Read historical proverb records with fixed sources, context and selection boundaries, without treating old sayings as present-day fact or advice.
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There's no getting white flour out of a coal-sack.
The first blow is half the battle.
Comparisons are odious.
As good be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Too far east is west.
The tod [fox] ne'er sped better than when he went his ain errand.
Kissing goes by favour.
Long absent, soon forgotten.
When things come to the worst they'll mend.
Self-praise stinks.
There is more than one yew bow in Chester.
Bare walls make giddy housewives.
Pick and choose, and take the worst.
A fool may put something in a wise man's head.
Practice makes perfect.
Make hay while the sun shines
One leg of a lark is worth the whole body of a kite.
Raise nae mair deils than ye can lay.
Steal the goose, and give the giblets in alms.
In trust is treason.
Patience and posset drink cure all maladies.
He that has a muckle [big] nose thinks ilka ane is speaking o't.
Best to bend while it is a twig.