Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Thief
A hundred bakers, a hundred millers, and a hundred tailors are three hundred thieves.Dutch.
A hundred tailors, a hundred millers, and a hundred weavers are three hundred thieves.Spanish.
A rackless hussie makes mony thieves.
A thief does not always thieve, but be always on your guard against him.Russian.
A thief does not willingly see another carry a basket.German.
A thief is better than a lazy servant.German.
A thief knows a thief as a wolf knows a wolf.
A thief makes opportunities.Dutch.
A thief passes for a gentleman when stealing has made him rich.
A thief seldom grows rich by thieving.German.
A thief thinks every man steals.Danish.
All are not thieves whom the dogs bark at.German.
An old thief desires a new halter.
As stout as the miller’s waistcoat that takes a thief by the neck every day.
Every tribe has its thief, every mountain its wolf.Russian.
First a turnip, then a sheep, next a cow, and then the gallows.
Great thieves always have their sleeves full of gags.French.
Great thieves hang little ones.French.
He is a thief indeed that robs a thief.French.
He that showeth his wealth to a thief is the cause of his own pillage.
He who has a son grown up should not call another a thief.Spanish.
He is a thief for he has taken a cup too much.
Highways and streets have not all the thieves: shops have ten to one.
If there were no receiver, there would be no thief.Spanish.
If you cut down the woods you’ll catch the thief.
If you would make a thief honest trust him.Spanish.
Ill laying up makes many thieves.
It is hard to steal where the host himself is a thief.German, Dutch.
Look not at thieves eating flesh, but look at them suffering punishment.Chinese.
No receiver, no thief.
No thief e’er felt the halter draw
With good opinion of the law.
Opportunity makes the thief.French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Danish.
Petty thieves are hanged, people take off their hats to great ones.German.
Put a miller, a weaver, and a tailor in a bag and shake them, the first that comes out will be a thief.
Set a thief to catch a thief.
Stealing would be a nice thing if thieves were hanged by the girdle.Spanish.
The great thieves hang the small ones.German.
The great thieves punish the little ones.
The hole invites the thief.Spanish.
The thief becomes the gallows well.Portuguese.
The thief cannot find any tree that suits him for a gallows.German.
The thief is frightened even by a mouse.Italian.
The thief is sorry he is to be hanged, not that he is a thief.
The thief proceeds from a needle to gold, and from gold to the gallows.Portuguese.
The thief steals until he comes to the gallows.German.
The thief thinks all men are like himself.Spanish, Portuguese.
There are more thieves than are hanged.Dutch.
There are more thieves than gibbets.Italian.
There is but one short step between lying and theft.
There is honor among thieves.
There is no guarding against the privy thief.French.
Thick as thieves.
Thieves and rogues have the best luck if they do but escape hanging.
Thieves quarrel and thefts are discovered.Spanish.
Time and place make the thief.German, Dutch.
When it thunders the thief becomes honest.Italian.
When thieves fall out thefts are discovered.French.
Why is there honor among thieves? Because they usually hang together.Punch.