Part 6

Everything has a beginning.

Everything has an end, and a pudding has twa.

Everything has its time, and sae has a rippling-kame.

"Rippling-kame," a coarse comb used in the preparation of flax. The proverb means that there is a time proper for everything.

Everything is the waur o' the wear.

That is, worse for wearing.

Everything wad fain live.

Every wight has his weird, and we maun a' dee when our day comes.

Evil words cut mair than swords.

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in nae ither.

Facts are chiels that winna ding.

Faint heart ne'er wan fair lady.

Fair an' foolish, black an' proud, lang an' lazy, little an' loud.

How far this proverb is borne out by fact is certainly open to question. It appears in Ray's collection as English, and as a remark upon it he says, "Beauty and folly do often go hand in hand, and are often matched together."

Fair and softly gangs far.

"Who goes softly goes safely, and he that goes safely goes far."—Italian.

Fair exchange is nae robbery.

Fair fa' gude drink, for it gars folk speak as they think.

"Fair fa'," well betide; good luck to. This is the Scotch version of the common saying, "When the wine is in, the wit is out;" or, "What is in the heart of the sober man is on the tongue of the drunken man."—Latin.

"Leeze me on drink! it gi'es us mair Than either school or college, It kindles wit, it waukens lair, It pangs us fu' o' knowledge: Be't whisky gill, or penny wheep, Or ony stronger potion, It never fails, on drinking deep, To kittle up our notion, By night or day."—Burns.

Fair fa' the wife, and weel may she spin, that counts aye the lawin' wi' a pint to come in.

Literally, good luck to the hostess who includes a pint still to come when the reckoning is called for. This saying, so far as we can discover, is exclusively Scottish.

Fair fa' you, and that's nae fleaching.

"Fleach," to flatter. A good wish sincerely expressed.

Fair folk are aye foisonless.

Kelly says of the word "foisonless," that it means "without strength or sap; dried up; withered." Scott, in Old Mortality, uses it in the moral sense, "unsubstantial."

Fair gae they, fair come they, and aye their heels hindmost.

Meaning that they go and come regularly, decently, and in order.

Fair hair may hae foul roots.

Fair hechts mak fools fain.

"Hope puts that haste into zour heid, Quhilk boyls zour barmy brain; Howbeit fulis haste cums huly speid, Fair hechts will mak fulis fain."—Cherrie and the Slae.

Fair in the cradle may be foul in the saddle.

Fair maidens wear nae purses.

Fair words are nae cause o' feuds.

Fair words hurt ne'er a bane, but foul words break mony a ane.

Fair words winna mak the pat boil.

Falkirk bairns dee ere they thrive.

Falkirk bairns mind naething but mischief.

Fa' on the feeblest, the beetle among the bairns.

"Spoken when we do a thing at a venture, that may be good for some and bad for another; and let the event fall upon the most unfortunate. Answers to the English 'Among you blind harpers.'"—Kelly.

Fancy flees before the wind.

Fancy was a bonnie dog, but Fortune took the tail frae't.

Fann'd fires and forced love ne'er dae weel.

Far ahint maun follow the faster.

Far ahint that mayna follow, an' far before that canna look back.

Far awa fowls hae fair feathers.

"She wad vote the border knight, Though she should vote her lane; For far-off fowls hae feathers fair, And fools o' change are fain."—Burns.

Far frae court far frae care.

Far frae my heart's my husband's mother.

Far sought and dear bought is gude for ladies.

Farewell frost, fair weather neist.

Fare-ye-well, Meg Dorts, and e'en's ye like.

A jocose adieu to those who go away in the sulks.

Farmer's fauch gars lairds laugh.

Farther east the shorter west.

Farthest frae the kirk aye soonest at it.

In contradistinction to those who are "near the kirk but far frae grace."

Fashious fools are easiest flisket.

Troublesome or fretful persons are easily offended.

Fast bind, fast find.

This saying is very old, and common to many countries. Shakespeare terms it "a proverb never stale to thrifty minds."

Fat flesh freezes soon.

Fat hens are aye ill layers.

Fat paunches bode lean pows.

Ray explains this by adding, "Full bellies make empty skulls."

Fause folk should hae mony witnesses.

Fausehood maks ne'er a fair hinder-end.

Meaning, that falsehood is sure to be exposed in the long run.

Favours unused are favours abused.

Feather by feather the goose is plucked.

February, fill the dike, be it black or be it white; if it's white, it's the better to like.

Feckfu' folk can front the bauldest wind.

"I own 'tis cauld encouragement to sing, When round ane's lugs the blattran' hailstanes ring; But feckfu' folk can front the bauldest wind, An' slunk through muirs, an' never fash their mind." —Allan Ramsay.

Feckless folk are fain o' ane anither.

"Feckless folk," silly people. Fools are fond of one another.

Feckless fools should keep canny tongues.

Silly or mischievous people should be cautious what they say.

Feed a cauld, but hunger a colic.

Feeding out o' course maks mettle out o' kind.

Feeling has nae fellow.

Few get what they glaum at.

Fiddlers, dogs, and flesh-flies come aye to feasts unca'd.

Fiddler's fare—meat, drink, and money.

Fiddler's wives and gamester's drink are free to ilka body.

Fight dog, fight bear; wha wins, deil care.

Fill fu' and haud fu', maks the stark man.

Plenty of meat and drink makes a strong man.

Fine feathers mak fine birds.

Fine to fine maks a bad line.

Or, "Butter to butter's nae kitchen," q. v.

Fire and water are gude servants but ill maisters.

Fire is gude for the fireside.

All things are good in their proper places.

First come, first ser'd.

Fish guts an' stinkin' herrin' are bread and milk for an Eyemouth bairn.

"The small seaport town of Eyemouth was formerly distinguished for its 'ancient fishlike smells,' its narrow, intricate streets, and smuggling trade."—G. Henderson.

Fish maun soom thrice.

First in water, second in sauce, third in wine.

Fleas and a girning wife are waukrife bedfellows.

Flee as fast as you will, your fortune will be at your tail.

Fleying a bird is no the way to grip it.

To frighten a bird is not the way to catch it; severity or constant threatening do not tend to make children or servants better.

Fling at the brod was ne'er a gude ox.

Flit an auld tree and it'll wither.

Flitting o' farms mak mailens dear.

See "As ane flits," &c., of which this is merely a variation.

Folk are aye free to gie what's no their ain.

Folk maun grow auld or dee.

Folk's dogs bark waur than themsels.

Folk should never ask for mair than they can make a good use o'.

Follow love and it will flee thee: flee love and it will follow thee.

Folly is a bonnie dog, but a bad ane.

Fools and bairns shouldna see half-dune wark.

Fools are aye fond o' flittin', and wise men o' sittin'.

Fools are aye fortunate.

Fools are aye seeing ferlies.

Fools are fain o' flattery.

Fools are fain o' naething.

Fools are fond o' a' they forgather wi'.

Fools aye see ither folk's fauts and forget their ain.

Fools big houses and wise men buy them.

Fools' haste is nae speed.

Fools laugh at their ain sport.

Fools mak feasts and wise men eat them.

"This was once said to a great man in Scotland, upon his giving an entertainment. He readily answered, 'Wise men make proverbs, and fools repeat them.'"—Kelly.

Fools ravel and wise men redd.

Literally, fools entangle affairs and circumstances, and require "wise men" to assist them out of their troubles.

Fools set far trysts.

Fools shouldna hae chappin-sticks.

For as gude again, like Sunday milk.

"A precise woman in the country would not sell her milk on the Sunday, but would give it for as good again. Spoken when we suspect people's kindness to be mercenary."—Kelly.

For a tint thing, carena.

Do not fret about a thing or opportunity which has been lost.

For better acquaintance' sake, as Sir John Ramsay said when he drank to his father.

"Sir John Ramsay had been long abroad, and coming home he accidentally met with his father, who did not know him; he invites his father to a glass of wine, and drinks to him for more acquaintance."—Kelly.

Forbid a fool a thing, an' that he'll do.

Force without foresight aften fails.

Forewarned is forearmed.

For fashion's sake, as dogs gae to market.

For faut o' wise men fools sit on binks.

Forgotten pain, when follows gain.

For gude cheese and cheer mony haunt the house.

Many frequent the house for the sake of what they get to eat.

For my ain pleasure, as the man thrashed his wife.

For puir folk they seldom ring.

Fortune and futurity are no to be guessed at.

Fortune favours the brave.

Fortune gains the bride.

Fortune helps the hardy.

"For I haif aft hard suith men say, And we may see oursells, That fortune helps the hardy aye, And pultrones aye repels."—Cherrie and the Slae.

For want o' a steek a shoe may be tint.

"A stitch in time saves nine." The old nursery lines fully explain the philosophy of this doctrine. "For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the man was lost."

Foster the guest that stays—further him that maun gang.

Foul fa' nought, and then he'll get naething.

Used in satirical allusion to those who expect a legacy from a very improbable source.

Foul water slockens fire.

Frae saving comes having.

Frae the teeth forward.

He speaks from the lips only, not from the heart.

Freedom's a fair thing.

Fresh fish and poor friends soon grow ill-faur'd.

Fresh fish and unwelcome friends stink before they're three days auld.

Friday flit, short time sit.

Meaning that to remove on a Friday is unlucky.

Friday rules Sunday.

Friends are like fiddle-strings, they mauna be screwed ower ticht.

Friends gree best separate.

Friendship canna stand aye on ae side.

Frost and fausehood hae baith a dirty wa' gang.

Fry stanes wi' butter and the broo will be gude.

Fu' o' courtesy, fu' o' craft.

Gae shoe the goose.

Gae hap and hang yoursel, then you'll dee dancing.

Gae kiss your Lucky—she lives in Leith.

"A cant phrase, from what rise I know not, but it is made use of when one thinks it is not worth while to give a distinct answer, or think themselves foolishly accused."—Allan Ramsay.

Gae to bed wi' the lamb and rise wi' the laverock.

Gae to the deil, and he'll bishop you.

Meaning, that the person addressed is so well versed in evil ways as to be able to occupy a high position in the service of the Evil One.

Gae to the deil, for his name's sake.

Gane is the goose that laid the muckle egg.

Gang farther and fare waur.

Gardener's law—Eat your fill, but pouch nane.

Gar wood's ill to grow; chuckie stanes are ill to chow.

Gather haws before the snaws.

Gathering gear is weel liket wark.

Acquiring wealth is pleasant employment.

Gaunting bodes wanting ane o' things three—sleep, meat, or gude companie.

Yawning is proverbially supposed to indicate the want of one of the three things mentioned.

Gaunting gaes frae man to man.

Gawsie cow, gudely calf.

Handsome mother, goodly daughter.

Gaylie would be better.

When a person says he is "gaylie," Anglice, middling, he is understood not to be so well as he would like to be.

Gear is easier gotten than guided.

Gentlemen are unco scant when a wabster gets a lady.

The "wabster," or weaving profession, seems to have stood very low in the estimation of proverb makers.

Gentle partans hae lang taes.

Gentle servants are poor men's hardships.

Gentle servants are rich men's tinsel.

Gentry's dowff wi' an empty purse.

Get the word o' soon rising, an' ye may lie in bed a' day.

Obtain a reputation for early rising, and you may lie in bed all day. The Spanish say, "Get a good name, and go to sleep."

Get and save, and thou wilt have.

"Get and saif and thou salt haif, Len and grant and thou salt want; Wha in his plenty taks not heid, He sall haif falt in time of need."—The Evergreen.

Get weel, keep weel.

Get what you can, and keep what you hae, that's the way to get rich.

Get your rock and spindle ready, God will send the tow.

"Let us do our duty, and refer the rest to God's providence."—Ray.

Gibbie's grace—Deil claw the clungiest.

This saying of the graceless Gibbie means literally, "Devil take the hungriest."

Gie a bairn his will, and a whelp its fill, and nane o' them will e'er do weel.

Gie a beggar a bed, and he'll pay you wi' a louse.

Gie a carl your finger, and he'll take your haill hand.

Gie a gaun man a drink, and a rising man a knock.

Gie a greedy dog a muckle bane.

Gie a thing, tak a thing, and that's the ill man's ring.

"Gie her her will, or she'll burst," quo' the man when his wife kamed his head with the three-legged stool.

Gie him a hole, and he'll find a pin.

That is, give him an opportunity, and he will take advantage of it.

Gie him an inch, and he'll tak an ell.

Gie him tow enough, and he'll hang himsel.

Gie is a gude fellow, but he soon wearies.

Meaning, that one tires of giving at all times.

Gie losin' gamesters leave to talk.

Giff gaff maks gude friends.

Gie my cousin kail enow, and see my cousin's dish be fu'.

We presume that this is an ironical signification that the cousin's "room" is preferred to his company.

Gie ne'er the wolf the wedder to keep.

Gie ower when the play's gude.

Gie't about, it will come to my faither at last.

Gie the deil his due, and ye'll gang to him.

Gie ye a use, and ye'll ca't a custom.

Gie ye meat, drink, and claes, and ye'll beg among your friends.

Applied to unreasonable people, who get everything they want, and still are not satisfied.

Gie your heart to God, and your alms to the poor.

From the remarkable paucity of proverbs relating to religion in the older collections, we infer that this saying is Henderson's own, as it only appears in his collection.

Gie your tongue mair holidays than your head.

Girn when you knit, and laugh when you louse.

Meaning, that while enforcing discipline we should do so with firmness, and relax it freely when occasion requires.

Glasgow for bells, Lithgow for wells, Falkirk for beans and pease.

Glasgow people, Greenock folk, and Paisley bodies.

"These words imply gradations of dignity, the Paisley bodies being (how far deservedly would admit of much question) at the bottom of the scale. Some years ago, when a public dinner was given to Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh, in Paisley, which is his native place, on his speaking of it as a town containing such and such a number of souls, his friend, Thomas Campbell, who sat by his side, whispered, 'Bodies, you mean.'"—Robert Chambers.

Glasses and lasses are brittle ware.

Glib i' the tongue is aye glaiket at the heart.

A smooth tongue betokens a deceitful heart.

Glowering is nae gainsaying.

Glum folk's no easily guided.

"Glum" or morose people are difficult to manage.

God be wi' the gude Laird o' Balmaghie, for he ne'er took mair frae a poor man than a' that he had.

God comes wi' leaden feet, but strikes wi' iron hands.

God helps them that help themselves.

God help the rich, for the poor can beg.

God help you to a hutch, for ye'll never get a mailing.

Spoken of an incompetent person, that he may succeed in making a bare living, for his abilities will never secure him a fortune.

God keep ill gear out o' my hands; for if my hands ance get it, my heart winna part wi't,—sae prayed the gude Earl of Eglinton.

God keep the cat out o' our gate, for the hens canna flee.

God ne'er measures men by inches.

God ne'er sent the mouth, but he sent the meat wi't.

God's aye kind to fu' folk and bairns.

As instanced by the marvellous manner in which men escape injury while under the influence of drink.

God sends fools fortunes.

God sends meat and the deil sends cooks.

God sends men claith as they hae cauld.

God send us siller, for they're little thought o' that want it.

God send water to that well that folk think will ne'er be dry.

"Spoken when our poor kin and followers are always asking of us; as if we should never be exhausted."—Kelly.

God send ye mair sense, and me mair siller.

God send ye readier meat than running hares.

God send ye the warld you bode, and that's neither scant nor want.

God shapes the back for the burden.

God's help is nearer than the fair e'en.

Gold's gude, but it may be dear bought.

Go to Hecklebirnie.

"This term is used in a strange sort of imprecation. If one say, 'Go to the d—l!' the other often replies, 'Go you to Hecklebirnie!' which is said to be a place three miles beyond hell!"—Jamieson.

Graceless meat maks folk fat.

Grass grows nae green in the common road.

Gratitude preserves auld friendships and begets new.

Great barkers are nae biters.

Great pains and little gains soon mak a man weary.

Great tochers makna aye the greatest testaments.

Great winning maks wark easy.

Greed is envy's auldest brither: scraggy wark they mak thegither.

Greedy folk hae lang arms.

Gree, like tykes and swine.

Greening wives are aye greedy.

Grey-eyed, greedy; brown-eyed, needy; black-eyed, never blin', till it shame a' its kin.

Gude advice is never out o' season.

Gude ale needs nae wisp.

"A wisp of straw stuck upon the top of a country house is a sign that ale is to be sold there; but if the ale be good, people will haunt the house though there be none."—Kelly.

Gude bairns are eith to lear.

Gude bairns get broken brows.

For they are as liable to injury as bad ones.

Gude be wi' auld langsyne, when our gutchers ate the trenchers.

Gude breeding and siller mak our sons gentlemen.

Gude cheer and cheap gars mony haunt the house.

Gude claes open a' doors.

Gude counsel is abune a' price.

Gude-enough has got a wife and Far-better wants.

Gude folk are scarce, tak care o' me.

Gude foresight furthers wark.

Gude gear gangs into little bouk.

Gude gear's no to be gaped at.

Gude health is better than wealth.

Gude kail is half meat.

Gude night, and joy be wi' you a'.

Gude reason and part cause.

Signifying that a person has both good reason and cause to complain.

Gude to fetch sorrow to a sick wife.

Gude! ye're common to kiss your kimmer.

Gude wares may come frae an ill market.

Gude wares mak a quick market.

Gude watch hinders harm.

Gudewill ne'er wants time to show itsel.

Gudewill should be ta'en in part payment.

Gude wit jumps.

Gude words cost naething.

Guessed work's best if weel done.

"Gulp!" quo' the wife when she swallowed her tongue.

Gunpowder is hasty eldin.

Gust your gab wi' that.

"He's no ill boden, That gusts his gab wi' oyster sauce, An' hen weel soden."—Fergusson.

Gut nae fish till ye get them.

Ha' binks are sliddry.

"Great men's favours are uncertain."—Kelly.

Had I fish was never gude to eat mustard.

"An answer to them that say, Had I such a thing, I would do so or so."—Kelly.

"Had I wist," quo' the fool.

Had you sic a shoe on ilka foot, you would shochel.

Or, had you my sorrows to bear, you would look equally miserable.

Hae! gars a deaf man hear.

Hae God, hae a'.

Hae, lad,—rin, lad; that maks an olite lad.

Hae you gear or hae you nane, tine heart and a' is gane.

Hain'd gear helps weel.

"Hain'd gear"—saved money—is of great assistance.

Hair by hair maks the carl's head bare.

Hale sale is gude sale.

Hale claith's afore cloutit.

Half acres bear aye gude corn.

Meaning that when people have but little property, they take good care of it.

Half a tale is enough for a wise man.

Hallowe'en bairns see far.

"And touching the bairn, it's weel kent she was born on Hallowe'en was nine years gane, and they that are born on Hallowe'en whiles see mair than ither folk."—The Monastery.