Bread is the staff of life
Here 'bread' refers to food in general, as in the Lord's Prayer ('Give us this day our daily bread') and 'staff' is something that serves as a stay or support. Hence food supports life, and man... Read more →
Proverbs starting with letter B
Boys will be boys
'Boys are boys', said the Latin proverb, 'and employ themselves with boyish matters.' These matters are normally noisy, destructive,and dangerous,and when we encounter any of these sings of healthy... Read more →
Books and friends should be few but good
People who have too many books often find they haven’t any time to read them. In the same way people with too many friends cannot find enough time to cultivate friendship with all of them. It is... Read more →
Blood is thicker than water
Unlike blood, water soon evaporates when it is spilt, and leaves no trace afterwards. Figuratively 'blood' means 'relationship'. When we say that persons are of the same blood, we mean that they are... Read more →
Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed
Don’t be too optimistic about the future. Remember that There's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip Alexander Pope, who wrote this on October 6th, 1727, in a letter to John Gay, described it as... Read more →
The biter sometimes bit
'Biter' is a slang word for a cheat or swindler, e.g. a card-shaper. When he himself is cheated by his prospective victim, 'the biter is bit'. In a general way, this refers to any form of ... Read more →
Birds of a feather flock together
Here 'of a feather' means 'of the same kind or family', and the verb 'to flock' means t'o feed or travel in company'. We do not find rooks flocking with swallows, or partridges flocking with... Read more →
Birds in their little nests agree
This comes from Love Between Brothers and Sisters,one of the divine songs for children by Isaac Watts. The practical application of the proverb is that if they don’t agree some hapless nestling is... Read more →
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
If a hunter has shot one bird, he should be satisfied with that and not go off looking for the ones that flew away. We use the proverb to mean that it is better to accept something small than to... Read more →
Between two stools you fall to the ground
If you cannot make up you mind which of two things to do, you are liable to get yourself into difficulties by doing neither. If a car comes suddenly round the corner and you cannot decide which way... Read more →
