There's a sliddery stane before the ha' door.
"Signifying the uncertainty of court favour, and the promises of great men."-- Kelly.
There's as mony Johnstones as Jardines
Meaning that there are as many on the one side as there are on the other; that the chances are equal.
There's a storm in somebody's nose, licht where it like.
Spoken when we see a person angry, and about to break into a passion.
There's a time to gley and a time to look straught.
There's a tough sinew in an auld wife's heel.
There's a whaup i' the raip.
There is a knot in the rope-there it something wrong.
There's a word in my wame, but it's ower far down.
Spoken by a person who is at a loss for a particular word to express himself.
There's aye a glum look where there's cauld crowdy.
Glum looks when there is cold shoulder of mutton for dinner, in England, are proverbial.
There's aye a wimple in a lawyer's clew.
"'The judge didna tell us a' he could hae tell'd us, if he had liked, about the application for pardon, neighbours' said Saddletree ; 'there is aye a wimple in a lawyer's clew; but it's a wee bit o' a secret.'"-- Heart of Midlothian.
There's aye enough o' friends when folk hae ought.
"Daft Will Speirs was sitting on the roadside picking a large bone, when the Earl of Eglinton came along. 'Weel, Will,' said the Earl, 'what's this you've got noo?'
'Ay, ay,' said Will, 'anew o' friends when folk has ocht; ye gaed by me a wee sin', an' ne'er loot on ye saw me.'"-- The Scotch Haggis.
There's aye ill-will among cadgers.
Synonymous with "Two of a trade seldom agree."-- French.
There's aye life in a living man.
There's aye some water where the stirkie drowns.
There's aye sorrow at somebody's door.
"There's baith meat and music here," quo' the dog when he ate the piper's bag.
There's beild beneath an auld man's beard.
Beild, that is, shelter or protection.
There's brains enough ootside his head.
There's but ae gude wife in the warld, and ilka ane thinks he has her.
"This rule admits large exceptions, for some are fully apprised of the contrary."-- Kelly.
There's life in a mussel as lang as it cheeps.
There's little for the rake after the shool.
"There is little to be gotten of such a thing when covetous people have had their will of it."-- Kelly.
There's little wit in the pow that lichts the candle at the lowe.
"He has little wit who does a thing in a dangerous or extravagant manner. There is an addition to this saying common in the north, "And as little in the croon, that kindles't ower far doon."
There's little sap in a dry pea-shaup.
"There's little to reck," quo' the knave to his neck.
There's mair ado than a dish to lick.
There's mair knavery among kirkmen than honesty amang courtiers.
There's mair knavery on sea and land than all the warld beside.
"A facetious bull, upon mentioning of some knavish action."- Kelly.
There's mair room without than within.
A churlish remark of one who thinks his company is not wanted.
There's mair ways o' killing a dog than hanging him.
There's mair ways than ane o' keeping craws frae the stack.
There's mair ways to the wood than ane.
There's main whistling wi' you than gude red land.
Or more play than work.
"'Red land,' ground turned up with the plough."-- Jamieson.
There's measure in a' things, even in kail supping.
"There is reason in roasting of eggs."-- English.
There's mirth among the kin when the howdie cries "A son."
There's mony a true tale tauld in jest.
There's mony a tod hunted that's no killed.
"'Oh, I hae nae friend left in the warld !--O, that I were lying dead at my mother's side in Newbattle kirkyard !'-'Hout, lassie,' said Ratcliffe, willing to show the interest which he absolutely felt, 'dinnna be sae dooms doon-hearted as a' that; there's mony a tod hunted that's no killed. Advocate Langtale has brought folk through waur snappers than a' this, and there's no a cleverer agent than Nichil Novit e'er drew a bill o' suspension.'"-- Heart of Midlothian.
There's mony chances, baith o' gude and ill, befa' folk in this warld.
There's muckle ado when dominies ride.
When people engage in a thing to which they are unaccustomed the necessity must be urgent. A Peeblesshire couplet embodies the same meaning:-
There's muckle ado when muirland folk ride--
Boots and spurs, and a' to provide !"
There's muckle between the word and the deed.
There's muckle hid meat in a goose's ee.
There's muckle love in bands and bags.
"There's meikle good love in bands and bags,
And siller and gowd's a sweet complexion;
But beauty and wit, and virtue in rags,
Have tint the art of gaining affection."
Tea-Table Miscellany.
There's my thoom, I'll ne'er beguile thee.
This is the name of an old Scottish song, but is often used as a proverb.
There's nae breard like middling breard.
Applied to low-born people who suddenly come to wealth and honour; in allusion to the stalks of corn which spring up on a dunghill.
There's nae birds this year in last year's nest.
There's nae corn without cauf.
There's nae fey folk's meat in my pat.
There's nae friend like the penny.
There's nae friend to friend in mister.
There's nae fules like auld fules.
"Your auntie's no past the time o' day yet for jumping at a man if she just had the offer. There's no fules like auld fules; and tak ye my word for't, Maister James, neither your lass nor mines cares half as muckle aboui mautrimony as your aunty."- The Disruption.
There's nae hair sae sma' but has its shadow.
There's nae hawk flees sae high but he will fa' to some lure.
"There's nae ill in a merry mind," quo' the wife when she whistled through the kirk.
There's nae iron sae hard but rust will fret it; there's nae claith sae fine but moths will eat it.
There's nae lack in love.
There's nae reek but there's some heat.
There's nae remede for fear but cut aff the head.
There's nae sel sae dear as our ainsel.
There's nae sport where there's neither auld folk nor bairns.
There's naething for misdeeds but mends.
There's naething sae gude on this side o' time but it might hae been better.
There's naething ill said that's no ill ta'en.
There's naething sae like an honest man as an arrant knave.
There's nae woo sae coorse but it'll take some colour.
There's nane sae blind as them that winna see.
There's nane sae busy as him that has least to do.
There's nane sae deaf as them that winna hear.
There's ne'er a great feast but some fare ill.
There's ower mony nicks in your horn.
That is, you are too knowing or cunning for me.
There's plenty o' raible when drink's on the table.
To "raible" is to speak in a riotous, careless, or loose manner.
There's remede for a' but stark dead.
For ony malledy ze ken,
Except puir love, or than stark deid,
Help may be had frae hands of men,
Thorow medicines to mak remeid."-- The Evergreen.
There's skill in gruel making.
"There's sma sorrow at our pairting," as the auld mean said to the broken cart.
"'If ye dinna think me fit,' replied Andrew, in a huff, 'to speak like ither folk, gie me my wages, and my boardwages, and I'se gae back to Glasgow--there's sma sorrow at our pairting, as the auld mear said to the broken cart.'"
-- Rob Roy.
There's steel in the needle point, though little o't.
"Spoken when a thing, commendable for its kind, is found fault with for its quantity."-- Kelly.
There's the end o' an auld sang.
Or, all the information I can give you.
There's tricks in a' trades but honest horsecouping.
There's twa enoughs, and ye hae got ane o' them.
"That is, big enough and little enough; meaning that he has gotten little enough. An answer to them who, out of modesty, say they have enough."-- Kelly.
There's twa things in my mind, and that's the least o' them.
Spoken by a person who declines to give a reason for a thing which he does not wish to do.
There was anither gotten the night that you was born.
"If one won't another will."-- English.
There was mair lost at Sherramuir, where the Hielandman lost his faither and his mither, and a gude buff belt worth baith o' them.
Spoken jocularly when a person meets with a trifling loss. Sheriffmuir is the name of the field between Stirling and Dunblane, where a disastrous battle between the Scots and English was fought during the rebellion of 1715.
There was ne'er a gude toun but there was a dub at the end o't.
Or never a thing so perfect as to be faultless.
There was ne'er a height but had a howe at the bottom o't.
There ne'er was a silly Jocky but there was a silly Jenny.
There was ne'er a thrifty wife wi' a clout about her head.
There was ne'er enough when naething was left.
The scabbit head loesna the kame.
The scholar may waur the maister.
The shortest road's the nearest.
The shortest road's where the company's gude.
The silliest strake has aye the loudest "hech."
This means, literally, that the silliest stroke is accompanied by the loudest exclamation: those who pretend to do most perform least.
The slothfu' man maks a slim fortune.
The smith has aye a spark in his throat.
The smith's mear and the souter's wife are aye warst shod.
The snail is as sune at its rest as the swallow.
The souter gae the sow a kiss; "grumph," quo' she, "it's for a birse."
"Spoken of those whose service we suppose to be mercenary."-- Kelly.
The stoup that gaes often to the well comes hame broken at last.
"The pitcher that goes often to the well leaves either its handle or. its spout."-- Spanish.
The stoutest head bears langest oot.
"The broadsword's pursuer, or plaintiff, as you Englishers ca' it, and the target is defender ; the stoutest head bears langest out ;--and there's a Hieland plea for ye."-- Rob Roy.
The strongest side taks aye the strongest right.
The sun is nae waur for shining on the midden.
The thatcher said unto his man, "Let's raise this ladder if we can."--"But first let's drink, maister."
"Spoken when one proposes something to be done and another proposes to take a drink before we begin."-- Kelly.
The thiefer-like the better sodger.
The thing that liesna in your gait breaksna your shins.
The thing that's dune's no to do.
The thing that's fristed's no forgi'en.
The third time's lucky.
The thrift o' you and the woo o' a dog wad mak a braw wab.
A sarcastic manner of informing a person that he is lazy.
The thrift o' you will be the death o' your gude-wife.
The time ye're pu'in' runts ye're no setting kail.
The tod keeps aye his ain hole clean.
"'Hoot-tout, Dame Elspeth,' said Tibb, 'fear ye nae thing frae Christie ; tods keep their ain holes clean. You kirk-folk make sic a fasherie about men shifting a wee bit for their living !"'-- The Monastery.
The tod ne'er sped better than when he gaed his ain errand.
"Every man is most zealous for his own interest. Spoken to advise a man to go about such a business himself."- Kelly.
The tod ne'er fares better than when he's bann'd.
"Spoken when we are told that such people curse us, which we think is the effect of envy, the companion of felicity. The fox is cursed when he takes our poultry."-- Kelly.
The tad's whalps are ill to tame.
The tree doesna aye fa' at the first strake.
The warld is bound to nae man.
The warst may be tholed when it's kenn'd.
The warst warld that ever was some man won.
The water will ne'er waur the widdie.
The water will never cheat the gallows ; of similar meaning to "He that's born to be hanged," q. v.
"A neighbour of mine was so fully persuaded of the truth of this proverb, that being in a great storm, and dreadfully afraid, espies in the ship a graceless rake whom he supposed destined to another sort of death, cries out, O Samuel, are you here? why then, we are all safe, and so laid aside his concern."-- Kelly.
The waur luck now the better anither time.
The weakest gangs to the wa'.
The wife's aye welcome that comes wi' a crooked oxter.
That person is always welcome who brings presents. The "oxter" is crooked because the arm is engaged carrying them.
The wife's ae dochter and the man's ae cow, the taen's ne'er weel and the tither's ne'er fu.'
The willing horse is aye worked to death.
The wolf may lose his teeth, but ne'er his nature.
The word o' an honest man's enough.
The worth o' a thing is best kenned by the want o't.
The worth o' a thing is what it will bring.
The wyte o' war is at kings' doors.
"You and me, Gilhaize, that are but servants, needna fash our heads wi' sic things; the wyte o' wars lie at the doors of kings, and the soldiers are free o' the sin o' them."-- Galt's Ringan Gilhaize.
They are eith hindered that are no fundersome.
They who are unwilling to do a thing are easily hindered
They are sad rents that come in wi' tears.
They buy gudes cheap that bring hame naething.
They craw crouse that craw last.
Because they who "craw" last exult that a matter is definitely known to be in their own favour.
They hae need o' a canny cook that hae but ae egg to their dinner.
They draw the cat harrow.
"That is, they thwart one another."-- Kelly.