Keek in the stoup was ne'er a gude fellow.
"Spoken when one peeps into the pot to see if the liquor be out; whereas a jolly good fellow should drink about, and when the pet's empty call for more."- Kelly.
Keep a calm sough.
That is, keep our own counsel on matters of danger or delicacy.
"'Thir kittle times will drive the wisest o' us daft,' said Neil Blane, the prudent host of the Howff; 'but I'se aye keep a calm sough.'"-- Old Mortality.
Keep aff and gie fair words.
Or promise much, but perform little.
"The assets he carried off are of nae mair use to him than if he were to light his pipe wi' them. He tried if MacVittie & Co. wad gie him siller on them-that I ken by Andro Wylie; but they were ower auld cats to draw that strae afore them-they keepit aff and gae fair words."- Rob Roy
Keep a thing seven years, and ye'll find a use for't.
Keep gude company, and ye'll be counted ane o' them.
Keep hame, and hame will keep you.
Keep out o' his company that cracks o' his cheatery.
Shun the company of him who boasts of his cunning.
Keep something for a sair fit.
"Keep something for a rainy day."-- English.
Keep the feast till the feast day.
Keep the head and feet warm, and the rest will tak nae harm.
Keep the staff in your ain hand.
Keep woo, and it will be dirt; keep lint, and it will be silk.
"Lint mellows and improves by keeping, but wool rots."- Kelly.
Keep your ain fish-guts to your ain sea-maws.
"'Why. Mrs Heukbane,' said the woman of letters, pursing up her mouth, 'ye ken my gudeman likes to ride the expresses himsel--we maun gie our ain fish-guts to our ain sea-maws----it's a red half-guinea to him every time he munts his mear.'"-- The Antiquary.
Keep your ain cart-grease for your am cart-wheels.
Of similar meaning to the preceding proverb.
Keep your breath to cool your parritch.
Applied to people who are angry without cause, or exercising undue authority.
"The only wiselike thing I heard ony body say, was decent Mr John Kirk of Kirk-knowe, and he wussed them just to get the king's mercy, and nae mair about it. But he spak to unreasonable folk--he might just hae keepit his breath to hae blawn on his porridge."-- Heart of Midlothian.
Keep your gab steekit when ye kenna your company.
Be silent or cautious in speaking when in the company of Strangers.
Keep your kiln-dried taunts for your mouldy hair'd maidens.
"A disdainful return to those who are too liberal with their taunts."-- Kelly.
Keep your mocks till ye're married.
Keep your mouth shut and your een open.
Keep your tongue a prisoner, and your body will gang free.
Keep your tongue within your teeth.
Kenn'd folk's nae company.
Ken when to spend and when to spare, and ye needna be busy, and ye'll ne'er be bare.
Ken yoursel, and your neighbour winna misken you.
Kindle a candle at baith ends, and it'll soon be done.
Kindness comes o' will; it canna be coft.
Kindness is like cress-seed, it grows fast.
Kindness will creep where it canna gang.
Kings and bears aft worry their keepers.
"Witness the tragical end of many courtiers."-- Kelly.
Kings are kittle cattle to shoe behint.
"'Kittill to scho behind,' not to be depended on; not worthy of trust."-- Jamieson.
King's cheese gaes half away in parings.
For a greater part of the income is absorbed in the expenses of collecting it.
King's cauff's worth ither folk's corn.
"'I am sure,' said Ritchsie, composedly, 'I wish Laurie a higher office, for your lordship's sake and for mine, and specially for his ain sake, being a friendly lad; yet your lordship must consider that a scullion--if a yeoman of the king's most royal kitchen may be called a scullion--may weel rank with a master-cook elsewhere; being that king's muff, as I said before, is better than -'".- Fortunes of Nigel.
Kings hae lang hands.
Kiss and be kind, the fiddler is blind.
Kiss a sklate stane, and that winna slaver you.
"'Ah ! bonny lass, says he, ye'll gies a kiss,
An' I sall set ye richt on, hit or miss.'
'A hit or miss I'll get, but help o' you,
Kiss ye sklate-stanes, they is winna weet your mou';
An' aff she gaes, the fallow loot a rin,
As gin he ween'd wi' speed to tak her in,
But as luck was, a knibblich took his tae,
An' o'er fa's he, an' tumbled doun the brae."
Ross's Helenore.
Kissing gaes by favour.
Kissing is cried down since the shaking o' hands.
Kelly says (1721), "There is a proclamation that nobody should kiss hereafter, but only shake bands." Spoken by a woman who is asked for a kiss, but who is unwilling to allow it.
Kiss my foot, there's mair flesh on't.
A sharp reply to those who obsequiously ask permission to kiss the hand.
Kiss ye me till I be white, an' that will be an ill web to bleach.
Knock a carle, and ding a carle, and that's the way to win a carle; kiss a carle, and clap a carle, and that's the way to tine a carle.
"Both these are joined together, and signify that people of mean breeding are rather to be won by harsh treatment than civil."-- Kelly.
Kythe in your ain colours, that folk may ken ye.

LACKING breeds laziness, but praise breeds pith.
"Discommend a boy, and you discourage him; but commend him, and it will spur him on."- Kelly.
Lads will be men.
Laith to bed, laith oot o't.
Laith to drink, laith frae't.
Meaning that although some people are slow or "laith" to begin a thing, still, when they do commence, it is difficult to get them to leave off.
Lang and sma', gude for naething ava.
Jocularly applied to those who are tall and of "genteel" build.
Langest at the fire soonest finds cauld
Lang fasting gathers wind.
Lang fasting hams nae meat.
Lang leal, lang poor.
Lang lean maks hamald cattle.
That is, poorly kept cattle makes homely, domestic., or common meat.
Lang look'd for come at last.
Lang mint, little dint.
"Much ado about nothing."
Lang noses are aye taking till them.
Lang or ye saddle a foal.
Lang or you cut Falkland wood wi' a penknife.
Spoken when people enter into extensive undertakings without sufficient preparations or means.
Lang sick, soon weel.
Lang sport turns aft to earnest.
Lang standing and little offering maks a poor priest.
"Lang straes are nae motes," quo' the wife when she haul'd the eat out o' the kirn.
Lang tarrowing taks a' the thanks awa.
"He loses his thanks that promises, but delays."- English.
Lang-tongued wives gang lang wi' bairn.
"Applied to those who discover their projects, designs, and intentions long before they are put in execution."- Kelly.
Lasses and glasses are bruckle ware.
Lassies are like lamb-legs: they'll neither saut nor keep.
Lassies now-a-days ort nae God's creatures.
"The proverbial reflection of an old woman, as signifying that in our times young women are by no means nice in their choice of husband."-- Jamieson.
Last to bed, best heard.
Laugh and lay't down again.
Laugh at leisure, ye may greet ere night.
Laugh at your ain toom pouches.
"'The japanned tea-caddie, Hannah--the best bohea--bid Tib kindle a spark of fire--the morning's damp--draw in the giggling faces of ye, ye d--d idle scoundrels, or laugh at your ain toom pouches--it will be lang or your weel-doing fill them.' This was spoken, as the honest lawyer himself might have said, in transitu."- St Ronan's Well.
Law licks up a'.
"The Laird has been a true friend on our unhappy occasions, and I have paid him back the siller for Effie's misfortune, whereof Mr Nichil Novit returned him no balance, as the Laird and I did expect he wad hae done. But law licks up a', as the common folk say. I have had the siller to borrow out o' sax purses."-- Heart of Midlothian.
Law-makers shouldna be law-breakers.
Law's a deadly distemper amang friends.
Law's costly: tak a pint and gree.
"How easy can the barley bree
Cement the quarrel !
It's aye the cheapest lawyer's fee,
To taste the barrel."- Burns.
Lay a thing by and it'll come o' use.
Lay the head o' the sow to the tail o' the grice.
Or place the profit against time loss.
"An' I am to lose by ye, I'se ne'er deny I hae won by ye mony a fair pund sterling--sae, an' it come to the warst, I'se e'en lay the head o' the sow to the tail o' the grice."-- Rob Roy.
Lay the sweet side o' your tongue till't.
"An answer to them that ask what they will get to their hasty pudding."-- Kelly.
Lay up like a laird, and seek like a lad.
Lay your wame to your winning.
That is, let your housekeeping expenses be in unison with your income.
Laziness is muckle worth, when it's weel guided.
Lazy youth maks lousy age.
Leal folk ne'er wanted gear
Leal heart leed never.
"A' was toom, a' heartless-like, an' bare;
Her dowie pain she culdna mair conceal--
The heart, they'll say, will never lie that's leal."
Ross's Helenore.
Lean on the brose ye got in the morning.
Spoken facetiously to a person who leans heavily on another.
Leap year was never a gude sheep year.
Learn the cat the road to the kirn, and she'll aye be lickin'.
Learn young, learn fair; learn auld, learn mair.
Learn your gudewife to mak milk kail.
That is, "Teach your grandmother to suck eggs."
Learn you an ill habit and yell ca't a custom.
Least said soonest mended.
Leave aff while the play's gude.
Leave a jest when it pleases you best.
Leave the court ere the court leave you.
Leave welcome aye behint you.
Prolong your stay only so long as you find your company approved of, so that you may not be considered tedious.
Lee for him and he'll swear for you.
Leein' rides on debt's back.
Lend your money and lose your friend.
"It is not the lending of our money that loses our friend; but the demanding of it again. and that will lose a friend to my certain knowledge. They have a proverbial rhyme to this purpose:-
'I had a and a as many of this land,
I lent my to my when he did demand,
I sought my }penny{ from my }friend{ when he had kept it long.
Let-a-be for let-a-be.
"Mutual forbearance."-- Jamieson.
Let ae deil dang anither.
An expression of indifference at two bad persons quarrelling.
Let a horse drink what he will, but no when he will.
Let alane maks mony a loon.
"Let a' trades live," quo' the wife when she burnt her besom.
Let aye the bell'd wether break the snaw.
A "bell'd wether" is a ram with a bell round its neck; and the proverb means that a difficult or dangerous undertaking should be led by a person of experience.
Let folk bode weel, and do their best.
Let him cool in the skin he het in.
Let him drink as he has brewen.
Let by-ganes be by-ganes.
"'Hout, ay,' said Elliot, 'just let by-ganes be by-ganes, and a' friends again; deil ane I bear malice at but Westburnflat, and I hae gi'en him baith a het skin and a cauld ane.'"-- The Black Dwarf.
Let him haud the bairn that's aught the bairn.
Let him ride his ain horse wi' his ain hauding.
Let him tak a spring on his ain fiddle.
Let him tak his fling, and he'll find oot his ain weight.
Let him that's cauld blaw the ingle.
Let him that pays the lawin' choose the lodging.
"'I diana ken, sir,' she replied in a dry reveche tone, which carried me back twenty years, 'I am nane of thae heartsome landleddies that can tell country cracks, and make themsells agreeable ; and I was ganging to pit on a fire for you in the red room ; but if it is your will to stay here, he that pays the lawing maun choose the lodging.'"- The Highland Widow.
Let his ain wand ding him.
Let ilka ane roose the ford as they find it.
That is, let every one speak of a thing as he finds it.
Let ilka ane soop before their ain door.
Let ilka cock fight his ain battle.
Let ilka herring hing by its ain head.
Let ilka man soop the ice wi' his ain besom.
Let ilka sheep hang by its ain shank.
Let ilka tub stand on its ain bottom.
Let na the plough stand to kill a mouse.
Do not quit or neglect an important matter to look after trifles.
Let ne'er your gear owergang ye.
Never let your wealth make you give way to pride, or forget your old friends.