3 A red-nosed man may not be a drinker, but he will find nobody to believe it CHINA
4 You can’t find a thing except in the place it is IRELAND
5 Three sorts of people are always to be found, soldiers, professors, and women GERMANY
6 In the choicest vase are found the ugliest cracks CHINA
7 The paddle which you find in the canoe is the one that will take you across LIBERIA
8 Even in the freshest of milk you will still find hairs MALI
9 Don’t hold the dime so near your eye that you can’t see the dollar USA
62 HOME – ABROAD
1 Better do a good deed near at home than go far away to burn incense CHINA
2 Who knows the language is at home everywhere NETHERLANDS
3 Don’t shuck your corn till the hogs come home USA
4 Chickens come home to roost ENGLAND
5 Pilgrims seldom come home saints GERMANY
6 Send your charity abroad wrapped in blankets ENGLAND
7 If you haven’t much to do, start cleaning your own backyard USA
8 Slowly but surely the excrement of foreign poets will come to your village MALI
9 The crossroads always confuse the stranger NIGERIA
10 There is no bridge without a place the other side of it WALES
11 Go abroad and you’ll hear news of home ENGLAND
12 The toughest broncs is always them you’ve rode some other place USA7 CHILDREN PLAY WITH PROVERBSProverbs become a part of children’s linguistic consciousness quite early in life. This is partly because of their frequency in everyday domestic conversation and partly because they are quite commonly mentioned in children’s story-books. As a result, children play with proverbs as they do with every other aspect of language.Teachers can rely on this experience to help develop their students’ linguistic awareness. One teacher gave a class of seven-year-olds a list of proverbs, left out the final word or phrase, and asked them to finish it off in their own way. Here are some of the results.As you make your bed so you must … mess it up.Don’t bite the hand that … looks dirty.You can’t teach an old dog new … maths.Where there’s smoke, there’s … pollution.A penny saved is … not much.Children should be seen and not … grounded.SEE ALSO Adults play with proverbs
13 Buzzards do not sing in bleak regions PERU
14 Keep your chickens in your own backyard USA
15 Don’t stand by the water and long for fish; go home and weave a net CHINA
16 One sits best on one’s own bench NORWAY
17 The saints of the home work no miracles ITALY
18 When the cat’s not home, the mice jump on the table NETHERLANDS
19 Charity begins at home ENGLAND
20 The clock ticks nowhere as it ticks at home NETHERLANDS
21 Home is where the heart is ENGLAND
63 COUNTRIES
1 The hyena of your own country does not break your bones KENYA
2 All countries are frontiers SOUTH AFRICA
3 It is easy to lie about a far-off country ETHIOPIA
4 Old countries don’t disappear overnight; they stay for breakfast EGYPT
5 It is a fine thing to die for one’s fatherland, but a still finer thing to live for it HUNGARY
6 Fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts LATIN
7 The skin creaks according to the country ETHIOPIA
8 All the keys in the land do not hang from one girdle SCOTLAND
64 CITIES – TOWNS – VILLAGES
1 Do not dwell in a city where a horse does not neigh nor a dog bark ENGLAND
2 Courteous asking breaks even city walls UKRAINE
3 You may read Pompeii in some people’s faces ITALY
4 When in Rome do as the Romans do ENGLAND
5 Those who wish to live at Rome must not quarrel with the pope FRANCE
6 All roads lead to Rome ENGLAND
7 Rome was not built in a day ENGLAND
8 Not everyone can be the pope of Rome NETHERLANDS
9 He who never leaves Paris will never be pope FRANCE
10 The town that parleys is half surrendered FRANCE
11 The moon moves slowly, but it gets across the town CÔTE D’IVOIRE
12 The village that can be seen needs no signpost ALBANIA
13 Don’t snap your fingers at the dogs before you are outside the village FRANCE
14 It is not good to be the poet of a village GERMANY
15 Obey the customs of the village you enter JAPAN
16 Who goes around the village long enough will get either a dog-bite or a dinner SERBIA
17 A village in sight does not require a guide TURKEY
18 The medicine man is not esteemed in his own village KENYA
19 It takes a whole village to raise one child NIGERIA
20 Slowly but surely the excrement of foreign poets will come to your village MALI
21 The hindermost ox also reaches the kraal SOUTH AFRICA
65 WHERE TO LIVE
1 A little nest is warmer than a big nest IRELAND
2 Empty barns need no thatch ENGLAND
3 Ability and necessity dwell in the same cabin NETHERLANDS
4 Every priest praises his convent PHILIPPINES
5 Don’t praise a cottage in which you haven’t yet slept SOUTH AFRICA
6 You cannot catch a tiger cub unless you enter the tiger’s den JAPAN
7 When an old barn begins to burn, it is hard to put out NETHERLANDS
8 It is the hyenas of the same den that hate one another KENYA
9 A hundred men may make an encampment, but it needs a woman to make a home CHINA
10 Draw the snake from its hole by someone else’s hand SPAIN
11 A skunk smells its own hole first USA
12 Beware of old streets and new inns GERMANY
13 Better keep under an old hedge than creep under a new furze-bush ENGLAND
14 Never follow a beast into its lair SOUTH AFRICA
15 Insects do not nest in a busy door-hinge CHINA
16 Every cabin has its mosquito JAMAICA
17 Two crocodiles don’t live in one pond GAMBIA
18 An artist lives everywhere ENGLAND
19 A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den CHINA
20 Those who wish to live at Rome must not quarrel with the pope FRANCE
21 Goats cannot live in a herd of leopards MALI
22 All hillbillies don’t live in the hills CANADA
23 A full cabin is better than an empty castle IRELAND
24 A chattering bird builds no nest CAMEROON
25 It is a cunning mouse which nests in the cat’s ear ENGLAND
26 You