Many of the major links within this site are sourced from data provided by the Gazetteer for Scotland at http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/ and used with their permission.

Scottish Proverbs

SCOTS PROVERBS

Forbid a fool a thing, an' that he'll do.
Force without foresight aften fails.
Forewarned is forearmed.
For fashion's sake, as dogs gae to market.
For faut o' wise men fools sit on binks.
Forgotten pain, when follows gain.
For gude cheese and cheer mony haunt the house.
Many frequent the house for the sake of what they get to eat.
For my ain pleasure, as the man thrashed his wife.
For puir folk they seldom ring.
Fortune and futurity are no to be guessed at.
Fortune favours the brave.
Fortune gains the bride.
Fortune helps the hardy.
"For I half aft hard suith men say,
And we may see oursells,
That fortune helps the hardy aye,
And pultrones aye repels."-- Cherrie and the Slae.
For want o' a steek a shoe may be tint.
"A stitch in time saves nine."
Foster the guest that stays--further him that maun gang.

Foul fa' nought, and then he'll get naething.
Used in satirical allusion to those who expect a legacy from a very improbable source.
Foul water slockens fire.
Frae saving comes having.
Frae the teeth forward.
He speaks from the lips only, not from the heart.
Freedom's a fair thing.
Fresh fish and poor friends soon grow ill-faur'd.
Fresh fish and unwelcome friends stink before they're three days auld.
Friday flit, short time sit.
Meaning that to remove on a Friday is unlucky.
Friday rules Sunday.
Friends are like fiddle-strings, they mauna be screwed ower ticht.
Friends gree best separate.
Friendship canna stand aye on ae side.
Frost and fausehood hae baith a dirty wa' gang.
Fry stanes wi' butter and the broo will be gude.
Fu' o' courtesy, fu' o' craft.

GAE shoe the goose.
Gae hap and hang yoursel, then you'll dee dancing.
Gae kiss your Lucky-she lives in Leith.
"A cant phrase, from what rise I know not, but it is made use of when one thinks it is not worth while to give a distinct answer, or think themselves foolishly accused."-- Allan Ramsey.
Gae to bed wi' the lamb and rise wi' the laverock.
Gae to the deil, and he'll bishop you.
Meaning, that the person addressed is so well versed in evil ways as to be able to occupy a high position in the service of the Evil One.
Gae to the deil, for his name's sake.
Gane is the goose that laid the muckle egg.
Gang farther and fare waur.
Gardener's law -- Eat your fill, but pouch nane.
Gar wood's ill to grow; chuckie stanes are ill to chow.
Gather haws before the snaws.
Gathering gear is weel liket wark.
Acquiring wealth is pleasant employment.
Gaunting bodes wanting ane o' things three -- sleep, meat, or gude companie.
Yawning is proverbially supposed to indicate the want of one of the three things mentioned.
Gaunting gaes frae man to man.
Gawsie cow, gudely calf.
Handsome mother, goodly daughter.
Gaylie would be better.
When a person says he is "gaylie," Anglice, middling, he is understood not to be so well as he would like to be.
Gear is easier gotten than guided.
Gentlemen are unco scant when a wabster gets a lady.
The "wabster," or weaving profession, seems to have stood very low in the estimation of proverb makers.
Gentle partans hae lang taes.
Gentle servants are poor men's hardships.
Gentle servants are rich men's tinsel.
Gentry's dowff wi' an empty purse.
Get the word o' soon rising, an' ye may lie in bed a' day.
Obtain a reputation for early rising, and you may lie in bed all clay. The Spanish say, "Get a good name, and go to sleep."
Get and save, and thou wilt have.
Get weel, keep weel.
Get what you can, and keep what you hae, that's the way to get rich.
Get your rock and spindle ready, God will send the tow.
"Let us do our duty, and refer the rest to God's providence."-- Ray.
Gibbie's grace--Deil claw the clungiest.

This saying of the graceless Gibbie means literally, "Devil take the hungriest."
Gie a bairn his will, and a whelp its fill, and nane o' them will e'er do weel.
Gie a beggar a bed, and he'll pay you wi' a louse.
Gie a carl your finger, and he'll take your haill hand.
Gie a gaun man a drink, and a rising man a knock.
Gie a greedy dog a muckle bane.
Gie a thing, tak a thing, and that's the ill man's ring.
"Gie her her will, or she'll burst," quo' the man when his wife kamed his head with the threelegged stool.
Gie him a hole, and he'll find a pin.
That is, give him an opportunity, and he will take advantage of it.
Gie him an inch, and he'll tak an ell.
Gie him tow enough, and he'll hang himsel.
Gie is a gude fellow, but he soon wearies.
Meaning, that one tires of giving at all times.
Gie losin' gamesters leave to talk.
Giff gaff maks gude friends.
Gie my cousin kail enow, and see my cousin's dish be fu'.
We presume that this is an ironical signification that the cousin's "room" is preferred to his company.
Gie ne'er the wolf the wedder to keep.
Gie ower when the play's gude.
Gie't about, it will come to my faither at last.
Gie the deil his due, and ye'll gang to him.
Gie ye a use, and ye'll ca't a custom.
Gie ye meat, drink, and claes, and ye'll beg among your friends.
Applied to unreasonable people, who get everything they want, and still are not satisfied.
Gie your heart to God, and your alms to the poor.
From the remarkable paucity of proverbs relating to religion in the older collections, we infer that this saying is Henderson's own, as it only appears in his collection.
Gie your tongue mair holidays than your head.
Girn when you knit, and laugh when you louse.
Meaning, that while enforcing discipline we should do so with firmness, and relax it freely when occasion requires.
Glasgow for bells, Lithgow for wells, Falkirk for beans and pease.
Glasgow people, Greenock folk, and Paisley bodies.
"These words imply gradations of dignity, the Paisley bodies being (how far deservedly would admit of much question) at the bottom of the scale. Some years ago, when a public dinner was given to Professor Wilson, of Edinburgh, in Paisley, which is his native place, on his speaking of it as a town containing such and such a number of souls, his friend, Thomas Campbell, who sat by his side, whispered, 'Bodies, you mean.'"-- Robert Chambers.
Glasses and lasses are brittle ware.
Glib i' the tongue is aye glaiket at the heart.
A smooth tongue betokens a deceitful heart.
Glowering is nae gainsaying.
Glum folk's no easily guided.
"Glum" or morose people are difficult to manage.
God be wi' the gude Laird o' Balmaghie, for he ne'er took mair frae a poor man than a' that he had.
God comes wi' leaden feet, but strikes wi' iron hands.
God helps them that help themselves.
God help the rich, for the poor can beg.
God help you to a hutch, for yell never get a mailing.
Spoken of an incompetent person, that he may succeed in making a bare living, for his abilities will never secure him a fortune.
God keep ill gear out o' my hands; for if my hands ance get it, my heart winna part wi't,-- sae prayed the gude Earl of Eglinton.
God keep the cat out o' our gate, for the hens canna flee.
God ne'er measures men by inches.
God ne'er sent the mouth, but he sent the meat wi't.
God's aye kind to fu' folk and bairns.
As instanced by the marvellous manner in which men escape injury while under the influence of drink.
God sends fools fortunes.

God sends meat and the deil sends cooks.
God sends men claith as they hae cauld.
God send us siller, for they're little thought o' that want it.
God send water to that well that folk think will ne'er be dry.
"Spoken when our poor kin and followers are always asking of us; as if we should never be exhausted."- Kelly.
God send ye mair sense, and me mair siller.
God send ye readier meat than running hares.
God send ye the warld you bode, and that's neither scant nor want.
God shapes the back for the burden.
God's help is nearer than the fair e'en.
Gold's gude, but it may be dear bought
Go to Hecklebirnie.
"This term is used in a strange sort of imprecation. I one say, 'Go to the d--l !' the other often replies, 'Go you to Hecklebirnie !' which is said to be a place three miles beyond hell !"-- Jamieson.
Graceless meat maks folk fat.
Grass grows nae green in the common road.
Gratitude preserves auld friendships and begets new.
Great barkers are nae biters.
Great pains and little gains soon mak a man weary.
Great tochers makna aye the greatest testaments.
Great winning maks wark easy.
Greed is envy's auldest brither: scraggy wark they mak thegither.
Greedy folk hae lang arms.
Gree, like tykes and swine.
Greening wives are aye greedy.
Grey-eyed, greedy; brown-eyed, needy; black-eyed, never blin', till it shame a' its kin.
Gude advice is never out o' season.
Gude ale needs nae wisp.
"A wisp of straw stuck upon the top of a country house is a sign that ale is to be sold there ; but if the ale be good, people will haunt the house though there be none"-- Kelly.
Gude bairns are eith to lear.
Gude bairns get broken brows.
For they are as liable to injury as bad ones.
Gude be wi' auld langsyne, when our gutchers ate the trenchers.
Gude breeding and siller mak our sons gentlemen.
Gude cheer and cheap gars mony haunt the house.
Gude claes open a' doors.
Gude counsel is abune a' price.
Gude-enough has got a wife and Far-better wants.
Gude folk are scarce, tak care o' me.
Gude foresight furthers wark.
Gude gear gangs into little bouk.
Gude gear's no to be gaped at.
Gude health is better than wealth.
Gude kail is half meat.
Gude night, and joy be wi' you a'.
Gude reason and part cause.
Signifying that a person has both good reason and cause to complain.
Gude to fetch sorrow to a sick wife.
Gude! ye're common to kiss your kimmer.
Gude wares may come frae an ill market.
Gude wares mak a quick market.
Gude watch hinders harm.
Gudewill ne'er wants time to show itsel.
Gudewill should be ta'en in part payment.
Gude wit jumps.
Gude words cost naething.
Guessed work's best if weel done.
"Gulp !" quo' the wife when she swallowed her tongue
Gunpowder is hasty eldin.

Gust your gab wi' that.
"He's no ill boden,
That gusts his gab wi' oyster sauce,
An' hen weel soden."-- Fergusson.
Gut nae fish till ye get them.

HA' binks are sliddry.
"Great men's favours are uncertain."-- Kelly.
Had I fish was never gude to eat mustard.
"An answer to them that say, Had I such a thing, I would do so or so."-- Kelly.
"Had I wist," quo' the fool.
Had you sic a shoe on ilka foot, you would shochel.
Or, had you my sorrows to hear, you would look equally miserable.
Hae! gars a deaf man hear.
Hae God, hae a'.
Hae, lad,--rin, lad; that maks an olite lad.
Hae you gear or hae you nane, tine heart and a is gane.
Hain'd gear helps weel.
"Hain'd gear"--saved money--is of great assistance.
Hair by hair maks the carl's head bare.

Continued On Next Page

E-Mail Me Today