Robert Christy, comp. Proverbs, Maxims and Phrases of All Ages. 1887.
Fox
A fox is slyer than ten asses.German.
A fox sleeps but counts hens in his dreams.Russian.
A good fox does not eat his neighbors’ fowls.French.
A good fox has three holes.
A running fox is better than a sleeping lion.German.
An old fox don’t go twice into the trap.German, Dutch.
An old fox is not to be caught in a trap.Modern Greek.
An old fox needs not to be taught tricks.
As long as ye serve the fox ye maun bear up his tail.
As long runs the fox as he has feet.
Bear and bull catch no fox.German.
But when the fox hath once got in his nose, he’ll soon find means to make the body follow.Shakespeare.
Even foxes are caught.Italian.
Every fox likes a hen-roost.Italian.
Every fox looks after its own skin.Danish.
Every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer.
Every fox takes care of its tail.Russian.
“Fie upon hens,” quoth the fox, because he could not reach them.
Foxes are all tail and women all tongue.Italian.
Foxes come at last to the furrier.French.
Foxes dig not their own holes.
Foxes never fare better than when they are cursed.
Foxes prey farthest from their earths.
Foxes when they cannot reach the grapes say they are not ripe.
Fox’s broth, cold and scalding.Spanish.
“Good day to you all,” said the fox when he got into the goose pen.Dutch.
He is a proud tod that winna scratch his ain hole.
He that will out-wit the fox must rise betimes.
He who has to do with foxes must look after his hen-roost.German.
If the badger leave his hole the fox will creep into it.
If the fox is a butler he will not die of thirst.German.
If thou dealest with a fox think of his tricks.
If you would catch a fox you must hunt with geese.Danish.
It is a poor fox that hath but one hole.German.
It is difficult to trap an old fox.Danish.
“It is not for my own sake,” said the fox, “that I say to the geese, that there is a good goose green in the wood.”Danish.
No fox so cunning but he is caught at last.German.
Old foxes are hard to catch.
Old foxes want no tutors.
One fox rarely betrays another.German.
Reynard is still Reynard though he put on a cowl.
Take care of your geese when the fox preaches.Danish.
The brains of a fox will be of little service, if you play with the paw of a lion.
The fox advised the others to cut off their tails because he left his own in the trap.Italian.
The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb.Shakespeare.
The fox changes his skin but keeps the rogue.German.
The fox does not so much mischief in a year as he pays for in an hour.Spanish.
The fox does not go twice into the same trap.Danish.
The fox does not prey near his hole.German.
The fox fares best when he is most cursed.
The fox goes at last to the shop of the furrier.Turkish.
The fox goes through the corn and does not eat but brushes it down with his tail.Gallician.
The fox has many tricks, the hedgehog only one, but greater than all.Latin.
The fox is cunning but he is more cunning that catches him.Spanish.
The fox knows more than one hole.
The fox knows well with whom he plays tricks.Spanish.
The fox grows gray but never good.
The fox may lose his hair, but not his cunning.Dutch.
The fox praiseth the meal out of the crow’s mouth.
The fox preys farthest from his hole.
The fox said the grapes were sour.Æsop’s Fables.
The fox says of the mulberries when he cannot get at them, “They are good for nothing.”French.
The fox that sleeps till the morning hath not his tongue feathered.French.
The fox that tarries long is on the watch for prey.Spanish.
The fox thinks everybody eats poultry like himself.French.
The fox with only one hole is soon caught.German.
The fox’s death is the hen’s life.German.
The fox’s wiles will never enter the lion’s head.
The more the fox is cursed the more prey he catches.Italian.
The sleeping fox catches no poultry.
The tod (fox) ne’er sped better than when he went on his ain errand.
The tod (fox) keeps aye his ain hole clean.
The tod’s (fox’s) whelps are ill to tame.
There is no fox so cunning he does not find one more cunning.German.
There is ne’er a best among them, as the fellow said by the fox-cubs.
Though the fox runs, the chicken hath wings.
We never find that a fox dies in the dirt of his own ditch.
What the fox cannot reach he allows to hang.Modern Greek.
When a fox is in his hole smoke fetches him out.Spanish.
When the fox comes out of the trap he is more prudent than before.German.
When the fox is asleep nothing falls into his mouth.
When the fox is hungry he pretends he is asleep.Modern Greek.
When the fox is judge, the goose wins her suit with difficulty.German.
When the fox licks his paw let the farmer look to his geese.Danish.
When the fox wishes to catch geese he wags his tail.German.
When you bargain with a fox beware of tricks.Latin.
Where there are no dogs the fox is a king.Italian.
With foxes we must play the fox.
You canna have more of a fox than his skin.