Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Wolf
A wolf hankers after sheep even at his last gasp.Dutch.
A wolf is a wolf though it hath torn no sheep.German.
A wolf never eats a lamb by messenger.Modern Greek.
A wolf without teeth is still a wolf.German.
All the sheep are not for the wolf.Italian.
An old wolf is not scared by loud cries.Danish.
An old wolf is used to be shouted at.Dutch.
Bad watch often feeds the wolf.French.
Better the wolf eat us than the fleas.German.
Even counted sheep are eaten by the wolf.French, Italian, German.
Gie ne’er the wolf the wedder to keep.
He hath enough to keep the wolf from the door.
He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
If the wolf had stayed in the wood there would have been no hue-and-cry after him.German.
Ill herds make fat wolves.
It is a small thing for which the wolf eats the sheep.
It must be a hard winter when one wolf devours another.Danish.
It needs but small provocation to make the wolf devour the lamb.Danish.
It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep be.Virgil.
One must howl with the wolves.French.
One wolf does not kill another.Spanish, Portuguese.
One would rather be bitten by wolves than by sheep.Danish.
So you tell me there are wolves on the mountains and foxes in the valley.Spanish.
Sooner will the wolf take a sheep for a wife.Latin.
Talk of the wolf and behold his skin.Portuguese.
Talk of the wolf and his tail appears.French, Dutch.
The wolf and fox are both privateers.
The wolf and the fox are both in one story.Spanish.
The wolf bemoans the sheep and then eats it.Italian.
The wolf calls the fox robber.German.
The wolf changes his hair but not his nature.
The wolf changes his coat but not his disposition.
The wolf dances round the well. (Longing for the water he cannot reach.)Latin.
The wolf does not satisfy his hunger with wolf’s flesh.German.
The wolf does not weep over the death of the dog.German.
The wolf does that in the course of the week, which hinders him from going to mass on Sunday.Spanish.
The wolf eats of what is counted.Spanish, Portuguese.
The wolf is always left out of the reckoning.Italian.
The wolf is always said to be more terrible than he is.Italian.
The wolf loses his teeth but not his inclination.Spanish, Portuguese.
The wolf must pay with his skin.German.
The wolf never wants a pretence against the lamb.
The wolf picks the ass’s fleas by moonlight.Spanish.
The wolf preys not in his own field. (Commits no mischief at home.)Spanish, Dutch.
The wolf speaks no ill of himself.German.
The wolf’s death is the life of the sheep.German.
The wolf will die in his skin.French.
There is never a cry of wolf, but the wolf is in the district.Italian.
Though the wolf loses his teeth he never loses his inclination.
Though you teach the wolf the pater noster he will say “lamb, lamb.”Danish.
Twa wolves may worry ae sheep.
Very hard times in the wood when the wolves eat each other.French.
Were it a wolf it would spring at your throat. (Said to a person hunting a thing that another sees near him.)
What the she-wolf brings forth pleases the he-wolf.French, Spanish.
When one wolf eats another there is nothing to eat in the woods.Spanish.
When the wolf grows old he becomes the sport even of the pups.Modern Greek.
When the wolf grows old the crows ride him.
When the wolf’s ears appear his body is not far off.Danish.
When you see the wolf do not look for his track.Italian.
Where the wolf gets one lamb he looks for another.Italian, Spanish, Portuguese.
Who does not wish to be like the wolf, let him not wear its skin.Italian.
Who hath a wolf for his mate needs a dog for his man.
Who himself is afraid of the wolf, cares not for the sheep.German.
Wolves are often under sheep’s clothing.Danish.
Wolves do not eat wolves.Danish.
You must howl with the wolves when you are among them.Danish.
“Your words are fair,” said the wolf, “but I will not come into the village.”German.