We’ve all heard sayings—those familiar expressions that carry a touch of wisdom or practical advice. They exist in every language, with some dating back to ancient times and others emerging more recently. During the Middle Ages, sayings were an important part of everyday life, and many of them have endured, remaining in use to this day.
The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs lists thousand expressions, with many tracing their roots to medieval England. Here are 30 popular English sayings that we inherited from the Middle Ages.
1. After a storm comes a calm
This dates back to the Ancrene Riwle from the mid-13th century: ‘Blessed are you Lord, who makes a calm after the storm.’
2. When the cat’s away, the mice will play
An early 14th century line is ‘where there is no cat the rat is king,’ while another line found in a manuscript from c.1470 says ‘The mows lordchypythe ther a cat ys nawt.’
3. Clothes make the man
‘Euer maner and clothyng makyth man’ is a line that dates back to around the year 1400.
4. The voice of the people is the voice of God
This line can be traced back to Alcuin in the 8th century, who wrote: ‘They often say: the voice of the people is the voice of God.’
5. Ask a silly question and you get a silly answer
An English Legendary from around the year 1300 includes this phrase: ‘Ffor-sothe thou axest as a fol, and swich ansuere me schul the yive.’ Later on in the 15th century, William Caxton put out the line: ‘And thus they wente without ony sentence For to a folysshe demaunde behoueth a folysshe ansuere.’
6. It is better to give than to receive
The Confessio Amantis by Gower, written at the end of the 14th century, has this: ‘Better is to yive than to take.’
7. Let sleeping dogs lie
In his work Troilus & Criseyde, Geoffrey Chaucer writes: ‘It is nought good a sleypng hound to wake.’
8. Big fish eat little fish
An early thirteenth century version of Old English Homilies has this line: ‘The more fishes in the se eten the lasse.’
9. Strike while the iron is hot
This line can be found in the 13th century: ‘One must strike the iron while it is hot.’
10. Look before you leap
A version of this line dates back to mid-14th century: ‘First loke and aftirward lepe.’
11. Blood is thicker than water
The origins of this saying can be found in the 12th century: ‘I hear it said that kin-blood is not spoiled by water.’
12. All good things must come to an end
The Partonope of Blois, written around 1440, has this line: ‘Ye wote wele of all things moste be an ende.’
13. Children should be seen and not heard
This dates back to a line from year 1400: ‘Hyt ys an old Englysch sawe: A mayde schuld be seen, but not herd.’
14. Misery loves company
A 14th-century line is similar: ‘It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in woes.’
15. Do as I say, not as I do
An 11th-century text includes this line: ‘Although I do worse than I teach you, do not do as I do, but do as I teach you if I teach you well.’
16. All roads lead to Rome
In the Middle Ages the saying went ‘a thousand roads lead man for ever towards Rome.’ Geoffrey Chaucer’s version is a little different: ‘Right as diverse pathes leden diverse folke the righte way to Rome.’
17. Every man for himself
Geoffrey Chaucer also has this line from the Knight’s Tale: ‘At the kynges court, my brother, Ech man for himself, there is noon oother.’
18. All that glitters is not gold
This line can be found in a text from written around 1220: ‘Nis hit nower neh gold al that ter schineth.’
19. A friend in need is a friend indeed
A proverb from around the year 1035 said this: ‘Friend shall be known in time of need.’
20. All’s well that ends well
A line from the mid-13th century is similar: ‘Wel is him te wel ende mai.’ Meanwhile, Henry Knighton’s Chronicle from the late 14th-century one can read: ‘ If the ende be wele, than is alle wele.’
21. The cowl does not make the monk
This saying that appearance is not a good guide to a person’s character originates in the Ancrene Wisse: ‘Her in is religiun, nawt i the wide hod ne i the blake cape.’
22. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face
The medieval version dates back to the 14th century. Several English texts have similar lines, including the 16th-century work Deceit of Women: ‘He that byteth hys nose of, shameth hys face.’
23. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
The so-called ‘Golden Rule’ is associated with a Bible verse, but it actually originates back in the early 9th century with the Laws of Alfred: ‘Thœt ge willen, thœt othre men eow ne don, ne doth ge thœt othrum monnum.’ The phrase would later become the accepted English translation of the Bible verse.
24. To put the cart before the horse
A text from the year 1340 contains the line, ‘Moche uolk of religion ȝtteþ þe ȝoulȝ be-uore þe oksen.’
25. Better late than never
The first version we see is from the Ancrene Riwle in the 13th century: ‘Better is þo þene no, betere is er.’ The saying becomes a little clearer by the mid-14th century: ‘Better is late than neuer.’
26. As sharp as a needle
This dates back about a thousand years to Old English: ‘ȝifer hatte se wyrm, þe þa beoð nædle scearpran.’
27. Spare the rod and spoil the child
Ælfric of Eynsham wrote this line in his Homilies just before the year 1000: ‘Se de sparad his 3yrde, he hatad his cild.’
28. Through thick and thin
An Old English book of riddles contains the phrase: ‘þaet ic mid ryhte reccan moste þicce and þynne.’ Later on, Chaucer had the line ‘thurgh thikke and thurgh thenne’.
29. He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day
The Owl and the Nightingale, a poem from the 12th or 13th century, is the first record something similar: ‘Wel fi3t þat wel fli3t’, seip þe wise.’ In the 15th century, you can read ‘It is an olde sawe, He feghtith wele that fleith faste.’
30. To have the upper hand
The English poet John Lydgate wrote this phrase in the 1430s: ‘Cleyming of right to haue the hyegher hande.’
