You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
You can't get blood out of a turnip.
Great oaks from little acorns grow.
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.
A miss is as good as a mile.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
My dad would always add that an onion a day keeps everybody away. Sometimes he could be infuriating, but sometimes he made a lot of sense.
What are some of your favorite (British, favourite) proverbs that haven't been mentioned in these last two posts?
Make hay while the sun shines.
ReplyDeleteA soft answer turneth away wrath.
Your second one is half of Proverbs 15:1 in the Bible: "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." My mother used to say it frequently. Thank you, Janice.
DeleteYou can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
ReplyDeletePeople in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
I know a long, involved pun that ends, "People in grass houses shouldn't stow thrones".... Thank you again, Janice!
DeleteIn Britain we say "you cannot get blood out of a stone".
ReplyDeleteBoth are true. You also cannot get blood out of a number of other things. What does a rolling stone gather in the UK? What does the early bird get? Is it darkest just before the dawn or at some other time? Inquiring minds want to know.Thank you, Rachel!
DeleteThe grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the converse of this one would be "There's no place like home". Thank you, Emma!
DeleteI'm a very big fan of "a miss is as good as a mile"
ReplyDeleteI never heard it until an American friend said it.
It never rains but it pours
The squeaky wheel gets the most grease
Too many cooks spoil the broth
Small things amuse small minds
Mud sticks
Never look a gift horse in the mouth
Not my circus, not my monkeys
I was married to a man who has English as a second language so I stopped using these kinds of proverbs and my kids really don't use any. It's a bit of a shame. (Having said that, I feel like younger people in general are not great users of proverbs)
Those are good ones! I also thought just now that birds of a feather flock together, which I suppose explains the readership of my blog. It's really rather sad that proverbs are falling out of use, although "not my circus, not my monkeys" is a more recent one that most of the others. Thank you, kylie!
ReplyDelete