As They Say In Zanzibar. David Crystal
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matter how full the river, it still wants to grow REPUBLIC OF CONGO
6 The fuller the cask, the duller its sound GERMANY
7 The fuller the cup, the sooner the spill CHINA
8 A full cup must be carried steadily ENGLAND
9 The fish said, ‘I have much to say, but my mouth is full of water.’ GEORGIA
10 Idle curiosity sometimes fills the mousetrap NETHERLANDS
11 To fill a ditch a mound must come down ARMENIA
12 While it rains, fill the jar TURKEY
13 Do not fill your basket with useless shells of coconuts KENYA3 PROVERBS IN SHAKESPEAREThere are a large number of proverbial expressions in Shakespeare – which is hardly surprising, given the important role played by proverbs in Elizabethan schools.Many are traditional proverbs, sometimes acknowledged to be so. John Hume, in Henry VI Part Two (I.ii.100) reflects:They say ‘A crafty knave does need no broker’ and in The Comedy of Errors (II.ii.45) Dromio of Syracuse comments:they say every why hath a wherefore.‘They say’. This is tradition, not Shakespeare, talking. And Shakespeare explicitly refers to ‘proverbs’ on a number of occasions.On the other hand, many of the proverbs in Shakespeare are rephrasings, often adapted to suit the metrical demands of a poetic line. Hume’s reference is a case in point, for the traditional expression is ‘A crafty knave needs no broker’. Proverbial allusions may also reflect the personality of a character. ‘Comparisons are odorous’, says Dogberry malapropistically (in Much Ado About Nothing, III.v.15).Some are original to Shakespeare: thanks to Polonius, for example, we have ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be’ (Hamlet, I.iii.75) and ‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ (Hamlet, II.ii.90). Here, as elsewhere, there is a thin line between a quotation and a proverb. Is ‘All the world’s a stage’ (As You Like It, II.vii.140) proverbial?A small selection …Care’s an enemy to life (Twelfth Night, I.iii.2)Sweet are the uses of adversity (As You Like It, II.i.12)A rose by any other name would smell as sweet (Romeo and Juliet, II.ii.43)A fool’s bolt is soon shot (Henry V, III.vii.119)There’s small choice in rotten apples (The Taming of the Shrew, I.i.132)All that glisters is not gold (The Merchant of Venice, II.vii.65)Talkers are no good doers (Richard III, I.iii.350)Blunt wedges rive hard knots (Troilus and Cressida, I.iii.316)Good counsellors lack no clients (Measure for Measure, I.ii.106)He that dies pays all debts (The Tempest, III.ii.132)The better part of valour is discretion (Henry IV Part One, V.iv.118)Pitchers have ears (Richard III, II.iv.37)Every cloud engenders not a storm (Henry VI Part Three, V.iii.13)Give the devil his due (Henry IV Part One, I.ii.118)A light heart lives long (Love’s Labour’s Lost, V.ii.18)All hoods make not monks (Henry VIII, III.i.23)There is no virtue like necessity (Richard II, I.iii.278)Better three hours too soon than a minute too late (The Merry Wives of Windsor, II.ii.296)Sad hours seem long (Romeo and Juliet, I.i.161)SEE ALSO ‘Proverbs’ in Shakespeare
14 The laden almond-tree by the wayside is sure to be bitter JAPAN
15 Eleven don’t make a dozen USA
16 One actor cannot make a play USA
17 There is no hill without a slope WALES
18 It takes a whole village to raise one child NIGERIA
19 Add legs to the snake after you have finished drawing it CHINA
20 How can there be a forest without a crooked tree? BULGARIA
21 There is no bridge without a place the other side of it WALES
22 You may light another’s candle at your own without loss DENMARK
23 EMPTY – LACKING
1 The empty nut is the hardest WALES
2 The bell is loud because it is empty POLAND
3 An empty bag cannot stand upright ENGLAND
4 An empty sack can’t stand, nor a dead cat walk IRELAND
5 Beauty is an empty calabash CAMEROON
6 Empty barns need no thatch ENGLAND
7 A full cabin is better than an empty castle IRELAND
8 One missing button strikes the eye more than one missing day ESTONIA
9 The best neighbors are vacant lots USA
10 It is better to be entirely without a book than to believe it entirely CHINA
11 Someone without a friend is like the right hand without the left BELGIUM
12 No land without stones, or meat without bones ENGLAND
13 God, what things we see when we go out without a gun! SOUTH AFRICA
14 One should not board a ship without an onion NETHERLANDS
15 Life without literature is death LATIN
16 Walls hear without warnings ENGLAND
17 Why should someone without a head want a hat? CHILE
18 Without fingers the hand would be a spoon SENEGAL
19 A nation without a language is a nation without a heart WALES
20 Those who go to sea without biscuits return without teeth FRANCE: CORSICA
21 A sip at a time empties the cask NORWAY
22 A well without a bucket is no good USA
24 SEQUENCE – ORDER
1 Life is just one damned thing after another USA
2 A beautiful disorder is an effect of art FRANCE
3 Those who place their ladder too steeply will easily fall backwards CZECH REPUBLIC
4 A proverb places the words in one’s mouth SWITZERLAND
5 The greatest love is mother-love; after that comes a dog’s love; and after that the love of a sweetheart POLAND
6 If a string has one end, then it has another end CHINA
7 Eve is nearer to us than Adam SERBIA
8 Those who want the last drop out of the can get the lid on their nose NETHERLANDS
9 That which goes last into the sack comes out first SWEDEN
10 The game’s not over until the last man strikes out USA
11 Those who laugh last laugh loudest ENGLAND
12 It ain’t over till the fat lady sings USA
13 The loom that’s awry is best handled patiently SCOTLAND
14 What’s the good of a spoon after the meal is over? LATVIA
15 When the date-crop is over, everyone mocks at the palm-tree ETHIOPIA
16 Even a drill goes in from the tip KOREA
17 When you eat a round cake, do you begin at the centre? NIGERIA
18 You can only go halfway into the darkest forest; then you are coming out the other side CHINA
19 Those who have to go ten miles must regard nine as only halfway GERMANY
20 Those that begin the play must continue it TURKEY
21 Don’t start economizing when you are down to your last dollar USA
22 Don’t put the cart before the horse ENGLAND
25 ASSEMBLAGES
1 Birds of a feather flock together ENGLAND
2 Call out a name in a crowd and somebody is sure to answer CHINA
3 If you cross in a crowd, the crocodile won’t eat you MADAGASCAR
4 Two’s company; three’s a crowd ENGLAND
5 It don’t need a genius to spot a goat in a flock