A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

dry see you never MISS the water till the well runs dry; SOW dry and set wet; put your TRUST in God and keep your powder dry.
due see give CREDIT where credit is due; GIVE the Devil his due.
dumb see a CHERRY year a merry year.
dunghill see every COCK will crow upon his own dunghill.
dust see a PECK of March dust is worth a king’s ransom.
duty see the FIRST duty of a soldier is obedience.
dying see you cannot SHIFT an old tree without it dying.
dyke see FEBRUARY fill dyke, be it black or be it white.
eagle see where the CARCASE is, there shall the eagles be gathered together.
EAGLES don’t catch flies
Great or important people do not concern themselves with trifling matters or insignificant people. Cf. ERASMUS Adages III. ii. aquila non captat muscas, the eagle does not catch flies.

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  1563 Mirror for Magistrates (1938) 405 The iolly Egles catche not little flees. 1581 G. PETTIE tr. S. Guazzo’s Civil Conversation II. 48^V That is the right act of a Prince, and therefore it is well saide, That the Egle catcheth not flies. 1786 H. L. PIOZZI Anecdotes of Johnson 185 With regard to slight insults.. ‘They sting one (says he) but as a fly stings a horse; and the eagle will not catch flies.’ 1942 H. C. BAILEY Nobody’s Vineyard i. ‘Eagles don’t catch flies.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Inspectors of Police don’t trail urchins.’ 1980 A. T. ELLIS Birds of Air (1983) 92 ’Aquila non captat muscas,’ she told him in a reassuring whisper. ‘Eagles don’t catch flies.’ “great and small
  

ear see FIELDS have eyes, and woods have ears; LITTLE pitchers have large ears; you can’t make a SILK purse out of a sow’s ear; WALLS have ears.
The EARLY bird catches the worm
The corollary in quot. 2001, it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese, is attributed to US comedian Steven Wright; it may be used independently to counsel caution.

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