John Florio Quotations

England is the paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and the hell of horses.

Who will not suffer labor in this world, let him not be born.

From the physician and lawyer keep not the truth hidden.

Poverty is no vice, but an inconvenience.

To long for that which comes not. To lie a-bed and sleep not. To serve well and please not. To have a horse that goes not. To have a man obeys not. To lie in jail and hope not. To be sick and recover not. To lose one's way and know not. To wait at door and enter not, and to have a friend we trust not: are ten such spites as hell hath not.

For proverbs are the pith, the proprieties, the proofs, the purities, the elegancies, as the commonest so the commendablest phrases of a language. To use them is a grace, to understand them a good.

Be circumspect how you offend schollers, for knowe, a serpent tooth bites not so ill, as dooth a schollers angrie quill.

Fish marreth the water, and flesh doth dress it

Who hath not served can not command.

Wisdom sails with wind and time.

One hand washeth another, both the face. [Lat., Una mano lava l'altra, ed ambedue lavano il volto.]

If you will be a traveler, have always two bags very full. That is one of patience and another of money.

Patience is the best medicine.

Praise the sea; on shore remain.

Night is the mother of thoughts.

A good husband makes a good wife.

A deaf husband and a blind wife are always a happy couple.

Who has not served cannot command.