A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

A CAT in gloves catches no mice
Restraint and caution (or ‘pussyfooting’) achieve nothing. Cf. 14th-cent. Fr. chat engaunte ne surrizera ja bien, a gloved cat will never mouse well.
□1573 J. SANFORDE Garden of Pleasure 105 A gloued catte can catche no myse. 1592 G. DELAMOTHE French Alphabet II. 1 A mufled Cat is no good mouse hunter. 1758 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (Preface) Handle your Tools without Mittens; remember that the Cat in Gloves catches no Mice. 1857 DICKENS Little Dorrit II. xiv. Mrs. General, if I may reverse the common proverb.. is a cat in gloves who will catch mice. That woman.. will be our mother-in-law. 1922 E. PHILLPOTTS Red Redmaynes ix. As we say in Italy, ‘if you put a cat into gloves, she will not catch mice.’ You have been in gloves ever since you knew Madonna was a widow. 1979 Country Life 21 June 2047 There is hardly one [cat] but flings back the lie in the face of the old saying that a cat in gloves catches no mice. Why dirty your paws when your servants will do it for you? ■efficiency and inefficiency
A CAT may look at a king
□1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II. v. H3 What, a cat maie looke on a king, ye know. 1590 R. GREENE Never too Late VIII. 181 A Cat may look at a King, and a swaynes eye hath as high a reach as a Lords looke. 1721 N. BAILEY English Dictionary s.v. Cat, A Cat may look upon a King. This is a saucy Proverb, generally made use of by pragmatical Persons. 1935 I. COMPTON-BURNETT House & its Head xi. There is no harm in that, dear. A cat may look at a king; and it is only in that spirit that my poor brother looks at Alison. 2001 Times 23 Nov. 20 Our trivia quiz shows are intended to show that taxi drivers are as clever as philosophers and poets. A cat may look at a king. ■ equality; society
When the CAT’s away, the mice will play
Cf. early 14th-cent. Fr. ou chat na rat regne, where there is no cat the rat is king; c 1470 Harley MS 3362 in Retrospective Review (1854) May 309 The mows lordchy-pythe [rules] ther a cat ys nawt; 1599 SHAKESPEARE Henry V I. ii. 172 To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs, Playing the mouse in absence of the cat.
□1607 T. HEYWOOD Woman killed with Kindness II. 135 Mum; there’s an old prouerbe, when the cats away, the mouse may play. 1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 68 When the cat is away, the mice play. 1876 I. BANKS Manchester Man III. xiv. Mrs. Ashton, saying ‘that when the cat’s away the mice will play’, had decided on remaining at home. 1925 S. O’CASEY Juno&Paycock I. 13 It’s a good job she has to be so often away, for when the cat’s away, the mice can play! 2001 R. HILL Dialogues of Dead xxx. 258 ‘When I’m having the time of my life, you’d not deprive me of the pleasure of thinking about all those poor sods back here working their fingers to the bone.’ ‘You don’t really believe that, do you? When the cat’s away..’ ■discipline; opportunity, taken