A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

manners see also EVIL communications corrupt good manners; OTHER times, other manners.
manure see MONEY, like manure, does no good till it is spread.
MANY a little makes a mickle
The proper version of the next proverb. Pickle, a Scottish word for ‘a small quantity or amount’, is also found instead of little. Mickle (‘a great quantity or amount’) is now only Scottish.

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  a 1250 Ancrene Wisse (1962) 32 Thys ofte as me seith, of lutel muchel waxeth. c 1390 CHAUCER Parson’s Tale 1. 361 The proverbe seith that ‘manye smale maken a greet.’ 1545 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages (ed. 2) G5 We commonly say in englyshe: Many a lyttle maketh a great. 1614 W. CAMDEN Remains concerning Britain (ed. 2) 310 Many a little makes a mickle. 1822 CARLYLE in J. A. Froude Life (1884) I. xii. ‘Many a little makes a mickle.’ It will be a long.. and weary job, but I must plod along. 1905 Westminster Gazette 29 Apr. 3 ‘There is the Tithe Relief. .. But that is a small item.’ ‘Yes, but many a pickle maks a muckle.’ 1979 C. COLVIN Maria Edgeworth in France & Switzerland 196 Many a pickle (or little) makes a mickle. "great and small
  

MANY a mickle makes a muckle
A popular corruption of the preceding entry. This alternative form is in fact nonsensical, as muckle is merely a variant of the dialectal mickle ‘a large quantity or amount’.

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  1793 G. WASHINGTON Writings (1939) XXXII. 423 A Scotch addage, than which nothing in nature is more true . . ‘many mickles make a muckle.’ 1940 Huntly Express 19 Jan. 3 He said at the close of his address ‘As the Scots say, and they should know, mony a mickle mak’s a muckle.’ . . As the Scots know, he had quoted the proverb wrongly. 1993 ‘C. AIRD’ Going Concern (1994) i. 5 Amelia’s mind had gone off at a complete tangent, trying to work out however many Puckles there must be in the firm. The old saw about thrift came into her mind: ‘Many a mickle makes a muckle. .. ‘ Could it be a case of many a client making a Puckle? "great and small