Where there's a will there's a way.
A wight man ne'er wanted a weapon.—Scotch.
"A good knight is not at a loss for a lance" (Italian).[349] A man of sense and resolution will make instruments of whatever comes to his hands; and truly "He is not a good mason who refuses any stone" (Italian).[350] "He that has a good head does not want for hats" (French).[351]
Where the will is ready the feet are light.[352]
"The willing dancer is easily played to" (Servian).[353] "The will does it" (German).[354] "A voluntary burden is no burden" (Italian).[355]
"The labour we delight in physics pain."
"A joyous heart spins the hemp" (Servian); and, as Autolycus sings,—
"A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a."
One man may lead the horse to the water, but fifty can't make him drink.
"You cannot make an ass drink if he is not thirsty" (French).[356] "It is bad coursing with unwilling hounds" (Dutch).[357] "A thing done perforce is not worth a rush" (Italian).[358]
None so deaf as he that will not hear.
Nothing is impossible to a willing mind.
"Madame," said M. de Calonne to a lady who solicited his aid in a certain affair, "if the thing is possible, it is done; and if it is impossible, it shall be done."[359]
Good-will should be taken in part payment.
Take the will for the deed.
"Gifts are as the givers" (German).[360] "The will gives the work its name." "The will is the soul of the work" (German).[361]
Hell is paved with good intentions.
A great moral conveyed in a bold figure. What is the worth of virtuous resolutions that never ripen into action? In the German version of the proverb a slight change greatly improves the metaphor, thus: "The way to perdition is paved with good intentions."[362] A Scotch proverb warns the weak in will, who are always hoping to reform and do well, that
Hopers go to hell.
As the fool thinks, the bell tinks.
We are all prone to interpret facts and tokens in accordance with our own inclinations and habits of thought. It was not the voice of the bells that first inspired young Whittington with hopes of attaining civic honours; it was because he had conceived such hopes already that he was able to hear so distinctly the words, "Turn again, Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London." "People make the bells say whatever they have a mind" (French).[363] In a Latin sermon on widowhood by Jean Raulin, a monk of Cluny of the fifteenth century, there is a story which Rabelais has told again in his own way. Raulin's version is this:—
A widow consulted her parish priest about her entering into a second marriage. She told him she stood in need of a helpmate and protector, and that her journeyman, for whom she had taken a fancy, was industrious and well acquainted with her late husband's trade. "Very well," said the priest, "you had better marry him." "And yet," rejoined the widow, "I am afraid to do it, for who knows but I may find my servant become my master?" "Well, then," said the priest, "don't have him." "But what shall I do?" said the widow; "the business left me by my poor dear departed husband is more than I can manage by myself." "Marry him, then," said the priest. "Ay, but suppose he turns out a scamp," said the widow; "he may get hold of my property, and run through it all." "Don't have him," said the priest. Thus the dialogue went on, the priest always agreeing in the last opinion expressed by the widow, until at length, seeing that her mind was actually made up to marry the journeyman, he told her to consult the church bells, and they would advise her best what to do. The bells were rung, and the widow heard them distinctly say, "Do take your man; do take your man."[364] Accordingly she went home and married him forthwith; but it was not long before he thrashed her soundly, and made her feel that instead of his mistress she had become his servant. Back she went to the priest, cursing the hour when she had been credulous enough to act upon his advice. "Good woman," said he, "I am afraid you did not rightly understand what the bells said to you." He rang them again, and then the poor woman heard clearly, but too late, these warning words: "Do not take him, do not take him."[365]
Wilful will do it.
A wilfu' man maun hae his way.—Scotch.
He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar.—Scotch.
Cupar is a town in Fife, and that is all that Scotch parÆmiologists condescend to tell us about it. I suppose there is some special reason why insisting on going to Cupar above all other towns is a notable proof of pig-headedness.
A wilful man never wanted woe.
A wilfu' man should be unco' wise.—Scotch.
Since he chooses to rely on his own wisdom only.
Forbidden fruit is sweet.
"Sweet is the apple when the keeper is away" (Latin).[366]
"Stolen sweets are always sweeter,
Stolen kisses much completer;
Stolen looks are nice in chapels;
Stolen, stolen be your apples!"
So sings Leigh Hunt, translating from the Latin of Thomas Randolph. The doctrine of these poets is as old as Solomon, who says, "Stolen waters are sweet"—a sentence thus paraphrased in German: "Forbidden water is Malmsey."[367] A story is told of a French lady, say Madame du Barry, who happened once, by some extraordinary chance, to have nothing but pure water to drink when very thirsty. She took a deep draught, and finding in it what the Roman emperor had sighed for in vain—a new pleasure—she cried out, "Ah! what a pity it is that drinking water is not a sin!"
"There is no pleasure but palls, and all the more if it costs nothing" (Spanish).[368] "The sweetest grapes hang highest" (German).[369] "The figs on the far side of the hedge are sweeter" (Servian). "Every fish that escapes appears greater than it is" (Turkish). Upon the same principle it is that what nature never intended a man to do is often the very thing he particularly desires to do. "A man who can't sing is always striving to sing" (Latin);[370] and generally "He who can't do, always wants to do" (Italian).[371]
Forbid a fool a thing, and that he'll do.
Of course; and so will many a one who is otherwise no fool. What mortal man, to say nothing of women, but would have done as Bluebeard's wife did when left in the castle with the key of that mysterious chamber in her hand?
Some men pay dearly for theirs. "Hobby horses are more costly than Arabians" (German).[372]
You may pay too dear for your whistle.
The origin of this saying, which has become thoroughly proverbial, is found in the following extract from a paper by its author, Benjamin Franklin:—"When I was a child of seven years old my friends on a holiday filled my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, and being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered him all my money for it. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given for it four times as much as it was worth. This put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and they laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation, and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing I said to myself, 'Don't give too much for the whistle;' and so I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I met with many, very many who gave too much for the whistle."
