Who will betray must spin fine threads.Ger.
5.Who will betray pipes sweet.Ger.
Better.
1.A better seldom comes after.Ger.
2.Better a bare foot than none at all.
3.Better a beast sold than bought.
4.Better a blind horse than an empty halter.Dutch.
5.Better a distant good than a near evil.
6.Better a friendly denial than unwilling compliance.Ger.
7.Better a lame horse than an empty saddle.Ger.
8.Better a lean jade than an empty halter.
9.Better a leg broken than the neck.Ger.
10.Better a little fire to warm us than a great one to burn us.
11.Better a little good than much bad.Ger.
12.Better a little in peace with right than much with anxiety and strife.Dan.
13.Better a little with honor than much with shame.
14.Better a mischief than an inconvenience.
15.Better a red face than a black heart.Por.
16.Better a salt herring on your own table than a fresh pike on another's.Dan.
17.Better a tooth out than always aching.
18.Better abridge petty charges than stoop to petty gettings.
19.Better an upright Turk than a false Christian.Ger.
20.Better anticipate than be anticipated.Por.
21.Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one.
22.Better be stung by a nettle than pricked by a rose.
23.Better be the head of a cat than the tail of a lion.Ital.
24.Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion.Fr.
25.Better be the head of the yeomanry than the tail of the gentry.
26.Better be unmannerly than troublesome.
27.Better be up to the ankles than over head and ears.
38.Better blow hard than burn yourselves.Dan.
29.Better coarse cloth than the naked thighs.Dan.
30.Better come at the latter end of a feast than the beginning of a fray.
31.Better deny at once than promise long.Dan.
32.Better fall from the window than the roof.Ital.
33.“Better fed than taught” said the churl to the parson.
34.Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay.Tennyson.
35.Better go about than fall in the ditch.
36.Better go away longing than loathing.
37.Better good afar off than ill at hand.
38.Better half an egg than an empty shell.
39.Better in the dust than crawl near the throne.Ger.
40.Better is a handful with quietness than both the hands full and vexation of spirit.Bible.
41.Better is an enemy to good.Ital., Ger.
42.Better is rule than rent.
43.Better kills good.Ger.
44.Better lang something than soon naething.
45.Better late ripe and bear than early blossom and blast.
46.Better late than never.Fr., Ital., Sp., Por., Dutch, Dan.
47.Better late thrive than never do well.Scotch.
48.Better leave than lack.
49.Better leave undone than by your deed acquire too high a fame when him we serve's away.Shaks.
50.Better make a short circuit than wet your hose.Dutch.
51.Better master one than engage with ten.
52.Better once than never.Ital.
53.Better one eye-witness than two hear-say witnesses.Dutch.
54.Better reap two days too soon than one too late.Dutch.
55.Better repair the gutter than the whole house.Por.
56.Better say nothing than nothing to the purpose.
57.Better see a clout than a hole out.
58.Better some of a pudding than none of a pie.
59.Better something on the arm than all in the stomach.Dan..
60.Better something than nothing at all.Ger.
61.Better straw than nothing.Por.
62.Better stretch your hand than your neck.Dutch.
63.Better the harm I know than the harm I know not.
64.Better there should be too much than too little.Ger.
65.Better they should say, “There he ran away,” than “There he died.”
66.Better to rule than be ruled by the rout.
67.Better to say, “Here it is” than “There it was.”
68.Better to wear out than to rust out.
69.Better too little than too much devotion.Ger.
70.Better twice remembered than once forgotten.Dutch.
71.Better unborn than unbred.
73.Better untaught than ill-taught.
73.Better walk before than behind an ox.Dutch.
74.Better walk leisurely than lie abroad all night.
75.Better walk on wooden legs than be carried on a wooden bier.Dan.
76.Better walk unshackled in a green meadow than be bound to a thorn bush.Dan.
77.Better wear out shoes than sheets.
78.Better where birds sing than where irons ring.
79.If better were in better would come out.Dutch.
80.Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien.
81.This and better may do but this and worse will never do.
Be True.
1.Be true to your word, your work, and your friend.John Boyle O'Reilly.
Beware.
1.Beware of him whom God hath marked.
2.Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a ship.Franklin.
3.Beware of no man more than thyself.
Bible.
1.How many read the Word (Bible), and yet from vice are not deterred.Ger.
Bide.
1.Bide your time.
2.Biding makes thriving.Dutch.
Bind.
1.Safe bind—safe find.Shaks.
2.Sure bind—sure find.
Bird.
1.A bird can roost but on one branch. A mouse can drink no more than its fill from a river.Chinese.
2.A bird is known by its note, and a man by his talk.
3.A bird may be caught with a snare that will not be shot.Dan.
4.A bird may be ever so small yet it always seeks a nest of its own.Dan.
5.A little bird wants but a little nest.
6.A rare bird upon the earth, something like a black swan.
7.A sly bird is often caught by two feet.M. Greek.
8.According to his pinions the bird flies.Dan.
9.An old bird is not caught with chaff.
10.Bird never flew so high but it had to come to the ground.Dutch.
11.Birds of prey do not flock together.Por.
12.Birds of prey do not sing.Ger.
13.Birds pay equal honors to all men.
14.Each bird loves to hear himself sing.
15.Early birds pick up the crumbs (worms).
16.Every bird is known by its feathers.
17.Every bird likes its own nest best.
18.Every bird must hatch its own eggs.
19.Every bird needs its own feathers.Dan.
20.Every bird sings as it is beaked.Dutch.
21.Every hooked beak is maintained by prey.Fr.
22.Every shot does not bring down a bird.Dutch.
23.Fine birds are commonly plucked.
24.Fine feathers make fine birds.
25.He that will take the bird must not scare it.
26.He will ill catch a flying bird that cannot keep his own in a cage.
27.However high a bird may soar, it seeks its food on earth.Dan.
28.If every bird take back its own feathers, you'll be naked.
29.If the partridge had the woodcock's thigh, It would be the best bird that ever did fly.
30.If you be false to both beasts and birds, you must like the bat fly only at night.
31.If you can't get the bird, get one of its feathers.Dan.
32.Ill fares the young bird in the urchin's hand.Por.
33.It is a dirty bird that fouls her own nest.
34.It is a foolish bird that stays the laying salt upon her tail.
35.It is a lazy bird that will not build its own nest.Dan.
36.It is hard to catch birds with an empty hand.Ger.
37.It is rash to sell the bird on the bough.
38.Let no shovel beaked bird ever enter your yard.Sp.
39.Little bird, little nest.Sp.
40.Little by little the bird builds its nest.Fr.
41.Old birds are hard to pluck.Ger.
42.Old birds are not caught with cats.Dutch.
43.Old birds are not caught with chaff.
44.Old birds are not caught with new nets.
45.One beats the bush, another catches the bird.Ger., Dutch.
46.Small birds must have meat.
47.The bird feels not its wing heavy.Turk.
48.The bird once out of hand is hard to recover.Dan.
49.The bird that can sing and won't sing must be made sing.
50.The bird that offers itself to the net is fair game to the fowler.Oriental.
51.The first bird gets the first grain.Dan.
52.The fowler's pipe sounds sweet until the bird is caught.
53.The nest made, the bird dead.Por.
54.The nest of a blind bird is made by God.Turk.
55.The noisy fowler catches no bird.
56.Though the bird may fly over your head let it not make its nest in your hair.Dan.
57.Two birds of prey do not keep company with each other.Sp.
58.When the cage is ready the bird is flown.
59.Where the bird was hatched it haunts.Dutch.
60.You cannot catch old birds with chaff.
Birth.
1.He that is born under a three-penny planet will never be worth a groat.Irish.
2.He that was born under a three half-penny planet shall never be worth two pence.
3.High birth is a poor dish at table.Ital.
4.It matters less to a man where he is born, than where he can live.Turk.
5.No man can help his birth.Hans Andersen.
6.No one is born with an axe in his hand.Ger.
7.Our birth is nothing but our death begun, As tapers waste that instant they take fire.Young.
8.Our birth made us mortal, our death will make us immortal.
Biting.
1.A gaunt brute bites sore.Fr.
2.Because the cur has bitten shall I bite the cur?
3.Better a friendly bite than an enemy's caress.Dan.
4.Bite not the dog that bites.Dan.
5.Don't bite till you know whether it is bread or a stone.Ital.
6.Don't make two bites of a cherry.
7.He who can lick can bite.Fr.
8.If you cannot bite never show your teeth.
9.Keep to the little ones and the big ones will not bite you.Dan.
10.One must not make the bite larger than the mouth.Ger.
11.Take two bites if one is too large.Ger.
12.The biter is sometimes bit.Fr., Ital.
13.The greatest barkers are not the greatest biters.
14.Though I am bitten I am not all eaten.
Bladder.
1.The bladder may be dipped but never drowned.Sibyl prophecy of Athens.
Blade.
1.The blade of the sultan's sabre grows until it overtakes the offender.Turk.
2.The blade wears out the sheath.
Blame.
1.Blame is the lazy man's wages.Dan.
2.He must be pure who would blame another.Dan.
3.Who lends his lips to naught but blame, Has in his heart no love of fame.Ger.
Bleeding.
1.According to the arm be the bleeding.
2.I may see him need but I'll not see him bleed.
Blessed.
1.Blessed be St. Stephen, there is no fast upon his even.
2.Blessed is he that considereth the poor.Bible.
3.Blessed is the peacemaker, not the conqueror.
4.He begs a blessing of a wooden god.
5.If you wish for any blessing, look for it yourself.Arrian.
6.Nothing on earth is completely blessed.Horace.
Blessings.
1.Blessings are not valued until they are gone.
2.Blessings brighten as they take their flight.
3.Blessings on his head that said, “Face about.”Sp.
4.They have need of a blessing that kneel to a thistle.
5.Ye dinna ken whar a blessing may light.
Blind.
1.A blind hen can sometimes find corn.Fr.
2.A blind horse goes straight forward.Ger.
3.A blind man is no judge of colors.Ital.
4.A blind man leaned against a wall;—“This is the boundary of the world,” he said.M. Greek.
5.A blind man may sometimes shoot a crow.Dutch.
6.A blind man shouldn't attempt to catch fleas.Punch.
7.A blind man's stroke which raises a dust from beneath water.Sp.
8.A blind man will not thank you for a looking-glass.
9.A blind man wishes to show the road.Latin.
10.A blind man would be glad to see it.
11.A blind pigeon may sometimes find a grain of wheat.Dan.
12.A man were better half blind than have both his eyes out.
13.A pebble and a diamond are alike to a blind man.
14.Among the blind close your eyes.Turk.
15.Better be one-eyed than quite blind.Por.
16.Better squinting than blind.Dutch.
17.Blind man's holiday; i.e., twilight, almost quite dark.
18.Blind men must not run.
19.Blind men should not judge of colors.
20.He does as the blind man when he casts his staff.
21.He has the greatest blind side who thinks he has none.Dutch.
22.He is blind enough who sees not through a sieve.Don Quixote.
23.He is very blind who cannot see the sun.Ital.
24.He that governs well leads the blind, but he that teaches him gives him eyes.
25.If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch.New Testament.
26.In the land of the blind the one-eyed is a king.Dutch.
27.It is a blind man's question to ask why those things are loved that are beautiful.
28.None so blind as those who won't see.
29.One blind man leads another into the ditch.Fr.
30.That would I fain see, said blind George of Hallowee.
31.The blind do not desire anything beyond two eyes.Turk.
32.The blind eat many a fly.
33.The blind man has picked up a coin.Por.
34.The blind man sought for a needle in the straw-loft, and the man with a lame hand made a basket to put it in.M. Greek.
35.The sky is not less blue because the blind man does not see it.Dan.
36.There are none so blind as they who wilfully shut their eyes.Arabian.
37.What matters it to a blind man, that his father could see?
38.When blind leads blind both fall into the ditch.
39.When the blind man carries the banner, woe to those who follow.Fr.
Black.
1.A black hen will lay a white egg.
2.A black man is a jewel in a fair woman's eye.
3.A black man is a pearl in a fair woman's eye.Shaks.
4.A black plum is as sweet as a white.
5.Black cows give white milk.Ger.
6.Black plums may eat as sweet as white.
7.Black will take no other hue.
8.Two blacks make no white.
Blood.
1.All blood is ancient.
2.As falls the dew on quenchless sands, Blood only serves to wash ambition's hands.Byron.
3.Blood boils without fire.Sp.
4.Blood is inherited and virtue acquired.Don Quixote.
5.Blood is thicker than water.Ger.
6.France got drunk on blood to vomit crime.Byron.
7.Good blood will never lie.Fr.
8.Human blood is all of one color.
9.Human blood is heavy, that man that has shed it cannot run away.Western African Negro.
10.I renounce the gold basin in which I have to spit blood.Por.
11.Noble and ignoble blood is of the same color.Ger.
12.Send your noble blood to market and see what it will buy.
13.The blood of the people flowing in sounding torrents. (Metaphor applied to the Mongol conquest of China.)
14.The cold in clime are cold in blood.Byron.
15.There is no difference of bloods in a basin.
16.What ennobles sots, or slaves, or cowards! Alas, not all the blood of all the Howards.Pope.
17.You come of good blood and so does a black pudding.
Blot.
1.A blot is not a blot unless it be hit.
2.A common blot is held no stain.
3.Cleaning a blot with blotted fingers maketh a greater.
Blow.
1.A blow with a reed makes a noise but hurts not.
2.Better be convinced by words than blows.Dan.
3.Blows are not given on conditions.
4.If you don't succeed with one blow don't hesitate to deliver two.Chinese.
5.That is a blow of your own seeking.North American Indian.
6.The blow falls more lightly when anticipated.Latin.
7.The first blow is as good as two.Fr., Ital.
8.The second blow makes the fray.
Blowing.
1.Blow first and sip afterward.
2.Blow not against the hurricane.
3.Blow thy own pottage and not mine.
4.Blow your horn if you don't sell a fish.Boston Shad Pedler.
5.He that blows best takes awa' the horn.
6.He that blows in the dust fills his own eyes.
7.He that blows in the fire must get sparks in his eyes.Ger.
8.He who blows upon dust fills his eyes with it.Ital.
9.It is better to blow than burn your mouth.Dutch.
Blunder.
1.It is not allowed in war to blunder twice.Latin.
Blush.
1.A blush on the face is better than a blot on the heart.Don Quixote.
2.Blushing is virtue's color.
3.Blush like a black dog.
4.He blushes, all is safe.Terence.
5.He that blushes not at his crime, but adds shamelessness to shame has nothing left to restore him to virtue.Taylor.
6.In all her veins no conscious drop to form a blush remains.
7.The man that blushes is not quite a brute.Young.
Boaster, Boasting, Braggart.
1.A boaster if he die, cannot return to life.Tamil.
2.All my goods are of silver and gold, even my copper kettle, says the boaster.Dutch.
3.Better one braggadocio than two fighters.
4.Boasting is but an art our fears to blind.Homer.
5.Boast not thyself of to-morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
6.Boasting renders one ridiculous.
7.Believe a boaster as you would a liar.Ital.
8.Every braggart shall be found an ass.Shaks.
9.God and men think him a fool who brags of his own great wisdom.
10.Great boast and little roast make unsavory mouths.
11.Great braggers, little doers.
12.He that boasteth of himself affronts his company.
13.He that boasteth of his ancestors confesseth he hath no virtue of his own.
14.He that boasts of his own knowledge proclaims his ignorance.
15.He who boasts of his descent boasts of that which he owes to others.Seneca.
16.He who killeth a lion when absent feareth a mouse when present.
17.None more apt to boast than those who have least real worth.
18.They can do least who boast loudest.Latin.
19.They who boast most, generally fail most, for deeds are silent.
20.Throw not your axe so far you can't get it back.Grimm's Fairy Tales.
21.Who takes a lion at a distance fears a mule present.Ital.
Boat.
1.Light boats sail swift, though greater bulks draw deep.Shaks.
2.Little boats must keep the shore, large ships may venture more.
3.Old as is the boat it may cross the ferry.Sp.
4.Say what we will, do what we will, the boat goes but sorrily without oars.Ital.
5.Vessels large may venture more. But little boats should keep near shore.
Bold.
1.A bold attempt is half success.Dan.
2.A bold fellow is the jest of wise men and the idol of fools.
3.A bold man has luck in his train.Dan.
4.A bold onset is half the battle.Ger.
5.Be bold but not too bold.
6.Nothing so bold as a blind man.
Boldness.
1.Boldness is ever blind, therefore it is ill in counsel but good in execution.Bacon.
Bone.
1.At an old bone not even a dog gnaws.Roumanian.
2.The nearer the bone the sweeter the flesh.Ger., Dutch.
3.What is bred in the bone won't out of the flesh.Dutch.
4.What is bred in the bone will out of the flesh.
Book.
1.A book's a book although there's nothing in it.
2.A book that remains shut is but a block.
3.A good book is the best of friends, the same to-day and forever.Tupper.
4.A good book praises itself.Ger.
5.A great book is a great evil.Greek, Dutch.
6.A library is a repository of medicine for the mind.Greek.
7.A wicked book is the wickeder because it cannot repent.
8.According to the mercantile code the best book is a profitable ledger.Gibbon.
9.Beware of the man of one book.Latin.
10.Book-keeping taught in one lesson,—don't lend them.Punch.
11.Books are for company, the best friends and counsellors.Writer of the Sixteenth Century.
12.Books can never teach the use of books.Bacon.
13.Books cannot always please, however good, Minds are not ever craving for their food.Crabbe.
14.Books don't tell when de bee-martin an de chicken-hawk fell out.American Negro.
15.Books like proverbs receive their value from the stamp and esteem of ages through which they have passed.Sir Wm. Temple.
16.Books should to one of these four ends conduce, For wisdom, piety, delight or use.Denham.
17.Books were only invented to aid the memory.Petrarch.
18.Books will speak plain when counsellors blanch.Bacon.
19.Good books like good friends are few and chosen, the more select the more enjoyable.Alcott.
20.Have thy study full of books rather than thy purse full of money.Lilly.
21.He that loveth a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counsellor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter.Isaac Barrow.
22.He who has published an injurious book sins in his very grave, corrupts others while he is rotting himself.Robert South.
23.I never knew more sweet and happy hours than I employed upon my books.James Shirley.
24.It is vain to fish without a hook or learn to read without a book.Dan.
25.Judge not a book by its cover.
26.Like the parson of Saddleworth who could read in no book but his own.
27.No book is so bad but that something may be learned from it.Pliny.
28.Oh! that mine enemy would write a book.
29.Old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.Alonzo of Aragon.
30.Something is learned every time a book is opened.Chinese.
31.The best books are those which the reader thinks he could have written himself.
32.The fountain of wisdom flows through books.Greek.
33.The learning of books that you do not make your own wisdom is money in the hands of another in time of need.Sanscrit.
34.There is no friend so faithful as a good book.
35.There is no worse robber than a bad book.Ital.
36.We are as liable to be corrupted by books as by companions.Fielding.
37.Word by word the great books are made.Fr.
38.Years know more than books.
Boor.
1.A boor remains a boor though he sleep on silken bolsters.Dan.
2.“With all my heart,” says the boor, when he must.Ger.
Borderers.
1.Borderers are either thieves or murderers.Ital.
2.If they come, they come not; if they come not, they come. (If the robbers on the northern border of England came not, the cattle returned to their stables, and if they came the cattle did not return.)
Bores.
1.There are two bores in society, the man who knows too much and the man who knows too little.Punch.
Borrowing.
1.A borrowed cloak does not keep one warm.Arabian.
2.Better buy than borrow.
3.Beware of borrowing: it bringeth care by night and disgrace by day.Hindoo.
4.Borrowed garments never fit well.
5.Borrowing brings care.Dutch.
6.Borrowing does well only once.Ger.
7.Borrowing is the canker and the death of every man's estate.Sir Walter Raleigh.
8.Borrowing is the mother of trouble.Hebrew.
9.Borrowing makes sorrowing.
10.Borrow not too much on time to come.
11.Don't borrow from a poor man.M. Greek.
12.Don't borrow on interest.
13.Have a horse of thine own and thou mayst borrow another's.Welsh.
14.He that borrows must pay again with shame or loss.
15.He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing.
16.He who is quick at borrowing is slow at paying.Ger.
17.He who let go his hold after climbing a tree, and he who borrowed money to lend came to grief.Tamil.
18.If you want to know what a ducat is worth try to borrow one.Sp., Fr.
19.In borrowing an angel, in repaying a devil.Fr.
20.It is a fraud to borrow what we are unable to repay.Syrus.
21.Long borrowed is not given.Ger.
22.Much borrowing destroys the credit.
23.Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loseth both itself and friend. And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.Shaks.
24.Scratching and borrowing do well enough but not for long.
25.The borrower is a slave to the lender, the debtor to the creditor.Franklin.
26.When one borrows one cannot choose.Fr.
27.Who borrows easily? He who pays punctually.M. Greek.
28.Who readily borrows, readily lies.Ger.
29.Who would borrow when he hath not let him borrow when he hath.
Boston.
1.Solid men of Boston banish strong potations, Solid men of Boston make no long orations.
Bottle.
1.It is only the first bottle that is dear.Fr.
Boughs.
1.The boughs that bear most hang lowest.
Bounty.
1.Bounty being free itself thinks all others so.
2.Bounty that makes gods does still mar men.Shaks.
3.He does bounty an injury who shows her so much as to be laughed at.
Bow.
1.A bow long bent waxeth weak.
2.A bow o'erbent will weaken.
3.Draw not your bow until your arrow is fixed.
4.Have two strings to your bow.
5.He has two strings to his bow.
6.He's overshot his bow.
7.I've shot my arrow and hung up my bow.Turk.
8.It is always good to have two strings to your bow.Ital.
9.Strain not your bow beyond its bent lest it break.Dutch.
10.The bow that is always bent slackens or breaks.Sp.
11.When the bow is too much bent it breaks.Sp.
Boy.
1.A hober-de-hoy, half a man and half a boy.
2.As the boy so the man.Ger.
3.Boys avoid the bees that stung 'em.
4.Boys will be boys.
5.Boys will be men.
6.De boy what thinks his father a fool will arter awhile complain of de roughness ob de fare in de penitentiary.American Negro.
7.He's an ill boy that goes like a top only while he's whipped.
8.If you play with boys you must take boy's play.
9.Let nothing offensive to eye or ear be seen or heard under a roof where a boy resides.Latin.
10.Of all the plagues none can compare with climbing boys.
11.Once a man, twice a boy.Latin.
12.One boy is better than three girls.Ger.
13.School-boys are the most remarkable people in the world, they care not how little they have for their money.
14.When the boy is growing he has a wolf in his belly.Ger.
Brahmins.
1.When the Brahmins cease to be good they begin to do evil.Cing.
Brain.
1.All the brains are not in one head.Ital.
2.Business and action strengthen the brain but too much study weakens it.
3.Every one gives himself credit for more brains than he has and less money.Ital.
4.Fat paunches make lean pates.
5.Half a brain is enough for him who says little.Ital.
6.He who deals with a block-head will have need of much brains.Sp.
7.If the brain sows not corn it plants thistles.
8.Persons often increase in size at the expense of their brains.Swift.
9.The brains don't lie in the beard.
Branch.
1.A young branch takes on all the bends that one gives it.Chinese.
2.The branch is seldom better than the stem.Dan.
3.The branch must be bent early that makes a good crook.Dan.
4.The highest branch is not the safest roost.
5.The old branch breaks if bent.Dan.
Brand.
1.A brand burns him who stirs it up.Kaffir.
2.Let him who would reach another a brand, Beware that he do not burn his own hand.Dan.
3.The man who has been beaten by a firebrand runs away at the sight of a fire-fly.Cing.
Brandy.
1.Brandy is lead in the morning, silver at noon, gold at night.Ger.
2.Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men, but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.Boswell, Life of Johnson.
Brave.
1.How sleep the brave who sink to rest; By all their country's wishes blest.Collins.
2.Many are brave when the enemy flies.Ital.
3.None but the brave deserve the fair.Dryden.
4.Nothing is invincible to the brave nor impregnable to the bold.Alexander.
5.Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.
6.The brave are born from the brave and good.Latin.
7.The brave man bears no malice but forgets at once in peace the injuries of war.Cowper.
8.The brave man may fall but cannot yield.(Motto of the Irish Earl of Drogheda.)
9.The brave man's word is a coat of mail.Turk.
10.To a brave man every soil is his country.Ovid.
11.With houses and gold, men are rarely bold (or brave).Ger.
12.The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring.
Bread.
1.Another's bread costs dear.Sp., Por.
2.Better half a loaf than no bread.
3.Bread at pleasure drink by measure.Fr.
4.Bread in one hand and a stone in the other.Ger.
5.Bread is better than the song of birds.Dan.
6.Bread is the staff of life.Swift.
7.Bread of a day, ale of a month, and wine of a year.
8.Do you want any better bread than wheaten?Fr.
9.Half a loaf is better than no bread.
10.He is as good as good bread.Don Quixote.
11.He that has store of bread may beg his milk merrily.
12.He who has no bread has no authority.Turk.
13.He who has teeth has no bread, and he who has bread has no teeth.Ital.
14.I know well what I say when I ask for bread.Sp.
15.In default of bread meal cakes are good.Por.
16.It is hard to pay for bread that has been eaten.Dan.
17.Let every man look to the bread upon which he must depend.Por.
18.Let him that earns the bread eat it.
19.Never fall out with your bread and butter.
20.Others' bread has seven crusts.Ital.
21.Others' bread is too salt.Ital.
22.Salt and bread make the cheeks red.Ger.
23.Some have bread who have no teeth left.Fr.
24.The bread eaten—the company departed.Sp., Por.
25.'Tis a long day, a day without bread.Fr.
26.When bread is wanting oaten cakes are excellent.Sp.
27.When there's little bread at table put plenty on your plate.Ital.
28.When you eat new bread don't drink water.Sp.
29.Where there is little bread cut first.Por.
30.Whose bread I eat his song I sing.Ger.
Breed.
1.Although you take a reptile and place it on a cushion it will seek a heap of dried leaves.Tamil.
2.An ox remains an ox, even if driven to Vienna.Hungarian.
3.Bad bird—bad egg.Ger.
4.Bad egg—bad chick.Dutch.
5.Bad the crow and bad the egg.Greek.
6.Beware of breeds; i.e., an ill breed.
7.Birth is much, but breeding is more.
8.Do not rear a bird of a bad breed.Por.
9.Hatched in the same nest.
10.He that is born of a hen must scrape for a living.
11.No magpie hatches a pigeon.Ger.
12.No matter how much you feed a wolf he will always return to the forest.Russian.
13.That that comes of a cat will catch mice.
14.Vipers breed vipers.
15.We may not expect a good whelp from an ill dog.
16.What is born of a cat will catch mice.Ital.
17.What is born of a hen will scrape.Ital.
18.What is born of the serpent never loses its poison.Ger.
19.Young cats will mouse, young apes will louse.Dan.
Brevity.
1.Brevity is a great praise of eloquence.Cicero.
2.Brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes.Shaks.
3.For brevity is very good, when we are or are not understood.Butler.
Brief.
1.'Tis better to be brief than tedious.Shaks.
Brewing.
1.If you brew well you may drink well.
Brier.
1.Nip the brier in the bud.
Bribe.
1.A bribe I know is a juggling knave.
2.A greased mouth cannot say no.Ital.
3.A jack fish does more than a letter of recommendation.Fr.
4.Bribery and theft are first cousins.
5.Bribes throw dust into cunning men's eyes.
6.Bribes will enter without knocking.
7.He refuseth the bribe but putteth forth his hand.
Bride.
1.A bonny bride is soon buskit.Scotch.
2.A rich bride goes young to the church.Ger.
3.A sad bride makes a glad wife.Dutch.
4.All is well, for if the bride has not fair hair she has a fair skin.Dutch.
5.At the wedding feast the least eater is the bride.Sp.
6.Happy is the bride the sun shines on, And the corpse the rain rains on.
7.He that has luck leads the bride to church.Dutch.
8.He that is an enemy of the bride does not speak well of the wedding.Sp.
9.He who has the luck brings home the bride.Ger.
10.How shall the enemy of the bride speak well of the wedding.Sp.
11.The weeping bride makes a laughing wife.Ger.
12.There's no handsome woman on the wedding day except the bride.Por.
Bridge.
1.Safe over the bridge one laughs at Nepomach. (This saint is the peculiar guardian of bridges.)
2.That is a bad bridge that is shorter than the stream.Ger.
3.To make a bridge of one's nose.
Bringing.
1.Whoever brings finds the door open for him.Ital.
Broom.
1.A bad broom leaves a dirty room.
2.A new broom is good for three days.Ital.
3.A new broom sweeps clean.
4.An old broom comes to the stable.Roumanian.
5.New brooms sweep clean.Ital., Ger., Dutch., Dan.
Brother.
1.A brother offended is harder to be won than a strange city, and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.Bible.
2.A brother's sufferings claim a brother's pity.Addison.
3.A landmark is well placed between two brothers' fields.Fr.
4.Between two brothers two witnesses and a notary.
5.He has made a younger brother of him.
6.Own brothers keep careful accounts.Chinese.
7.The brother had rather see the sister rich than make her so.
8.The wrath of brothers is fierce and devilish.
9.The wrath of brothers is the wrath of devils.Sp., Por.
10.The younger brother hath the more wit.
11.The younger brother is the ancient gentleman.
12.The younger brother, the better gentleman.
13.Though they are brothers their pockets are not sisters.Turk.
14.Three brothers, three castles.Fr., Ital., Por.
15.Two brothers are one trunk; they should mutually support each other.M. Greek.
16.He that obliges me in a strange country maketh himself my brother.Turkish Spy.
Brother-in-Law.
1.Of brothers-in-law and red dogs few are good.Ger.
Broth.
1.Much broth is sometimes made of little meat.Dan.
Buckets.
1.The bucket goes so often to the well that it leaves its handle there.Ital.
2.The buckets take to fighting with the well and leave their handles there.Ital.
Buddha.
1.Even Buddha was once a cart-horse and carried the loads of others.Hindoo.
Bug.
1.Would you let a bug escape you because it did not bite you?Tamil.
Building.
1.Building castles in the air.
2.Building is a sweet impoverishing.
3.Do not build a great house.Cing.
4.First build your house and then think of your furniture.Hebrew.
5.He that buildeth on the highway hath many admirers.Ger., Dutch.
6.He that buildeth a house by the highway side, it is either too high or too low.
7.He that builds a house in the market builds either too high or too low.Ital.
8.He who builds a house or marries is left with a lank purse.Sp.
9.He who builds according to every man's advice will have a crooked house.Dan.
10.He who builds by the roadside has many masters.(Surveyors.)Ger., Dutch.
11.He who builds on another's ground loses his stone and mortar.Ital.
12.He who builds on the public highway must let the people have their say.Ger.
13.Make a model before thou buildest.
14.The man that builds and wants wherewith to pay, Provides a house from which to run away.Young.
15.The spirit of building is come upon him.
16.They who love building will soon ruin themselves and need no other enemies.Crassus.
Bullies.
1.Bullies, coward-hearted, attack in public to be parted.Gay.
2.For men are found the stouter hearted, The surer they are to be parted.Butler.
3.The bully is always a coward.The fable of the stag and the fawn.
Burlesque.
1.A burlesque is the refuge of destitute jokes.Punch.
Burthen.
1.A burthen becomes light when well borne.
2.A burthen of one's choice is not felt.
3.A voluntary burthen is no burden.Ital.
4.Another man's burden is always light.Dan.
5.Every man thinks his own burthen the heaviest.Seneca.
6.Every one feels his own burden heavy.Fr.
7.He who carries one burden will soon carry a hundred.Fr.
8.Impose not a burthen on others which thou canst bear thyself.Laberius.
9.It is a sad burthen to carry a dead man's child.
10.It is not the burthen but the overburthen that kills the beast.Sp.
11.It is other people's burdens that kill the ass.Don Quixote.
12.Light burdens borne far become heavy.Fr., Ger.
13.Light burdens brak nae banes.
14.None knows the weight of another's burthen.
15.The burthen which was thoughtlessly got must be patiently borne.Gaelic.
16.The burden is light on the shoulder of another.Russian.
17.The greatest burdens are not the gainfullest.Fr.
Bush.
1.He that examines every bush will hardly get into the wood.Ger.
2.He that fears every bush must never go a-birding.
3.There is no bush so small but casts its shadow.Fr.
Business.
1.A fair exchange brings no quarrel.Dan.
2.A good customer won't change his shop, nor a good shop lose its customer once in three years.Chinese.
3.A man should sell his ware at the rates of the market.
4.A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.Chinese.
5.A nimble sixpence is better than a slow shilling.Pawnbroker's Maxim.
6.A stock once gotten wealth grows up of its own accord.
7.A tradesman who gets not loseth.
8.Able to buy, don't so buy as to frighten the seller: Able to sell, don't so sell as to frighten the buyer.Chinese.
9.Ask but enough and you may lower the price as you like.
10.Ask too much to get enough.
11.At a great bargain make a pause.
12.At market prices do your trade, And mutual wrangling you'll evade.Chinese.
13.At the first hand buy, at the third let lie.
14.Bad ware is never cheap.Fr.
15.Bad ware must be cried up.Ger.
16.Be not too hasty to outbid another.
17.Better sell for small profits than fail in business.Chinese.
18.Better sell than live poorly.
19.Boldness in business is the first, second and third thing.
20.Business before pleasure.
21.Business is the salt of life.
22.Business makes a man as well as tries him.
23.Business may be troublesome, but idleness is pernicious.
24.Business neglected is business lost.
25.Business sweetens pleasure, and labor sweetens rest.
26.Business to-morrow. (An exclamation of Archias that passed into a proverb, because he lost his life by delaying to open a letter warning him of a conspiracy against his life.)
27.Business with a stranger is title enough.Bea.
28.Buy and sell and live by the loss.
29.Buy at a market, but sell at home.
30.By entering all that's sold or bought, You'll escape much anxious afterthought.Chinese.
31.Despatch is the soul of business.Chesterfield.
32.Do business, but be not a slave to it.
33.Drive thy business, let not that drive thee.Franklin.
34.Entreat the churl and the bargain is broken off.Ital.
35.Everybody's business is nobody's business.
36.Every man as his business lies.
37.Every man doth his own business best.
38.For the buyer a hundred eyes are too few, for the seller one is enough.Ital.
39.From small profits and many expenses, Come a whole life of sad consequences.Chinese.
40.Fuel is not sold in a forest, nor fish on a lake.Chinese.
41.Having capital to open an eating-house, I dread not the most capacious stomachs.Chinese.
42.He fattens the mule and starves the horse; i.e., one partner gets rich at the expense of another.Chinese.
43.He has an eye to business.
44.He has more business than English ovens at Christmas.
45.He hath made a good progress in a business that hath thought well of it beforehand.
46.He that doeth his own business hurteth not his hand.
47.He that minds his business at home will not be accused of taking part in the fray.Sp.
48.He that mindeth not his own business shall never be trusted with mine.Sp.
49.He that thinks his business below him will always be above his business.
50.He that will sell lawn must learn to fold it.
51.He who does his own business does not soil his fingers.
52.If a little does not go much cash will not come.Chinese.
53.If you would not be cheated ask the price at three shops.Chinese.
54.In business one must be perfectly affable.Chinese.
55.It is easy to open a shop but hard to keep it open.Chinese.
56.It is the very life of merchandise to buy cheap and sell dear.Chinese.
57.Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee.Franklin.
58.Let every man mind his own business and the cows will be well tended.Fr.
59.Liked gear is half bought.
60.Long choosing and cheapening ends in buying nothing or bad wares.Ger.
61.Mind no business but your own.Dr. Johnson.
62.Mind your own business.
63.One cannot live by selling ware for words.
64.Pity and compassion spoil business.Meran the Hindoo.
65.That which is everybody's business is nobody's business.
66.To do a good trade wants nothing but resolution; to do a large one nothing but application.Chinese.
67.Use both such goods and money as suit your market.Chinese.
68.We can deal with ready money customers: those who want credit may spare their breath.Chinese.
69.What is every man's business is no man's business.
70.When one cheats up to heaven in the price he asks, you come down to earth in the price you offer.Chinese.
71.Whenever you go about to trade, Of showing your silver be afraid.Chinese.
72.Where much pushing must be made, There cannot be a lively trade.Chinese.
73.Who does not ready money clutch, Of business has not much.Chinese.
74.Who drives not his business, his business drives.Ger.
75.Without business debauchery.
76.Without capital. Literal: A farmer without an ox, a merchant without capital.Chinese.
Busy.
1.Busy will have hands.
2.Some are always busy and never do anything.
3.The world's busy man is the grand impertinent.
4.Who more busy than they that have the least to do. (The Italians liken such a person to a pig's tail that is going all day and by night has done nothing.)
Busy-body.
1.A busy-body is always malevolent.Latin.
2.Busy-bodies never want a bad day.
3.Busy folks are always meddling.
Butter.
1.Boil stones in butter and you may sip the broth.
2.Butter is gold in the morning, silver at noon and lead at night.
3.Butter spoils no meat and moderation no cause.Dan.
4.Butter's once a year in the cow's horn.
5.He must have plenty of butter who would stop everybody's mouth.Dan.
6.He who has plenty of butter may put some in his cabbage.Dan.
7.It is dear bought butter that is licked off a wool comb.Dan.
8.No butter will stick to his bread.
9.She looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth.
10.They that have good store of butter may lay it thick on their bread.
11.What is a pound of butter among a kennel of hounds?
Buy.
1.Buy the bed of a great debtor.Ital.
2.Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries.Franklin.
3.Buy when it is market time.Ger.
4.Buy your greyhound, don't rear him.Por.
5.Buy your neighbor's ox and woo your neighbor's daughter.Ger.
6.Buyers and sellers dispute over a single cash.Chinese.
7.Buyers are esteemed, good men dross are deemed.Chinese.
8.Buying a thing too dear is no bounty.
9.Buying and selling is but winning and losing.
10.Buying fresh fish and vegetables, examine them first, then fix the price.Chinese.
11.He who disparages wants to buy.Fr., Ital., Ger., Sp.
12.Do not buy a red-haired person; do not sell one either, if you have one in the house, drive him away.Turk.
13.Do not buy of a huckster or be negligent at an inn.Sp.
14.Don't buy a cat in a bag.Ger., Dutch.
15.Don't buy a pig in a poke.
16.Don't buy everything that's cheap, and you'll escape being taken in.Chinese.
17.He buys well who is not called a donkey.Sp.
18.He that buys by the pennyworth keeps his own house and another man's.Ital.
19.He that buys lawn before he can fold it, Shall repent him before he has sold it.
20.He who buys a house gets many a plank and nail for nothing.Ger.
21.He who buys betimes buys cheaply.Ital.
22.He who buys the broom can also buy the handle.Ital.
23.He who buys what he don't want will sell what he does want.Ital., Ger.
24.It is good to buy when another wants to sell.Ital.
25.It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer, but when he is gone his way then he boasteth.Bible.
26.No man buys yams while they are yet in the ground.Tropics.
27.There are more foolish buyers than foolish sellers.
28.They buy gude cheap that bring naething hame.
29.When you buy genuine articles, and you must lose, lose as little as possible.Chinese.
30.When you buy one fine thing you must buy ten more that your appearance may be all of a piece.
31.Who always buys and sells, feels not what he spends.
32.Who buys had need of eyes, but one's enough to sell the stuff.
33.Who buys wants a hundred eyes; Who sells need have but one.Dutch.
34.Who buys without discretion buys to sell.Martial.
“By-and-by.”
1.By the street of “By-and-By” one arrives at the house of Never.
2.“By-and-by” is easily said.
Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages

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