Prendre l’occasion aux cheveux = To take time by the forelock. (See [Balle].)
Avoir mal aux cheveux (fam.) = To have a head (i.e. a head-ache in the morning after a drinking bout.)
Cheville
Vous ne lui allez pas à la cheville = You are a pigmy compared with him; You are no match for him at all.
La cheville ouvrière = The mainspring, pivot.
Chèvre
*Ménager la chèvre et le chou = To run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
[The French refers to the tale of the man in charge of a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. He came to a river which he had to cross; but the ferry-boat was so small that he could only take one of his charges with him. His difficulty was to get them across, for if he left the wolf and goat together, the wolf would eat the goat; and if he left the goat with the cabbage the goat would eat it.]
*Où la chèvre est attachée il faut qu’elle broute = One must put up with the inconveniences of one’s position if one can get nothing better; We must not expect more from life than life can give us.