Look before you leap.
Don't buy a pig in a poke.
A poke is a pouch or bag. This word, which is still current in the northern counties of England, corresponds to the French poche, as "pocket" does to the diminutive, pochette. Bouge and bougette are other forms of the same word; and from these we get "budget," which, curiously enough, has gone back from us to its original owners with a newly-acquired meaning, for the French Minister of Finance presents his annual Budget like our own Chancellor of the Exchequer. The French say, Acheter chat en poche: "To buy a cat in a poke," or game bag; and the meaning of that proverb is explained by this other one, "To buy a cat for a hare."[256] So also the Dutch,[257] the Italian,[258] &c. The pig of the English proverb is chosen for the sake of the alliteration at some sacrifice of sense.
Therefore, "Swim on, and trust them not" (French).[259] "Who sees not the bottom, let him not pass the water" (Italian).[260]
Beware of had I wist.
"Had I wist," quoth the fool.
"It is the part of a fool to say, 'I should not have thought it'" (Latin).[261]
Stretch your arm no farther than your sleeve will reach.
Never put out your arm further than you can easily draw it back again.
Cautious Nicol Jarvie attributes to neglect of this rule the commercial difficulties of his correspondent, Mr. Osbaldistone, "a gude honest gentleman; but I aye said he was ane of them wad make a spune or spoil a horn." Perhaps it is to ridicule the folly of attempting things beyond the reach of our powers that the Germans tell us, "Asses sing badly because they pitch their voices too high."[262]
Measure twice, cut but once.