Dare to be true, nothing can need a lie, The fault that needs it most grows two thereby. Bacon has well said, “A liar is a bravado towards God and a coward towards man.” To escape the censure of his fellows he insults his God. To deny a fault is to double it, and even to increase it a hundred times. Yet so commonly do children fall into the evil, that one friend of ours, having the picture of a boy in his garden, said to a child, “Come with me, and I will show you a boy that never told a lie.” To this the child answered, “Then I am sure he is not alive.”

Daub yourself with honey, and you will never want flies.

The name of being very kind and generous will gather around you a swarm of loafers, who will come for what they can get. In Italy we had only to give a beggar a copper, and we were surrounded by a crowd of mendicants whom nothing could keep off.

Day by day life glides away. Each day that’s lived a mortal gains, Yet just so much the less remains; Say, are we gaining life each day?

Or are we losing every way?

Day of rest, of days the best.

A poet calls the Sabbath, “Heaven once a week.”

Daylight will come, though the cock should not crow.

Even if no one should proclaim it, God’s word will be fulfilled.

Viewing the proverb from another point of view, it reminds us that conceited persons are apt to think that the world depends upon them; and it does so, just as much as the day depends on the cock.

The earth will revolve upon its own axis even when we are dead, and society will go on much the same as it did when we mingled in it.

Daylight will peep through a very small hole.

Secrets are made known by very simple circumstances. Truth is disseminated by the weakest means.

Dead men shall live, and living men shall die.

Deaf people lose less than they think.

Common talk is seldom worthy of being heard. Oh for cotton in one’s ears when certain clackers are near! Yet in all soberness it is a serious trial to be deaf, and the thought of it brings to mind the epigram of our late friend, Sir John Burgoyne — “You wish me a happy new year as a toast, And a kindly good act it appears; But when you perceive I’m as deaf as a post, You should wish me two happy new ears.

Deal tenderly with a fresh wound.

A new sorrow calls for tender sympathy.

Deal with the master rather than with the man.

You may come to a more gainful conclusion, and you will know better where you are. Go to God rather than to his ministers.

Dear is often cheap, and cheap is often dear.

Indeed, it is generally so in these days. But the word “dear ” is hardly correct it should be “high-priced. ” Death devours lambs as well as Sheep.

The young die as well as the old. Sir Richard Baker says: — Think not thyself from death secure to rest For being young; death loves the green fruit best.”

Death is a great leveler. “‘Earth to earth, and dust to dust.’

Here the evil and the just, Here the youthful and the old, Here the fearful and the bold, Here the matron and the maid, In one silent bed are laid; Here the vassal and the king Side by side lie withering; Here the sword and scepter rust — ‘Earth to earth and dust to dust!’“ Death is still in the pot.

It was the big pot on the prophets’ fire of which it was first said, “There is death in the pot;” but now it is the pewter pot which has become the chosen shrine of death. What else is in the pot this deponent knoweth not; but poverty, crime, and death certainly come cut of it.

Debt makes fret.

That is to say, when a man is honest; but many seem quite comfortable under it. Alas, for their stupefied consciences! “Once upon a time,” says Bates, “a merchant died that was very far in debt. His goods and household stuff were set forth to sale. A stranger would needs buy a pillow there, saying, ‘This pillow, sure, is good to sleep on, since he could sleep on it that owed so many debts.’“ Debts and sins are more than we think them.

They accumulate insensibly, and we are willing to forget them.

Delay is dangerous; promptness is prudent.

Don’t tell me of to-morrow:

Give me the man who’ll say, When any good deed’s to be done, “Let’s do the thing today.”

Depart from them that depart from God.

He who is God’s enemy should not be your friend.

Desire for more property is the rich man’s poverty.

He that needs five thousand pounds to live Is full as poor as he that needs but five.

Desire to shine at thyself, not to outshine others.

It is written, “Let your light shine,” but not, “Let your light outshine.’

Despair of non While shines the sun.

Saul became Paul; and he is the pattern of God’s work in grace.

Despair will make a coward brave.

He is like an cardinal, at bay, which forgets its timidity, and fights to the death.

Despise none a tinker taught the world.

O rare John Bunyan , thou didst; tinker to purpose when thou didst compose the “Pilgrim’s Progress!” We ought, henceforth, to count no man common or unclean. The Easterns say: — “A jewel is a jewel still, though lying in the dust; And sand is only sand, though up to heaven by tempest, thrust.”

Despise your enemy, and you’ll soon be beaten.

This has been the reason for many a warrior’s failure; let us not fall into it in reference to our spiritual enemies.

Diamond cut diamond.

In unholy things rogues meet rogues.

In holy things Scripture explains Scripture.

Difficulty is the spur of diligence.

Dig a well before you’re thirsty.

Provide for wants before they fall upon you.

Diligence is the mother of good luck.

For the most part the man who prospers is capable, industrious, and persevering. It is not invariably so; but the exceptions are not very many. On the other hand the absence of diligence is fatal. ‘What heart can think or tongue express The harm that comes of idleness?

Dinner late is trial great. A writer very feelingly says: — “How sad it is to sit and pine The long half-hour before we dine!

Upon our watches oft to look, Then wonder at the clock and cook; And cast as long as we are able Desponding looks across the table.”

Surely no Christian hostess will put her guests to this great strain upon their tempers. Which tries the temper most, for a man to come home and. find no dinner ready, or for the wife to prepare the dinner and find that her husband does not come home?

Dip the pen of the tongue in the ink of the heart.

Dirt cheap is generally dear dirt.

We pay less and get less. Modern cheap things are often mere rubbish, “made to sell,” or stained with the blood of the poor worker.

Dirtiness is next to wretchedness.

To decent people it would be wretchedness itself. Others, who seem to like it, must be strangers to all idea of comfort. Yet they make excuses for filthy clothes on the score of economy, and there is even a rusty old saw which grates as follows: — “Linen often to water Soon to tatter.” Dirty linen should be washed at home.

Family quarrels should not be made public. Almost any degree of suffering is better than the public exposure of private wrongs and personal bickerings.

Dirty paws and poor jewelry fit each other.

Often a sloven is also a lover of gaudy finery.

Dirty water will not wash clean.

Teaching which is not true will not overcome sin in the hearers.

Dirty wives make drunken husbands.

Doubtless if the house or the room were kept more clean and comfortable, the man would have less temptation to spend his evenings in drinking company.

Disease known is half cured.

It is certainly so in the case of the disease of sin: when free grace reveals the ruin, we soon find the remedy.

Do a fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage.

Some will work by the piece, but they play when it is by the day.

Yet it is wise not to make remarks on a man’s work when it is not your business. A person, noticing a man moving slowly, observed to him, “I should think you work by the day!” “Well,” said the other, “would you have me work by the night?” (Collapse of intrusive individual.)

Do a thing at once, and you won’t forget it.

Very sage counsel. Some of us have very poor memories; let us not trust to them, but get things off our mind by getting them done.

Do a thing well, or let it alone.

It is the thorough doing of everything which wins commendation.

Not the slurring of great things, but the perfection of little things, makes up excellence. Circles are praised, not that abound In largeness, but exactly round; So life we praise that does excel Not in much time, but acting well.

Do a thing yourself, and then you know it is done.

Do all you can; Samson could do no more. “Do! Do!” says the wood-pigeon, but it builds a very poor nest.

This has often been repeated from the pulpit in sermons which are aimed against Popish notions of salvation by works.

Do good to them that do ill to you.

Do good with your money, or it will do you no good.

There is no power in it of itself to do real good to you. It may even do you evil; but, if used for God and his cause, and the poor, it will bless yourself.

Do is well, but overdo is ill.

Do just as you please, if you please to be just.

Do more good, and talk less of it.

Do not always shake the same apple-tree.

Run not perpetually to the same friend for help. Do not talk always on the same subject.

Do not brag with the Pharisee, but beg with the Publican. Do not call a fly an elephant..

Avoid exaggeration, that you may keep clear of lying.

Do not carry the dust; of this year into the next.

If sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, much more must be so with the year.

Do not growl, lest you be taken for a dog.

Certain persons can never be pleased. They are cynics, and prove their right to the name by their dogged complaints.

Do not hurry, do not flurry!

Nothing good is got by worry.

Do not in the darkest night, What you’d shun in broad daylight.

Do not look great things, but live them.

Do not make a butt of another.

How would you like to be jested at yourself?

Do not play when thou shouldst pray.

Do not ride a free horse to death.

A willing man is called for here, there, and everywhere; every one does his best to wear him out, and yet each one says, “He is doing too much, and will kill himself.”

Do not show all you know At the very first go.

For then you will have no reserve force, and will not fulfill expectations which you have raised. Save your master-stroke till it will best serve you.

Do not thou forget That a promise is a debt.

Do not thou thy manhood drown, By drinking at the “Rose and Crown.”

A tavern is said to be “a place where madness is sold by the bottle.”

Let it take no patronage from you, for that article.

Do not, to-day what will grieve thee to-morrow.

It is a pity to spend your strength in earning regret.

Do not trouble, do not trouble Heavy hearts make toiling double.

Do not turn friends into enemies, but turn enemies into friends.

Do nothing rashly. Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away.

Do on the hill as you’d do in the hall.

When you are away from eye-witnesses do not take liberty to do evil, for God is there if no one else.

Do the best; hope the best; and have the best.

Do the duty that lies nearest thee. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth, ” said Solomon, “do it with thy might.”

Carlyle says: “Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” D the next thing.

Do to others as you would that they should do to you.

The golden rule; but not the rule by which to get gold. It is much admired in church; but if it were to wander into the Exchange, or the market, it would be locked up by the beadle. The world’s golden rule is, “Do others, or others will do you.”

Do what you do. Age quod agis, says the Latin. Be in earnest, and do not trifle.

Do you ride slowly? Then start early.

He who is by nature somewhat slow in his work should be the more prompt at beginning.

Do you think yourself wise? Then there’s a donkey inside your waistcoat.

A polite way of saying that you are not wise, but otherwise.

Do you want to be cheated? Then buy a horse.

Generally a man either is cheated in horse-dealing, or thinks himself so. We incline to a very lenient view of the matter, for an honest man may sell a very bad nag, and think it all right. Who is to know all the faults or infirmities of either horse or man?

Dog with bone pray let alone.

He knows no friend at that time. In this he is like a man possessed with one notion, who cannot bear contradiction. With a man of one idea Never dare to interfere.

Dogs bark as they are bred.

Men act, according to their birth and education.

Dogs have nothing to do, and no time of rest.

So says the Tamil. Many men are in like condition, no business, and yet busybodies.

Dogs that put up many hares will catch none.

Individuals who can do a little of everything, can usually do nothing well. Scheming this and scheming that, they accomplish nothing.

Full often clever inventors find others running away with the practical results of their brain-work. Rich manufacturers thus catch the hares which poor inventors start.

Doing nothing is doing evil.

Omission of duty is commission of sin.

Don’t accuse the times to excuse yourself.

The times are good enough for men who are good enough. If times are hard, we must work harder.

Don’t advertise it; tell it to a gossip.

She will make it known where no advertisement would have carried the news. “The Tatler” has a wide circulation.

Don’t always harp on one string.

No mortal can bear incessant repetition: have a little variety; and if you cannot change the subject allow an interval of silence.

Don’t bale a boat that does not leak.

That is to say, among other things, — do not try to prove a doctrine which nobody doubts, or defend that which is quite beyond attack, or vindicate a man for doing what is clearly right.

Don’t be above your business, nor below it.

To be too proud, attend to your work, or too uneducated to do it thoroughly, will be equally injurious. There is an honor in hard work. The French rule is “Respect the burden,” and every burden of labor is respectable.

Don’t be drinking at the “Harrow” when you should be driving the plough.

One of the evils of the beerhouse is the shocking waste of time by laborers and tradesmen who sit and booze there. They say that “time was made for Slaves,” surely a good deal of it falls to the lot of these slaves of Bacchus.

Don’t be first in a quarrel, nor second.

Don’t be fooled by pretty face; Look for character and grace.

Mere bodily beauty is like an almanac: if it last a year it is well. This is too fleeting a reason for marriage.

Don’t be like a bell which answers every pull.

Have a mind of your own, and mind that you use it.

Don’t be in a hurry to He what you cannot untie.

Marriage is one of these things. Be careful! In choice of a friend One may often amend When he finds his affection misspent; But in choosing a wife A close partner for life, There is left us no room to repent.

Don’t be loud as a bull’s roar, and weak as a bulrush. Don’t be the family magpie.

We know some who are this, and terribly noisy and mischievous birds they are. The worst pie at table is magpie.

Don’t be the first on the ice, nor the last off.

To be taken literally. Very safe rule to follow. It will also apply to speculations, both monetary and mental.

Don’t be weak of brain, and strong of lung.

Strength of lung is a talent, but without knowledge and discretion. to use it aright, it may make a man a nuisance. When Stentor is a Mentor it is well. When a man has nothing to say, the more he bawls, and the sooner people are weary of him.

Don’t be yoked to one who refuses the yoke of Christ.

Paul saith “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” — 2 Corinthians 6:14.

Don’t bet even a farthing cake.

This was the very largest wager of an old friend of ours, and then he always stipulated that he should himself have the first bite, whether he won or not.. We don’t recommend even this.

Don’t be like a bunch of nettles, Nor all hot, like boiling kettles.

Don’t blame it, but better it.

And if you can not better it, shame it by your own example.

Don’t blow the broth which does not burn you.

If there’s no real fault, don’t blame a man. Never grumble without cause. If it’s no concern of yours, let it alone.

Don’t bray; eat your hay.

Hold your tongue, feed your mind, and your pocket.

Don’t break your head for the sake of trying a plaster.

To sin because there is forgiveness is wickedness. To indulge at table because there is medicine is folly.

Don’t bring a hornet’s nest about your own ears.

Sometimes you will have to do it for righteousness’ sake, but never do it wantonly. When hornets are quiet don’t arouse them, for you can’t send them to sleep again. Never wake sleeping wasps.

Don’t burn out a candle in search of a pin.

Pins would be dearly bought if they cost a candle each.

Don’t burn your candle at both ends.

It will go fast enough at one. Don’t lose your wages in holidays, and at the same time spend your money in your frolics.

Don’t burn your finger at the grate, And then cry out “It was my fate.”

Persons bring sorrow upon themselves by their folly, and then lay the evil at the door of Providence. This is both foolish and wicked: indeed, it is a sort of practical blasphemy.

Don’t burn your house to kill a mouse.

Don’t burn your lips with other men’s broth.

If you get sipping a little with them, and mixing up with their affairs, you will come in for a share of their trouble when it is served out hot to them.

Don’t buy a whale till you’ve paid for your sprats.

Don’t carry fir trees to Norway, Nor water to the sea, nor coals to Newcastle, nor hot dogs to a banquet, nor noise to the Salvation Army, nor your own merits to Christ Don’t carve another man’s leg of mutton.

Some are very pleased when they are eating and drinking at other people’s expense; but it never pays with men of honor, for they feel bound to make a return, and they will be called on to do it.

Don’t change a one-eyed horse for a blind one.

It will be improving the wrong way. Never go from bad to worse, but mend a little.

Don’t color your nose with publican’s paint.

Don’t come a day after the fair, like Tom Long the carrier.

We don’t know who Tom Long may have been, but he was evidently long on the road, and perhaps he watered his horse, and portered himself so often that he did not arrive in time. Many persons are always a little too late with their projects. They arrive just as the fair is over.

Don’t crawl all day over one cabbage leaf.

The movements of some parties are so slow that this admonition might be fairly addressed to them. A master once asked his gardener, “John, did you ever see a snail?” “Yes, sir.” “Then,” said the master, “I am sure you met it; for you would never have overtaken it.’

Don’t cross the bridge till you come to it, Proverb old end of excellent wit.

Don’t cry before you are hurt.

And when you are hurt, crying heals no bruises.

Don’t cry herrings till they are in the net.

Don’t cry over spilt milk.

What’s the use? you can’t gather it up. When the thing’s done, why sit down and cry? Cry before your milk is spilt, if crying will do any good. But why cry even then if you have nothing to sell?

Don’t cut down an oak to plant a thistle.

To destroy an old institution for some new nonsense is not wise.

Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

Proverbs of a like kind are, “Don’t cut off your head because it aches.” “Set not your house on fire to spite the moon.” To injure yourself because you are out of temper is a freak of madness. Dick vexed his master, and because he was spoken to, he threw himself out of his work, and left his wife and family to starve all through the winter.

Don’t dance to every man’s whistle.

Don’t dig your grave with your knife and fork.

Don’t drive a second nail till you’ve clenched the first. One thing at a time, and that done well, Is a very good rule, as many can tell.

Don’t drop into the water to grasp the foam.

Don’t drop the meat to catch the shadow. AEsopís fable of the dog and the meat is the best explanation.

Greed risks what it has to get more, and usually misses its aim.

Many in these days give up the substance of the Gospel for the shadow of “Modern Thought.” May they learn better very soon!

Don’t drown the man who taught you to swim.

If you learned your trade or profession of the man, do not set up in opposition to him. Do not kick down the ladder by which you climbed. Yet this unnatural course of action seems natural to some, as we know right well Don’t expect sense from a man in. love.

He is too excited: his heart has mastered his head. They say that love gives wit to fools, but it often takes wit away from wise men.

Love is blind, and it blinds lovers in many ways.

Don’t expect to be rich As easy as you jump a ditch.

Don’t expect to find ostrich feathers on a gander.

Nor look for wisdom from one who has neither sense nor education.

Don’t expect to find otto of roses in a dog-kennel.

Nor moral sense in clubs of godless men.

Don’t fight for the sheaf, and lose the kernel.

This is done when mere words are the ground of contention, and the essential doctrine is overlooked.

Don’t fight over a cheese-mite.

It is a pity to contend over a great matter, but to quarrel for a mere trifle is never justifiable.

Don’t find fault with what you don’t understand.

Don’t find fault with my shoes unless you’ll pay my cobbler to mend them.

Don’t fire a gun at a blue-bottle.

Nor a cannon at a cock-sparrow, nor a furious speech at a poor child, nor a big book at a silly opinion.

Don’t fish for sprats with golden hooks.

The hook would be worth more than you could catch with it. How often are abilities and energies laid out upon objects which are quite unworthy of them!

Don’t fly higher than you can roost.

It is unwise to begin a style of living which you cannot keep up. It is unwise to display a high degree of ability at first, and then decline because you cannot do so well as a general rule.

Don’t fly if you have no wings, Or till your wings are feathered. If you are not wealthy, don’t spend as if you had ample means.

Don’t fret yourself lean because another man is fat.

Envy is apt to do this, and there is plenty of it abroad. Should we not all rejoice if others are more happy than ourselves? Pity in most cases would be more fitting than envy. “If every man’s internal care Were written on his brow, How many would our pity share, ‘Who raise our envy now!” Don’t gaze at the stars, and fall into the ditch. Diogenes Laertius reports that Thales the Milesian on one occasion went out of his house to behold the stars, and he walked so far backward that he fell plump into a ditch. Whereupon, an old woman, who kept his house, laughed at him, and said to him in derision: — “O Thales, how shouldest thou have knowledge in heavenly things above, and knowest not what is here down below thy feet?”

Don’t give a good pail of milk and then put your foot in it.

Cows sometimes do this; but it is by no means a pleasure to the farmer. Don’t do a good action, and spoil it by your after-conduct; nor preach a good sermon and contradict it. As a rule, do not “put your foot in it” in any sense. An Irishman observed that whenever he opened his mouth he put his foot in it. Don’t imitate him.

Don’t go out woolly, and come home shorn.

Plenty do this who would have been more sensible had they stayed at home: they leave their old faith for something more attractive, and lose their comfort, if not their character.

Don’t go to church to see the fashions. “Was Mrs. Green at church this morning with her new bonnet?” was the question put to a plain Christian woman. Her answer was, “I didn’t go to church to see who was there, or what clothes they had on.”

Don’t go to law for the wagging of a straw.

But keep out of it even at a loss. The law has improved of late, but when this proverb was written, “a certain learned Judge, being asked what he would do if a man owed him £10, and refused to pay him,” replied, “Rather than bring an action, with its costs and uncertainty, I would send him a receipt in full of all demands. Ay,” said he, recollecting himself, “and I would, moreover, send him £5 to cover all possible costs.”

Don’t go to sea in an egg-chest.

Trust only in that which is worthy of trust: do not risk your money on a bubble scheme, nor your soul on a novel doctrine.

Don’t go under the spout to get out of the rain.

Be not so foolish as to go to the worse to escape from that which is bad. To do ‘wrong’ to escape trouble is just this. To engage in speculation to retrieve a loss is another case in point.

Don’t grab at every red-hot poker you see, Do not rush into controversy, nor take up quarrels needlessly. You have something better to do than to burn your fingers with that which does not concern you.

Don’t hang a dead dog.

When a fellow has been punished and his fault is forgotten, why raise the case again?

Don’t hang a man first, and try him afterwards.

Hasty judgments act in this fashion: — “First hang and draw, Then hear the cause by Lydford law.” Don’t hang your hat on two pegs at once.

Mr. Flirt does this, and he will get into trouble before long.

Don’t hold with the hare and run with the hounds.

Jack-o’-both-sides generally catches it from both parties before long. Don’t play the game of Double-shuffle.

Don’t howl before you are hit.

In the Telugu, a proverb represents a boy as crying, and a friend asks, “Why do you cry, my boy?” He replies, “Because my father is going to beat me the day after to-morrow.” It will be wise to let tomorrow take care of the things of itself.

Don’t hunt a dead rat., When it was alive it was worthless, and now it is dead it is not worth a thought. So certain silly doctrines which were long ago quite disproved need not be further discussed.

Don’t jump into the river to get out of the rain.

Unwise persons rush from bad to worse: from small wages to none at all, from trifling inconveniences into real hardships.

Don’t kick the bucket out of which you drank. The very appearance of ingratitude is hateful.

Don’t kill a to save a chicken.

Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Be careful not to injure the business which brings you your income, nor to anger the man on whom you depend.

Don’t knock a man down and kick him for falling. Don’t let the publichouse live on. your private house. Don’t let the rain damp your devotion.

Weather which does not keep men from market will often prevent their going to the public worship of God. In this case it is a great damper upon devotion.

Don’t let your feet run faster than your shoes.

It is unwise to go faster than you can do with safety and comfort.

Many have brought their bare feet to the ground by spending more than their income could provide.

Don’t let your heart sink into your hose.

Fear makes the heart go down into the stockings. But heart in hose is out of place. Why fear if you are right?

Don’t lie in bed and addle your head.

No doubt sluggards grow dull and stupid. Too much sleep is injurious. A fellow who comes down late, and then loafs about the house, might almost as well have kept his head in his feather-bed.

Don’t light a fire which you cannot put out.

You can start a story which you cannot recall, or commence a quarrel which you cannot end; but how can you tell the result?

Don’t live in Idleburgh.

In other words, let no one number you with the slothful. Oh, now, while health and rigor still remain, Toil, toil, my lads, to purchase honest gain!

Shun idleness! shun pleasure’s tempting snare!

A youth of revels breeds an age of care.

Don’t look as dark as thunder.

Don’t lose half your cheese in parings.

Waste is a worse tax than the income tax.

Don’t make a long harvest of little corn.

Get through with it, and have done. Don’t talk long when you have little to say. Don’t weary as with waiting for nothing.

Don’t make a rod for your own back.

Don’t make fish of one and flesh of the other.

Treat people alike, so far as justice demands.

Don’t make mountains of molehills.

Don’t make one hole to stop another.

It is small gain to make a new enemy to conquer an old one. So also to get a new loan to pay an old debt is a sorry course of action.

Don’t make three rents while you mend one.

A foolish attempt to patch up a private feud ended in a public wrangle, and illustrated this sage sentence.

Don’t make three voyages for one biscuit. “Much ado about nothing” is unwise.

Don’t make two bites of a cherry.

In the Sans serif it runs, “Don’t make nineteen bites of a bilberry.”

Do not waste time and effort over a trilling affair.

Don’t make your face as long as a fiddle.

After all, life is not a funeral. There is a medical power about mirth, and it is by no means to be abhorred so long as it is timely, clean, and moderate. “A little nonsense now and then Is relished by the wisest men.” Don’t make your nose blush for the sins of your mouth.

Which it does when it becomes red through drink. Of old, the topers tried to lay the roses of their noses at the door of me spices in their drink; so we read — Nose, nose, nose, nose, “And who gave thee that jolly red nose?”

Cinnamon, ginger, nutmegs, and cloves, And that gave me my jolly red nose.

Don’t make your promises like pie crust, which goes to be broken.

Yet some pervert this proverb, and speak as if promises might as readily be broken as the crust of a penny pie. We heard it said of one, “He is a promising young man.” “Yes,” said another, “but he is a poor performer.”

Don’t make your wheat so long in the straw.

Have not so much talk: about what you are doing.

Don’t meddle, or you’ll muddle.

Is it not generally the case, that those who interfere do more harm than good? These amateur cooks spoil the broths.

Don’t meddle with tomorrow’s trouble. “Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof.” — Matthew 6:34.

Don’t mutter at cold. mutton.

Cold mutton is thought to be rather tasteless; and when it appears again and again husbands are not in ecstasies. But in truth, there is nothing to murmur at so long as hunger is supplied. “This meat is hard,” cried one; but his companion wisely answered, “It is harder where there’s none.”

Don’t open the door when the devil looks in at the window.

Far better to fasten the bolts, turn the key, and put the chain up.

Don’t pick a man up before he is down.

Don’t correct him before he has made a mistake.

Don’t pitch too high, or you won’t get through the tune.

Expenditure which begins at a great rate often comes to a sudden end by bankruptcy. Begin so that you can keep on, and even risk higher. Orators should beware of splendid openings, for it will never do to drop; and it will be hard to keep up the big style to the end.

Don’t pity me, but help me.

Yet you may pity me if you will therefore help me, but not else.

Don’t play with bears if you’re afraid of being bitten. Don’t please your eye, and plague your heart.

Lightly have many done this by a marriage made only for beauty.

Don’t pour water on a drowned mouse.

When a man is going down, don’t increase his troubles; when everybody is blaming him, do not swell the chorus of censure.

Don’t promise pounds and pay pence.

Don’t pull down your house to build a pig-sty with the materials.

We have seen people destroy a grand work for the sake of a paltry object.

Don’t pull so hard as to break the rope.

Don’t worry a person till he will bear it no longer, nor use a friend till he feels that you impose upon him, nor work your own brain till it gives way.

Pull somewhat less than rope will bear, And when it straineth quickly spare.

Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.

It is unwise to risk all that you have in any one concern. If you have any savings, put them in several places. The marine form of this saying is: “Do not ship all your goods in one vessel.”

Don’t put all your plums into one pudding.

He who says all he can say in one speech has acted very unwisely.

The proverb has many other applications.

Don’t put on a dry shirt till you’re out of the water.

Don’t congratulate yourself upon your deliverance, and begin to make yourself too secure before the trial is quite over.

Don’t put on so much coal as to put out the fire.

You can lay so many books on the brain as to bury it, and teach children so much that they learn nothing, and preach so long that the people forget all that is said.

Don’t put out the candle because of its snuff.

A good work is not to be stepped because of some fault in the way of carrying it on.

Don’t put more corn in the mill than you can grind.

Undertaking more than we can carry through is very unwise.

Don’t put yourself out, but put the devil out.

Be not anger, but conquer passion.

Don’t rely too much on labels, For too often they are fables.

Do not take a label to be true either as to the quality or the quantity of the article.

One would think this saying had been newly invented, but the first line is an old proverb. He who buys the sack which is labeled “pig,” may find nothing but a rat in it when he gets home. Don’t buy a pig in a poke.

Don’t rip open old sores.

Forget past injuries and disputes, to mention them will cause pain, and prove mischievous. Let bygones be bygones.

Don’t roast the duck till you’ve got it.

Don’t rob Mary to pay Maggie.

Favoritism, and the injustice which comes of it, should be carefully avoided.

Don’t roll in the mire to please the pigs.

Do nothing wrong to please those who take delight in evil.

Don’t saw off the branch you’re sitting on.

It would be foolish to destroy the business by which you get a living, or to injure the person upon whom you depend, or to cast doubt upon the truth on which your salvation rests.

Don’t say you found what was newer lost.

Some people are rather too apt to think findings are keepings, and to call it finding when it is very like stealing. A person who found a gold watch or the mantel-shelf of a house at which he called, was ultimately found guilty of theft.

Don’t say too much lest you say too little.

Like the Irish patriot who says, “The cup of Ireland’s miseries has long been overflowing, and even yet it is not filled.”

Don’t seek profit from the misfortunes of others.

The Turk said: “If my beard were burning, others would try to light their pipes at it;” So they would in England; ay, and set his beard on fire, on purpose to get a light for their cigarettes.

Don’t send a cat to fetch milk.

The employment of dishonest persons in money matters is very dangerous.

Don’t share the spoil before you gain the victory.

Don’t shiver with last winter’s cold.

Let not past sorrows be renewed. If the memory of them awakens gratitude — well and good; but if they renew your pain, it is foolish to raise them from the grave of the past.

Don’t shout till you’re out of the wood.

Don’t sit up by moonlight, and lie in bed in the sun.

Night-work is undesirable. “Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.” — Psalm 104:23.

Don’t snap; you’re not a trap.

Snappishness is a sad disease, and frightens people from you.

Nobody wants to have his head bitten off.

Don’t sniff at a bottle which had gin in it a year ago.

That is to say, if you would avoid the temptation to drink, keep clear of it roes; carefully.

Don’t sow your wild oats; they’re bad reaping.

Many talk as if young people ought to be vicious for a time, or as if it was a very excusable thing for a young man to be impure in his behavior. This opinion is very pernicious. Alas! throughout life men have had to fool in their bones the sins of their youth.

Don’t spend a penny till you have twopence.

Don’t spend money till you’ve got it.

Not even if tempted by “the Hire System.”

Don’t spend other people’s money.

This is too often done. Expenditure upon credit, tampering with trusts, and many other matters come under the lash of this sentence.

Don’t spend sixpence if you only have fourpence.

Don’t spend ten precious pounds in court To get by law a paltry groat.

Don’t spread a grain of butter over fifty yards of bread.

By attempting to cover a great surface of work when you have little ability and less grace, you will only court a wider failure. “Vauxhall Slices” became the common jest of Londoners because the ham of the sandwiches sold at Vauxhall was so marvelously thin. We have known persons who have attempted so much that their work grew thinner and thinner, and nobody was the better for it.

Don’t stand like a cat on a cross-wall.

The other form of it; is, “Don’t keep sitting on the fence.” Certain fellows do not know which side to take, and so they hesitate. When they see which way the cat jumps, they will follow suit.

Don’t steal sheep and give away the trotters in charity, Instances of this kind turn up: the trotters are meant to get the wretch good enough repute to let him steal the sheep without being suspected.

Don’t stop sowing because of the birds.

If evil persons injure your good work, or Satan himself hinders it, do not therefore slacken your diligence.

Don’t stop the plough to kill a mouse.

Do not hinder important business for the discussion of a trifle.

Don’t strain at a fly and swallow a spider.

Don’t strike against your bread and butter.

Very seldom does a strike really benefit the workman. The money lost while doing nothing is hardly ever made up, even if the wages are advanced.

Don’t strut like a crow in a gutter.

Those who have observed a crow in that position will see the peculiar fitness of the figure.

Don’t take a helpmeet till you’ve meat to help.

Don’t take off your clothes before you go to bed.

Do not hand over your property to your children while you are yet alive, and need it yourself.

Remember how possible it is for ingratitude to show itself where you become a burden, because no more is to be got out of you.

Don’t talk all the, talk, nor eat all the meat.

It would be exceedingly bad manners to invite friends to dinner, and then eat it all yourself; but it is equally bad to talk without ceasing, and give no one a chance of being heard. Sydney Smith said, “Never talk more than half a minute without pausing and giving others an opportunity to strike in.”

Don’t talk of my debts unless you mean to pay them. Don’t teach your grandfather to cough.

Don’t teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

Don’t threaten war and then tremble at your own words.

Threatening should be very rarely resorted to, and it must never be mere pretense: the Chinese call a blusterer “a paper tiger.”

Don’t toast your cheese till there is a fire.

Hurry to act upon mere hopes is extremely foolish, for the hopes may never be fulfilled.

Don’t throw away dirty water till you have clean.

Do not leave a poor situation till you have found a better. Another form of the saying is, “Don’t throw away your old shoes till you have got new ones.”

Don’t throw good money after bad.

It is useless to spend your money in going to law with a person who will not or cannot pay. If you sue a beggar you know what you will get, and that fact should make you forbear.

Don’t touch a man on his sore knee.

It is cruel to play upon a man’s weakness. If anything annoys a neighbor don’t touch upon it.

Don’t tread on a worm wantonly. Cowper wrote: — “I would not enter on my list of friends Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility, the man Who needlessly set s foot upon a worm.” Don’t tread on other men’s corns, nor on their wheats either, Do no injury to any man through want of thought.

Don’t trust a rickety chair or a tricky man, For if you do, you may get an ugly fall, or and yourself deceived, It is risky to ride broken-kneed horses, or to trust men who have already failed, and. fellows who have once deceived you.

Don’t try to do that which is worth no man’s doing.

Foolhardy feats should not be attempted. When a man had gone to the top of a steeple, and had there stood on his head, he sought a reward of King James. The King gave him no money, but offered him a patent by which he was to have the sole monopoly of the right to make a fool of himself in that risky way. A fit reward for such folly.

Don’t try to walk on both sidles of the hedge.

Decide for the right side, and keep to it bravely.

Don’t turn recreation into degradation.

Those do this who make their play the occasion of sin, and act as if their outings were meant to be innings for the deed.

Don’t wade where you cannot see the bottom.

If you like, you may risk money which you can afford to lose, but speculate no further. Many try to do too much, and do it. I knew a builder who would never tender for work under water, because he .could not see what he might have to do. He was a sensible man, and avoided many a loss.

Don’t wait for windfalls; gather your own apples.

Whether the legacy comes or not, the way of self-help is always to be followed. Windfalls are seldom fit for keeping. Don’t wait for something to turn up, but turn it up yourselves. Inactive wishes are but waste of time, And, without effort, prayers themselves a crime:

Vain are their hopes who miracles expect, And ask from heaven what they themselves neglect.

Don’t walk in in state If you go to church late.

Why, they stalk up the church as if they were the Lord of the Isles!

Hear how their boots squeak! They ought to hold their heads down with shame for disturbing the devotions of so many. Let it be part of your religion not to disturb the religion of others.

Dr. Diet and Dr. Quiet are fine physicians.

Draw not your bow till your aim is fixed.

Know what you are going to do before you begin work.

Drawn wells have the sweetest waters.

Those who give enjoy their money. Those who preach most of Jesus preach best about him. Those who are at work are happy.

Dread a blow from a frying-pan, for, if it does not hurt, it smuts.

Dread an action at law as you would a lion’s paw.

Dress your soul as well as your body.

Only take much more pains with the soul than with the outward appearance. As you do not go abroad without your garments, so do not live without the robe of righteousness and the garments of salvation. Carefully see yourself arrayed in the beauty of holiness.

Drink first dims, then darkens, then deadens, then damns.

Drink! Drink! this terrible drink Causing more sorrow than any can think!

Drink injures a man externally, internally and eternally.

I think I have read of a temperance lecture by Barnum, after which he was asked, “Does drink injure a man externally or internally?”

His prompt answer was, “Eternally and infernally.”

Drink like a fish — water only.

Drinking water neither makes a man sick, nor in debt, nor his wife a widow.

But some men are like the drunken Parisian, who declared that in his childhood he had been bitten by a mad dog, and consequently had a horror of water.

Drink no wine, and you’ll not drink too much.

Drink won’t hurt you if you don’t drink it.

It’s not the liquor, but the liquorish man that is to be blamed. Keep the cork in the bottle, and no evil spirits will carry you off your legs. “Whiskey,” said the Highlander, “is a bad thing. Especially bad whiskey.” Good or bad, it will do no harm if it never comes into the house, much less into the mouth.

Drinking and stuffing makes a man a ragamuffin.

Yet drink they will if their backs go bare. The old saw says: — “Money’ we want and cannot borrow, But drink we must to drown our sorrow.” Drive gently over the stones.

When anything occurs about which you are likely to disagree, keep your temper and be very calm.

Drive one plough at a time.

Turn all your strength in one direction. Divided energies threaten failure. “One thing I do” is a good motto.

Drive the nail that will go.

Work most at that part of your trade which most prospers.

Drive thy work lest it drive thee.

Drop by drop the tub is filled.

Things to their best perfection come, Not all at once, but some and some.

Drought never bred dearth in England.

Our forefathers preferred a dry season to a wet one. It is thought to be best for corn, though it is by no means so good for roots and grass. All districts are not in the same condition, and varying seasons tend to make a more equal distribution of the precious fruits of the earth. On the whole, England likes dry weather.

Drunkards drown themselves on dry land.

Dry bread at home is better than roast meat abroad.

That is to say, as a general rule. One does not turn up his nose at roast or boiled when one is at a friend’s house, or sojourning by the sea, or wandering among the Alps. Still there’s no table, no bed, no fireside, no home, no wife like our own.

Dry wood makes a quick fire.

Our evil hearts and headlong passions yield readily enough to temptation. Oh, that grace may continually moisten our souls, and thus preserve them from Satan’s sparks!

Ducks lay eggs; geese lay wagers.

Such geese are very common near our common, especially towards Derby Day. Where is the sense of this mania for gambling? We need not ask where is the morality of it?

Ducks will not always dabble in the same gutter.

So we find. Me a change their follies Dutiful daughters make suitable wives.

Duty by habit is to pleasure turned:

He is content, who to obey has learned.

But in this age nobody cares to obey. Everybody would be captain, and nobody is willing to be common sailor. “England expects every man to do his duty. England will not get all it expects. Every man will do his duty if he likes.

SAYINGS OF A MORE SPIRITUAL SORT.

Dare to do right; and walk in the light.

Beware of that “bold bashfulness,” as Fuller calls it, which dares to offend God while it fears to offend man.

Darkness is the devil’s element and the sinner’s punishment. Dead devotion is living mockery.

Have we not had too much of this thing? No, I don’t refer to our neighbors, but to ourselves, John Ploughman, and you Mr., or Mrs., or Miss Reader.

Dead men cannot speak, yet Abel, being dead, yet speaketh.

Death cuts the saints down, but it cannot keep them down.

Say, rather, they rise the higher. We have heard of a tombstone which bore the inscription, “Lifted higher.” The dying request of the tenant of that tomb had been, as she pointed to the skies, “Lift me higher, lift me higher!”’ Death died when Christ rose. By death, he death’s dark king defeated, And overcame the grave; Rising. the triumph he completed; He lives, he reigns to save.

Death mows down the fairest lilies, as well as the foulest thistles.

Death shortens our way to heaven, but grace sweetens our way to heaven.

Delays in answering prayers are not denials.

Delight in the Sabbath, and it will be a delight.

Delight thyself in the Lord, that the Lord may delight in thee.

The disciple whom “Jesus loved” was the disciple whose love to Jesus was pre-eminent.

Deny yourself, or Christ will deny you. “Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” — Matthew 10:88.

Despair not, for thou hast a God; presume not, for thou art a man.

Devotion, when lukewarm, is undevout.

Where God’s glory is concerned it is a true rule; Non amat qui non zelat. He loves not who has no zeal.

Dispose thyself to patience rather than to comfort, and to the bearing of the Cross rather than to gladness of heart.

This was the saying of all ancient saint, Thomas a Kempis; and we may compare with it the saying of a modern sage, Thomas Carlyle, “There is in man a higher than love of happiness; he can do without happiness, and instead thereof find blessedness.”

Divine knowledge is not as the light of the moon, to sleep by; but as the light of the sun, to work by.

Do not pray by heart, but with the heart.

Repeating words without feeling is not prayer the heart can even pray without words.

Do not wrest the Scriptures, nor rest without the Scriptures. Benjamin Franklin advised Tom Paine not to print his “Age of Reason,” “For,” said he, “if men are so bad with the Bible, what would they be without it?”

Do thy little, though it be Dreariness and drudgery:

They, whom Christ apostles made, “Gathered fragments” when he bade.

Don’t bolt the door till all the children are in.

Those do this who despair of those outside, who will yet come to Jesus.

Don’t cut away the roots and water the branches.

To preach works and decry faith is absurd.

Don’t go to hear Dr. Smoothaway.

He preaches down at St. Judas’s Church, and a brother of his is minister at the Modern Thought Chapel. “Salvation made worldly” might be the motto of both the brothers.

Don’t hear all your sheep a-bleating, While you’re sitting in the meeting.

Keep your thoughts on heavenly things, and let the flock wait till you have yourself been fed by the Good Shepherd.

Don’t hope for the shadow without the tree.

Expect not the moral influence of religion when that religion is denied and despised.

Don’t leave your heart at home when you go to worship.

It is to be feared that we often get the chrysalis case of the man, but he himself is not truly at worship.

Don’t parley with sin, or you’ll surrender.

If mother Eve had not listened to the serpent’s insinuating speech, she would not have consented to touch of the forbidden tree. You are half conquered when you begin to consider the devil’s question.

Don’t pray cream and live skim milk.

A weighty word. Very applicable to some who have more of the gift of prayer than of the grace of prayer.

Don’t put an empty spoon in people’s mouths.

Preachers do so who give their hearers no gospel.

Don’t worship your broom, but keep your house clean.

Methods and theories of sanctification can be too much admired; the more important thing is to be really sanctified.

Drops of praise are poor acknowledgments for oceans of mercy. “O that within us hearts had propagation, Since many gifts do challenge many hearts! “ — Herbert.