Proverbial Wisdom
Express the idea behind each of these proverbs using different words as much as you can.
Express the idea behind each of these proverbs using different words as much as you can.
On this page you will a find a selection of brief sayings, including short quotations from English literature as well as traditional proverbs. Choose a saying, and try to express the idea in different words as much as you can. In what circumstances might you use this quotation?
Note: Many of these proverbs and quotations are in archaic English, and neither grammar nor spelling has been modernised.
1. He who discommendeth others obliquely commendeth himself.
Christian Morals, Pt I, XXXIV
2.
He that strives not to stem his anger’s tide,
Does a wild horse without a bridle ride.
Love’s Last Shift, Act III, Scene I, last lines
3. Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.
Love in Several Masques, Act IV, Scene II
4.
O wad some pow’r the giftie gie us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion:
What airs in dress an’ gait wad lea’e us,
And ev’n devotion.
To a Louse
5.
I have no spur,
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself,
And falls on the other.
Macbeth (Macbeth), Act I, Scene VII
6. Wit’s whetstone, Want.
Penniless Pilgrimage.