Finish My Proverb Trivia Quiz

Answer: The head down

The meaning of this saying is that if any empire, country or organisation fails, the blame is to be found in its leadership. Many countries have different variations of this proverb, but they basically all agree on its inherent meaning. The English version of this proverb was first heard in that country in the late 17th century and said to be included in John Josselyn's 1674 "An Account of Two Voyages to New England".

However, the general consensus is that it originated in Turkey. In Sir James Porter's 1768 book "Observations on the Religion, Law, Government and Manners of the Turks", he states, "The Turks have a homely proverb applied on such occasions: they say 'the fish stinks first at the head', meaning that if the servant is disorderly, it is because the master is so".

Answer: Any door

The general meaning of this proverb is that money can usually buy anything, or get a person to do any deed. The first person known to have recorded this was English playwright John Lyly in his 1580 work "Euphues and his England". He worded it somewhat differently by stating in the 'ye olde English' of the time that "Who is so ignorant that knoweth not, gold be a key for euery locke, chieflye with his ladye" intimating that money would gain a gentleman admittance at any time into his lady's grace and favour. Hmmm, that's a bit insulting to the fairer sex. Obviously feminism wasn't big in those days.

Answer: A fool for a client

The meaning of this proverb is that representing yourself in court, unless you happen to be a lawyer, is always going to end disastrously. The expression first appeared in print in 1814, by one Henry Kett in his work "The Flowers of Wit, or A Choice Collection of Bon Mots". It went as follows: "I hesitate not to pronounce, that every man who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client."

Answer: Boats

The meaning of this pithy saying is that overall improvements in any society will benefit all who live within that society. The saying has been attributed to American President John Kennedy when he used it in a 1963 speech, but the authorship in fact belongs elsewhere. Ted Sorenson, who worked for President Kennedy, came upon the phrase while he was working in New England.

He writes in his memoirs "Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History" that the "Regional Chamber of Commerce, the New England Council, had a thoughtful slogan 'A rising tide lifts all boats'", and that from then on, President Kennedy often used the saying in his speeches.

Answer: The darkness

Strangely enough, this saying, which would seem to have originated several centuries ago, has its origins in the 1960s, and made popular, once again, in a speech made by American President John F. Kennedy. However, it was first used publicly in 1961 at a Human Rights Day event by one Peter Penenson, who was the founder of Amnesty International. Several meanings could be applied to this saying, depending on the context in which it was used.

It could even, for example, be used to tout the benefits of an all round education, or indeed the benefits of any affirmative action taken to remedy existing problems.

Answer: Odious

The meaning of this phrase is that everything is relative, and one person, action or commodity cannot be compared fairly against another unless all variables are the same in every instance. It first came to light in the early fifteenth century and was later used by different authors such as Cervantes, Marlowe and Donne.

The earliest recorded use, however, is that by John Lydgate in his 1440 work, "Debate Between the Horse, Goose and Sheep" when he wrote "Odyous of olde been comparisonis, And of comparisonis engendyrd is haterede." William Shakespeare simplified the expression in his 1599 play "Much Ado About Nothing" when he had one of the play's characters, Dogberry, say the line "Comparisons are odious". So it would seem even the great bard himself was not above borrowing from the works of others.

Answer: Eggs

In other words, young and inexperienced people should not give advice to people who are far older, wiser and more experienced than they themselves are on any subject that requires that experience. Nicholas Udall, the author of the comedic "Ralph Roister Doister" updated the terminology of the expression when, in 1542, he translated "The Apophthegmata" from the writings of Erasmus.

The original wording thus became "A swyne to teach Mineura was a prouerbe which we sai: Englyshe to teach our dame to spyne". Thank goodness for another follow up translation.

This was in 1707 by John Stevens when he translated "Quevedo's Comical Works", and the expression became "You would have me teach my Grandame to suck Eggs."

Answer: Pains

This means that many discoveries labelled under the heading of genius are hardly that at all, but the result of sometimes many years of pure hard trial and endeavour. And the attributed author of these sensible words? Thomas Edison himself, the very epitome of genius having an infinite capacity for taking pains.

This giant of a man never gave up on any idea that failed once, twice, a thousand times, but kept on experimenting until he had found a way to make that idea work. Harper's Monthly Magazine said in an article in 1932 that Edison had made this remark some time around 1902, when he also said, "Genius is one percent inspiration; ninety-nine percent perspiration".

Other people through time have expressed similar ideas. For example, George Louis Leclerc was given this line in Herault de Seychelles "Voyage a Montbar" in 1803: "Genius is only a greater aptitude for patience" and writers Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin can also lay claim to the wisdom of the saying in different variations of its expression.

Answer: Arrive

Sometimes the pleasure is in the journey, rather than in its destination. This saying is attributed to writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote in his 1881 work "Virginibus Puerisque" that "Little do ye know your own blessedness; for to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour." Yet Stevenson himself was merely stating the same idea that had been expressed earlier in time by others. An early Taoist saying is that "The journey is the reward".

Answer: Mickle

The meaning to this is that many small amounts contribute eventually to a large amount. In Scotland, the word 'mickle' is replaced by 'muckle' - and this word still can be seen today in various place names around the British Isles, such as Muckle Flugga in Shetland.

This proverb, which was undoubtedly based on earlier sayings of the same through time, was first seen in print William Camden's 1614 work "Remaines of a Greater Worke Concerning Britaine, 1605" in which he states, "Many a little makes a micle." By 1793, it had made its way across the world and the great American President George Washington referred to it in his 1793 "Writings" published that year as "...nothing in nature is more true than 'many mickles make a muckle'".

The modern form of this expression is "Look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves."