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    An Apple A Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work
    An Apple A Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work
    An Apple A Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work
    Ebook250 pages2 hours

    An Apple A Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work

    By Caroline Taggart

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    About this ebook

    Does absence really make the heart grow fonder? Can beggars be choosers? Is it always better late than never?
    Proverbs are short, well-known, pithy sayings that offer advice or words of encouragement and are used in everyday English without much thought ever being given to their meanings, or indeed, usefulness. In An Apple A Day Caroline Taggart explores the truth behind our favourite proverbs, their history and whether they offer any genuine help to the recipient. Did you know that The Old Testament has an entire book devoted to proverbs? Or that 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' is a proverb from falconry that dates back to the Middle Ages? Many proverbs are still in use today, including the very famous 'slow and steady wins the race', which derives from one of the many fables of Aesop. Lighthearted but authoritative, An Apple A Day proves that proverbs are as useful today as they ever were.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMichael O'Mara
    Release dateJan 28, 2011
    ISBN9781843176527
    An Apple A Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work
    Author

    Caroline Taggart

    Caroline Taggart worked in publishing as an editor of popular non-fiction for thirty years before being asked by Michael O'Mara Books to write I Used to Know That, which became a Sunday Times bestseller. Following that she was co-author of My Grammar and I (or should that be 'Me'?), and wrote a number of other books about words and English usage. She has appeared frequently on television and on national and regional radio, talking about language, grammar and whether or not Druids Cross should have an apostrophe. Her website is carolinetaggart.co.uk and you can follow her on Twitter @citaggart.

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      Book preview

      An Apple A Day - Caroline Taggart

      A proverb is one man’s wit and all men’s wisdom.

      Lord John Russell

      An Apple A Day

      Old-fashioned proverbs

      and why they still work

      CAROLINE TAGGART

      Michael O’Mara Books Limited

      Copyright

      First published in Great Britain in 2009 by

      Michael O’Mara Books Limited

      16 Lion Yard

      Tremadoc Road

      London SW4 7NQ

      This electronic edition published in 2011

      ISBN: 978-1-84317-652-7 in EPub format

      ISBN: 978-1-84317-529-2 in Mobipocket format

      ISBN: 978-1-84317-392-2 in hardback print format

      Copyright © Michael O’Mara Books Limited 2009

      All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

      A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Cover design by Ana Bjezancevic

      Text setting by www.glensaville.com

      www.mombooks.com

      Caroline Taggart is the author of the best-selling I Used to Know That and A Classical Education and co-author of My Grammar and I (or should that be ‘Me’?). She is also the editor of Writer’s Market UK & Ireland, a guide for aspiring writers, and in this guise gives talks and workshops at literary festivals around the country.

      She has worked in publishing for over thirty years, the last twenty as a freelance editor of non-fiction, covering subjects ranging from dinosaurs to tourism in outer space. Among her friends her knowledge of random and trivial facts is considered proverbial; this may not be the place to discuss what that says about her knowledge of proverbs.

      Acknowledgements

      Many thanks to Toby, Anna, Glen, Ana and everyone else at Michael O’Mara for being such fun to work with. Thanks also to Diana Craig, for toning down my worst excesses but indulging my digressions into Sixties pop. Any remaining excesses are entirely my responsibility.

      List of proverbs

      A

      Absence makes the heart grow fonder/Out of sight, out of mind

      Actions speak louder than words/Fine words butter no parsnips

      It takes all sorts to make a world

      All that glitters is not gold

      All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

      All’s fair in love and war/The end justifies the means

      All’s well that ends well

      An apple a day keeps the doctor away

      Ask no questions and you’ll be told no lies

      B

      A bad penny always turns up

      A bad workman blames his tools

      Beauty is in the eye of the beholder/There’s no accounting for taste/Love is blind

      Beauty is only skin deep

      You’ve made your bed, so you must lie in it

      Beggars can’t be choosers

      Better late than never

      Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t

      It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive

      A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

      Birds of a feather flock together

      Once bitten, twice shy

      There is none so blind as he who will not see

      Blood is thicker than water

      You can’t get blood out of a stone

      Boys will be boys/You’re only young once

      Brevity is the soul of wit

      You can’t make bricks without straw

      A new broom sweeps clean

      C

      You can’t have your cake and eat it too

      There is always calm after a storm

      If the cap fits, wear it

      A cat may look at a king

      When the cat’s away, the mice will play

      A change is as good as a rest

      Don’t change horses in midstream

      Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

      Charity begins at home

      The child is father of the man

      Children should be seen and not heard

      Cleanliness is next to godliness

      Every cloud has a silver lining

      Cold hands, warm heart

      Two’s company, three’s a crowd

      Comparisons are odious

      Too many cooks spoil the broth/Many hands make light work

      Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched

      In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king

      The course of true love never did run smooth

      Don’t cross your bridges before you come to them

      You’ve got to be cruel to be kind

      It’s no use crying over spilt milk

      Curiosity killed the cat

      D

      The darkest hour is before the dawn

      Desperate situations call for desperate measures

      The devil finds work for idle hands

      Discretion is the better part of valour

      Distance lends enchantment

      Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

      Give a dog a bad name and hang him

      A drowning man will clutch at a straw

      E

      The early bird catches the worm

      Early to bed, early to rise…

      Easier said than done

      Easy come, easy go

      You’ve got to eat a peck of dirt before you die

      Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

      An elephant never forgets

      An Englishman’s home is his castle

      Enough is as good as a feast

      To err is human, to forgive divine

      Every little helps

      Everything comes to those who wait

      The exception proves the rule

      What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over

      F

      Familiarity breeds contempt

      Fling enough dirt and some will stick

      A fool and his money are soon parted

      Only fools and horses work

      Fools rush in where angels fear to tread

      Forewarned is forearmed

      A friend in need is a friend indeed

      G

      Give a man enough rope and he’ll hang himself

      You can’t serve God and Mammon

      God helps those who help themselves

      Whom the gods love dies young

      What goes around comes around

      One good turn deserves another

      Good wine needs no bush

      The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

      H

      Half a loaf is better than no bread

      The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

      Handsome is as handsome does

      You might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb

      More haste, less speed

      Two heads are better than one

      Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

      He who hesitates is lost/Better safe than sorry

      Home is where the heart is/There’s no place like home

      Honesty is the best policy

      There is honour among thieves

      Hope springs eternal in the human breast

      You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink

      Hunger is the best sauce

      I

      Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise

      It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good

      Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

      J

      Jack of all trades is master of none

      If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well

      Never judge a book by its cover

      K

      Knowledge is power

      L

      It’s the last straw that breaks a camel’s back

      Laugh and the world laughs with you

      He who laughs last laughs longest

      Laughter is the best medicine

      Least said soonest mended

      A leopard cannot change his spots

      Lightning never strikes twice in the same place

      A little learning is a dangerous thing

      Little things please little minds

      Live and let live

      The longest journey begins with a single step

      Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

      Look before you leap

      What you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts

      Love is blind

      M

      Every man has his price

      A man is known by the company he keeps

      A man’s best friend is his dog

      One man’s meat is another man’s poison

      Manners makyth man

      Marry in haste, repent at leisure

      A miss is as good as a mile

      Money doesn’t grow on trees

      N

      Necessity is the mother of invention

      Needs must when the devil drives

      No news is good news/Bad news travels fast

      Noblesse oblige

      There’s nothing new under the sun

      Nothing ventured, nothing gained/Faint heart never won fair lady/Fortune favours the brave

      O

      You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs

      P

      Patience is a virtue

      He who pays the piper calls the tune

      The pen is mightier than the sword

      Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves

      In for a penny, in for a pound

      People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones

      Little pitchers have big ears

      Possession is nine points of the law

      Practice makes perfect

      Prevention is better than cure

      Pride goes before a fall

      Procrastination is the thief of time/Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today

      The proof of the pudding is in the eating

      A prophet is without honour in his own country

      Punctuality is the politeness of kings

      Q

      You can’t fit a quart into a pint pot

      R

      It never rains but it pours

      Revenge is sweet/Revenge is a dish best served

      (or eaten) cold

      The road to hell is paved with good intentions

      All roads lead to Rome

      A rolling stone gathers no moss

      Rome wasn’t built in a day

      When in Rome, do as the Romans do

      S

      What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

      The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley

      Seeing is believing

      Silence is golden...

      You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

      Let sleeping dogs lie

      There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip

      Slow but steady wins the race

      There’s no smoke without fire

      As you sow, so shall you reap

      Spare the rod and spoil the child

      Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me

      Still waters run deep

      A stitch in time saves nine

      Strike while the iron is hot

      If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again

      You must suffer to be beautiful

      One swallow doesn’t make a summer

      T

      You can’t take it with you

      Talk/speak of the devil and he will appear

      You can’t teach an old dog new tricks

      There’s a time and a place for everything

      Time flies when you’re enjoying yourself

      Time is a great healer/Time heals all wounds

      Time is money

      There’s no time like the present

      There’s many a true word spoken in jest

      Truth/fact is stranger than fiction

      There’s many a good tune played on an old fiddle

      U

      United we stand, divided we fall

      V

      Variety is the spice of life

      Virtue is its own reward

      W

      Walls have ears

      A watched pot never boils

      Where there’s a will there’s a way

      Even a worm will turn

      Two wrongs don’t make a right

      Z

      Zeal without knowledge is the sister of folly

      Introduction

      If, when you picked up this book, you asked yourself, ‘Another dictionary of proverbs? Do we need one?’ or ‘What exactly is a proverb anyway?’, read on. I hope to answer both those questions in the next two pages. If you didn’t, please

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