A Dictionary of English Proverbs

This title is printed to order. This book may have been self-published. If so, we cannot guarantee the quality of the content. In the main most books will have gone through the editing process however some may not. We therefore suggest that you be aware of this before ordering this book. If in doubt check either the author or publisher’s details as we are unable to accept any returns unless they are faulty. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Long before writing and books were in common use, proverbs were the principal means of imparting instruction. In modern times there is not so much need to apply these old sayings as a means of educating the people, but they are still constantly met with in the newspapers and in general literature, and they are rightly considered as The texts of common life. The late Earl Russell very aptly described a proverb as The wisdom of many and the wit of one. We value proverbs chiefly as moral maxims teaching some practical lesson set forth in concise, pithy sentences, which are fixed in the memory without effort, and retained without being burdensome. They have been found useful for guidance in almost every condition of life; but, on the other hand, it is quite true that many dangerous precepts have been propounded in proverbs, and some of the older ones gave such questionable advice, or were couched in such objectionable language, that they have been very properly omitted from every collection intended, as this is, for general use. Other old proverbs have become obsolete, and as their meaning is now obscure, they have not been included in the Dictionary.