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Cut your Coat according to your Cloth
Stretch your arm no farther than your sleeve will reach.
Little barks must keep near shore,
Larger ones may venture more.
French:
“Selon ta bourse nourris ta bouche.” “Selon le pain il faut le
couteau.” “Fou est, qui plus dèpense que sa rente ne vaut.”
Italian:
“Noi facciamo la spese secondo l'entrata.” Latin: “Ex quovis
ligno non fit Mercurius.” “Parvum parva decent” (Horace). “Messe
tenus propria vive” (Persius). “Cui multum est piperis, etiam
oleribus immiscet.” “Sumptus censum ne superat” (Plautus). “Si
non possis quod velis, velis id quod possis.” “Ne te quæiveris extra”
(Horace).
Cut a Dash
Make a show. Cut is the French couper, better seen in
the noun coup, as a grand coup, a coup de maltre
(a masterly stroke), so “to cut” means to make a masterly coup, to do
something to be looked at and talked about. Dashing means striking
—i.e. showy, as a “dashing fellow,” a “dashing equipage.” To cut
a dash is to get one's self looked at and talked about for a showy or
striking appearance.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Cut your Coat according to your Cloth from Infoplease:
- Cut your Coat according to your Cloth - Cut your Coat according to your Cloth Stretch your arm no farther than your sleeve will reach. ...
- Coat - Coat Cut your coat according to your cloth. Curtail your expenses to the amount of your income; ...
- Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: C - Definitions, origins, and illustrative excerpts for words, phases, and literary allusions starting with "C"
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