3. Proverbs. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.

Proverbs

Many hands make light work, but at the same time, too many cooks spoil the broth. Which of these contradictory proverbs shall we believe? Both, because in different contexts, both are true to experience. If not, they probably would not have survived. If the job to be done requires lots of unskilled labor, such as picking up trash, then many hands do make light work. But if the job requires intricate skill, such as cooking or writing, or if it requires a single guiding hand, then too many cooks do spoil the broth.

Proverbs are short, pithy sayings that reflect the accumulated wisdom, prejudices, and superstitions of the human race. In general, the particular phrasing of the proverbs, not their ideas, is what belongs to the cultural literacy of each nation and language. The ideas they express are often common to many nations. For instance, in German it is said, “Viele Hände bringt’s gleich zu Ende”—literally, “many hands bring it quickly to a conclusion.” But the literal sense doesn’t capture the punch of the German version, which is a little rhyme:

	Viele Hände (pronounced “hen-duh”)
	Bringt’s gleich zu Ende (pronounced “en-duh”).

In English, few would pay attention to the proverb “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” were it not for the rhyme. Indeed, it is hard to find the equivalent of this proverb in any other language, because it rhymes only in English. It sounds silly in French and ridiculous in Italian. The rhyme alone makes us remember it—and encourages us to believe it.

We have included these little poems and nuggets of wisdom, false and true, because they have become part of our cultural vocabulary. On many occasions when people invoke proverbs in speech and writing, they simply allude to them, rather than complete them. If someone offers you a fruit and says, “An apple a day,” the communication will fail if you don’t know the relevant proverb; you will be an outsider. We don’t wish to encourage ideas such as “Boys will be boys” or “Frailty, thy name is woman!”; in fact, we would prefer people question proverbial wisdom rather than accept it blindly. But we also want to give everybody the chance to be an insider in literate American culture.

—E.D.H.

Entries

Absence makes the heart grow fonder	Actions speak louder than words	All for one and one for all
All roads lead to Rome	All that glitters is not gold	All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All’s fair in love and war	All’s well that ends well	Any port in a storm
An apple a day keeps the doctor away	April showers bring May flowers	An army marches on its stomach
Bad news travels fast	A bad penny always turns up	The bad workman always blames his tools
[His] bark is worse than his bite	Beauty is only skin deep	Beggars can’t be choosers
The best of friends must part	The best things in life are free	The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry
Better late than never	Better safe than sorry	Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
The bigger they come, the harder they fall	A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush	Birds of a feather flock together
Blood is thicker than water	Boys will be boys	Brevity is the soul of wit
The buck stops here	Business before pleasure	Carpe diem
The chickens have come home to roost	Cleanliness is next to godliness	Close, but no cigar
Cold hands, warm heart	The course of true love never did run smooth	Curiosity killed the cat
De gustibus non est disputandum	The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose	The devil is in the details
Discretion is the better part of valor	Do not cast your pearls before swine	Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
A dog is a man’s best friend	Don’t count your chickens before they hatch	Don’t cry over spilt milk
Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face	Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes	Don’t give up the ship
Don’t hide your light under a bushel	Don’t judge a book by its cover	Don’t lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth	Don’t put all your eggs in one basket	Don’t put the cart before the horse
Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water	The early bird catches the worm	Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet	Easy come, easy go	Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die
Every cloud has a silver lining	Every dog has his day	Everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes
Experience is the best teacher	Familiarity breeds contempt	Feed a cold; starve a fever
Finders keepers, losers weepers	Fish or cut bait	Fish out of water
A fool and his money are soon parted	A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds	Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
For want of a nail the kingdom was lost	Forewarned is forearmed	Frailty, thy name is woman!
A friend in need is a friend indeed	From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step	The game is not worth the candle
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration	Give him enough rope and he’ll hang himself	Give the devil his due
God helps those who help themselves	Good fences make good neighbors	A good man is hard to find
The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence	Great oaks from little acorns grow	Half a loaf is better than none
Haste makes waste	He who hesitates is lost	He who laughs last, laughs best
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned	Here today, gone tomorrow	Hitch your wagon to a star
Honesty is the best policy	Hope springs eternal	If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again
If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain	If the shoe fits, wear it	If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen	Ignorance is bliss	Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love	In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes	It ain’t a fit night out for man or beast
It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home	It takes a thief to catch a thief	It takes two to tango
It’s never over till it’s over	It’s never too late to mend	It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game
Knowledge is power	Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone	Leave well enough alone
The leopard cannot change its spots	Let bygones be bygones	Let sleeping dogs lie
Let them eat cake	Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it	Life is short; art is long
Lightning never strikes twice in the same place	A little learning is a dangerous thing	Little pitchers have big ears
Little strokes fell great oaks	Live and learn	Live and let live
Look before you leap	Love conquers all	Love makes the world go `round
The love of money is the root of all evil	Make haste slowly	Make hay while the sun shines
Man does not live by bread alone	A man is known by the company he keeps	Man proposes, God disposes
A man’s home is his castle	Many hands make light work	Marry in haste, repent at leisure
The meek shall inherit the Earth	Misery loves company	A miss is as good as a mile
Money is the root of all evil	The more the merrier	Murder will out
Music has charms to soothe a savage breast	Necessity is the mother of invention	Never give a sucker an even break
Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today	Never say die	A new broom sweeps clean
Nice guys finish last	No man can serve two masters	No man is an island
No news is good news	No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people	No rest for the weary
Nothing succeeds like success	Nothing ventured, nothing gained	Nothing will come of nothing
Oil and water don’t mix	Old soldiers never die; they only fade away	Once bitten, twice shy
One good turn deserves another	One man’s meat is another man’s poison	One [or A] picture is worth a thousand words
One rotten (or bad) apple spoils the barrel	The one who pays the piper calls the tune	An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
Out of sight, out of mind	Out of the frying pan, into the fire	The pen is mightier than the sword
A penny saved is a penny earned	People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones	A place for everything and everything in its place
Poets are born, not made	Politics makes strange bedfellows	Practice makes perfect
Practice what you preach	Pride goeth before a fall	Procrastination is the thief of time
The proof of the pudding is in the eating	Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s	The road to hell is paved with good intentions
A rolling stone gathers no moss	Rome wasn’t built in a day	Seeing is believing
The show must go on	Sic transit gloria mundi	Silence is golden
Slow but steady wins the race	A soft answer turneth away wrath	Step on a crack, break your mother’s back
Still waters run deep	A stitch in time saves nine	Stone walls do not a prison make
Strike while the iron is hot	Take the bitter with the sweet	There are plenty of fish in the sea
There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip	There’s more than one way to skin a cat	There’s no accounting for taste
There’s no fool like an old fool	There’s no place like home	Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it
Time and tide wait for no man	Time heals all wounds	Time is money
To err is human, to forgive divine	Too many cooks spoil the broth	Truth is stranger than fiction
Truth will out	Turnabout is fair play	Two heads are better than one
Two wrongs don’t make a right	Two’s company, three’s a crowd	Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
Variety is the spice of life	Walls have ears	Waste not, want not
A watched pot never boils	We have met the enemy, and they are us	Well begun is half done
What will be, will be	What’s good for the goose is good for the gander	When in Rome, do as the Romans do
When it rains, it pours	When the cat’s away, the mice will play	When the going gets tough, the tough get going
Where are the snows of yesteryear?	Where there’s a will, there’s a way	Where there’s smoke there’s fire
While there’s life, there’s hope	Win this one for the Gipper	Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing
The wish is father of the deed	A woman’s work is never done	A word to the wise is sufficient
Work expands to fill the time available for its completion	The worm turns	Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar	You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.	You cannot serve God and mammon
You can’t fit a round peg in a square hole	You can’t go home again	You can’t have your cake and eat it too
You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear	You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs	You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip
You can’t take it with you	You can’t teach an old dog new tricks	You can’t unscramble an egg
You’ve made your bed, now lie in it

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS · INDEX · GUIDE · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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