Proverbial Wisdom

Express the idea behind each of these proverbs using different words as much as you can.

1279. Maken vertue of necessite.

Geoffrey Chaucer (?1343-1400)

The Knight’s Tale, line 3044

1280. The man who has not anything to boast of but his illustrious ancestors is like a potato, — the only good belonging to him is under ground.

Sir Thomas Overbury (1581-1613)

(Attributed)

1281. The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

The Bible

Jeremiah 31:29

1282. Sweet tastes have sour closes;
And he repents on thorns that sleeps in beds of roses.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644)

Emblems, Bk I, No. 7

1283. No quality will get a man more friends than a disposition to admire the qualities of others.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Life of Johnson

1284. There is no state in Europe where the least wise have not governed the most wise.

Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864)

Imaginary Conversations, Rousseau and Malesherbes