He’s not the beſt Carpenter, that makes the moſt Chips.
No Good workman without good Tools.
No Glew will hold, when the Joint is bad.
A blunt Wedge will do it, where ſometimes a ſharp ax will not.
A wiſe man will make Tools of what comes to Hand.
All ill workmen quarrel with their Tools.
Meaſure thrice, and cut once.
The axe goes to that Wood, where it borrow’d its Helve.
Willows are weak, yet they bind other Wood.
You ſaw out your Tree, before you cut it down.
A good Edge is good for nothing, if it has nothing to cut.
A Whetſtone can’t it ſelf cut, but yet it makes Tools cut.
Two of a Trade ſeldom agree.
A ſmall Shop may have a good Trade.
Keep your Shop, and your Shop will keep you.
It is working, that makes a Workman.
As is the Workman, ſo is the Work.
At the End of the Work, you may judge of the Workman.
The better Workman, the worſe Husband.
What is a Work-man without Tools?
A good Paymaſter never wants Workmen.
Not to overſee Workmen, is to leave them your Purſe open.
Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British – Collected by Thomas Fuller M.D. (London) – 1732
Illustrations from:
The Hand Book of Illustrated Proverbs By John Warner Barber – 1855
—Jeff Burks