分類: Idioms

Culture

Love me, love my dog.
Business is business. /Call a spade a spade.
Being on sea, sail; being on land, settle.
Feather by feather the goose is plucked.
Still waters run deep.
Two heads are better than one. /Four eyes see more than two.
Between you and me.
Each bird loves to hear himself sing.
Virtue and happiness are mother and daughter.
Good wine needs no bush. /A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Beam with joy. /Spring in the air.
All’s grist that comes to the mill.
Short and sweet.
Give the devil his due.
Charity begins at home.

Appraisement

Measure for measure. /Give tit for tat.
A miss is as good as a mile. /A little too late is much too late.
Have an eye to the main chance.
The eye is the mirror of the soul.
Call no man great before he is dead.
There are two sides to every story.
Better be alone than in bad company.
Build castles in the air. /Show him an egg, and instantly the whole air is full of feathers.
There is life in a mussel, though it be little.
Wise men learn by other men’s mistakes.
All roads lead to Rome.
The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it.
Old bees yield no honey. /The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
What millions died that Caesar might be great.
Every Jack has his Jill.

Description

It’s raining cats and dogs.
Wave after wave. /It never rains but it pours.
Cut to the quick.
A home from home. /Feel at home.
Know what’s what.
Talk of the devil and he will appear. /Speak of the angels, and you will hear their wings.
Give one a mouthful of moonshine.
Burn the candle at both ends.
Pat oneself on the back. /Hug oneself.
Reach the top of the ladder. /Reach the limit.
An old ox makes a straight furrow.
Today a man, tomorrow a mouse.
It came absolutely out of the blue.
Whether the pitcher strikes the stone, or the stone strikes the pitcher, it is bad for the pitcher.
Life is but a dream.

Cause

He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.
Out of nothing comes nothing.
For want of a nail, the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe, the horse is lost; and for want of a horse, the rider is lost.
The tree falls not at the first stroke.
The hand that gives gathers.
Experience must be bought.
Every sin brings its punishment with it.
Things present are judged by things past.
A straw will show which way the wind blows.
A baker’s wife may bite of a bun, a brewer’s wife may drink of a tun.
He who would climb the ladder must begin at the bottom.
Habit is a second nature.
Lose in hake but gain in herring.
Keep a thing seven years and you will find a use for it.
Prevention is better than cure.

Contrast

Diamond cut diamond.
The moon is not seen where the sun shines.
He that would the daughter win, must with the mother first begin.
The pot calls the kettle black. /One ass nicknames another “Long-ears”.
A bad workman quarrels with his tools.
Like draws to like. /Birds of a feather flock together.
Scratch a person where he itches. /A drop of honey catches more flies than a hogshead of vinegar.
Overdone is worse than undone.
When I did well, I heard it never; when I did ill, I heard it ever.
Many a little makes a mickle. /Penny and penny laid up will be many.
Say well is good, but do well is better.
If the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain.
East, west, home’s best.
Go through fire and water.
Carry fire in one hand and water in the other.

Satire

As close as a clam.
It takes two to make a quarrel.
You cackle often, but never lay an egg.
Bees that have honey in their mouths have stings in their tails.
If Jack’s in love, he’s no judge of Jill’s beauty. /Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It is a foolish bird that soils its own nest.
A cat has nine lives. /A mouse that has but one hole is quickly taken.
Beyond the bounds of possibility. /Pigs might fly.
You take more care of your shoe than your foot.
The more I see of men, the more I love dogs.
In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.
The devil sick would be a monk.
Tomorrow comes never.
Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.

Warning

One wrong step may bring a great fall.
Let sleeping dogs lie.
Look before you leap.
Have not thy cloak to make when it begins to rain.
It is too late to spare when the bottom is bare.
Put your finger into the fire, and they say it was your misfortune.
Little chips light great fires.
Nip in the bud. /Crush in the egg.
There is no smoke without fire. /Everything must have a beginning.
The way to be safe is never to feel secure.
The fire which lights us at a distance will burn us when near.
More haste, less speed. /The shortest way round is the longest way home.
Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.
He who laughs on Friday will weep on Sunday.
Too much good fortune is bad fortune.

Encouragement

Rome was not built in a day.
One can’t put back the clock.
If you lie upon roses when young, you’ll lie upon thorns when old.
Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today.
Keep it up. /Perseverance will prevail.
Don’t cross a bridge before you come to it. /Don’t meet the trouble half-way.
Catch the tide.
Strike while the iron is hot.
It is no use crying over spilt milk. /What is done can’t be undone.
Fish or cut bait. /Quick to act.
Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
Tower above the rest.
Everyone can reach the top of the ladder.
Right the wrong.
Carry the weight of the world on one’s shoulders.

Expectation

April and May are the key of the year.
An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening.
Storms make oaks take deeper roots.
He is born in a good hour who gets a good name.
Take it easy.
No pain, no gain.
Step by step the ladder is ascended.
No sweet without sweat.
Anyway, tomorrow is another day.
Now is your time.
After a storm comes a calm.
While there is life there is hope.
Everything is good for something.
Union is strength.
It is better late than never.

Character and Learning

In doing we learn.
Though old and wise, yet still advise.
Practice makes perfect.
What the heart thinks the tongue speaks.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Take a back seat.
Not to advance is to go back.
Even Homer sometimes nods.
Truth may sometimes come out of the devil’s mouth.
Poverty is not a shame, but the being ashamed of it is.
He that falls today may rise tomorrow.
The good seaman is known in bad weather.
Never say die.
There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip.
A quiet conscience sleeps in thunder.