[1]

SCOTS PROVERBS,

ANCIENT AND MODERN,

SELECTED FROM

ALLAN RAMSAY AND OTHERS.

“An ounce o’ mither-wit, is worth a pound o’ clergy.”

BRECHIN:
PRINTED FOR ALEXANDER BLACK, BOOKSELLER.
1834.

A

• A bairn may hae ower muckle o’ his mither’s benison.
• A bare moor maks a lean hirsel.
• A’ burdens are light except to the bearer.
• A blate maiden may mak a bardy gudewife.
• A blate suitor should hae a gude cause.
• A’ blews are no true blews.
• A borrowing man is a sorrowing man.
• A begun turn is hauf ended.
• A blate cat maks a proud mouse.
• A blythe heart maks a blooming look.
• A bit but, and a bit ben, maks a mim-mou’d maiden at the board en’.
• A bonny bride is soon busket, and a short horse is soon whisket.
• A borrowed len’ shou’d gae laughing hame.
• Abundance of law breaks nae law.
• A careless maister maks a lazy man.
• A club fit will no mak a gude shinty.
• A close mouth catches nae flees.
• A cock’s ay crouse on his ain midden-head.
• A cramm’d kyte maks a crazy carcase.
• A daft nurse maks a wise wean.
• A denk maiden maks a dirty wife.
• A drink is shorter than a tale.
• A dry summer ne’er made a dear peck.
• A dumb man wins nae law.
• Ae bird in the hand is worth ten fleein’ by.
• A fool may win money, but it taks a wise man to keep it.
• A greedy e’e ne’er had a leel heart.
• Ae gade turn deserves anither.
• Ae hour’s cauld will suck out seven yeer’s heat.
• Ae man may lead a horse to the water, but twenty winna gar him drink.[3]
• Ae man’s meat is anither man’s poison.
• Ae swallow maks na simmer.
• Ae scabbed sheep will smit the hale hirtel.
• Ae hour in the morning is worth twa in the afternoon.
• A fidging mare shou’d be weel girded.
• A fleer wad aye hae a follower.
• A fool and his money is soon parted.
• A fool may gi’e a wise man a counsel.
• A friend in court is worth a penny in purse.
• A friend in need’s a friend indeed.
• Aft counting keeps friends lang thegither.
• After meat mustard.
• After a storm comes a ca’m.
• A fou man and a hungry horse ay mak haste hame.
• A fou purse never lacks friends.
• A rough bane maks a fou wame.
• A fou wame maks a stiff back.
• A black hen lays a white egg.
• A gaun foot’s ay getting.
• A gentle horse shou’d be sindle spurr’d.
• A gi’en horse shou’d na be look’d i’ the mouth.
• A gi’en game was ne’er won.
• A gude beginning maks a gude ending.
• A gude cow may hae an ill cauf.
• A gude tongue’s a safe weapon.
• A gude ingle maks a roomy fire-side.
• A gude word is as soon said as an ill.
• A gude tale is no the waur to be twice tauld.
• A gude name is sooner tint than won.
• A green turf’s a gude gudemither.
• A green Yule maks a fat kirk-yard.
• A great cry and little woo, quoth the deil, when he clippet the sow.
• A greedy e’e never gat a gude penny worth.
• A hantle cry murder, and are ay uppermost.
• A houndless hunter, and a gunless gunner, see ay routh o’ game.
• A hungry man’s ay angry.[4]
• Ale sellers shou’d na be tale-tellers.
• A liar shou’d hae a gude memory.
• Alike ilka day maks a clout on Sunday.
• A light purse maks a heavy heart.
• A’s no gowd that glitters.
• A’ the truth shou’d na be tauld.
• A’ the corn’s no shorn by kempers.
• A’ the winning’s in the first buying.
• A’ that’s said in the kitchen shou’d na be tauld in the ha’.
• A’ cats are grey i’ the dark.
• A’s no tint that’s in hazard.
• A’s fish that comes i’ the net.
• A’ Stewarts are no sib to the king.
• A’ the speed’s i’ the spurs.
• A’s weel that ends weel.
• A’ things are gude untried.
• A red nose maks a raggit back.
• A kiss and a drink o’ water maks a wersh breakfast.
• A man’s ay crouse on his ain cause.
• A man may spit in his loof and do little.
• A man canna bear a’ his kin on his back.
• A man at five may be a fool at fifteen.
• A man is weel or wae, as he thinks himsel sae.
• A mouthfu’ o’ meat may be a townfu’ o’ shame.
• A muffled cat was ne’er a gude hunter.
• An auld mason maks a gude barrowman.
• An ill shearer never gat a gude heuk.
• An ill-willy cow shou’d hae short horns.
• An ill servant ne’er prov’d a gude master.
• An ounce of mither-wit is worth a pound o’ clergy.
• Ane may lo’e the kirk weel aneugh, yet no be ay riding on the rigging o’t.
• A Scots mist will weet an Englishman to the skin.
• As fu’ o’ mischief as an egg’s fu’ o’ meat.
• As gude may haud the stirrip as he that loups on.
• As lang runs the fox as he has feet.[5]
• As lang lives the merry man as the sad.
• As lang as ye serve the tod ye maun bear up his tail.
• As the sow fills the draff sours.
• As the auld cock craws, the young cock learns.
• As the fool thinks, the bell clinks.
• As the market gangs the wares maun sell.
• As weel be hang’d for a wedder as a lamb.
• As ye lo’e me look in my dish.
• As ye do yoursel you judge your neibours.
• As ye mak your bed, sae ye maun lie down.
• A safe conscience maks a sound sleep.
• A sillerless man gangs fast through the market.
• A sinking master maks aft a rising man.
• A slothfu’ hand maks a slim fortune.
• As ye brew weel ye’ll drink the better.
• A spur in the head is worth twa in the heel.
• A sturdy beggar shou’d hae a stout naysayer.
• A tale-teller is waur than a thief.
• A taking hand will never want.
• A tale never tines in the telling.
• A wight man never wanted a weapon.
• A thread will tye an honest man better than a rape a knave.
• A tocherless dame sits lang at hame.
• A twapenny cat may look at a king.
• A wee bush is better than nae bield.
• A wee thing fleys cowards.
• Auld men are twice bairns.
• Auld sparrows are ill to tame.
• Auld springs gi’e nae price.
• A yeld sow was never gude to grices.

B

• Bare gentry, bragging beggars.—Bastard brood are ay proud.
• Be lang sick that ye may be soon hale.
• Beggars shou’d na be choosers.
• Beg frae beggars you’ll never be rich.[6]
• Better a bit i’ the morning than fast a’ day.
• Better a clout than a hole out.
• Better a dog fawn on you than bark at you.
• Better a finger aff than ay wagging.
• Better a mouse in the pat than nae flesh.
• Better a tocher in her than wi’ her.
• Better a toom house than an ill tenant.
• Better a wee ingle to warm you, than a muckle fire to burn you.
• Better auld debts than auld sairs.
• Better sma’ fish than nae fish.
• Better be alane than in ill company.
• Better be blythe wi’ little than sad wi’ naethin’.
• Better be envied than pitied.—Better be idle than ill employed.
• Better be out o’ the warld than out o’ the fashion.
• Better be kind than cumbersome.
• Better buy than berrow.—Better day the better deed.
• Better eat grey bread in youth than in eild.
• Better flatter a fool than fight wi’ him.
• Better find iron than tine siller.—Better gi’e the slight than tak it.
• Better haud by a hair than draw wi’ a tether.
• Better ha’f egg than toom doup.
• Better hain at the brim than at the bottom.
• Better hand loose than in an ill tethering.
• Better kiss a knave than cast out wi’ him.
• Better keep the deil without the door than drive him out o’ the house.
• Better keep weel than mak weel.
• Better late thrive than ne’er do weel.
• Better live in hope than in despair.
• Better my bairns seek frae me than I beg frae them.
• Better my friend think me fremit than fashious.
• Better ne’er begun than ne’er ended.
• Better rue sit than rue flit.—Blude’s thicker than water.
• Better the end of a feast than the beginning of a fray.
• Better to haud than to draw.—Better twa skaiths than ae sorrow.
• Better wait on the cook than the doctor.
• Better wear shoon than sheets.—Black will tak nae ither hue.[7]
• Between the deil and the deep sea.—Burnt bairns the fire dreads.
• Bid a man to the roast and stick him wi’ the spit.
• Bigging and bairns marrying are great wasters.
• Birds of a feather flock thegither.
• Birth’s gude but breeding’s better.
• Biting and scarting is Scotch fouk’s wooing.
• Blind men shou’d na be judges o’ colours.
• Boden gear stinks.—Bourd na wi’ Bawty lest he bite ye.
• Broken bread makes hale bairns.
• Butter and burn trouts are kittle meat for maidens.
• Buy a thief frae the gallows and he’ll cut your throat.

C

• Cadgers are ay fond o’ creels.
• Cast a cat o’er the house rigging ’twill fa’ on its feet.
• Cast a bane in the deil’s teeth.
• Cats an carlins sit in the sun.
• Cauld cools the love that kindles ower het.
• Changes are lightsome.
• Charity begins at hame.
• Come unca’d sits unserv’d.
• Comes to my hand like the boul of a pint stoup.
• Come wi’ the wind and gae wi’ the water.
• Confess’d faut is hauf amends.
• Confess debt and crave days.
• Confess and be hang’d.
• Corn him weel, he’ll work the better.
• Count again is not forbidden.
• Count siller after a’ your kin.
• Count like Jews and ’gree like brethren.
• Credit is better than ill won gear.
• Credit keeps the crown o’ our causeway.
• Crocked carlin, quoth the cripple to his wife.
• Cut your coat according to your claith.
• Corbys will no pick out corby’s een.

[8]

D

• Daffin and want o’ wit maks auld wives denard.
• Damming and laving is gude sure fishing.
• Daughters and dead fish are nae keeping ware.
• Dawted bairns dow bear little.
• Day-light will peep through a sma’ hole.
• Dear bought and far sought is meat for ladies.
• Death and marriage break term-day.
• Death defies the doctor.
• Ding down the nest and the rooks will flee away.
• Dinna gut your fish till ye get them.
• Dit your mouth wi’ your meat.
• Do as the lasses do, say no and tak it.
• Dinna meddle wi’ the deil and the laird’s bairns.
• Dogs will redd swine.
• Dows and dominies leave ay a foul house.
• Double charges rive cannons.
• Drink he sought, but draff was his errand.
• Draff’s gude enough for swine.
• Drive a cow to the ha’ she’ll rin to the byre.
• Drink and drouth come na ay thegether.
• Drink little that ye may drink lang.
• Drunken at e’en and dry in the morning.
• Dummie winna lie.

E

• Early master soon knave.—Eat your fill but pouch nane.
• Eat pease wi’ the prince, and cherries wi’ the chapman.
• Eat in measure and defy the doctor.
• Eat weel’s drink weel’s brither.
• Eating and drinking wants but a beginning.
• Eild and poortith’s sair to thole.
• Eith learning the cat to the kirn.
• Eith working when will’s at hame.[9]
• Either win the horse or tine the saddle.
• Either the tod or the fearn bush.
• E’ening red and morning grey, is a taiken of a bonny day.
• E’ening oats are gude morning fodder.
• E’en as ye win’t say ye may wear’t.
• Embro’ justice, the greater the crime the sma’er the fine.
• Eneugh’s as gude’s a feast.
• Every ane creeshes the fat sows tail.
• Every ane loups the dike where it’s laighest.
• Every craw thinks hir ain bird whitest.
• Every dog has his day.
• Every man can guide an ill wife weel but he that has her.
• Every man bows to the bush he gets bield frae.
• Every man’s tale’s gude till anither’s be tauld.
• Every man at forty is a fool or a physician.
• Every man has his ain draff pock.
• Every miller wad wyse the water to his ain mill.
• Every thing has an end, and a pudding has twa.
• Experience teaches fools.

F

• Faint heart never won fair lady.
• Fair exchange is nae robbery.—Fancy kills and cures.
• Fann’d fires and forc’d love ne’er did weel.
• Far away fowls hae fair feathers.—Far frae court far frae care.
• Far behind that may not follow.—Fast bind, fast find.
• Fat paunches bode lean pows.—First come first ser’d.
• Feckless foek are ay fond of ane anither.
• Fiddler’s wives and gamester’s ale are free to every body.
• Fiddler’s dogs and flesh-flies come to feasts unca’d.
• Fight dog, fight bear, wha won deil care.
• Fine feathers mak fine birds.—Fools’ haste is nae speed.
• Fire and water are gude servants, but ill masters.
• Flaes and a girning wife are waukrife bed-fellows.
• Fleying a bird is no the way to grip it.
• Flitting of farms mak mailings dear.—Friends ’gree best sindry.[10]
• Fools shou’d nae hae chapping stieks.
• Fools ravel and wise men redd.—Fumblers are ay fond o’ weans.
• Fools and bairns shou’d nae see a ha’f done turn.
• Fools mak feasts, and wise fouk eat them; the wise mak jests, and fools repeat them.
• For fashion’s sake, as dogs gang to the market.
• Fore-warn’d, ha’f armed.—Foul water slockens fire.
• Fresh fish and poor friends grow soon ill-far’d.
• Friends are like fiddle-strings, they mauna be screw’d owre tight.
• Frost and fausehood hae baith a dirty waygang.

G

• Gaunting bodes wanting.—Gie the deil his due.
• Giff-Gaff makes gude friends.—Gie you an inch ye’ll tak an ell.
• Gie a dog an ill name and he’ll soon be hang’d.
• Gie the deil his due.—Glasses and lasses are bruckle ware.
• God help great fowk, the poor can beg.
• God ne’er sent the mouth but he sent meat wi’t.
• God send you mair wit and mair siller.
• Great barkers are nae biters.—Greening wives are ay greedy.
• Gie a beggar a bed and he’ll pay you wi’ lice.

H

• Haud a hank in your ain hand.—Hae gars a deaf man hear.
• Hair and hair makes the earl’s head bare.—Hale-sale’s gude sale.
• Hame is hame if it were ne’er sae hamely.
• Hang them that hae nae shift, and them that hae owre mony.
• Hang a thief when he’s young, and he’ll no steal when he’s auld.
• Hanging’s nae better than it’s ea’d.—Hardships sinle come single.
• He begs frae them that borrow’d frae him.
• He brings a staff to break his ain head.
• He does na ay ride when he saddles his horse.
• He fells twa dogs wi’ ae stane.—He had his finger in the pye.
• He gangs awa to an ill tune that never comes again.
• He has a bee in his bannet lug.—He’s like a flea in a blanket.
• He has gotten a bite o’ his ain bridle.[11]
• He has nae as muckle sense as a cow can haud in her faulded nieve.
• He has faut of a wife that marries mam’s pet.
• He has mair wit in his little finger than ye hae in a’ your bouk.
• He has feather’d his nest, he may flee when he likes.
• He has need of a lang spoon that sups wi’ the deil.
• He has a slid grip that has an eel by the tail.
• He kens na a B by a bull’s foot.—He’s no sae daft as he lets on.
• He kens his ain groats amang ither fouks kail.
• He’ll soon be a beggar that cannot say nay.
• He loo’d mutton weel that licked where the ewe lay.
• He’ll no sell his hen on a rainy day.
• He may weel swim that has his head hadden up.
• He never lies but when the holly’s green.
• He needs maun rin that the deil drives.
• He’s wise that kens whan he’s weel, and can haud himsel sae.
• He’s scant o’ news that tells his father was hanged.
• He’s an Aberdeen’s man, he taks his word again.
• He’s a wise bairn that kens his ain father.
• He’s uneo fou in his ain house that canna pike a bane in his neibour’s.
• He’s a proud horse that winna bear his ain provender.
• He’s like a singet cat, better than he’s likely.
• He’s a worthless gudeman that’s no miss’d.
• He stumbles at a strae and loups o’er a won-lyne.
• He speaks like a prent-book.—He that comes unca’d sits unserv’d.
• He that aught the cow gangs nearest her tail.
• He that buys land buys stanes, and he that buys beef buys banes.
• He that buys nuts buys shells, he that buys ale buys naithing else.
• He that canna mak sport shou’d mar nane.
• He that deals in dirt has ay foul fingers.
• He that can near Dumback may bear Dumbarton.
• He that keeps the cat’s dish keeps her ay crying.
• He rises owre soon that’s hanged e’er noon.
• He that gies a’ wad gies naithing.—He that has muckle gets ay mair.
• He that has muckle wad ay hae mair.
• He that has a gude cramp may thole some thistles.
• He that has nae siller in his purse shou’d hae silk on his tongue.[12]
• He that hides is the best at seeking.
• He that has a muckle nose thinks ilk ane speaks o’t.
• He that hews aboon his head may get a speal in his e’e.
• He that’s ill to himsel will be gude to naebody.
• He that laughs at his ain joke spills the sport o’t.
• He that speers a’, only gets wit o’ part.
• He wad skin a loose for the tallow.
• He that sleeps wi’ dogs maun rise wi’ flaes.
• He’s no sae daft as he’s daft like.—His egg has ay twa youks.
• He that winna when he may, he shanna when he wad.
• He that woos a widow should woo her day and night.
• He that wad eat the kirnel maun crack the nut.
• He that will to Coupar will to Coupar.
• He wad gang a mile to flit a sow.—He wad rake hell for a bodle.
• He wats na whilk end o’ him’s uppermost.
• He wad gar you trow that the moon’s made o’ green cheese.
• He wad tine his lugs if they werna tacked to him.
• His bark is war than his bite.—Hooly and fairly gangs far in a day.
• Hungry dogs are blythe o’ bursten puddings.

I

• I canna sell the cow and sup her milk.—I hae ither tow on my rock.
• I can see as far into a mill-stane as he that pick’d it.
• I hae a gude bow, but its in the castle.
• I had rather gae by your door than o’er your grave.
• I hae got an ill kame for my ain head.
• I hae mair ado than a dish to wash.
• I hae baith my meat and my mense.
• I hae seen mair than I hae eaten, or ye wadna be there.
• I ken by my cog my cow’s milked.—I ne’er sat on your coat tale.
• I’ll gar his ain gartens tye up his ain hose.
• I’ll ne’er lout sae laigh and lift sae little.
• I’ll ne’er put the rogue aboon the gentleman.
• I’ll ne’er keep a dog and bark mysel.
• I’ll tak the best first, as the priest did o’ the plumbs.[13]
• I’ll ne’er brew drink to treat drunkards.
• I’m o’er auld a cat to draw a strae before.
• I’m no sae blind as I’m bleer-ey’d.
• I’m nae sae scant o’ clean pipes as to blaw wi’ a burnt cutty.
• I’m speaking o’ hay and you o’ horse corn.
• I’m neither sma’ drink thirsty, nor grey bread hungry.
• I ne’er lo’ed meat that craw’d in my crapin.
• I wad be scant o’ claith to sole my hose wi’ dockens.
• I wadna fother you for your muck.
• I wadna ca the king my cousin tho’ he were my uncle’s son.
• I wadna be deav’d wi’ your keckling for a’ your eggs.
• I wadna mak fish o’ ane and flesh o’ anither.
• I wish you readier meat than a rinning hare.
• If ae sheep loup o’er the dike a’ the lave will follow.
• If and and spoils mony a gude charter.
• If a man gangs down the brae ilk ane gies him a jundie.
• If he bind the pock she’ll sit down upon’t.
• If he be nae a souter he’s a gude shoe clouter.
• If I canna keep geese I’ll keep gaislins.
• If I canna do’t by might I’ll do’t by sleight.
• If it be a faut it’s nae ferly.—If it winna sell it winna sour.
• If stakes be gude to gie they’ll be gude to get.
• If the deil be laird ye’ll be tenant.—If ye lo’e me let it kythe.
• If the deil find you idle he’ll set you to wark.
• If wishes were horses beggars wad ride.
• If ye hae little gear guide it the better.
• If ye ca’ me scabbed I’ll ca’ you sca’d.
• If ye be angry, claw your wame, and cool in the skin ye het in.
• If you sell your purse to your wife, gi’e her your brecks to the bargain.
• If ye had as little money as ye hae manners, ye wad be the poorest man o’ your kin.
• If ye win at whoring ye’ll tine at naething.
• If ye serve the tod ye maun bear up his tail.
• Ill bairns get ay broken brows.—Ill bairns are best heard at hame.
• Ill beef ne’er made good broe.—Ill doers are ay ill dreaders.
• Ill counsel will gar a man stick his ain mare.[14]
• Ill getting het water frae ’neath cauld ice.—Ill herds mak fat foxes.
• Ill hearing maks wrang rehearsing.—Ill news are aft owre true.
• Ill laying up maks mony thieves.—Ill payers are ay gude cravers.
• Ill to tak and eith to tire.—Ill weeds wax weel.
• Ill workers are ay gude to putters.—Ill-will ne’er spak weel.
• Ill won gear winna enrich the third heir.—Ill won, as ill wair’d.
• It cam wi’ the wind let it gang wi’ the water.
• It maun be an auld-farrant mouse that can kittle in a cat’s lug.
• It’s a bare moor that ye gang thro’ and no get a heather cow.
• It’s a cauld stammock that naething heats on.
• It’s a gude goose that draps ay.—It’s a hard task to be poor and leal.
• It’s a gude poor man’s blade, it will bow or break.
• It’s a lang lane that hasna a turning.
• It’s an ill wind that blaws naebody gude.
• It’s an ill cause that the lawyers think shame o’.
• It’s time to gie owre piping when youv’e lost the upper lip.
• It’s an ill pack that’s no worth the custom.
• It’s a mean mouse that has but ae hole.—It’s no a’ tint that fa’s by.
• It’s a nasty bird fyles its ain nest.—It’s a sin to lie on the deil.
• It’s a poor house whare thers’s neither a bairn nor a mouse.
• It’s a shame to eat the cow and worry on the tail.
• It’s a sorry hen that canna scrape for ae bird.
• It’s a sair dung bairn that mayna greet.—It’s gude to be sib to siller.
• It’s a’ tint that’s done to auld fo’k and bairns.
• It’s but kindly that the pock sa’r of the herring.
• It’s better to sup wi’ a cutty than want a spoon.
• It’s dear coft honey that’s lick’d aff a thorn.
• It’s eith crying Yule on anither man’s stool.
• It’s fair in ha’ where beards wag a’.—It’s gude sleeping in a hale skin.
• It’s gude maut that comes o’ will.—It’s gude to be side but no trailing.
• It’s gude gear that pleases the merchant.
• It’s gude to be gude in your time, ye kenna how lang it may last.
• It’s gude to hae twa strings to your bow.
• It’s hard to gar an auld mare leave aff flinging.
• It’s hard to sit in Rome and strive wi the Pope.
• It’s hard for a greedy e’e to hae a leal heart.[15]
• It’s ill to be ca’d a thief and no found picking.
• It’s ill to bring out o’ the flesh what’s bred i’ the bane.
• It’s ill getting breeks aff a Higlandman.
• It’s ill taking corn frae geese.—It’s no tint that a friend gets.
• It’s ill making a silk purse o’ a sows lug, or a touting horn o’ a tods tail.
• It’s ill bringing butt what’s no there ben.
• It’s kittle shooting at corbies and clergy.
• It’s kittle to waken sleeping dogs.—It’s needless to bid a wren rin.
• It’s lang or the deil be found dead at a dike-side.
• It’s lang or ye need to cry, shou, to an egg.
• It’s lang or like-to-die fill the kirk-yard.
• It’s muckle gars the tailor laugh, for suitors girn ay.
• It’s needless to pour water on a drown’d mouse.
• It’s no the cowl that maks the friar.—It maun be true that a’ fo’k says.
• It’s nae sin to tak a gude price, but in gi’ing ill measure.
• It’s nae play when ane laughs and anither greets.
• It’s no what is she? but what was she?
• It’s nae laughing to girn in a widdy.—It’s weel war’d wasters want.
• It’s o’er far between the kitchen and the ha’.
• It’s o’er late to spare when the bottom’s bare.
• It’s past joking when the head’s aff.
• It’s weel that our fau’ts are no written on our face.
• It’s time enough to skreigh when ye’re strucken.
• It’s time enough to mak my bed when I’m gaun to lie down.
• It’s lang or four bare legs gather heat in the bed.
• It may come in an hour that winna come in seven year.
• It will be a feather out o’ your wing.
• It sets a sow weel to wear a saddle.
• It sets you weel to gab again wi’ your bannet on.
• It was ne’er for naething that the gled whistled.

J

• Joke at leisure, you kenna wha may joke yoursel’.

K

[16]

• Kail hains bread.—Kame sindle came sair.—Kamesters are ay creeshy.
• Keep woo and it will be dirt, keep lint and it will be silk.
• Keep your ain fish guts to your ain sea-maws.
• Keep your kill-dry’d taunts to your mouldy-hair’d maidens.
• Keep your breath to cool your crowdie.
• Keep your mouth close and your een open.
• Kindness comes a-will, it canna be coft.
• Kindness will creep whare it canna gang.
• Kindle a candle at baith ends it will soon be done.
• King’s cauff’s worth other fo’ks corn.—Kissing gans by favour.
• King’s cheese gaes hauf awa in pairings.
• Kiss a carl and clap a carl, and that’s the way to tine a carl.
• Kythe in your ain colours that fo’k may ken you.

L

• Ladies and turkies need delicate upbringing.
• Laith to bed and laith to rise.—Lang straes are nae motes.
• Lang fasting hains nae meat.—Learn young, learn fair.
• Lang tongu’d wives gae lang wi’ bairn.
• Langest at fire soonest finds cauld.
• Lang speaking part maun spill.—Love me love my dog.
• Law’s costly, tak a pint and gree.
• Law-makers should na be law-breakers.
• Laugh at leisure, ye may greet ere night.
• Laugh and lay’t down again.—Let alane maks mony loons.
• Lay the head o’ the sow to the tail o’ the grice.
• Learn the cat to the kirn and she’ll ay be licking.
• Letna the plough stand to kill a mouse.
• Let a’ treads live, quoth the wife, when she burnt her besom.
• Let ay bell’d wathers break the snaw.
• Let by-ganes be by-ganes.—Let horns gang wi’ the hide.
• Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle.
• Let him haud the bairn that aught the bairn.
• Let him cool in the skin he het in.
• Let ilka sheep hang by its ain shank.
• Let the muckle horse get the muckle wonlyn.
• Let the morn come and the meat wi’t.[17]
• Let the kirk stand in the kirk-yard.—Live and let live.
• Lie for him and he’ll swear for you.—Little gear the less care.
• Light supper mak lang life-days.—Like’s an ill mark.
• Little winning maks a heavy purse.—Love o’erlooks mony fauts.
• Lightly come, lightly gane.—Little kend the less cared for.
• Like draws to like, as a scabbed horse to a fail dyke.
• Like Scotsmen, ay wise ahint the hand.
• Likely lies aft i’ the mire, when unlikely wins through.
• Like the maidens o’ Bayordine ye learn by the ear.
• Like hens, ye rin ay to the tap o’ the heap.
• Like the bairns o’ Falkirk, ye mind naething but mischief.
• Like frien’less dogs mair sleep than meat.
• Like the cat, fain fish wad ye eat, but ye are laith to weet your feet.
• Like the wife wi’ the mony daughters, the best comes hindmost.
• Lippen to me but look to yoursel’.
• Little Jock gets the little dish, and that hauds him lang little.
• Little said is soon mended, little gear’s soon spended.
• Little wit i’ the head maks muckle travel to the feet.
• Little may an auld nag do that maunna nicher.
• Live upon love as lavrocks do on leeks.
• Loud on the loan was ne’er a gude milk cow.
• Love and light winna hide.—Love me lightly love me lang.
• Love’s as warm among cotters as courtiers.
• Love o’er het soonest cools.

M

• Maidens shou’d be mim till they’r married, then they may burn kirks.
• Maidens shou’d be mild and meek, quick to hear and slaw to speak.
• Maidens tochers and ministers stipends are ay less than ca’d.
• Mair hamely than welcome.—Mair haste the waur speed.
• Mair by luck than gude guiding.—Malice is aye mindfu’.
• Mak friends o’ fremit fo’k.—Measure twice, cut but ance.
• Mak the best o’ an ill bargain you can.
• Mak your hay when the sun shines.
• May-bees flee not at this time o’ the year.
• Maybe your pot may need my clips.[18]
• Mealy-mou’d maids stand lang at the mill.
• Muckle may fa’ between the cup and the lip.
• Mills and wives are ay wanting.—Mony hands mak light wark.
• Mistress afore fo’k, gude wife behind backs, where lies the dish-clout?
• Money is welcome in a dirten clout.
• Mony a ane kisses the bairn for love o’ the nurse.
• Mony fair promises at marriage mak few at tocher-paying.
• Mony say weel when it was ne’er waur.
• Mony a ane serves a thankless master.
• Mony ways to kill a dog tho’ ye dinna hang him.
• Mony cooks ne’er made gude kail.
• Mony irons i’ the fire part maun cool.
• Mony a ane opens their pack and sells nae wares.
• Mony a ane speers the gate they ken fu’ weel.
• My son’s my son ay till he get a wife, my daughter’s my daughter a’ the days o’ her life.

N

• Nae fool like an auld fool.—Nae friend like a friend in need.
• Nae man can thrive unless his wife lets him.
• Nae sooner up than her head’s in the am’ry.
• Nae safe wading in unco water.—Necessity hae nae law.
• Nae wonder ye be auld like, ilka thing fashes ye.
• Naething sae crouse as a new washen louse.
• Naething’s ill to be done when will’s at hame.
• Naething’s to be done in haste but gripping of flaes.
• Naething to do but draw in your stool and sit down.
• Naething venture naething win.—New lords hae new laws.
• Nane but fools and knaves lay wagers.
• Nane can mak a bore but ye’ll find a pin till’t.
• Nane can play the fool sae weel as a wise man.
• Near’s my sark but nearer’s my skin.—Ne’er ower auld to learn.
• Nearest the heart nearer the mou.—Ne’er rax aboon your reach.
• Nearest the kirk the farthest frae gude.
• Neck or naething the king loes nae cripples.[19]
• Need will gar an auld wife trot, and a naked man rin.
• Ne’er draw your durk when a daunt will do.
• Ne’er find faut wi’ my shoon unless ye pay my cobler.
• Ne’er gae to the deil wi’ a dish-clout about your head.
• Ne’er gae me my death in a toom dish.—Ne’er quat certanty for hope.
• Ne’er let on but laugh in your ain sleeve.
• Ne’er marry a widow, unless her first man was hang’d.
• Ne’er scad your lips in other fo’k’s kail.
• Ne’er seek a wife till ye ken what to do wi’.
• Ne’er shaw your teeth unless ye can bite.
• Ne’er strive against the stream.
• Ne’er take a fore-hammer to break an egg, when ye can do it wi’ a pen-knife.—Nipping and scarting’s Scotch fo’k’s wooing.
• Ne’er let the nose blush for the sins o’ the mouth.
• Nineteen naesays o’ a maiden are ha’f a grant.

O

• Ower haly was hang’d, and rough and sonsy wan awa’.
• Ower muckle o’ aething is gude for naething.
• Ower mony grieves but hinders the wark.
• O’ twa ills choose the least.—Out o’ debt out o’ danger.
• Out o’ the peat-pot into the gutter.

P

• Pay him hame in his ain coin.—Penny wise and pound foolish.
• Pennyless sauls may pine in purgatory.
• Pleying at law’s like fighting through a whin buss, the harder the
• blows the sairer the scar.
• Poortith parts gude company.—Possession is eleven points o’ the law.
• Pride ne’er leaves its master till he get a fa’.
• Poets and painters hae liberty to lie.
• Put a coward to his metal and he’ll fight the deil.
• Put your hand nae farther than your sleeve will reach.
• Put your hand i’ the creel, and tak out an adder or an eel.

Q

• Quey caufs are dear veal.—Quick returns mak rich.

[20]

R

• Rackless youth maks ruefu’ eild.—Raw leather raxes.
• Raise nae mae deils than your able to lay.
• Rather spoil your joke than tine your friend.
• Raw dawds mak fat lads.—Rich fou’k hae routh o’ friends.
• Rich fo’k’s wit rives puir fo’k’s jaws.—Rob Peter to pay Paul.
• Ride fair and jaup nane.—Right wrangs nae man.
• Rob Gib’s contract, stark love and kindness.
• Rome was nae bigget in ae day.—Royet lads may mak sober men.
• Rooks and writers are ay to be found about ruined houses.
• Roose the ford as ye find it.—Rue and time grow baith in ae garden.

S

• Sair cravers are ay ill payers.—Satan reproving sin.
• Saut, quoth the sutor, when he had eaten a cow a’ but the tail.
• Seethe stanes in butter the broo will be gude.
• Second thoughts are best.—Ser’ yoursel till your bairns come in age.
• Set a beggar on horseback he’ll ride to the deil.
• Set a stout heart to a stay brae.—Shame’s past the shade o’ your hair.
• Sharp stomachs mak short graces.—Stown dints are sweetest.
• Shallow waters mak maist din.—Sinle seen soon forgotten.
• She’s as leal a maiden as her man left her.
• She hauds up her head like a hen drinking water.
• She brack her elbow at the kirk door.—Standing dubs gather dirt.
• She’ll wear like a horse shoe, ay the langer the clearer.
• Short fo’k are soon angry, their heart’s soon at their mou.
• Slaw at meat slaw at wark.—Sorrow and ill weather come unsent for.
• Some hae a hantle o’ fauts ye’er only a neer-do-weel.
• Souters and tailors count hours.—Speak o’ the deil and he’ll appear.
• Speak gude o’ pipers, your father was a fiddler.
• Speak when your spoken till, and drink when you’re drucken till.
• Strike the iron as lang as it’s het.

T

[21]

• Tak your will o’t as the cat did o’ the haggis.
• Tak the bit and the buffet wi’t.—Tak me not up before I fa’.
• Tak your ain will and then ye’ll no die o’ the pet.
• Tak a hair o’ the dog that bit you.—That’s Halkerton’s cow.
• Tak nae mair on your back than you’re able to carry.
• Tak a man by his word and a cow by her horn.
• Tarry breeks pay nae fraught.—Tapped hens like cock crawing.
• Tell nae your fae when your foot’s slipping.—That’s a tee’d ba’.
• That bout cam ne’er out o’ your bag.—The best is ay cheapest.
• That’s carrying saut to Dysart and puddings to Tranent.
• That’s the piece a step-bairn ne’er gat.—Time tries a’.
• That winna be a mot i’ your marriage.—The deil’s ay gude to his ain.
• The back and the belly hauds every ane busy.
• The bairn speaks i’the field what he hears at the fireside.
• The bird maun flighter that flees wi’ ae wing.
• The better day the better deed.—The warld is bound to nae man.
• The blind man’s peck should be weel measur’d.
• The cure may be waur than the disease.
• The death o’ ae bairn winna skail a house.
• The dorty dame may fa’ i’ the dirt.—The deil’s bairns hae deil’s luck.
• The deil ay drives his hogs to an ill market.
• The deil’s gaen o’er John Wabster.—The e’ening brings a hame.
• The farthest way about is aft the nearest gate hame.
• The richer the souter, the blacker his thumbs.
• The first fuf o’ a fat haggis is ay the bauldest.

• The kings errand may come in a cadger’s gate.
• The langer we live we see the mair fairlies.
• The mae the merrier, the fewer the better cheer.
• The masters e’e maks the horse fat.—The still sow eats up the draff.
• The simple man’s the beggar’s brither.
• The subject’s love is the kings life guard.
• The smith’s mare and the souter’s wife are ay warst shod.
• The thiefer like the better sodger.—The tod’s whelps are ill to tame.[22]
• The thing that lie nae in your gate breaks na your shins.
• The thing that’s in your wame’s not in your testament.
• The thrift o’ you was the death o’ your gude-dame.
• The tod keeps his ain hole clean.
• The worth o’ a thing is best kend by the want o’t.
• The wife’s ay welcome that comes wi’ a crooked oxter.
• There’s mony a true tale tauld in jest.
• There’s mukle to do when burghers ride.
• There’s nane sae blind as them that winna see.
• There’s naething ill said that’s nae ill tane.
• There’s nae place like hame, as the deil said when he fan’ himsel in the Court o’ Session.
• There was ne’er a silly Jocky but there was as silly a Jenny.
• There’s beild aneath an auld man’s baird.
• There is a teugh sinew in an auld wife’s heel.
• There is a differ betwixt the piper and his bitch.
• There is a wawp i’ the raip.—Thole weel is gude for burning.
• There is a sliddery stane before the ha’ door.
• There is as gude fish i’ the sea as e’er cam out o’t.
• There grows nae grass at the cross.—Thoughts beguil maidens.
• There is life in a mussel as lang as she cheeps.—Time tries a’.
• There is little for the rake after the shool.—Tine heart and a’s gane.
• They are ay gude that are far awa.—True blue will ne’er stain.
• They are like the grices, if you kittle their wame they fa’ on their backs.
• They hae need o’ a canny cook that hae but ae egg to their dinner.
• They ne’er saw great dainties that think a haggis a feast.
• They shou’d kiss the gude-wife that wad win the gude-man.
• They that see you a’ day winna break the house for you at night.
• They that get a word o’ soon rising may lie a’ day.
• They that laugh in the morning may greet ere night.
• They that drink langest live langest.
• They that hae routh o’ butter may lay it thick on their scone.
• They that lie down for love shou’d rise for hunger.
• They were scant o’ bairns that brought you up.
• They were never fain that fidg’d, nor fa’ that licked dishes.
• They ne’er ga’e wi’ the speet but they get wi’ the ladle.[23]
• Three can keep a secret if twa be awa.
• Time and tide will tarry for nae man.
• Touch a gawd horse on the back and he’ll fling.
• Tramp on a snail and she’ll shoot out her horns.
• Twa blacks will ne’er mak a white.
• Twine two, your minny was a gude spinner.

U

• Up hill spare me, down hill tak tent to thee.
• Use makes perfectness.

W

• Wanton kittens mak douce cats.—When drink’s in wit’s out.
• Wae’s the wife that want’s the tongue, but weel’s the man that gets her.
• Weans maun creep ere they gang.—Women’s wark’s ne’er done.
• Wedding and ill wintering tame baith man and beast.
• Weel kens the mouse when the cat’s out o’ the house.
• Welcom’s the best dish in the kitchen.
• We’ll ne’er ken the worth o’ the water till the well gae dry.
• We’re ay to learn as lang’s we live.—We canna baith sup and blaw.
• We’ll bark oursels ere we buy dogs sae dear.
• We may ken your eild by the runkles o’ your horn.
• We may ken your meaning by your mumping.
• What’s gotten owre the deil’s back will gang awa under his belly.
• When ae door stecks anither opens.—Wilfu’ waste maks waefu’ want.
• When friends meet hearts warm.—Woo sellers ken ay woo buyers.
• When the tod preaches tak tent o’ the lambs.
• When the wame’s fou, the banes wad be at rest.
• When petticoats woo, brecks come speed.
• When you’re serv’d a’ the geese are water’d.
• While the pow’s shaving the lice maun flit.
• When ye’re gaun and coming the gate’s no toom.
• Where the dyke’s laighest it is eithiest to loup.
• Where there’s owre muckle courtesy, there’s little kindness.[24]
• Winter thunder bodes simmer hunger.
• Work for nought maks fo’k dead sweer.

Y

• Ye’re as lang o’ tuning your pipes as ane wad play a spring.
• Ye cam a day after the fair.—Ye hae gotten a ravel’d hesp o’t.
• Ye cut lang whangs out o’ ither fo’k’s leather.
• Ye canna preach out o’ your ain pupit.—Ye hae a crap for a’ corn.
• Ye canna get leave to thrive for thrang.
• Ye drive the plough before the owsen.
• Ye hae gien the wolfe the wedder to keep.
• Ye hae sitten your time, as mony a gude hen has done.
• Ye hae o’er foul feet to come sae far ben.
• Ye hae tint your ain stomach and fund a tike’s.
• Ye hae the wrang sow by the lug.—Ye ken wha drinkers dree.
• Ye kenna wha may cool your ain kail yet.
• Yelping curs may rise mastiffs.—Ye’re mair fley’d than hurt.
• Ye may get waur bodes or Beltane.
• Ye may dight your neb and flee up.
• Ye mete my pease by your ain peck.
• Ye ne’er saw green cheese but your een reel’d.
• Ye ride sae near the rumple ye’ll let nane loup on behind you.
• Ye’re like a miller’s dog, you lick your lips ere the pock be opened.
• Ye’re sae keen o’ the clocking you’ll die in the nest.
• Ye’re nae chicken for a’ your cheeping.
• Ye’re come o’ blude, and sae’s a pudding.
• Ye’re like hens, ye rin ay to the heap.
• Ye shape shoon by your ain shachel’d feet.
• Ye watna what wife’s ladle may cogue your kail.
• Your bread’s baken, you may hing by your girdle.