Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.

Sack

A full sack pricks up its ear.Italian.

A sack is best tied before it is full.French.

A sack was never so full but it could hold another grain.French, Italian.

An auld sack craves meikle clouting.

Every man must carry his own sack to the mill.Italian, Danish.

Everyone goes with his own sack to the mill.Italian, Danish.

He fears the sack who has been in it.Danish.

He has command of the sack who is seated on it.Danish.

I hope I may tie up my sack when I please.

Into a holed sack it is indifferent whether you put or not. (Spoken of a spendthrift.)

It is a bad sack that will abide no clouting.

Like a collier’s sack, bad without and worse within.Spanish.

Nothing can come out of a sack but what is in it.Italian.

Old sacks want much patching.

Three or four daily will bring you to the bottom of the sack.

When a man is in a sack he must get out at the top or at the bottom.Danish.

When the sack is full it pricks up its ears.German, Dutch.

You may know by a handful the whole sack.