John heywood

I know on which side my bread is buttered.

Tis not the robe or garment I affect; For who would marry with a suit of clothes?

The tide tarrieth no man.

Don't put the cart before the horse.

And death makes equal the high and low.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth.

Let the world slide, let the world go; A fig for care, and a fig for woe! If I can't pay, why I can owe, And death makes equal the high and low.

The cat would eate fish, and would not wet her feete.

Pryde will have a fall;For pryde goeth before and shame commeth after.

Look before you leap.

When all candles be out, all cats be grey.

Praie and shifte eche one for him selfe, as he can.Euery man for him selfe, and god for us all.

It is good the have a hatch before the durre.

It's no use closing the barn door after the horse is gone.

Who waiteth for dead man's shoes will go long barefoot.

Better to give then to take.

Be of comfort, and your heavy sorrow Part equally among us; storms divided, Abate their force, and with less rage are guided.

Would ye both eat your cake and have your cake? This is commonly misquotes as You can't have you're cake and eat it, too.

Who is so deaf or so blind as is he that willfully will neither hear nor see?

Many handis make light warke.

Fieldes have eies and woods have eares.

So many heads so many wits.

Ill wéede growth fast.

Three may keep counsel, if two be away.

Who waite for dead men shall goe long barefoote.

Good to be merie and wise.

A good wife maketh a good husband.

Children and fools cannot lie.

None so blind as those who won't see.

Men say, kinde will creepe where it may not goe.

What heart can think, or tongue express, The harm that groweth of idleness?

A hard beginning maketh a good ending.

Feare may force a man to cast beyond the moone.

The loss of wealth is loss of dirt, As sages in all times assert; The happy man's without a shirt.

There is no fyre without some smoke.

If nothing is ventured, nothing is gained.

When the sunne shineth, make hay.

A cat may looke on a King.

No man ought to looke a given horse in the mouth.

The wise man sayth, store is no sore.

He must needes go that the dyvell dryveth.

He makes a beggar first that first relieves him; Not us'rers make more beggars where they live Than charitable men that use to give.

God never sends the mouth but he sendeth meat.

To say that which is instructive and also pleasing.

This wonder (as wonders last) lasted nine daies.

Nought venture, nought have. [Nothing ventured, nothing gained.]

It is a foule byrd that fyleth his owne nest.

One good turne asketh another.

Feed by measure, and defy the physician.

But now I see well the old proverb is true: That parish priest forgetteth that ever he was a clerk!

A man may well bring a horse to water but he cannot make him drink.

It had need to bee A wylie mouse that should breed in the cats eare.

I perfectly feele even at my fingers end.

Children and fooles cannot lye.

Better to be happy than wise.

A hard beginnyng makth a good endyng.

One swallow never makes a summer.

Beggars should be no choosers.

One good turn asketh another.

When the devil drives, needs must.

The happy man's without a shirt.

To give importance to trifling matters.

Hunger makes hard beans sweet.

All things on earth thus change, some up, some down; Content's a kingdom, and I wear that crown.

The grey mare is the better horse.

And while I at length debate and beate the bush, There shall steppe in other men and catch the burdes.

She is nether fish nor flesh, nor good red herring.

Every cocke is proud on his owne dunghill.

Every dog has its day.

Many hands make light work.

Little pitchers have big ears.

I pray thee let me and my fellow have a haire of the dog that bit us last night.

A cat may look at a king.

Rome was not built in one day.

Though he love not to buy the pig in the poke.

If you will call your troubles experiences, and remember that every experience develops some latent force within you, you will grow vigorous and happy, however adverse your circumstances may seem to be.

Let the world wagge, and take mine ease in myne Inne.

When the sun shineth, make hay.

A fig for a care, a fig for a woe!

The more haste, the less speed.

Who will in time present pleasure refrain, shall in time to come the more pleasure obtain.

When the iron is hot, strike.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.

While the grasse groweth the horse starveth.

Better is half a loaf than no bread.

Better is to bow than break.

The greatest Clerkes be not the wisest men.

All's well that ends well.

The moon is made of a green cheese.

For when I gave you an inch, you took an ell.

Wedding is destiny, And hanging likewise.

The rolling stone never gathereth mosse.

There is no fool to the old fool.

Nought venture nought have.

Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

Tell tales out of school.

When the steede is stolne, shut the stable durre.

Burnt child fire dredth.

It hurts not the tongue to give faire words.

The nearer to the church, the further from God.

Beggars can't be choosers.

The more the merrier.

Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.

Follow pleasure, and then will pleasure flee, Flee pleasure, and pleasure will follow thee.

It is a poor dog that is not worth the whistling

Children learne to creepe ere they can learne to goe.

It will not out of the flesh that is bred in the bone.

Went in at the one ear and out at the other.

No man loveth his fetters, be they made of gold.

What is got over the devil's back is spent under his belly.

What a time herbs and weeds, and such things could talk, A man in his garden one day did walk, Spying a nettle green (as th'emeraude) spread in a bed of roses like the ruby red. Between which two colors he thought, but his eye, The green nettle did the red rose beautify. "How be it," he asked the nettle, "what thing Made him so pert? So nigh the Rose to Spring.

It takes nine tailors to make a man.

Much water goeth by the millThat the miller knoweth not of.

It is a foul bird that filleth his own nest.

Of a good beginning cometh a good end.

Small pitchers have wyde eares.

Would ye both eat your cake and have your cake?

Now for good lucke, cast an old shooe after mee.

Cut your coat according to your cloth.

A woman hath nine lives like a cat.

Hit the nail on the head.

Prove your friend ere you have need, but in deed A friend is never known till a man have need.

Love me litle, love me long.

Hee must have a long spoone, shall eat with the devill.

Put your toong in your purse.

Author details

John Heywood: Biography and Life Work

John Heywood was a notable English writer known for his plays.

John Heywood ( c. 1497 – c. 1580 ) was an English writer known for his plays, poems, and collection of proverbs . Although he is best known as a playwright, he was also active as a musician and composer, though no musical works survive. A devout Catholic, he nevertheless served as a royal servant to both the Catholic and Protestant regimes of Henry VIII , Edward VI , Mary I and Elizabeth I .

Philosophical Views and Reflections

Heywood's representations in his plays cater to popular tastes but contain an undercurrent of Catholic conservatism. The Palmer ends the play with the blessing "besechynge our lorde to prosper you all / In the fayth of hys churche universall" (line 1234). Walker reads this as an indication of Heywood's desire to persuade the King to avoid creating any sort of schism. Heywood is therefore more conciliatory than his famous uncle-in-law Thomas More , who was executed for his religious beliefs, (interpreted as high treason ) in the face of Henry VIII 's changes. Heywood was arrested for his part in the Prebendaries Plot in 1543 which sought to arraign Archbishop Cranmer for heresy. A contemporary writer, Sir John Harington, observed that Heywood "escaped hanging with his mirth" (7). Heywood was most successful in Mary's court, where he redrafted his allegory The Spider and the Fly in order to compliment the queen. Though Heywood had performed for Elizabeth's court, he was forced to flee England for Brabant because of the Act of Uniformity against Catholics in 1564. He died in Mechelen , in present-day Belgium .

Richard Axton and Peter Happé observe that Heywood's longer plays would probably take at least an hour and a half to perform, including the songs and acrobatic routines. Their sparse staging requirements (most of the plays require no more furniture than perhaps a table and a chair) would mean that they could be performed almost anywhere, whether it be in a dining hall or as Cameron Louis suggests, the Inns of Court . Most of his works would require four actors or fewer, and would have been performed by adult performers. Axton and Happe conclude as there is no doubling of roles, the plays would have not used professional actors. The major exception would be his play The Play of the Weather which required ten boy actors, and elaborate staging.

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