60 Fun Facts About Finish the Phrase

Finish the phrase: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the ___"

The saying is usually traced to medieval falconry, where a trained bird on the glove was worth far more than any prey still loose in the undergrowth.

Finish the phrase: "A leopard cannot change its ___"

It comes from the Book of Jeremiah, which asks whether the Ethiopian can change his skin or the leopard his markings.

Finish the phrase: "A penny saved is a penny ___"

It is often credited to Benjamin Franklin, though his Poor Richard's Almanack actually printed a slightly different wording.

Finish the phrase: "A picture is worth a thousand ___"

Despite being labelled a Chinese proverb in adverts, it was popularised by American newspaper editor Fred Barnard in the 1920s.

Finish the phrase: "A rolling stone gathers no ___"

The proverb gave the world's most durable rock band its name, by way of a Muddy Waters song.

Finish the phrase: "A stitch in time saves ___"

The nine is simply nine more stitches: mend a small tear now and you avoid a much bigger sewing job later.

Finish the phrase: "A watched pot never ___"

Benjamin Franklin used a version of it in 1785, and it is a favourite of physicists explaining the quantum Zeno effect.

Finish the phrase: "Absence makes the heart grow ___"

The line appears in a 1602 poem, and its exact opposite, out of sight, out of mind, is an equally old proverb.

Finish the phrase: "An apple a day keeps the ___ away"

The Welsh original from the 1860s was less catchy: eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread.

Finish the phrase: "Beauty is in the eye of the ___"

The exact wording is credited to Irish novelist Margaret Wolfe Hungerford in 1878, though Shakespeare had said much the same in Love's Labour's Lost.

Finish the phrase: "Beggars cannot be ___"

It appears in John Heywood's 1546 collection of English proverbs, one of the earliest books of its kind.

Finish the phrase: "Blood is thicker than ___"

A medieval German version says kin-blood is not spoiled by water, which one scholar read as meaning family bonds survive baptism.

Finish the phrase: "Cleanliness is next to ___"

It is not in the Bible, despite what many assume; the wording comes from a 1778 sermon by John Wesley, founder of Methodism.

Finish the phrase: "Discretion is the better part of ___"

Falstaff says a version of it in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, to justify playing dead on the battlefield.

Finish the phrase: "Every cloud has a silver ___"

The image comes from John Milton's 1634 masque Comus, which describes a cloud turning out its silver lining on the night.

Finish the phrase: "Familiarity breeds ___"

Aesop's fable of the fox and the lion makes the same point: the fox is terrified at first sight, then chats to the lion by the third meeting.

Finish the phrase: "Fortune favours the ___"

The Latin form, audentes fortuna iuvat, appears in Virgil's Aeneid and is the motto of several military units.

Finish the phrase: "Half a loaf is better than no ___"

It is another proverb first recorded by John Heywood in 1546, and it argues for taking what you can get.

Finish the phrase: "Honesty is the best ___"

The line is usually credited to Sir Edwin Sandys, an English politician writing around 1599.

Finish the phrase: "It takes two to ___"

The phrase was coined by a 1952 song made famous by Pearl Bailey, and Ronald Reagan later used it about US-Soviet relations.

Finish the phrase: "Let sleeping dogs ___"

Chaucer used a version in Troilus and Criseyde in the 1370s: it is not good a sleeping hound to wake.

Finish the phrase: "Look before you ___"

It shows up in the same 1546 Heywood collection as many English proverbs, and is often paired with its opposite, he who hesitates is lost.

Finish the phrase: "Many hands make light ___"

Its cynical cousin, too many cooks spoil the broth, argues exactly the reverse, which is why proverbs never settle an argument.

Finish the phrase: "Necessity is the mother of ___"

The idea goes back to Plato's Republic, where need is called the creator of things.

Finish the phrase: "No man is an ___"

It opens a famous passage from a 1624 meditation by the poet John Donne, which also gave Hemingway the title For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Finish the phrase: "Once bitten, twice ___"

The idea is ancient, but the rhyming English form was first recorded in the 1850s.

Finish the phrase: "People who live in glass houses should not throw ___"

Chaucer had a version in the 1380s, and George Herbert recorded a near-modern form in 1651.

Finish the phrase: "Out of sight, out of ___"

It was already a proverb in the 1200s, and it is the exact opposite of absence makes the heart grow fonder, so pick whichever suits your mood.

Finish the phrase: "Strike while the iron is ___"

It comes straight from the blacksmith's forge, where iron can only be shaped in the moments after it leaves the fire.

Finish the phrase: "The pen is mightier than the ___"

In that exact wording it dates only to 1839, in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's play about Cardinal Richelieu, the man who also gave us the phrase the dark and stormy night.

Finish the phrase: "The squeaky wheel gets the ___"

An American proverb sometimes traced to a poem by Josh Billings, and its opposite is a Japanese saying that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down.

Finish the phrase: "Too many cooks spoil the ___"

It has been recorded in English since at least 1575, and almost every language has its own version about the same kitchen.

Finish the phrase: "When in Rome, do as the ___ do"

The advice is credited to Saint Ambrose in the fourth century, who told Augustine to follow local custom about fasting on Saturdays.

Finish the phrase: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the ___"

The Roman poet Ovid wrote that the harvest is always richer in another man's field, two thousand years before anyone had a suburban lawn.

The proverb "curiosity killed the cat" originally named a different killer. What was it?

Ben Jonson and Shakespeare both used the older version, with care meaning worry; curiosity only took over in the 1800s.

"Bite the bullet" is said to come from patients clenching a bullet in their teeth during what?

Rudyard Kipling used the phrase in 1891, and it now simply means to face something unpleasant with courage.

"Break a leg" is used to wish someone good luck in which setting?

Actors consider a direct wish of good luck to be a jinx, so the superstition demands wishing the opposite.

"Cold turkey" refers to giving up a substance in what way?

The goose bumps and clammy skin of sudden withdrawal are said to resemble a plucked, refrigerated turkey.

The earliest known idiomatic use of "the whole nine yards" is from 1907 in which US state?

Theories about the origin, from machine-gun belts to cement mixers, have all been debunked; the phrase started as "the whole six yards".

Which of Aesop's fables gives us the expression for pretending to despise something you cannot have?

Unable to reach the fruit, the fox declares it must be sour anyway, and the phrase now describes despising what you cannot have.

A "Pyrrhic victory" takes its name from Pyrrhus, king of which ancient realm?

After beating the Romans at Asculum in 279 BC he reportedly said that one more such victory would utterly undo him.

The term "Catch-22" was coined by which author in his 1961 novel of the same name?

In the book, a pilot can be grounded for insanity only by asking, and asking proves he is sane; the number was originally going to be 18.

"Once in a blue moon" most commonly refers to a second full moon within what period?

It happens roughly every two and a half years, which is why once in a blue moon means rarely but not never.

Damocles sat beneath a blade hanging by a hair at the court of Dionysius I, ruler of which city?

The story, told by Cicero, is a lesson that great power comes with constant peril, and the phrase now means any looming threat.

"Crossing the Rubicon" means doing what?

Julius Caesar crossed the small river with his army in 49 BC, an act of treason that started a civil war.

"Devil's advocate" was originally an official position in which institution?

The office was created in 1587 and effectively abolished in 1983, after which the number of new saints rose sharply.

'To steal someone's thunder' arose when John Dennis's thunder machine was used uncredited in which Shakespeare play?

His own play had flopped, so hearing his invention rumble through someone else's hit is said to have provoked the outburst.

"To turn a blind eye" is often associated with which naval commander at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801?

Ordered to withdraw by signal flag, he reportedly raised his telescope to his blind eye and declared he saw no signal.

A "white elephant" gets its name from sacred animals kept by monarchs in which part of the world?

Legend says a king could ruin a courtier by gifting him one, since the beast could not be worked or sold yet had to be lavishly kept.

"Salad days", a phrase coined by Shakespeare, refers to a period of what?

Cleopatra uses it in Antony and Cleopatra to dismiss her younger self as green in judgment.

Since Shakespeare's "green-eyed monster", the colour green has been linked with which emotion?

Iago warns Othello of the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.

A "rule of thumb" is what kind of method?

The popular story that it refers to a law about wife-beating is a myth; it more likely comes from craftsmen measuring with a thumb.

In an argument or mystery, what is a "red herring"?

The story goes that the strong-smelling smoked fish was dragged across a trail to throw hounds off the scent.

Which Greek myth gives us the phrase for a gift that hides an attack?

The same story is why malicious software disguised as something useful is called a Trojan.

One explanation for "mind your Ps and Qs" says the letters stand for what?

Rival theories involve bartenders tallying pints and quarts, or printers confusing the mirror-image letters p and q in type.

Which word finishes the phrase "Actions speak louder than ___"?

The proverb favours deeds over declarations, and has been traced back to at least the 17th century in English.

Which word finishes the phrase "All that glitters is not ___"?

Shakespeare used a version, 'All that glisters is not gold', in The Merchant of Venice.

Which word finishes the phrase "Make hay while the sun ___"?

A farming image: cut and dry your hay in fair weather, because rain will spoil it, so seize opportunities while they last.

Which word finishes the phrase "Time and tide wait for no ___"?

'Tide' here originally meant a season or time rather than the sea, so the phrase doubles the same idea.

Which word finishes the phrase "Empty vessels make the most ___"?

The saying compares a hollow, empty pot's loud clang to people who talk most while knowing least.