“It is a wise child that knows its own father.” In the “Merchant of Venice” (ii. 2), Launcelot has the converse of this: “It is a wise father that knows his own child.”
“It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.” So, in “3 Henry VI.” (ii. 5), we read:
“Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.”
And, in “2 Henry IV.” (v. 3), when Falstaff asks Pistol “What wind blew you hither?” the latter replies: “Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.”
“It is easy to steal a shive from a cut loaf.” In “Titus Andronicus” (ii. 1), Demetrius refers to this proverb. Ray has, “’Tis safe taking a shive out of a cut loaf.”
“It’s a dear collop that’s cut out of my own flesh.” Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps thinks there may be possibly an allusion to this proverb in “1 Henry VI.” (v. 4), where the Shepherd says of La Pucelle:
“God knows, thou art a collop of my flesh.”
“I will make a shaft or a bolt of it.” In the “Merry Wives of Windsor” (iii. 4) this proverb is used by Slender.[882] Ray gives “to make a bolt or a shaft of a thing.” This is equivalent to, “I will either make a good or a bad thing of it: I will take the risk.”
“It is like a barber’s chair” (“All’s Well that Ends Well,” ii. 2).
The following passage, in “A Midsummer-Night’s Dream” (iii. 2):