rabbit." Similar to this is
another, "To use a battle-ax to cut off a hen's head." They say of
wicked associates: "To cherish a bad man is like nourishing a tiger;
if not well-fed he will devour you." Here are several others mingling
wit with wisdom: "To instigate a villain to do wrong is like teaching
a monkey to climb trees;" "To catch fish and throw away the net,"
which recalls our saying, "Using the cat's paw to pull the chestnuts
out of the fire;" "To climb a tree to catch a fish" is to talk much
to no purpose; "A superficial scholar is a sheep dressed in a tiger's
skin;" "A cuckoo in a magpie's nest," equivalent to saying, "he is
enjoying another's labor without compensation;" "If the blind lead
the blind they will both fall into the pit;" "A fair wind raises no
storm;" "Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man is never
satisfied;" "The body may be healed, but the mind is incurable;" "He
seeks the ass, and lo! he sits upon him;" "He who looks at the sun is
dazzled; he who hears the thunder is deafened." i.e., do not come too
near the powerful; "Prevention is better than cure;" "Wine and good
dinners make abundance of friends, but in adversity not one of them is
to be found." "Let every man sweep the snow from before his own door,
and not trouble himself about the frost on his neighbor's tiles." The
following one is a gem of moral wisdom: "Only correct yourself on the
same principle that you correct others, and excuse others on the same
principles on which you excuse yourself." "Better not be, than be
nothing." "One thread does not make a rope; one swallow does not make
a summer." "Sensuality is the chief of sins, filial duty the best of
acts." "The horse's back is not so safe us the buffalo's"--the former
is used by the politician, the latter by the farmer. "Too much lenity
multiplies crime." "If you love your son give him plenty of the rod;
if you hate him cram him with dainties." "He is my teacher who tells
me my faults, he my enemy who speaks my virtues." Having a wholesome
dread of litigation, they say of one who goes to law, "He sues a flea
to catch a bite." Their equivalent for our "coming out at the little
end of the horn" is, "The farther the rat creeps up (or into) the
cow's horn, the narrower it grows." The truth of their saying that
"The fame of good deeds does not leave a man's door, but his evil
acts are known a thousand miles off," is illustrated in our own daily
papers every morning. Finally,