Exercises

Proverbial Wisdom

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

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The sayings in this puzzle are taken randomly from a list of 750 proverbial sayings.

Note: Many of these proverbs and quotations are in archaic English, and neither grammar nor spelling has been modernised.

1. It is a custom
More honoured in the breach than the observance.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Hamlet (Hamlet), Act I, Scene IV

2. He that strives not to stem his anger’s tide,
Does a wild horse without a bridle ride.

Colley Cibber (1671-1757)

Love’s Last Shift, Act III, Scene I, last lines

3. There is nothing on earth so lowly, but duty giveth it importance; No station so degrading, but it is ennobled by obedience.

Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810-1889)

Proverbial Philosophy, of Subjection, 155

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