SOME HANDFULS OF PROVERBS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7889, 19 December 1903, Page 1

SOME HANDFULS OF PROVERBS.

Take any collection of proverbs and it will be found certain tihat they group themselves round! certain important points of conduct. Maxims of prudence, for instance^ will form a good proportion. "Ask -fchy purse what thou shouldst buy;" "Better live within compass than have large comings in;" "Beware of no man more than thyself;" "A fool loses his estate before he finds !his folly;" "A grain of prudence is worth a pound of craft." The wise saws of economy are out of fashion, but some are worth remembering. "The backdoor robs the house;" "Good cheap is dear at long run;" "A hog upon trust grunts till he's paid for j" "Frugality i is an estate." | Proverbs relating to gifts and favours are often happy. "He that asketh a courtesy , promises a kindness;" "He that aaketh faintly beggeth a denial;" "Gratitude is the poor man's payment;" "A favour long waited for is sold, not given." Happy also are some of the proverbs relating to worth. " A hog in armour is s hog still;" "The truest gentleman is the son of his own deserts ;" or those referring !to covetousness : "A covetous man does nothing he should 1 do until he dies;" "A man has no more goods than he gets good by." • v , Many old English, proverbs 'are very quaint. "A dog will not howl if you beat him with a bone;" "A feast is not made of mushrooms only ;" "A full cup must be carried steadily;" "A crowd is no company;" "A wager is a fool's argument;" "He who leaves early gets the best hat ;" "Fraud is in (haste, but honesty can bide a fair leisure " (a. maxim which shows " pushfulness "in rather"' a bad light) ; " A willing mind makes a light foot." ■Quaint otherwise are the following: — "An old physician' and a young lawyer j" "An oak is not felled at one chop;" "A' pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt ;" "A man's folly should be his greatest secret;" "A little of everything ia nothing hi the main;" "A mole wants no lantern;" "He has a good judgment wh© relies not wholly on. his ownj" "The quarrelsome man has no neighbour;" and the odd but sensible saying that "Oooks caanot be taught in their own iritebea^