CHAPTER XXII.
The Wisdom of Scotland.—Proverbs.—Morals in Words and Morals in Deeds.—Maxims.—The Scot is a Judge of Human Nature.—Scotch and Norman Proverbs compared.—Practical Interpretation of a Passage of the Bible.
n a country where everyone moralises, one may expect to find a great number of proverbs, those time-honoured oracles of the wisdom of nations.
And, indeed, Scotland, the home of moral phrases par excellence, owns more than three thousand proverbs.
These proverbs show up all the characteristics of the Scotch people, their prudence, caution, sagacity, self-confidence, and knowledge of human nature.
Several of them are not exclusively Scotch, whatever the Scotch people may say. We have, in Normandy, many which may differ slightly in the wording, but which express the same ideas, a fact which shows once more how many traits of character the Scot has in common with the Norman.
Here are a few:
Mony smas mak a muckle. The French say "Little streams make big rivers."