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Keep a thing seven years and you will find a use for it 15 May 2013 | 06:55 pm
If you keep a seemingly useless thing for a long enough time, you will probably have some occasion to use it during that time. The proverb does not teach us to keep useless things for exactly seven y...
Cat got your tongue 21 Jun 2012 | 04:36 pm
“Has the cat got your tongue?” is an expression in the form of a question that originated in the mid-nineteenth century and was used when addressing a child who refused to answer a parent’s questions ...
All cats love fish but hate to get their paws wet 23 May 2012 | 08:44 am
Everyone wants success but many lack the self-discipline to become successful. They might hope in luck, but fortune favours the bold.
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely 30 Mar 2012 | 09:10 am
Absolute monarchies are those in which all power is given to or, as is more often the case, taken by, the monarch. Examples of absolute power corrupting are Roman emperors (who declared themselves god...
A cat in gloves catches no mice 30 Jun 2011 | 02:24 am
Sometimes you cannot get what you want by being careful and polite. Restraint and caution (or ‘pussyfooting’) achieve nothing. This is similar to the French 14th century proverb: chat engaunté ne surr...
A burden of one’s own choice is not felt 30 Jun 2011 | 02:21 am
Something difficult seems easier when it is done voluntarily.
A beggar can never be bankrupt 30 Jun 2011 | 02:14 am
People who have a lot to lose have a lot of worries but if you are poor you might sleep better. The rich man contemplating financial disaster or about to take a major risk might quote this out of brav...
A bad compromise is better than a good lawsuit 30 Jun 2011 | 02:07 am
With the time, the money and the effort that a case at court of law requires, it is better to make a compromise with the one you are involved in disagreement with, even though it might be not so much ...
A bad beginning makes a bad ending 28 Jun 2011 | 08:57 pm
If you start a thing badly it takes a long time to finish it, because the bad start seriously affects the later work. But if you make a good start, everything follows naturally and easily. That is why...
The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it 20 Jun 2011 | 02:28 am
It is only when we have been deprived of something that we appreciate the true value of it. One illustration of this is, of course, the other proverb: Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
