Good wine needs no bush
High-quality goods need no advertising because people soon get to know about them. In olden days, taverns and private houses where beer or wine... Read more →
A good tale is none the worse for being told twice
Children, in particular, love to hear a story again, however many times they heard it before. ‘Mummy, please tell me the story of the girl who... Read more →
A good name is sooner lost than won
It takes a long time to build up a good reputation, but this reputation is quickly lost by just one crime or piece of bad behaviour. It often... Read more →
A good husband makes a good wife
If the husband wants his wife to be respectful and loving to him, he should be respectful and loving to her. A husband who treats his wife well... Read more →
Good fences make good neighbours
We remain better friends if we do not see too much of one another. Our neighbour does not live in our house and we do not live in his. Hedge... Read more →
Good company on the road is the shortest cut
A journey on foot seems much longer when we make it alone than when we do it with pleasant companions.
A golden key opens every door
The ‘golden key’ is money, which overcomes for its possessors all the obstacles barring the way to poorer folk.
The golden age was never the present age
The golden age is the most prosperous period of a nation’s condition or literature. It is to be noted, however, that it is always in the past;... Read more →
The gods send nuts to those who have no teeth
In this life we either have too little of what we do want, or too much of what we don’t want or can’t use.
God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb
Here ‘tempers’ means ‘softens, makes less severe’, and ‘shorn’ means ‘with its wool cut off’. The proverb means that God treats... Read more →