Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Fish
A fish should swim three times: in water, in sauce and in wine.German.
A little bait catches a large fish.Modern Greek.
All fish are not caught with flies.
Better fish is to be had in Billingsgate than on the sea-coast.
Better small fish than an empty dish.
Big fish spring out of the kettle.Dutch.
Damning and laving is gude sure fishing.
Don’t teach fishes to swim.French.
Even that fish may be caught that strives the hardest against it.Danish.
Every fish is not a sturgeon.Russian.
Every fish that escapes, appears greater than it is.Turkish.
Fish are not to be caught with a bird call.
Fish begin to stink at the head.
Fish make no broth.
Fish must swim thrice: once in the water, once in the sauce, and a third time in wine in the stomach.
Fish spoils water but flesh mends it.
Fish are cast away that are cast into dry ponds.
Fishes follow the bait.
From great rivers come great fish.Portuguese.
Go to the sea if you would fish well.Italian.
Great fish are caught in great waters.German.
Great fishes break the net.Dutch.
He fishes on who catches one.French.
He is a poor fisherman that will not wet his feet.German.
He that fishes afore the net, lang ’ere fish get.
He that lets his fish escape, may cast his net often yet never catch it again.
He that sets his net betimes may expect a fuller draught than he that fishes later.
He who catches one fish is a fisherman.Spanish.
He who does not bait his hook fishes in vain.French, German.
He who wants to catch fish must not mind a wetting.Spanish, Portuguese.
I had no thought of catching you when I fished for another.
I have other fish to fry.
If you swear, you’ll catch no fish.
If you take away the salt you may throw the fish to the dogs.
In the deepest water is the best fishing.
It is a silly fish that is caught twice by the same bait.
It is good fishing in troubled waters.French, Spanish, Dutch.
It is no use fishing until you have baited your hook.
It is the bait that lures, not the fisherman or the rod.Spanish.
Like fish that live in salt water, yet are fresh.
Little fish are sweet.Dutch.
Make not your sauce until you have caught your fish.
Neither fish nor flesh nor good red herring.Sir H. Sheers.
Never fish in troubled waters.
No man cries stinking fish.
Old be your fish, your oil, your friend.Italian.
One must lose a minnow to catch a salmon.French.
Sma’ fish are better than nae fish.
That fish will soon be caught that nibbles at every bait.
The best fish swim near the bottom.
The big fish eat the little ones.French, Italian, Modern Greek.
The big fish eat the little ones, the little ones eat the shrimps, and the shrimps are forced to eat mud. (Applied to the classes of society paying taxes.)Chinese.
The end of fishing is not angling but catching.
The fish by struggling in the net hampers itself the more.
The fish comes to his senses after he gets into the net.Turkish.
The fish lead a pleasant life: they drink when they like.German.
The fish may be caught in a net, that will not come to a hook.
The fisherman fishes in troubled waters.Portuguese.
The hasty angler loses the fish.
The hasty hand catches frogs for fish.
There are as good fish in the sea as ever were caught.
There is no catching trouts with dry breeches.Portuguese.
’Tis not for every one to catch a salmon.
’Tis rare to find a fish that will not bite sometime or other.
To fish with a golden hook.Latin.
Where there are no fish, even a crawfish calls himself a fish.Russian.
Who cannot catch fish must catch shrimps.Chinese.
Who fishes with a golden hook catches what he will.German.
Without a bait fish is not caught.Modern Greek.
Young flesh and old fish are best.