Exercises

Proverbial Wisdom

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

The River Wear at Stanhope in County Durham.

© M. J. Richardson, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

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Proverbial Wisdom

© M. J. Richardson, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. Source

The River Wear at Stanhope in County Durham.

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“Still waters run deep...” and the River Wear at Stanhope in County Durham provides proof of the old saw. The photographer is looking upstream from the churning ford and stepping-stones, towards deeper and calmer waters. The proverb reminds us that what is visible to the eye is not always a good guide to what is hidden underneath, and that the man who is placid and even dull on the outside may be full of secrets or turbulent passions within.

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Introduction

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?

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. One murder made a villain;
Millions a hero. Princes were privileg’d
To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime.

Beilby Porteus (1731-1809)

Death, line 155 (speaking of how war came into the world)

2. Man is a creature of a wilful head,
And hardly driven is, but eas’ly led.

Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)

The Queen’s Arcadia (Ergastus), Act IV, Scene V

3. Freedom, which in no other land will thrive,
Freedom, an English subject’s sole prerogative,
Without whose charms even peace would be
But a dull, quiet slavery.

John Dryden (1631-1700)

Threnodia Augustalis (on the death of King Charles II in 1685)

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