GIGA THE MOST EXTENSIVE
COLLECTION OF
QUOTATIONS
ON THE INTERNET
Home
Page
GIGA
Quotes
Biographical
Name Index
Chronological
Name Index
Topic
List
Reading
List
Site
Notes
Crossword
Solver
Anagram
Solver
Subanagram
Solver
LexiThink
Game
Anagram
Game
TOPICS:           A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z 
PEOPLE:     #    A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H    I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q    R    S    T    U    V    W    X    Y    Z 

PROVERBIAL PHRASES
  Displaying page 1 of 18    Next Page >> 
[ Also see Catchphrases Old Sayings Proverbs Proverbs (General) ]

The asses' bridge.
  [Lat., Pons Asinorum.]
      - Unattributed Author,
        applied to Proposition 5 of the first book of Euclid

To kiss the rod.
      - Unattributed Author,
        History of Reynard the Fox,
        (William Caxton's translation, printed by him) (1481)

Eureka! Eureka!
      - Archimedes

A flea in his ear.
      - Robert Armin, Nest of Ninnies

As proud as Lucifer.
      - Philip James Bailey, Festus
         (sc. A Country Town)

As cold as cucumbers.
      - Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,
        Cupid's Revenge (act I, sc. 1)

As high as Heaven, as deep as Hell.
      - Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,
        Honest Man's Fortune (act IV, sc. 1)

This is a pretty flimflam.
      - Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,
        Little French Lawyer (III, 3)

No better than you should be.
      - Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,
        The Coxcomb (act IV, sc. 3)

From the crown of our head to the sole of our feet.
      - Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,
        The Honest Man's Fortune (act II, sc. 2)

Something given that way.
      - Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher,
        The Lovers' Progress (act I, sc. 1)

A thorn in the flesh.
      - Bible, II Corinthians (ch. XII, v. 7)

As certain as the Correggiosity of Correggio.
      - Augustine Birrell, Obiter Dicta--Emerson

Neither fish, flesh nor good red herring.
      - Tom Brown, Aeneus Sylvius--Letter

Turn over a new leaf.
      - Edmund Burke, Letter to Miss Haviland

As clear and as manifest as the nose in a man's face.
      - Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy
         (pt. III, sec. III, memb. 4, subsec. I)

Through thick and thin.
      - Samuel Butler (1), Hudibras
         (pt. I, canto II, p. 370)

To swallow gudgeons ere they're catch'd.
  And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd.
      - Samuel Butler (1), Hudibras
         (pt. II, canto III, l. 923)

As clear as a whistle.
      - John Byrom, Epistle to Lloyd (I)

Put himself upon his good behavior.
      - Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron),
        Don Juan (canto V, st. 47)

By all that's good and glorious.
      - Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron),
        Sardanapalus (act I, sc. 2)

Smell a rat.
      - Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)

Leap out of the frying pan into the fire.
      - Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra),
        Don Quixote (pt. I, bk. III, ch. IV)

Within a stone's throw of it.
      - Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra),
        Don Quixote (pt. I, bk. III, ch. IX)

Make ducks and drakes with shillings.
      - George Chapman, Eastward Ho!
         (act I, sc. 1)

As good as a play.
      - attributed to Charles II,
        while listening to a debate on Lord Ross's Divorce Bill

As good be out of the World as out of the Fashion.
      - Colley Cibber, Love's Last Shift (act II)

A nail in the wound.
      - Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (often called "Tully" for short)

To be praised by a man who has won his laurels.
      - Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (often called "Tully" for short)

To have a smattering knowledge of anything.
      - Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (often called "Tully" for short)

To seek a laurel wreath from a bride-cake. [To seek glory by some trifling performance. A carpet knight.]
      - Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (often called "Tully" for short)

To throw a blot on a man's reputation by praising him.
      - Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero) (often called "Tully" for short)

The fat's all in the fire.
      - Cobbe, Prophecies,
        (Bullen's reprint) (1614)

Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.
      - William Cobbett,
        referring to a bank as an elderly lady in the city

Cut and come again.
      - George Crabbe, Tales VII (l. 26)

Turn over a new leaf.
      - Thomas Dekker (Decker)

Add to golden numbers golden numbers.
      - Thomas Dekker (Decker), Patient Grissell
         (act I, sc. 1)

The coast was clear.
      - Michael Drayton, Nymphidia

As sure as a gun.
      - John Dryden

With tooth and nail.
      - Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas,
        Divine Weekes and Workes
         (first week, second day)

Through thick and thin, both over Hill and Plain.
      - Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas,
        Divine Weekes and Workes
         (second week, fourth day, bk. IV)

Made no more bones.
      - Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas,
        The Maiden Blush

As leopard feels at home with leopard.
      - George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans Cross)

To make a mountain of a mole-hill.
      - Sir Henry Ellis,
        Original Letters--Second Series (p. 312)

Betwixt the devil and the deep sea.
      - Desiderius Gerhard Erasmus, Adagia
         (ch. III, cent. VI, 94),
        quoted from the Greek

Needle in a bottle of hay.
      - Nathan Field (later Nathaniel Field),
        A Woman's a Weathercock (p. 20),
        reprint 1612

Like his that lights a candle to the sun.
      - Andrew Fletcher, Lord Innerpeffer (1),
        in a letter to Sir Walter Aston

To cut a whetstone with a razor.
      - Lucius Annaeus Florus

Diamonds cut diamonds.
      - John Ford, The Lover's Melancholy
         (act I, sc. 3)

Moehe Crye and no Wull.
      - Sir John Fortescue


Displaying page 1 of 18 for this topic:   Next >>  [1] 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

The GIGA name and the GIGA logo are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
GIGA-USA and GIGA-USA.COM are servicemarks of the domain owner.
Copyright © 1999-2018 John C. Shepard. All Rights Reserved.
Last Revised: 2018 December 13




Support GIGA.  Buy something from Amazon.


Click > HERE < to report errors