A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

source see a STREAM cannot rise above its source.
SOW dry and set wet
Seed put into wet soil will rot before it germinates: 1580 T. TUSSER Husbandry (rev. ed.) xxxv. 38^V By sowing in wet, Is little to get.

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  1660 S. RIDERS Riders: 1660 British Merlin [observation on Apr.] In gardning never this rule forget To sowe dry, and set wet. 1846 M. A. DENHAM Proverbs relating to Seasons, &c. 11 This rule in gardening neer forget—Sow dry and plant wet. 1985 Observer 3 Mar. 51 There is an adage for March which says ‘This rule in gardening ne’er forget: Sow dry and set wet.’ March is the month when most people’s gardening year starts. "garden lore
  

A SOW may whistle, though it has an ill mouth for it
The ‘Lord Granard’ mentioned in quot. 1802 was George Forbes (1760-1837), sixth Earl and first Baron Granard.

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  1802 M. EDGEWORTH Letter 19 Oct in Maria Edgeworth in France & Switzerland (1979) 10 He waddles on dragging his boots along in a way that would make a pig laugh. As Lord Granard says, a pig may whistle though he has a bad mouth for it. 1846 J. GRANT Romance of War I. xii. ‘I dare say the Spanish sounds very singular to your ear.’ ‘Ay, sir; it puts me in mind o’ an auld saying o’ my faither the piper. “A soo may whussle, but its mouth is no made for’t.”’ 1927 J. BUCHAN Witch Wood xvii. Ye say he has the speech o’ a guid Christian? Weel-a-weel, a soo may whistle, though it has an ill mouth for it. "possibility and impossibility
  

As you SOW, so you reap
With allusion to GALATIANS vi. 7 (AV) Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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  a 900 CYNEWULF Christ in Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records (1936) III. 5 Swa eal manna bearn sorgum sawath, swa eft ripath [just as each son of man sows in grief, so he also reaps]. c 1470 Mankind in Macro Plays (1962) 1. 180 Such as thei haue sowyn, such xall thei repe. 1664 S. BUTLER Hudibras II. ii. And look before you ere you leap; For as you sow, you are like to reap. 1871 J. A. FROUDE Short Studies 2nd Ser. 10 As men have sown they must still reap. The profligate.. may recover.. peace of mind.. but no miracle takes away his paralysis. 1978 F. WELDON Praxis xxiv. ‘You should never have left them,’ said Irma. ‘As you sow, Praxis, so you reap.’ 2000 ‘C. AIRD’ Little Knell (2001) iii. 29 ‘But like it says in the Bible,’ said Jennifer, ‘as you sow, so shall you reap.’ ■ action and consequence