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

      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

      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

      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

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