a cat in gloves catches no mice
- a cat in gloves catches no mice
Restraint and caution (or ‘pussyfooting’) achieve nothing. Cf. 14th-cent. Fr. chat engaunté ne surrizera ja bien, a gloved cat will never mouse well.
1573 J. SANFORDE Garden of Pleasure 105 A gloued catte can catche no myse.
1592 G. DELAMOTHE French Alphabet II. 1 A mufled Cat is no good mouse hunter.
1758 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (Preface) Handle your Tools without Mittens; remember that the Cat in Gloves catches no Mice.
1857 DICKENS Little Dorrit II. xiv. Mrs. General, if I may reverse the common proverb..is a cat in gloves who will catch mice. That woman..will be our mother-in-law.
1922 E. PHILLPOTTS Red Redmaynes ix. As we say in Italy, ‘if you put a cat into gloves, she will not catch mice.’ You have been in gloves ever since you knew Madonna was a widow.
1979 Country Life 21 June 2047 There is hardly one [cat] but flings back the lie in the face of the old saying that a cat in gloves catches no mice. Why dirty your paws when your servants will do it for you?
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cat in gloves catches no mice — This expression means that if you are too careful and polite, you may not obtain what you want. Negotiate carefully, but remember : a cat in gloves catches no mice! … English Idioms & idiomatic expressions
cat — see 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 cat may look at a king when the cat’s away, the mice will play the cat, the rat, and Lovell the dog, rule all England under the hog … 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
mouse — see a mouse may help a lion one for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, one to grow the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice a cat in gloves catches no mice … Proverbs new dictionary
glove — see a cat in gloves catches no mice … Proverbs new dictionary
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Great Expectations — This article is about the Charles Dickens novel. For other uses, see Great Expectations (disambiguation). Great Expectations … Wikipedia
