Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources. Rev. James Wood
to blows.
A verse may find him who a sermon flies, / And turn delight into a sacrifice. George Herbert.
A very excellent piece of villany. Tit. Andron., 40 ii. 3.
A very good woman may make but a paltry man. Pope.
A veste logorata poco fede vien prestata—A shabby coat finds small credit. It. Pr.
A vinculo matrimonii—From the bond or tie of marriage.
A virtuous name is the sole precious good for which queens and peasants' wives must contest together. Schiller.
Avise la fin—Consider the end. Fr. 45
Avito viret honore—He flourishes with inherited honours. M.
Avoid the evil, and it will avoid thee. Gael. Pr.
A volonté—At will. Fr.
A votre santé—To your health. Fr.
A wee bush is better than nae bield (shelter). 50 Sc. Pr.
A weel-bred dog gaes oot when he sees them preparing to kick him oot. Sc. Pr.
A well-bred man is always sociable and complaisant. Montaigne.
A well-cultivated mind is, so to say, made up of all the minds of the centuries preceding. Fontenelle.
A well-governed appetite is a great part of liberty. Sen.
A well-written life is almost as rare as a well-spent 55 one. Carlyle.
A wicked fellow is the most pious when he takes to it. He'll beat you all in piety. Johnson.
A wilful man must have his way. Pr.
A willing mind makes a light foot. Pr.
A wise man gets learning frae them that hae nane. Sc. Pr.
A wise man is never less alone than when 60 alone. Pr.
A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. Bible.
A wise man neither suffers himself to be governed, nor attempts to govern others. La Bruyère.
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. Swift.
A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Bacon.
A wise physician, skill'd our wounds to heal, / Is more than armies to the public weal. Pope.
A wise scepticism is the first attribute of a good critic. Lowell.
A wise writer does not reveal himself here and there, but everywhere. Lowell.
A witless heed (head) mak's weary feet. Sc. Pr.
A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits. 5 Pope.
A wolf in sheep's clothing. Pr.
A woman conceals what she does not know. Pr.
A woman has two smiles that an angel might envy: the smile that accepts the lover before the words are uttered, and the smile that lights on the first-born baby, and assures it of a mother's love. Haliburton.
A woman in love is a very poor judge of character. J. G. Holland.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, / 10 Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty. Tam. of Sh., v. 2.
A woman's friendship borders more closely on love than a man's. Coleridge.
A woman's head is always influenced by her heart; but a man's heart is always influenced by his head. Lady Blessington.
A woman sometimes scorns what best contents her. Two Gent. of Ver., iii. 1.
A woman's whole life is a history of the affections. W. Irving.
A word and a stone let go cannot be recalled. 15 Pr.
A word from a friend is doubly enjoyable in dark days. Goethe.
A word once vulgarised can never be rehabilitated. Lowell.
A word sooner wounds than heals. Goethe.
A word spoken in season, at the right moment, is the mother of ages. Carlyle.
A word spoken in due season, how good is it? 20 Bible.
A work of real merit finds favour at last. A. B. Alcott.
A world all sincere, a believing world; the like has been; the like will again be—cannot help being. Carlyle.
A world in the hand is worth two in the bush. Emerson.
A world this in which much is to be done, and little to be known. Goethe.
A worn-out sinner is sometimes found to make 25 the best declaimer against sin. Lamb.
A worthless man will always remain worthless, and a little mind will not, by daily intercourse with great minds, become an inch greater. Goethe.
A wounded spirit who can bear? Bible.
A wound never heals so well that the scar cannot be seen. Dan. Pr.
A wreck on shore is a beacon at sea. Dut. Pr.
A wretched soul, bruised with adversity, / We 30 bid be quiet when we hear it cry; / But were we burdened with like weight of pain, / As much, or more, we should ourselves complain. Com. of Errors, ii. 1.
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; / To lie in cold obstruction and to rot. Meas. for Meas., iii. 1.
Aye free, aff-han' your story tell, when wi' a bosom crony; / But still keep something to yoursel' / Ye scarcely tell to ony. Burns.
Aye in a hurry, and aye ahint. Sc. Pr.
Ay, every inch a king. King Lear, iv. 6.
Ay me! for aught that ever I could read, / 35 Could ever hear by tale or history, / The course of true love never did run smooth. Mid. N.'s Dream, i. 1.
Aymez loyauté—Love loyalty. M.
A young man idle, an old man needy. It. Pr.
Ay, sir, to be honest as this world goes, is to be one man picked out of two thousand. Ham., ii. 2.
B.
Bachelor, a peacock; betrothed, a lion; wedded, an ass. Sp. Pr.
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