Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Prudence
Multis terribilis, caveto multos.
If thou art terrible to many, then beware of many.
Ausonius—Septem Sapientum Sententiæ Septenis Versibus Explicatæ. IV. 5.
It is always good
When a man has two irons in the fire.
Beaumont and Fletcher—The Faithful Friends. Act I. Sc. 2.
Et vulgariter dicitur, quod primum oportet cervum capere, et postea, cum captus fuerit, illum excoriare.
And it is a common saying that it is best first to catch the stag, and afterwards, when he has been caught, to skin him.
Bracton—Works. Bk. IV. Tit. I. C. 2. Sec. IV.
Look before you ere you leap.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. II. Canto II. Heywood—Proverbs. Pt. I. Ch. II. Tottel—Miscellany. (1557).
’Tis true no lover has that pow’r
T’ enforce a desperate amour,
As he that has two strings t’ his bow,
And burns for love and money too.
Butler—Hudibras. Pt. III. Canto I. L. 1. Churchill—The Ghost. Bk. IV.
No arrojemos la soga tras el caldero.
Let us not throw the rope after the bucket.
Cervantes—Don Quixote. II. 9.
Archers ever
Have two strings to a bow; and shall great Cupid
(Archer of archers both in men and women),
Be worse provided than a common archer?
Chapman—Bussy d’Ambois. Act II. Sc. 1.
Prudentia est rerum expectandarum fugiendarumque scientia.
Prudence is the knowledge of things to be sought, and those to be shunned.
Cicero—De Officiis. I. 43.
Malo indisertam prudentiam, quam loquacem stultitiam.
I prefer silent prudence to loquacious folly.
Cicero—De Oratore. III. 35.
Præstat cautela quam medela.
Precaution is better than cure.
Coke.
According to her cloth she cut her coat.
Dryden—Fables. Cock and the Fox. L. 20.
***Therefore I am wel pleased to take any coulor to defend your honour and hope you wyl remember that who seaketh two strings to one bowe, he may shute strong but neuer strait.
Queen Elizabeth to James VI.—Letter X. Edited by John Bruce.
For chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.
Euripides—Pirithous. (Adapted.)
Yes, I had two strings to my bow; both golden ones, egad! and both cracked.
Fielding—Love in Several Masques. Act V. Sc. 13.
Great Estates may venture more. Little Boats must keep near Shore.
Benj. Franklin—Poor Richard. (1751).
Wer sich nicht nach der Decke streckt,
Dem bleiben die Füsse unbedeckt.
He who does not stretch himself according to the coverlet finds his feet uncovered.
Goethe—Sprüche in Reimen. III.
Better is to bow than breake.
Heywood—Proverbs. Pt. I. Ch. IX. Christyne—Morale Proverbs.
It is good to have a hatch before the durre.
Heywood—Proverbs. Pt. I. Ch. XI.
Yee have many strings to your bowe.
Heywood—Proverbs. Pt. I. Ch. XI.
So that every man lawfully ordained must bring a bow which hath two strings, a title of present right and another to provide for future possibility or chance.
Richard Hooker—Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. Bk. V. Ch. LXXX. No. 9.
Fænum habet in cornu, longe fuge.
He is a dangerous fellow, keep clear of him. (That is: he has hay on his horns, showing he is dangerous.)
Horace—Satires. I. IV. 34.
Fasten him as a nail in a sure place.
Isaiah. XXII. 23.
The first years of man must make provision for the last.
Samuel Johnson—Rasselas. Ch. XVII.
Nullum numen habes si sit prudentia.
One has no protecting power save prudence.
Juvenal—Satires. X. 365. Also Satires. XIV. 315.
Je plie et ne romps pas.
I bend and do not break.
La Fontaine—Fables. I. 22.
Le trop d’expédients peut gâter une affaire.
Too many expedients may spoil an affair.
La Fontaine—Fables. IX. 14.
Don’t cross the bridge till you come to it,
Is a proverb old, and of excellent wit.
Longfellow—Christus. The Golden Legend. Pt. VI.
Let your loins be gilded about, and your lights burning.
Luke. XII. 35.
Entre l’arbre et l’ecorce il n’y faut pas mettre le doigt.
Between the tree and the bark it is better not to put your finger.
Molière—Médecin Malgre Lui. Act I. Sc. 2.
Il faut reculer pour mieux sauter.
One must draw back in order to leap better.
Montaigne—Essays. Bk. I. Ch. XXXVIII.
Crede mihi; miseros prudentia prima relinquit.
Believe me; it is prudence that first forsakes the wretched.
Ovid—Epistolæ Ex Ponto. IV. 12. 47.
In ancient times all things were cheape,
’Tis good to looke before thou leape,
When corne is ripe ’tis time to reape.
Martyn Parker—The Roxburghe Ballads. An Excellent New Medley.
Cito rumpes arcum, semper si tensum habueris.
You will soon break the bow if you keep it always stretched.
Phædrus—Fab. Bk. III. 14. 10. Syrus—Maxims. 388.
Cum grano salis.
With a grain of salt.
Pliny—Natural History. XXIII. 8. 77. Giving the story of Pompey, who when he took the palace of Mithridates, found hidden the antidote against poison, “to be taken fasting, addite salis grano.”
Ne clochez pas devant les boyteux. (Old French.)
Do not limp before the lame.
Rabelais—Gargantua.
Prevention is the daughter of intelligence.
Sir Walter Raleigh—Letter to Sir Robert Cecil. May 10, 1593.
Be prudent, and if you hear,***some insult or some threat,***have the appearance of not hearing it.
George Sand—Handsome Lawrence. Ch. II.
Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend
Under thy own life’s key: be check’d for silence,
But never tax’d for speech.
All’s Well That Ends Well. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 73.
Think him as a serpent’s egg
Which, hatch’d, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,
And kill him in the shell.
Julius Cæsar. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 32.
In my school days, when I had lost one shaft,
I shot his fellow of the self-same flight
The self-same way with more advised watch,
To find the other forth, and by adventuring both
I oft found both.
Merchant of Venice. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 139.
I won’t quarrel with my bread and butter.
Swift—Polite Conversation. Dialogue I.
Consilio melius vinces quam iracundia.
You will conquer more surely by prudence than by passion.
Syrus—Maxims.
Deliberandum est diu, quod statuendum semel.
That should be considered long which can be decided but once.
Syrus—Maxims.
It is well to moor your bark with two anchors.
Syrus—Maxims. 119.
Plura consilio quam vi perficimus.
We accomplish more by prudence than by force.
Tacitus—Annales. II. 26.
Ratio et consilium, propriæ ducis artes.
Forethought and prudence are the proper qualities of a leader.
Tacitus—Annales. XIII. 20.
Ut quimus, aiunt, quando ut volumus, non licet.
As we can, according to the old saying, when we can not, as we would.
Terence—Andria. IV. 5. 10.
Commodius esse opinor duplici spe utier.
I think it better to have two strings to my bow.
Terence—Phormio. IV. 2. 13.
Try therefor before ye trust; look before ye leap.
John Trapp—Commentary on I Peter. III. 17. Tracing the saying to St. Bernard.
Litus ama:***altum alii teneant.
Keep close to the shore: let others venture on the deep.
Vergil—Æneid. V. 163.