The Proverbs of Scotland. Alexander Hislop
A' the claes on your back was ance in clues.
A' the corn's no shorn by kempers.
To kemp, to strive. All do not strive alike. All cannot equally excel in work. This proverb supports the claims of those who do not excel, by suggesting that even the "kempers" cannot overtake all the work that is to do.
A' the keys of the country hang na in ae belt.
All the influence or power is not in one man's possession.
A' the men i' the Mearns can do nae mair than they may.
No man can do more than he has strength to do. There is an Aberdeenshire saying of similar import, "I can dee fat I dow: the men in the Mearns can dee nae mair."
A' the speed's no in the spurs.
A' the winning's in the first buying.
A' the wit o' the world's no in ae pow.
A'thing angers ye, and the cat breaks your heart.
A' things thrive at thrice.
A'thing wytes that no weel fares.
A thoughtless body's aye thrang.
A thrawn question should hae a thrawart answer.
A thread will tie an honest man better than a rope will do a rogue.
At my leisure, as lairds dee.
"Fair and softly, as lawyers go to heaven."—English.
A tocherless dame sits lang at hame.
A tocher's nae word in a true lover's parle.
"Oh wae on the siller, it is sae prevailing!
And wae on the love that is fixed on a mailen!
A tocher's nae word in a true lover's parle,
But gie me love, and a fig for the warl!"
—Burns.
A toolying tike comes limping hame.
"Toolying tike," quarrelsome dog.
A toom hand is nae lure for a hawk.
A toom pantry maks a thriftless gudewife.
A toom purse maks a thrawn face.
At open doors dogs gae ben.
A travelled man has leave to lee.
A tree's no a mast till its hewn.
"I like the lassie, Mundy, wi' my heart,
An' as she's bonny, dootna but she's smart;
The creature's young, she'll shape to ony cast—
Nae tree till it be hewn becomes a mast."
—Ross's Helenore.
A tricky man's easiest tricket.
A turn weel done is sune done.
A twalpenny cat may look at a king.
Auld chimes and auld rhymes gar us think on auld times.
Auld folk are twice bairns.
Auld moon mist ne'er died o' thrist.
"Foggy weather in the last quarter of the moon is supposed to betoken moisture."—Robert Chambers.
Auld sins breed new sairs.
Auld sparrows are ill to tame.
Auld springs gie nae price.
Things out of fashion are valueless.
Auld stots hae stiff horns.
Auld use and wont hings about the fire.
Old manners and customs are difficult to be got rid of.
Auld wives and bairns mak fools o' physicians.
Auld wives were aye gude maidens.
A vaunter and a liar are near akin.
A wa' between best preserves friendship.
Meaning that friends are best separate.
A wad is a fule's argument.
"Fools, for argument, lay wagers."—Butler.
A waited pat's lang o' boiling.
A wamefu's a wamefu' wer't but o' bare cauf.
A bellyful is a bellyful, no matter what kind of meat is taken. A variation occurs in St. Ronan's Well:—"A wamefu's a wamefu' whether it be o' barley meal or bran."
A wee bush is better than nae beild.
"Dame Elspeth is of good folk, a widow, and the mother of orphans—she will give us house-room until something be thought upon. These evil showers make the low bush better than no beild."—The Monastery.
A wee house has a wide throat.
A wee house weel fill'd, a wee piece land weel till'd, a wee wife weel will'd, will mak a happy man.
A wee mouse will creep beneath a muckle corn stack.
A wee spark maks muckle wark.
A wee thing fleys cowards.
A wee thing puts your beard in a bleeze.
A wee thing ser's a cheerfu' mind.
A wet May and a winnie, brings a fu' stackyard and a finnie.
"Implying that rain in May and dry winds afterwards produce a plentiful crop, with that mark of excellence by which grain is generally judged of by connoisseurs—a good feeling in the hand."—Robert Chambers.
A whang off a cut kebbuck's never miss'd.
A wife is wise enough when she kens her gudeman's breeks frae her ain kirtle.
Kelly gives a very indifferent version of this proverb, and says, "This is old, and a good one if rightly understood: that is, she is a good wife who knows the true measure of her husband's authority and her obedience."
A wight man ne'er wanted a weapon.
A wild goose ne'er laid tame eggs.
A wilfu' man maun hae his way.
"'Reuben Butler! Reuben Butler!' echoed the Laird of Dumbiedykes, pacing the apartment in high disdain—'Reuben Butler, the dominie at Liberton—and a dominie-depute too!—Reuben, the son of my cottar!—Very weel, Jeanie, lass, wilfu' woman will hae her way—Reuben Butler! he hasna in his pouch the value o' the auld black coat he wears.'"—Heart of Midlothian.
A wilfu' man ne'er wanted wae.
"It has been said, and may be sae,
A wilfull man wants never wae,
Thocht he gets little gains."
—Cherrie and the Slae.
A wilfu' man should be unco wise.
A willing mind maks a light foot.
A winking cat's no aye blind.
A winter day and a wintry way is the life o' man.
A winter night, a woman's mind, and a laird's purpose, aften change.
"Women, wind, and luck soon change."—Portuguese.
A wise head maks a close mouth.
A wise lawyer ne'er gangs to law himsel.
A wise man carries his cloak in fair weather, an' a fool wants his in rain.
"An encouragement to care, caution, and foresight, and especially not to leave your cloak, be the weather e'er so encouraging."—Kelly.
"Chiels carry cloaks, when 'tis clear,
The fool when 'tis foul has nane to wear."
—Ramsay.