YourDictionary

proverb quotes

  •   But if ye shall at all turn from following me† Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and thishouse, which Ihavehallowed formy name, will Icast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people.

    -Bible (Old Testament)
    Kings 9:6^7.

  • 'Bed,'as the Italian proverb succinctly puts it,'isthe poor man's opera.'

    - Aldous Leonard Huxley
      Heaven and Hell.

  • Asthe Spanishproverbsays,'He, whowould bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.' So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

    - Samuel known as Dr Johnson Johnson
      Remark,17  Apr. Quoted in  James Boswell  The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol.3.

  • Know that famous proverb? When the prick stands up, the brains get buried in the ground!

    - Philip Milton Roth
      Portnoy's Complaint,'Cunt Crazy'.

  • I should be the last person to say anything against temptation, naturally, but we have a proverb down here 'in baiting a mouse-trap with cheese, always leave room for the mouse'.

    -Saki pseudonym of  Hector Hugh Munro
    The Square Egg,'The Infernal Parliament' (published1924).

  • We had better remain in union with England, even at the risk of becoming a subordinate species of Northumberland, as far as national consequence is concerned, than remedy ourselves by even hinting the possibility of a rupture. But there is no harm in wishing Scotland tohavejust somuchill-nature, according toher own proverb, as may keep her good-nature from being abused.

    - Sir Walter Scott
      Letters of Malachi Malagrowther on the Proposed Change of Currency, letter1.

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2010 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Learn more about proverb

link/cite print suggestion box