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Proverbs of All Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated cover

Proverbs of All Nations, Compared, Explained, and Illustrated

Chapter 59: FOOTNOTES:
By Walter K. Kelly
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About This Book

An organized compilation of proverbs arranged by theme, each entry pairing English sayings with translated equivalents from other languages, followed by explanations, historical and literary illustrations, and concise commentary; the work groups sayings into topical chapters (women, love, marriage, parents and children, etc.), compares variants, traces common ideas across cultures, and adds footnotes and anecdotes to elucidate meanings and usages, aiming to present proverbs not as isolated maxims but as interconnected families that illuminate popular wisdom, linguistic variation, and customary thought.

A knight of Cales, a gentleman of Wales, and a laird of the north countree;
A yeoman of Kent, with his yearly rent, will buy them out all three.

"Cales knights were made in that voyage by Robert, Earl of Essex, to the number of sixty, whereof (though many of great birth) some were of low fortunes; and therefore Queen Elizabeth was half offended with the earl for making knighthood so common. Of the numerousness of Welsh gentlemen nothing need be said, the Welsh generally pretending to gentility. Northern lairds are such who in Scotland hold lands in chief of the king, whereof some have no great revenue. So that a Kentish yeoman (by the help of a hyperbole) may countervail," &c.—(Fuller.) "A Spanish don, a German count, a French marquis, an Italian bishop, a Neapolitan cavalier, a Portuguese hidalgo, and a Hungarian noble make up a so-so company" (Italian).[795]

The Italians are wise before the fact, the Germans in the fact, the French after the fact.—Italian.[796]

The Italians are known by their singing, the French by their dancing, the Spaniards by their lording it, and the Germans by their drinking.—Italian.[797]

Where Germans are, Italians like not to be.—Italian.[798]

Italy, heads, holidays, and tempests.—Italian.[799]

A gentleman, who visited Dublin in the O'Connell times, gave it as the result of his experience there that Ireland was a land of groans, grievances, and invitations to dinner.

He that has to do with a Tuscan must not be blind.—Italian.[800]

There is a double meaning in the original. The same Italian word means Tuscan and poison.

It is better to be in the forest and eat pine cones than to live in a castle with Spaniards.—Italian.[801]

Because the frugal Spanish soldiers could subsist on diet on which men of other nations would starve. For them "Bread and radishes were a heavenly dinner" (Spanish).[802]

Abstract from Spaniard all his good qualities, and there remains a Portuguese.—Spanish.

Every layman in Castile might make a king, every clerk a pope.—Spanish.

If the overweening pride of the Spaniard appears in these two proverbs, the candour of the following must also be acknowledged:—

Succours of Spain, either late or never.—Spanish.[803]

Things of Spain.—Spanish.[804]

That is, abuses, anomalies, and faults of all kinds. See "Ford's Handbook," passim.

When the Spaniard sings, either he is mad or he has not a doit.—Spanish.[805]

A Pole would rather steal a horse on Sunday than eat milk or butter on Friday.—German.[806]

Poland is the hell of peasants, the paradise of Jews, the purgatory of burghers, the heaven of nobles, and the gold mine of foreigners.—German.[807]

A Polish bridge, a Bohemian monk, a Swabian nun, Italian devotion, and German fasting are worth a bean.—German.[808]

If the devil came out of hell to fight there would forthwith be a Frenchman to accept the challenge.—French.[809]

When the Frenchman sleeps the devil rocks him.—French.[810]

The Italians weep, the Germans screech, and the French sing.—French.[811]

This is found word for word in Italian also, though it seems devised for the special glorification of Frenchmen. The Portuguese say,—

The Frenchman sings well when his throat is moistened.—Portuguese.[812]

The Germans have their wit in their fingers.—French.[813]

That means they are skilful workmen.

The emperor of Germany is the king of kings, the king of Spain king of men, the king of France king of asses, the king of England king of devils.—French.[814]

It is better to hear the lark sing than the mouse creep.

This was the proverb of the Douglases, adopted by every Border chief to express, as Sir Walter Scott observes, what the great Bruce had pointed out—that the woods and hills were the safest bulwarks of their country, instead of the fortified places which the English surpassed their neighbours in the art of assaulting or defending. The Servians have a similar saying: "Better to look from the mountain than from the dungeon."

He that has missed seeing Seville has missed seeing a marvel.—Spanish.[815]

See Naples and die.—Italian.[816]

There is but one Paris.—French.[817]

FOOTNOTES:

[788] L'Inglese italianizzato, un diavolo incarnato.

[789] Inghilterra paradiso di donne, purgatorio di borse, e inferno di cavalli.

[790] Con todo el mondo guerra, y paz con Inglaterra.

[791] Op een witten Spanjaard en op een zwarten Engelschman moet men acht geven.

[792] Un Normand a son dit et son dédit.

[793] Più pazzi di quei da Zago, che seminavano gucchie per raccogher poi pali di ferro, e davano del letame al campanile perchè crescesse.

[794] Quatre-vingt-dix-neuf moutons et un Champenois font cent bêtes.

[795] Un don di Spagna, conte d'Allemagna, marchese di Francia, vescovo d'Italia, cavaglier di Napoli, idalgo di Portugullo, nobile d'Ungheria fanno una tal qual compagnia.

[796] Gl' Italiani saggi innanzi il fatto, i Tedeschi nel fatto, i Francesi dopo il fatto.

[797] L'Italiano al cantare, i Francesi al ballare, i Spagnuoli al bravare, i Tedeschi allo sbevacchiare, si conoscono.

[798] Dove stanno Tedeschi, mal volontieri stanno Italiani.

[799] Italia, teste, feste, e tempeste.

[800] Chi ha da far con Tosco, non vuol esser losco.

[801] E meglio star al bosco, e mangiar pignuoli, che star in castello co' Spagnuoli.

[802] Pan y ravanillos, comer de Dios.

[803] Socorros de España, ó tarde, ó nunca.

[804] Cosas de España.

[805] Quando el Español canta, ó rabia, ó no tiene blanca.

[806] Ein Pole würde eher am Sonntag ein Pferd stehlen, als am Freitag Milch oder Butter essen.

[807] Polen ist der Bauern Hölle, der Juden Paradies, der Bürger Fegefeuer, der Edelleute Himmel, und der Fremden Goldgrube.

[808] Eine Polnische Brücke, ein Böhmischer Mönkh, eine Schabische Nonne, Welsche Andacht, und der Deutschen Fasten gelten eine Bohne.

[809] Si le diable sortait de l'enfer pour combattre, il se présenterait aussitôt un Français pour accepter le défi.

[810] Quand le Français dort, le diable le berce.

[811] Les Italiens pleurent, les Allemands crient, et les Français chantent.

[812] Bein canta o Francez, papo molhado.

[813] Les Allemands ont l'esprit au doigts.

[814] L'empereur d'Allemagne est le roy des roys, le roy d'Espagne roy des hommes, le roy de France roy des asnes, et le roy d'Angleterre roy des diables.

[815] Quien no ha vista Sevilla, no ha vista maraviglia.

[816] Vedi Napoli e poi mori.

[817] Il n'y a qu'un Paris.

INDEX.