223 Sayings of Scottish Origin

1. "A close mouth catches no fleas." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

2. "A begun turn is half ended." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

3. "Monday is the key day of the week." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

4. "Listen to the wind upon the hill till the waters abate." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

5. "From saving comes having." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

6. "He has licked the butter off my bread." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

7. "A man's best fortune or his worst is a wife." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

8. "A great boaster is rarely a great performer." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

9. "When wine sinks words swim." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

10. "Get what you can and keep what you have; that's the way to get rich." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

11. "Willful waste makes woeful want." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

12. "May God bless you to live as long as you want to; and want to as long as you live!" (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

13. "What cannot be cured must be endured." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

14. "The Devil's boots don't creak." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

15. "When the heart is full the tongue will speak." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

16. "There never came ill of good advisement." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

17. "Either a man or a mouse." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

18. "Hours are time's shafts, and one comes winged with death." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

19. "Friends are lost by calling often and calling seldom." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

20. "It's an ill cause that a lawyer thinks shame of." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

21. "Never draw your dirk when a blow will do it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

22. "A hungry man smells meat far." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

23. "A cold needs the cook as much as the doctor." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

24. "Every man to his taste, as the man said when he kissed his cow." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

25. "Such mother, such daughter." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

26. "It's an ill cause that a lawyer thinks shame of." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

27. "Twelve highlanders and a bagpipe make a rebellion." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

28. "The medicine that hurts the most is generally the best healer." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

29. "It ill becomes a carpenter to be heavy-handed, a smith to be shake-handed, or a physician to be tenderhearted." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

30. "In this context, “May” is the Mayflower or Hawthorn, which blooms well before the end of May." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

31. "A child may have too much of his mother's blessing." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

32. "Peace is the well from which the stream of joy runs." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

33. "Of two ills, choose the least." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

34. "They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

35. "Three that come unbidden, love, jealousy and fear." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

36. "Learn young, learn fair; learn old, learn more." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

37. "While a person gets they can never lose." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

38. "He's the slave of all slaves who serve's none but himself." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

39. "When one door sticks, another one opens." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

40. "It is better to have broken Gaelic than dead Gaelic." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

41. "A bird in the hand's worth two fleeing by." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

42. "A pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

43. "They that smell least smell best." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

44. "Money is flat and was meant to be piled up." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

45. "You may as well keep your breath to cool your porridge." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

46. "When it comes on one it comes on all." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

47. "It's sin and not poverty that makes men miserable." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

48. "Who wants to lick honey must not shy away from the bees." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

49. "Danger and delight grow on one stalk." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

50. "Better the day, the better deed." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

51. "The cure may be worse than the disease." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

52. "There never was a five-pound note but there was a ten-pound road for it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

53. "One glass, not the better and not the worse my body or my soul of it. Two glasses, the better my body of it and not the worse my soul of it. Three glasses, the worse my soul of it and not the better my body of it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

54. "Waves will rise on silent water." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

55. "Bad shoes on a shoemaker's wife, bad horseshoes on a smithy's horse, bad trousers on a tailor's son, a bad cart at a jointer." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

56. "That put the red kite among the hens." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

57. "A friend in need is a friend indeed." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

58. "He goes long barefoot that waits for dead men's shoes." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

59. "War makes thieves, and peace hangs them." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

60. "Penny wise and pound foolish." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

61. "Better half hanged than ill married." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

62. "Where vice is vengeance follows." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

63. "With violets and goats milk anoint your face, and every king's son in the world will be after you." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

64. "Better to be alone than in bad company." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

65. "Modesty is the beauty of women." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

66. "It's a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

67. "Enough's as good as a feast." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

68. "Confession is good for the soul." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

69. "Glasses and lasses are fragile ware!" (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

70. "The day has eyes, the night has ears." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

71. "One for sorrow, two for joy." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

72. "A penny saved is a penny gained." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

73. "Wink at small faults, for you have great ones yourself." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

74. "A tale never loses in the telling." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

75. "It is the milk of the goat foaming and warm, that gave the strength to the past generations of people." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

76. "Plenty makes dainty!" (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

77. "Married folk are like rats in a trap, fain to get others in, but fain to be out themselves." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

78. "A thread will tie an honest man better than a chain a rogue." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

79. "A dry simmer ne'er made a dear peck." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

80. "A wise lawyer never goes to law himself." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

81. "Forsake not God till you find a better master." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

82. "Self-assurance is two thirds of success." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

83. "A blind man needs no looking glass." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

84. "Any port in a storm." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

85. "Many a good tale is spoiled in the telling." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

86. "A proud mind and an empty purse grow ill together." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

87. "Such father, such son." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

88. "They are good that are away." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

89. "None but a dog eats his fill." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

90. "Better bend than break." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

91. "Ye may not sit in Rome and strive with the Pope." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

92. "A muffled cat was ne'er a good hunter." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

93. "Look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

94. "They that will not be counseled cannot be helped." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

95. "He that marries a widow will have a dead man's head often thrown in his dish." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

96. "Good company on a journey is worth a coach." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

97. "Time and tide will tarry on no man." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

98. "Better to be a cuckold and not know it than to not be one and everybody say so." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

99. "Nobody can serve two masters." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

100. "All that's said in the kitchen should not be told in the hall." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

101. "One man's meat is another man's poison." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

102. "When the cup is full, carry it even." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

103. "He that lives upon hope has a slim diet." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

104. "Big fish eat little fish." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

105. "A good tale never tires in the telling." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

106. "If the cat is away, the mice play." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

107. "I would as soon see your nose be cheese, and the cat get the first bite of it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

108. "A gloved cat was never a good hunter." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

109. "Often has a shoemaker's wife had bad shoes." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

110. "A fool and his money are soon parted." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

111. "Better be ill spoken of by one before all than by all before one." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

112. "Whisky may not cure the common cold, but it fails more agreeably than most other things." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

113. "Never marry for money. You can borrow it cheaper." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

114. "A slothful man is a beggar's brother." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

115. "A hungry stomach is aye craving." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

116. "It's sin and not poverty that makes men miserable." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

117. "A fu purse never lacks friends." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

118. "A fair exchange is no robbery." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

119. "We'll never know the worth of water till the well go dry." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

120. "He that loves law will soon get his fill of it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

121. "And seven for a secret that must never be told." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

122. "They that live longest, see most." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

123. "A day to come seems longer than a year that's gone." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

124. "A friend by thee is better than a brother far off." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

125. "Take care of your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

126. "A taking hand will never want." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

127. "A shored tree stands long." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

128. "A dry lent, a fertile year." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

129. "Little wit o' the head gives the feet much to do." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

130. "If the Devil were dead, folk would do little for God's sake." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

131. "A bad wound may heal, but a bad name will kill." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

132. "The wise make jests and fools repeat them." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

133. "A black hen lays a white egg." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

134. "A good word is as soon said as an ill one." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

135. "They that dance must pay the fiddler." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

136. "Prayer and practice is good rhyme." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

137. "If you don't see the bottom, don't wade." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

138. "A new besom sweeps clean." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

139. "Carelessness is worse than a thieve." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

140. "He can make a church or a mill of it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

141. "If the doctor cures, the sun sees it; if he kills, the earth hides it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

142. "A liar should have a good memory." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

143. "Slippery is the flagstone at the mansion-house door." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

144. "Give you an inch and you'll take a yard." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

145. "A man is a lion in his own cause." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

146. "Double drinks are good for thirst." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

147. "Never take a wife till you know what to do with her." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

148. "Ye can't make a silk purse of a pig's ear." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

149. "Repentance won't cure mischief." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

150. "Choose your wife with her nightcap on." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

151. "Never let your feet run faster than your shoes." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

152. "They talk of my drinking but never my thirst." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

153. "If ye had as little money as ye have manners, ye would be the poorest man of all your kin." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

154. "Fools look to tomorrow; wise men use tonight." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

155. "Diet cures more than doctors." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

156. "A man at forty is either a fool or a physician." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

157. "Better wear out shoes than sheets." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

158. "He that peeks through a keyhole may see what will vex him." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

159. "He's as welcome as water in a holed ship." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

160. "A crook in the forth is worth an earldom in the north." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

161. "False friends are worst than bitter enemies." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

162. "Never show your teeth unless you can bite." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

163. "A light purse makes a heavy heart." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

164. "Be a friend to yourself and others will." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

165. "Do as the lassies do, say “no” and take it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

166. "A blate cat makes a proud mouse." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

167. "Every man's tale is good till another's be told." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

168. "The geese will tell it in autumn." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

169. "To marry is to halve your rights and double your duties." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

170. "A bold foe is better than a cowardly friend." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

171. "What may be done at any time will be done at no time." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

172. "Beggars can't be choosers." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

173. "A turn well done is soon done." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

174. "Pay him in his own coin." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

175. "A plump widow needs no advertisement." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

176. "A rich man's wooing need seldom be a long one." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

177. "The best mirror is a friend's eye." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

178. "No fool like an auld fool." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

179. "What we first learn we best know." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

180. "Three for a girl, four for a boy." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

181. "If I had a dog as daft, I would shoot him." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

182. "Better keep the devil at the door than have to turn him out of the house." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

183. "One may survive distress, but not disgrace." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

184. "Law's costly, take a pint and agree." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

185. "In at one ear and out at the other." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

186. "Birds of a feather flock together." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

187. "Were it not for hope the heart would break." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

188. "The Devil's a busy bishop in his own diocese." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

189. "To heal all disease, take garlic and May butter; drink along with that white goats milk." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

190. "Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

191. "You will never know a man till you do business with him." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

192. "A misty morning may become a clear day." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

193. "Understand the boat and the boat will understand you." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

194. "The people meet each other but the hills do not." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

195. "Perfect love cannot be without equality." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

196. "A nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

197. "Be slow in choosing a friend but slower in changing him." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

198. "A cock is valiant on his own dunghill." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

199. "Laws catch flies, but let hornets go free." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

200. "Open confession is good for the soul." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

201. "There's no medicine for fear." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

202. "There isn't a flood which will not subside." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

203. "Better to be off with the old love before we be on with the new." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

204. "Forbid a fool a thing and that he will do." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

205. "A fool may earn money, but it takes a wise man to keep it." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

206. "A nod of an honest man is good enough." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

207. "Luck never gives; it only lends." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

208. "A table without bread is not a table but bread is a table on its own." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

209. "If you want to live a life that is long, don't get between she who is red haired and a rock." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

210. "A man of words, but no deeds, is like a garden full of weeds." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

211. "It is an ill cause that the lawyers think shame of." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

212. "One whisky is all right; two is too much; three is too few." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

213. "Fools make feasts and wise men eat them." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

214. "Three things come without being wanted, age, love, and rheumatism." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

215. "A house without a dog, a cat, or a little child is a house without joy or laughter." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

216. "Money is better than my lord's letter." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

217. "Praise the fine day in the evening." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

218. "A bad reaper never gets a good sickle." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

219. "Confessed faults are half-mended." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

220. "He that teaches himself has a fool for a master." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

221. "Egotism is an alphabet of one letter." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

222. "Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet

 

223. "A new walk in an old field." (Scottish Sayings) Click to tweet