- fish quotations
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an arbitrary selection follows and also includes proverbs, rhymes, fragments of show tunes, and ditties (as Q lacks piscine entries). Some other proverbs appear in the letter files:1 - "Anaximander says that men were first produced in fishes, and when they were grown up and able to help themselves were thrown up, and so lived upon the land".....Plutarch. 46 (?)-120 (?) A. D. Symposiacs, Book viii, Question viii2 - "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men".....Matthew, 4, 193 - "And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him".....Mark, 1:17-185 - "All is fish that comes to the net".....ca. 15208 - "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime".....Chinese proverb9 - "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day".....modern version of the Chinese proverb11 - "A dried fish cannot be used as a cat\'s pillow".....Chinese proverb12 - "A fishing-rod has a fool at one end and a fish (or worm) at the other".....The Indicator, L. Hunt, 181913 - "The fish sees the bait, not the hook; a person sees the gain, not the danger".....Chinese proverb14 - "Schools of fish come to those who wait patiently; if the big ones don\'t come, the little ones will".....Chinese proverb17 - "That great fishpond (the sea)".....The Honest Whore, 1604, Thomas Dekker18 - "The play, I remember, pleased not the million: \'twas caviare to the general".....Hamlet, 1601, W. Shakespeare19 - "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm".....Hamlet, 1601, W. Shakespeare20 - "A fish, he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell".....The Tempest, 1611, W. Shakespeare21 - "As no man is born an artist, so no man is born an angler".....The Compleat Angler, 1653, Izaak Walton22 - "I am, Sir, a Brother of the Angle".....The Compleat Angler, 1653, Izaak Walton23 - "I love any discourse of rivers, and fish and fishing".....The Compleat Angler, 1653, Izaak Walton24 - "Death is a fisherman, the world we see. His fish-pond is, and we the fishes be".....Anonymous, Death\'s Trade, 17th Century26 - "Why then send lampreys? fie, for shame! \'Twill set a virgin\'s blood on flame. This to fifteen a proper gift! It might lend sixty-five a lift".....John Gay, To a Young Lady with some Lampreys, from Poems, 172027 - "Lamprey\'s a most immodest diet: You\'ll neither wake nor sleep in quiet".....John Gay, To a Young Lady with some Lampreys, from Poems, 172028 - "Haddock, cod, turbot, and ling, Of all; the fish i\' th\' sea, herring\'s the king, Up started the flowk and said, here am I, And ever since that his mouth stands awry".....English folk rhyme (flowk being a fluke or flatfish)31 - "When the wind\'s in the north, The skilful fisher goes not forth, When the wind\'s in the south, It blows the bait in the fishes\' mouth".....English folk rhyme32 - "And angling, too, that solitary vice".....Lord Byron, Don Juan (1819-1824)33 - "Of all nature\'s animated kingdoms, fish are the most unchristian, inhospitable, heartless, and cold-blooded of creatures".....Mardi, 1849, Herman Melville34 - "Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk".....Journal, 1850, Henry David Thoreau35 - "Do not tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly, don’t tell them where they know the fish".....Collected Tales, Sketches, Speeches, & Essays, 1891-1910, Mark Twain36 - "And this is good old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where the Lowells talk to the Cabots, And the Cabots talk only to God".....Springfield Sunday Republican, 14 December 1924, John Collins Bossidy37 - "Fish got to swim and birds got to fly".....Show Boat, 1927, Oscar Hammerstein38 - "Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear, And he shows them pearly white, Just a jackknife has Macheath, dear, And he keeps it out of sight".....The Threepenny Opera, 1928, Bertolt Brecht39 - "All men are equal before fish".....Herbert Hoover42 - "Throw a lucky man in the sea, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth".....Saudi Arabian proverb44 - "Govern a family as you would cook a small fish - very gently".....Chinese proverb47 - "There is an eel under every rock".....Latin proverb48 - "Fish begin to stink from the head".....Proverb in many European countries, Persia and Turkey, meaning all corruption comes from the government or the upper classes50 - "Pisces natare doces"..... Latin for "You\'re teaching fish how to swim"; literally, you are wasting your time51 - "Luck affects everything. let your hook always be cast; in the stream where you least expect it there will be a fish".....Latin proverb (Ovid)52 - "Fish and guest go bad on the third day and must be thrown out".....Proverb in many European and Asian countries with variations such as the fish and guest being poison, odious, old, wearisome, smelling, stinking, etc. but all giving three days as the limit53 - "A fish follows the bait".....English proverb55 - "Fish must swim thrice"..... i.e. in water, sauce and wine, English, Scottish and Polish proverb (butter replacing sauce in Poland)58 - "It is no use fishing in front of the net".....English and Siamese proverb; in the latter the net is a trap60 - "Turkeys, carps, hops, pickerel and beer, came into England all in one year".....English proverb, the year being suggested as 152061 - "There are white flowers on the fisherman\'s garden".....Irish proverb, meaning the sea is white with breakers63 - "Life to men and death to fish".....Manx proverb64 - "One at a time is good fishing".....Scottish proverb65 - "All\'s fish that comes to the net".....Scottish proverb67 - "Let every herring hang by its own tail".....Scottish proverb68 - "Daughters and dead fish are no keeping ware".....Scottish proverb69 - "A fish from the river, a tree from the forest, a deer from the mountain, are thefts no man was ever ashamed of".....Scottish proverb71 - "Dry pants eat no fish".....Bulgarian and Montenegrin proverb74 - "When the fish is in the net it wants to get out; when it is out it wants to get in".....Estonian marriage proverb77 - "If a hunter goes into the forest, put the pot aside; if the fisherman goes to fish, put the pot on the fire".....Estonian proverb79 - "Catching one fish is always fishing".....French proverb80 - "He fishes on who catches one".....French proverb92 - "Where there is no fish, even the crayfish is deemed fish".....Russian proverb97 - "Who owns the shore owns the fish".....Russian and Ukrainian proverb98 - "A fisherman\'s mother seldom dines, a hunter\'s never".....Serbian proverb99 - "The eel escapes quickest when it is held fastest".....Silesian proverb101 - "Water does not enter the heart of a fish".....Burmese proverb, Shan States, meaning a little brother cannot enter the thoughts of an older one102 - "Every pond has its fish, every dog has its owner".....Burmese proverb, Shan States, meaning no one is so poor as to be without possessions104 - "Swiftly running water is a good place to catch fish".....Chinese proverb, meaning have your business on a busy street107 - "Fish see the bait but not the hook, men see the profit but not the peril".....Chinese proverb108 - "The fish that gets away is always a large one".....Chinese proverb, meaning stolen items are always the best; see later too109 - "Near putrid fish you\'ll stink, near epidendrum you\'ll be fragrant".....Chinese proverb110 - "Govern a great nation as you would cook a small fish".....Chinese Tao proverb, meaning don\'t overdo it112 - "The fish that has to live in the water should not make an enemy of the alligator".....Indian and Sri Lankan proverb114 - "The fish is still in the river, and the woman is pounding chillies" (to eat it with).....Punjabi proverb, meaning don\'t count your chickens before they\'re hatched115 - "The flowers of the fig tree, a white-coloured crow, a fish\'s feet in the water one may see but not what is in a woman\'s mind".....Sanskrit proverb116 - "Small fish flock where big ones are".....Japanese proverb118 - "A fish is larger for being lost".....in various countries expressed in various ways with various meanings form the literal to the figurative; Turkish, Japanese proverb; see also above121 - "Anything with scales counts as a fish".....Malayan proverb, meaning accepting what comes to hand122 - "Different holes have different fish".....Malayan proverb, meaning different men have different ways123 - "Let the fish be caught, but let not the fish-spear be bent".....Malayan proverb, meaning act with discretion124 - "Fish perish through bait".....Malayan proverb, meaning men are tempted to ruin by women125 - "Wherever there is water there is fish".....Malayan proverb, meaning there is no smoke without fire. Also in Cambodia126 - "The fish gives laws to the fishes".....Southern Nigerian proverb128 - "Familiarity is like the sea which kills the fisherman".....Ugandan proverb130 - "He who knows how to bend the fish-hook, knows how to straighten it".....Northwest Tanganyikan proverb131 - "A traveller does not buy raw fish".....Southern Nigerian proverb132 - "Fish that do not feed on other fish do not get proper nourishment:".....Southern Nigerian proverb133 - "Take not the fish from your neighbour\'s net lest a bone stick in your throat".....Senegambia proverb134 - "Fish follow their river".....Portuguese South African proverb, meaning people support their own family or tribe135 - "Don\'t rejoice over the finding of decayed fish, for what killed it would have eaten it if it had been good".....Northern Nigerian proverb138 - "A fisherman will die drowned".....Basutoland proverb141 - "The real fish is the first one".....former Portuguese East Africa, meaning be satisfied with the first wife, or with an only child.that has died and no more are born142 - "Fish remain in the curves of the river".....former Portuguese East Africa, meaning men remain where there is peace143 - "When a fish is killed, its tail is put in its mouth".....Southern Nigerian proverb, said of those who reap the fruits of their misfortune144 - "He who goes with fish must eat worms".....Surinam proverb145 - "Fishermen never see the fish\'s stink".....Georgian proverb, meaning one\'s own child is good146 - "The bigger the fish the more butter him take".....Jamaican proverb150 - "The size of your fish has made you disloyal".....Maori proverb, meaning too great luck has made you arrogant151 - "Taking an eel by its tail and a woman at her word leaves little in the hand".....Swedish proverb152 - "Rather endure the flatulencies (or gurgling) of the camel than the prayers of the fishes".....Arabic proverb153 - "Those who wear pearls do not know how often the shark bites the leg of the diver".....Abyssinian proverb158 - "Summertime and the living is easy, Fish are jumping, and the cotton is high".....Porgy and Bess, 1935, Ira Gershwin and Du Bose Heyward159 - "Freedom for the pike is death for the minnows".....Equality, 1938, R. H. Tawney160 - "Everything seems beautiful because you don’t understand. Those flying fish, they’re not leaping for joy, they’re jumping in terror. Bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water, it takes its gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies, the glitter of putrescence. There’s no beauty here, only death and decay".....I Walked with a Zombie, 1942, Curtis Siodmak and Jacques Tourneur161 - "This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organizing genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time".....Speech, 24 May 1945, Aneurin Bevan162 - "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle"....attributed to Gloria Steinem but a graffito of the 1970s163 - "Democrats eat the fish they catch; Republicans stuff ’em and hang ’em on the wall".....Sean Donlon, 23 October 1981, Washington Post164 - "Fish have water, the bushmen of the Kalahari have sand, and Houstonians have interior décor"....America: A User\'s Guide, 1990, Simon Hoggart165 - "Caviar comes from virgin sturgeon, Virgin sturgeon\'s a mighty fine fish, Virgin sturgeon needs no urgin\', That\'s why caviar is my dish!"....Anonymous166 - "Shad roe comes from scarlet shad fish, Shad fish have a very sad fate, Pregnant shad fish is a sad fish, Got that way without a mate!".....Anonymous167 - "The trout is just a little salmon, Just half-grown, and minus scales, But the trout, just like the salmon; Can\'t get on without his tail!".....Anonymous168 - "Give a thought to the happy codfish, Always there when duty calls, Female cod fish is an odd fish, From her come your cod fish balls!".....Anonymous169 - "Who hears the fish when they cry?".....Henry David Thoreau, 184170 - "To believe that a frog is a fish because it lives in the water" (appearances can be deceiving).....Dominican prover172 - "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm"..... William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, sc. iii173 - "No fog, no fish, out of the fog and into the fat, the more fog, the more fish"..... Newfoundland prover174 - "No curlew, no herring"..... Labrador proverb based on the erroneous belief that curlew ate herring175 - "As cold as a cod\'s nose".....Newfoundland prover177 - "No cod, no cash".....Newfoundland prover
Dictionary of ichthyology. 2009.
