The shoemaker is so anxious to make every penny he can out of his trade that
he even denies his wife a new pair of shoes. Some other husbands tend to be
equally selfish. As the other proverb says: The shoemaker’s children go
barefoot.
> But who is wurs shod, than the shoemakers wyfe, With shops full of newe
shapen shoes all hir lyfe?
> [1546 J. Heywood Dialogue of Proverbs i. xi. E1V]
> The Shoe-maker’s wife often goes in ragged shoes. ‥ Although there had been
a [Methodist] Society begun here by Mr. Whitfield, yet‥the people of
Gloucester are not much the better for having had so great a Prophet born
amongst them.
> [1773 R. Graves Spiritual Quixote I. iii. ii.]
This means that if you mix with evil companions you will soon be as wicked as
they are.
##### See also:
* He should have a long spoon that sups with the devil
* He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled
* The rotten apple injures its neighbours
Householders keep dogs to guard their homes by barking when they hear
suspicious sounds outside. Figuratively, ‘to keep a dog and bark yourself’ is
to do the work that you pay others to do for you.
> ‘Isn’t it about time you clipped the front hedge, Henry?’ asked his wife.
> ‘That’s the gardener’s job’ he answered. ‘Why should I keep a dog and bark
myself?’
This is a saying among card-players. Those who win in the early stages of the
game usually finish up as losers.
It is better to keep out of trouble by not repeating the foolish behaviour of
others than it is to do as they did and suffer in the same way.
##### See also:
* Experience is the teacher of fools
This advice applies particularly to writers who are either not sure of their
facts, or cannot make up their minds whether or not to include a passage that
pleases them but may not please all their readers.
> ‘Dear Arthur – Many thanks for letting me read the manuscript of your
reminiscences. I find them lively and interesting reading, but venture to
suggest leaving out the anecdote about the Noble Lord, the Admiral’s daughter
and the cauliflowers. It’s certainly very funny, but you don’t want a libel
action on your hands.’
If you are away from home, adapt yourself to your surroundings and to the
local customs. Don’t expect the people there to alter their way of life just
to please you. Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son on October 2nd, 1747:
> ‘Good-breeding, as it is called, is different in almost every country, and
merely local; and every man of sense imitates and conforms to that local good-
breeding of the place he is at.’
Failure should not deter us, for there are always other opportunities.
##### See also:
* There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it
This is a very old proverb, dating back to the sixteenth century. It means
that when the person in authority is away, those under him will take advantage
of his absence.
> ‘We had a simply marvelous time at school today. Mrs. Brown was in bed with
‘flu’, and poor little Miss Smith can’t keep order for nuts!’
> ‘When the cat is away, the mice will play, right?’
The ‘wolf’ is poverty. When a young couple marry without enough money to keep
them in a manner to which they have become accustomed, this is called ‘love in
a cottage’. The love lasts as long as the money, but not a day longer, so the
proverbs says. So, you’d better First thrive and then wive.
Once we have said it, we cannot get it back. This proverb has the same meaning
as A word spoken is past recalling.
##### See also:
* What’s done cannot be undone
If knowledge brings unhappiness it is better to be ignorant. The proverb comes
from Thomas Gray’s _Ode an a Distant Prospect of Eton College_. The poet sadly
considers the future of the boys there:
> Alas! Regardless of their doom
> The little victims play !
> No sense have they of ills to come
> Nor care beyond the day.
The last six lines of the poem run:
> Yet, ah! Why should they know their fate,
> Since sorrow never comes too late,
> And happiness too swiftly flies?
> Thought would destroy their paradise!
> No more; – where ignorance is bliss,
> ‘Tis folly to be wise.
##### See also:
* What the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over