A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

nation see also happy is the COUNTRY which has no history; the ENGLISH are a nation of shopkeepers.
NATURE abhors a vacuum
Cf. L. natura abhorret vacuum, Nature abhors a vacuum.

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  1551 CRANMER Answer to Gardiner 299 Naturall reason abhorreth vacuum. 1642 T. FULLER Holy State v. ii. Queen Joan.. (hating widowhood as much as Nature doth vacuum) maried James King of Majorca. 1686 R. BOYLE Free Inquiry V II. 292 The Axiom of the Schools, that Nature abhors a Vacuum. 1771 S. JOHNSON Letter 20 June (1952) I. 249 Whatever philosophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of intellectual nature, that it abhors a vacuum: our minds cannot be empty. 2001 Washington Times 30 Oct. A4 The White House should have expected this, of course, since the media, like nature, abhors a vacuum. "Nature; opportunity, taken
  

nature see also you can DRIVE out Nature with a pitchfork, but she keeps on coming back; SELF-preservation is the first law of nature.
nay see he that WILL not when he may, when he will he shall have nay.
NEAR is my kirtle, but nearer is my smock
A justification for looking after one’s own closest interests; see also the next proverb. A kirtle is a woman’s skirt or gown; a smock is an undergarment. Cf. PLAUTUS Trinummus 1. 1154 tunica propior palliost, my tunic is closer than my cloak.

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  1461 Paston Letters (1976) II. 228 Nere is my kyrtyl but nerre is my smok. 1545 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages (ed. 2) B7^V The Englysshe prouerbe sayethe thus: nere is my cote, but nerer is my shyrt. 1622 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 1 May (1903) 1. 126
  

That king.. having too many irons in the fire at his own home.. answered them that his shirt was nearer to him than his doublet. 1861 C. READE Cloister & Hearth IV. xxix. You must not think all of him and none of yourself. Near is your kirtle, but nearer is your smock. ■ self-preservation