This proverbial saying expresses the idea that it is more effective to be polite and ingratiating than to be hostile or demanding.

This proverb originated in Italy and is found in Giovanni Torriano’s A common place of Italian proverbs and proverbial phrases, 1666:

Honey gets more flyes to it, than doth fo
[Italian – Il mele catta più mosche, che non fà l’aceto]..