Skip to content

When all candels be out, all cats be grey,
All thingis are then of one colour, as who sey.
And this prouerbe faith, for quenching hot desyre,
Foul water as soone as fayre, will quenche hot fyre.

— John Heywood Proverbs (1546)

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: When all candles are out, all cats are grey, / All things are then of one color, as who say. / And this proverb faith, for quenching hot desire, / Foul water as soon as faire, will quench hot fire.
Work: Proverbs, 1546
Source quality: Source identified Names the work or year, but without an exact location.

More by John Heywood

Ye set circumquaques to make me beleue
Or thinke, that the moone is made of gréene chéese.

Proverbs (1546)

Pryde will have a fall;
For pryde goeth before and shame commeth after.

Proverbs (1546)

Let the world wagge, and take mine ease in myne Inne.

Proverbs (1546)

She is nether fish nor flesh, nor good red herring.

Proverbs (1546)

No man ought to looke a given horse in the mouth.

Proverbs (1546)

Men say, kinde will creepe where it may not goe.

Proverbs (1546)

Feare may force a man to cast beyond the moone.

Proverbs (1546)

Now for good lucke, cast an old shooe after me.

Proverbs (1546)

All John Heywood quotes →

Notes from Wikiquote

Part I, chapter 5.

More quotes by John Heywood

Who waite for dead men shall goe long barefoote.

Proverbs (1546)

The nere to the churche, the ferther from God.

Proverbs (1546)

Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.

Proverbs (1546)

God never sends th' mouth but he sendeth meat.

Proverbs (1546)

Prove your friend ere you have need, but in deed
A friend is never known till a man have need.

Proverbs (1546)

All John Heywood quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John Heywood (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.