Busy folk are aye meddling:
But middlin' bonny, like Boles' gudemither.
Butter and burn trouts are kittle meat for maidens.
Butter's king o' a' creesh.
Butter to butter's nae kitchen.
Like to like is no improvement or relish.
Buy a thief frae the widdie and he'll help to hang ye.
"Save a rogue from the gallows, and he will hang you up."-- French.
Buy friendship wi' presents, and it will be bought frae you.
Buy in the market and sell at hame.
Buy what you dinna want and ye'll sell what you canna spare.
By chance a cripple may grip a hare.
By doing naething we learn to do ill.

CA' a cow to the ha' and she'll rin to the byre.
"Set a frog on a golden stool;
Off goes again to the pool."-- German.
Ca' again: you're no a ghaist.
An intimation that your visits are agreeable.
Ca' canny and flee laigh.
Ca' canny, and ye'll break nae graith.
Literally, drive slowly, and you will not overstrain the harness.
Ca' canny, lad, ye're but a new-come cooper.
A caution to those who are new or inexpert at an occupation,--a hint that more experience or information is desirable.
Cadgers are aye cracking o' creels.
Cadgers hae aye mind of lade saddles.
The conversation of most men turns more or less on their own business.
Caff and draff is gude eneuch for aivers.
Chaff and draff, i.e., brewers' grains, are good enough for horses. Common food suits common people.
Can do is easily carried.
"At this moment the door opened, and the voice of the officious Andrew was heard,--' A'm bringin' in the caunles--ye can light them gin ye like--can do is easily carried about wi' ane.'"-- Rob Roy.
Ca'ing names breaks nae banes.
"Sticks and stanes 'll break my banes,
But names will never hurt me."-- Schoolboy Rhyme.
Ca' me what ye like, but dinna ca' me ower.
Canna has nae craft.
To an unwilling person, or one who will not learn, instruction is of little or no use.
Canny stretch, soon reach.
Care will kill a cat, yet there's nae living without it.
Careless folk are aye cumbersome.
Carena would hae mair.
"Carena" refers here to an answer that may be construed into either "yes" or "no," and is treated accordingly. "'I don't want it, I don't want it,' says the friar; 'but drop it into my hood.'"-- Spanish.
Carles and aivers win a'; caries and aivers spend a'.
"Servants' wages, buying and keeping of horses, and purchasing other utensils, eat up the product of a farm."-- Kelly.
Carrick for a man, Kyle for a cow, Cunningham for corn and ale, and Galloway for woo'.
"This old rhyme points out what each of the three districts of Ayrshire, and the neighbouring territory of Galloway, were remarkable for producing in greatest perfection. The mountainous province of Carrick produced robust men; the rich plains of Kyle reared the famous breed of cattle now generally termed the Ayrshire breed; and Cunningham was a good arable district. The hills of Galloway afford pasture to an abundance of sheep."-- Robert Chambers.
Carry saut to Dysart and puddings to Tranent.
This proverb, the meaning of which is obvious enough, is paralleled in all languages. The English say, "To carry coals to Newcastle." The French and German suggest that it is not necessary "To send water to the sea." The French also say, "To carry leaves to the wood ;" and the Dutch are wise enough not "To send fir to Norway." Neither will the Asiatic "Carry blades to Damascus."
Cast a bane in the deil's teeth.
Cast a cat ower the house and she'll fa' on her feet.
Cast nae snawba's wi' him.
That is, do not trust him too much; be is churlish or dangerous.
Cast not a clout till May be out.
Cast the cat ower him.
"It is believed that when a man is raging in a fever, the cat cast ower him will cure him; applied to them whom we hear telling extravagant things, as if they were raving."-- Kelly.
Cast ye ower the house riggin', and yell fa' on your feet.
"Throw him -in the Nile, and he will rise with a fish in his mouth," says the Arab; and we have met somewhere with this saying, that "If he lost a penny be would find a ducat"
Castna out the dowed water till ye get the clean.
Cat after kind.
Cats and carlins sit i' the sun, but fair maidens. sit within.
A rhyming intimation that exposure to the sun is not favourable to beauty.
Cats eat what hussies spare.
Cauld grows the love that kindles ower het.
Cauld kail het again is aye pat tasted.
Cauld kail het again, that I liked never; auld love renewed again, that I liked ever.
Cauld parritch are sooner het than new anes made.
Cauld water scauds daws.
Chalk's no shears.
"Taken from tailors marking out their cloth before they cut it, signifying that a thing may be proposed that will never be executed."-- Kelly.
Change o' deils is lightsome.
Change your friend ere ye hae need.
Changes are lightsome, and fools like them.
Changes o' wark is lightening o' hearts.
Charge nae mair shot than the piece 'll bear.
Charity begins at hame, but shouldna end there.
Cheatery game will aye kythe.
"Kythe," to appear. That is, cheatery or evil-doing will almost invariably come to light. A qualified version of the English saying, "Murder will out."
Choose your wife on Saturday, not on Sunday.
This saying suggests that a wife should rather be chosen for her good qualities and usefulness, which are seen in her daily labours, than for her fine dress or her Sunday manners.
Claw for claw, as Conan said to the deil.
"In the Irish ballads relating to Finn (the Fingal of MacPherson), there occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes, each of whom has some distinguishing attribute; upon these qualities, and the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed, which are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan is distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that be would never takes blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of antiquity, descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the archfiend who presided there, which he instantly returned: hence the proverb."-- Sir Walter Scott, Note to Waverley.
Claw me and I'll claw thee.
Speak well of me and I will speak well of thee, whether, we presume, it is deserved or not.
Clawing and eating needs but a beginning.
Clean pith and fair play.
Clear in the south beguiled the cadger.
Cadgers (beggars, or gipsy pedlars)A from their out-of-door experience, are allowed to be good judges of coming weather. The proverb means that even the best judges may be occasionally mistaken in their opinions. The one following is of similar import
Clear in the south drown'd the ploughman.
Clecking time's aye canty time.
Good cheer and mirth in the house when a birth has taken place.
"'Perhaps,' said Mannering, 'at such a time a stranger's arrival might be inconvenient?' 'Hout, na, ye needna be blate about that; their house is muckle enough, and clecking time's aye canty time.'"-- Guy Mannering.
Clippet sheep will grow again.
Clout upon a hole is gude gentry, clout upon a clout is gude yeomanry, but clout upon a clouted clout is downricht beggary.
"Facetiously spoken to those who quarrel with a patch about you."-- Kelly.
Come a' to Jock Fool's house and ye'll get bread and cheese.
Spoken sarcastically of those who invite every person indiscriminately to dine or sup with them.
Come day, go day, God send Sunday.
"Spoken to lazy, unconscionable servants, who only mind to serve out their time, and get their wages."-- Kelly.
Come it air, or come it late, in May will come the cow-quake.
Come not to council unbidden.
"Thair is a sentence said be sum,
Let nane uncalled to counsell cum,
That welcum weins to be;
Zet I haif hard anither zit,
Quha cum uncallt, unserved suld sit,
Perhaps, sir, sae may ze."-- Cherrie and the Slae.
Come unca'd, sits unserved.
Come when ye are ca'd and ye'll no be chidden.
Come wi' the wind and gang wi' the water.
Common saw sindle lies.
Common fame seldom lies; but another proverb says, "Common fame is a common liar."
Condition makes, condition breaks.
Confess and be hang'd, and syne your servant smith.
Confess debt and crave days.
Confess'd faut is half amends.
Content's nae bairn o' wealth.
Contentibus, quo' Tammy Tamson, kiss my wife, and welcome.
"Spoken facetiously when we comply with a project."-- Kelly.
Corbies and clergy are kittle shot.
Corbies dinna gather without they smell carrion.
"Where the carrion is, there do the eagles gather."-- Danish.
Corbies dinna pike out corbies' een.
One rogue does not wrong another. "Crows do not peck out crows' eyes."-- Portuguese.
Corn him weel, he'll work the better.
Counsel is nae command.
"Quod Danger, Sen I understand
That counsell can be nae command,
I have nae mair to say,
Except gif that he thocht it good;
Tak counsell zit or ze conclude
Of wyser men nor they. "-- Cherrie and the Slae.
Count again is no forbidden.
Count like Jews and 'gree like brithers.
Count siller after a' your kin.
Courtesy is cumbersome to him that kens it na.
Crabbit was and cause hadna.
Crab without a cause, mease without mends.
That is, if you are peevish and ill-pleased without cause, you must regain your good nature without amends.
Craft maun hae claes, but truth gaes naked.
Credit is better than ill-won gear.
Credit keeps the crown o' the causey.
Creep before ye gang.
"Ye will never make your bread that way, Maister Francie. Ye suld munt up a muckle square of canvass, like Dick Tinto, and paint folk's ainsells, that they like muckle better to see than ony craig in the haill water; and I wadna muckle objeck even to some of the Wallers coming up and sitting to ye. They waste their time war, I wis-- and, I warrant, ye might mak a guinea a-head of them. Dick made twa, but he was an auld used hand, and folk maun creep before they gang."-- St Ronan's Well.
Cripples are aye better planners than workers.
Cripples are aye great doers--break your leg and try.
People who are always very ready to give advice are generally slow in giving assistance.
"Crookit carlin," quo' the cripple to his wife.
"Oh wad some power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us !
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
And foolish notion."-- Burns.
Cry a' at ance, that's the way to be served.
Curses mak the tod fat.
So long as he is cursed only, not hunted, does he thrive; for "A curse will not strike out an eye unless the fist go with it."-- Danish.
Cut your coat according to your cloth.

DAFFIN' and want o' wit maks auld wives donnart.
"Daffin"' is defined by Ramsay as "folly in general ;" so the proverb means that foolish conduct in the aged is inconsistent or "donnart," i.e., stupid.
Daffin' does naething.
Playing accomplishes nothing.
Daily wearing needs yearly beiting.
Literally, clothes that are worn daily, require to be renewed annually.
Dame, deem warily, ye watna wha wytes yoursel.
"Deemer," one who judges.-- Jamieson. That is, judge other people cautiously; we know not who blames ourselves.
Dammin' and lavin' is gude sure fishing.
"Dammin' and lavin'," a low poaching mode of catching fish in rivulets, by damming and diverting the course of the stream, and then laving or throwing out the water, so as to get at the devoted prey."-- Jamieson.
Danger past, God forgotten.
Daughters and dead fish are kittle keeping wares.
A suggestion that daughters should be married, and dead fish eaten, otherwise they will both spoil on the hands of their possessors. "Daughters are brittle ware. "-- Dutch. "Marry your son when you will, and your daughter when you can."-- Spanish.
Daughters pay nae debts.
Dawted bairns can bear little.
Dawted daughters mak daidling wives.
Daughters who have been too much indulged or petted at home before marriage make but indifferent wives.
Daylight will peep through a sma' hole.
Dead men are free men.
Dead men do nae harm.
Deal sma' and ser' a'.
Death and drink-draining are near neighbours.
In allusion to the drinking usages formerly common at burials.
Death and marriage break term-day.
Death at ae door and heirship at the other.