honey catches more flies than vinegar
- honey catches more flies than vinegar
Soft or ingratiating words achieve more than sharpness. cf. St. Francis de Sales (1567–1622) in L. de la Rivière Vie de..François de Sales (1624) 584: souvenez-vous que l’on prends plus de mouches avec une cuillerée de miel qu’avec cent barils de vinaigre (remember that one catches more flies with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar).
1666 G. TORRIANO Italian Proverbs 149 Honey gets more flyes to it, than doth viniger.
1744 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (Mar.) Tart Words make no Friends: spoonful of honey will catch more flies than Gallon of Vinegar.
1955 W. C. MACDONALD Destination Danger X. I..know the old saying relative to honey catching more flies than vinegar... If this is an act, you might as well save your breath.
1996 Washington Post 25 Oct. B4 Ask his advice frequently, and thank him profusely for his wisdom and guidance. Remember that old adage ‘You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.’
Proverbs new dictionary.
Look at other dictionaries:
honey — see honey catches more flies than vinegar where bees are, there is honey one day honey, one day onion … Proverbs new dictionary
vinegar — see honey catches more flies than vinegar from the sweetest wine, the tartest vinegar … Proverbs new dictionary
Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, Thematic Index — absence absence makes the heart grow fonder he who is absent is always in the wrong the best of friends must part blue are the hills that are far away distance lends enchantment to the view out of sight, out of mind … Proverbs new dictionary
catch — see you cannot catch old birds with chaff it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice a cat in gloves catches no mice a drowning man will clutch at a straw eagles don’t catch flies … Proverbs new dictionary
fly — noun see eagles don’t catch flies honey catches more flies than vinegar a shut mouth catches no flies verb see time flies a bird never flew on one wing participial adjective see … Proverbs new dictionary
List of Mr. Bean episodes — This is an episode guide for the television series Mr. Bean, starring Rowan Atkinson, which ran between 1 January 1990 and 15 November 1995. Contents 1 Mr. Bean 2 The Return of Mr. Bean 3 The Curse of Mr. Bean … Wikipedia
