The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (384 page)

see also
FAITH will move mountains
.

 
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The proverb alludes to Aesop's fable of the lion and the rat, which is told by Caxton in
Fables
(1484) 40.
1563
Mirror for Magistrates
(1938) 274
The mouse may sometyme help the Lyon in nede… O prynces seke no foes.
1732
Gnomologia
no. 264
A Lyon may come to be beholding to a Mouse.
1842
Percival Keene
I. xvii.
A mouse may help a lion, as the fable says.
1935
House of Four Winds
xi.
I only offer to show my gratitude by doing what I can… A mouse may help a lion.
assistance
;
great and small

 
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see also
ONE for the mouse, one for the crow
; also
MICE
.

 
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see
out of the FULLNESS of the heart the mouth speaks
;
never look a GIFT horse in the mouth
;
GOD never sends mouths but He sends meat
;
a SHUT mouth catches no flies
;
a SOW may whistle, though it has an ill mouth for it
.

 
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Young children may speak disconcertingly wisely at times. The proverb is used in a variety of abbreviated and allusive forms, often without a knowledge of the complete biblical quotations (both AV):
PSALMS
viii. 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hath thou ordained strength;
MATTHEW
xxi. 16 Jesus saith unto them [the Pharisees], Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise.
1899
Stalky & Co.
II
In the present state of education I shouldn't have thought any three boys would be well enough grounded …But out of the mouths—.
1906
—
Puck of Pook's Hill
285
Out of the mouths of babes do we learn.
1979
Some die Eloquent
xviii.
It was something Crosby said …‘About the source of the money.’ ‘Out of the mouths,’ conceded Leeyes.
children
;
wisdom

 
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