Better an even down snaw than a driving drift.
Better an ill spune than nae horn.
Better a saft road than bad company.
"'I redd ye, Earnscliff' (this Hobble added in a gentle whisper), 'let us take a cast about, as if to draw the wind on a buck--the bog is no abune knee-deep, and better a saft road than bad company.'"-- The Black Dwarf.
Better a sair fae than a fause friend.
Better a shameless eating than a shamefu' leaving.
Better a sma' fish than an empty dish.
Better at a time to gie than tak.
Better a thigging mither than a riding father.
Better a tocher in her than wi' her.
That is, better that a wife have good qualities without money than vice versa.
Better a toom house than an ill tenant.
Better auld debts than auld sairs.
Better a wee bush than nae beild.
Better a wee fire to warm you than a big fire to burn you.
Better bairns greet than bearded men.
Better be a coward than a corpse.
"Discretion is the better part of valour."-- English.
Better be at the end o' a feast than at the beginning o' a fray.
Better be before at a burial than ahint at a bridal.
Better be blythe wi' little than sad wi' naething.
Better be envied than pitied.
Better be friends at a distance than enemies at hame.
Better be happy than wise.
Better be idle than ill doing.
Better be John Tamson's man, than Ring and Dinn's, or John Knox's.
"John Thomson's man is he that is complaisant to his wife's humours; Ring and Dinn's is he whom his wife scolds; John Knox's is he whom his wife beats."-- Kelly.
Better be kind than cumbersome.
Better belly burst than gude meat spoil.
A plea for gluttony on the score of economy.
Better bend than break.
Better be out o' the warld than out o' fashion.
Better be sonsy than soon up.
Better be the head o' the commons than the tail o the gentry.
"To reign is worth ambition, though in hell
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven"-- Milton.
Better be the lucky man than the lucky man's son.
Better bow to my faes than beg frae my friends.
Better buy than borrow.
Better cry "Feigh, saut," than " Feigh, stink."
The first can be remedied or improved in cooking; but a putrid article cannot.
Better day the better deed.
Better do it than wish it done.
Better eat brown bread in youth than in eild.
Better fed than bred.
Better find iron than tine siller.
Better fleech a fool than fight him.
"'I have as much mind as ever I had to my dinner, to go back and tell him to sort his horse himself, since he is as able as I am.' 'Hout tout, man !' answered Jasper, 'keep a calm sough: better to fleech a fool than tight with him.'"-- The Monastery.
Better gang about than fa' in the dub.
Rather a long road and safety than a short one attended with danger.
Better gang to bed supperless than rise in debt.
Better gie the slight than tak it.
Better greet ower your gudes than after your gudes.
Meaning that it is better not to sell goods at all than to sell and not be paid for them.
Better gude sale than gude ale.
Better guide weel than work sair.
Better hae than want.
Better hain weel than work sair.
Better half egg than toom doup.
"Better half an egg than empty shells."-- German.
Better half hang'd than ill married.
Better hand loose nor bound to an ill bakie.
"Bakie, the stake to which an ox or cow is bound to the stall."-- Jamieson.
Better hands loose than in an ill tethering.
Better happy at court than in gude service.
Better haud at the brim than at the bottom.
Better haud by a hair than draw by a tether.
Better haud out than put out.
"Prevention is better than cure."-- English.
Better haud wi' the hounds than rin wi' the hare.
The policy of the Vicar of Bray. It is better to side with the strongest or winning party.
Better keep the deil out than hae to put him out.
Better keep weel than make weel.
Better lang little than soon naething.
Better late thrive than never do weel.
Better laugh at your ain pint stoup, than greet and gather gear.
It is better to be merry spending money, than sorrowful acquiring it.
Better learn frae your neebor's skaith than frae your ain.
Learn experience rather from the misfortunes of others than from your own.
Better leave to my faes than beg frae my friends.
Better leave than lack.
That it is better to have too much of some things than too little.
Better live in hope than die in despair.
Better marry ower the midden than ower the muir.
Rather marry among those whom you know than go among strangers for a wife. "Marry over the mixon, and you will know who and what she is."-- German. "Your wife and your nag get from a neighbour."-- Italian.
Better master ane than tight wi' ten.
Better my bairns seek frae me than I beg frae them.
Better my friends think me fremit than fashious.
Better visit friends seldom than so often as to prove troublesome.
Better nae ring nor the ring o' a rash.
Better ne'er begun than ne'er ended.
Better ower 't than in 't.
Better beyond the fear of danger than in it.
Better plays the fu' wame than the new coat.
A man may be well dressed but still have a hungry belly, and vice versa. He that has the "fu' wame" is the more likely to be in good spirits.
Better rough an' sonsy than bare an' donsy.
It is better to be rough in manners, if coupled with prosperous circumstances, than be "genteel" and at the same time poverty stricken.
Better rue sit than rue flit.
Better not remove at all than do so and then regret it.
"Didna I see when gentle Geordie was seeking to get other folk out of the Tolbooth forby Jocky Porteous ? but ye are of my mind, hinny--better sit and rue, than flit and rue--ye needna look in my face sae amazed. I ken mair things than that, maybe."-- Heart of Midlothian.
Better saucht wi' little aucht than care wi' mony cows.
Better comfort and peace of mind with little, than care and contention with much.
Better saut than sour.
Better say "Here it is" than "Here it was."
Better short and sweet than lang and lax.
Better sit idle than work for nought.
Better sit still than rise an' fa'.
Better skaith saved than mends made.
Better that offence should not be given than committed and then apologized for.
Better sma' fish than nane.
Better soon as syne.
Better spared than ill spent.
Better speak bauldly out than aye be grumphin'.
If a complaint requires to be made, make it openly and straightforwardly, instead of continuing to fret about it in an indirect manner.
Better the barn filled than the bed.
Because a full barn denotes prosperity, a full bed trouble.
Better the end o' a feast than the beginning o' a fray.
Better the mother wi' the pock, than the faither wi' the sack.
"The mother, though in a low condition, will be more kindly to, and more careful of, orphans, than the father can be, though in a better."-- Kelly.
Better the ill ken'd than the gude unken'd.
Better the nag that ambles a' the day than him that makes a brattle for a mile and then's dune wi' the road.
Better thole a grumph than a sumph.
Be troubled rather by an intelligent, though surly man, than by a stupid one.
Better tine life than gude fame.
"I might line fled frae this Tolbooth on that awfu' night wi' ane wha wad hae carried me through the warld, and friended me, and fended for me. But I said to them, Let life gang when gude fame is gane before it."-- Heart of Midlothian.
Better tine your joke than tine your friend.
Better to baud than draw.
Better to rule wi' the gentle hand than the strang.
Better twa skaiths than ae sorrow.
"Losses may be repaired, but sorrow will break the heart and ruin the constitution."-- Kelly.
Better unkind than ower cumbersome.
Better unmarried than ill married.
Better wade back mid water than gang forward and drown.
Rather withdraw from a bargain or position found likely to prove bad or dangerous than proceed with either in hopes of improvement.
Better wait on cooks than leeches.
Better wear shoon than wear sheets.
Better you laugh than I greet.
Meaning, I would rather be ridiculed for not doing a thing, than do it and be sorry for it.
Better your feet slip than your tongue.
Between Martinmas and Yule, water's wine in every pool.
Between the deil and the deer sea.
Between two extremes equally dangerous.
"I fell into Claverhouse's party when I was seeking for some o' our ain folk to help ye out o' the hands o' the whigs; sae, being atween the deil and the deep sea, I e'en thought it best to bring him on wi' me, for he'll be wearied wi' felling folk the night, and the morn's a new day."- Old Mortality.
Between three and thirteen, thraw the woodie when it's green.
Train the minds and principles of children when young.
Between you and the lang day be'it.
Be what ye seem and seem what ye are.
Bid a man to a roast and stick him wi' the spit.
Pretend to show kindness to a man while your intention is to injure him.
Bide weel, betide weel.
Wait well or patiently and you will fare well; or at least as well as those who are hasty.
Biggin and bairns marrying are arrant wasters.
"Building is a sweet impoverishing."-- Spanish.
Bind the sack ere it be fou.
Do not tax any person or thing to the utmost.
Birds o' a feather flock thegither.
Birk will burn be it burn drawn; sauch will sab if it were simmer sawn.
Literally, wood will burn even if drawn through water, and the willow will droop if sown out of season. Figuratively, natural will and inclination will predominate and exhibit themselves, although submitted to the most antagonistic influences.
Birth's gude but breeding's better.
Bitter jests poison friendship.
Black's my apron, and I'm aye washing 't.
When a man has got a bad character, although he may endeavour to redeem it, he will find great difficulty in doing so.
Black will tak nae ither hue.
Blaw the wind ne'er sae fast, it will lown at the last.
Blind horse rides hardy to the fecht.
"Who so bold as blind Bayard ?"-- French.
Blind men shouldna judge o' colours.
Blue and better blue.
"That is, there may be difference between things of the same kind and persons of the same station."-- Kelly.
Blue's beauty, red's a taiken, green's grief, and yellow's forsaken.
Examples of the "Poetry of colour."
Blue is love true.
Bluid's thicker than water.
"'Weel, weel,' said Mr Jarvie, 'bluid's thicker than water; and it liesna in kith, kin, and ally, to see motes in ilk other's een if other een see them no.'"-- Rob Roy.
Bode a robe and wear it, bode a pock and bear it.
According as our aspirations are high or low, so do we succeed or fail. "As you make your bed, so you must lie on it."
Bode for a silk gown and ye'll get a sleeve o't.
That is, if we "bode" or earnestly wish for an article or result, we will get at least something approaching to it. An Aberdeenshire parallel to this is, "They never bodet a house o' gowd, but aye got a caber o't."
Bode gude and get it
Boden gear stinks.
The theory of the fox and grapes.
Bonnet aside! how sell you your maut?
Bonny birds are aye the warst singers.
Bonny sport, to fare weel and pay nothing for't.
"Diogenes is said to have thought that the best wine which cost him nothing."-- Kelly.
Bourdna wi' bawty lest he bite ye.
Bourdna wi' my e'e nor wi' mine honour.
Do not jest or trifle with subjects of delicacy character, &c.
Bread and cheese is gude to eat when folk can get nae ither meat.
Bread and milk is bairns' meat: I wish them sorrow that be it.
Bread's house skail'd never.
A full or hospitable house never wants visitors.
Break my head and syne draw on my how.
Breeding wives are aye beddie.
Bridal feasts are soon forgotten.
Broken bread maks batet bairns.
Broken friendships may be souther'd, but never sound.
Burnt bairns dread the fire.