In that mine of wisdom, the book of _Ecclesiastes_, we are warned that "He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap," and the Italians in like manner declare that "He that looks at every cloud never makes the journey." The intuitive gift of womankind to realise the best course of action is the subject of proverbs the wide world over. In Italy it appears as "Women, wise on a sudden, fools on reflection." Every nation, too, appears to have some little tinge of self-righteousness, some sarcasm to spare for those outside its borders. Thus we are told that if one scratches a Russian we get at once to the Tartar beneath; and the Spaniard says, "Take away from a Spaniard his good qualities and there remains a Portuguese." The Italian in like manner has a proverbial rebuke for those who "drink wine like a German--in the morning, neat; at dinner without water; at supper, as it comes from the bottle"; and says, "May my death come to me from Spain," for so it will be long in coming--a hit at the Spanish habit of procrastination and the wearisome delays that thwart the despatch of business in that easy-going land where "manana" (to-morrow) is one of the commonest of expressions.[109:A] Many of the proverbs of Italy are, naturally, not exclusively Italian, but when the Florentine declares that "Arno swelleth not without becoming turbid," we have a distinctly local application of the broad truth that they who would acquire riches quickly may fall into a snare, and that a sudden prosperity may be achieved at the expense of a soiled conscience. "Il remedio e peggio del male" is but an Italian version of the generally-accepted adage, "The remedy is worse than the disease," and "Una rondina non fa primavera" is their rendering of a truth familiar to us in the statement that "One swallow does not make a summer," a proverb of wide acceptance. In France it is "Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps"; in Holland, "Een swaluw maakt geen zomer"; in Spain, "Una golondrina no hace verano." We find it, too, equally at home in Germany, Sweden, and many other lands. Its significance is repeated in another Italian proverb that tells us that "One flower does not make a garland." A very characteristic utterance is that "Summer is the mother of the poor," life in sunny Italy being then less arduous to the indigent, and the problems of existence appear by no means so exacting. The thorough-going character of German work is itself almost proverbial, and the treatment of the national proverbs in the "Deutsches Sprichwörter-Lexicon" is an excellent illustration of this German thoroughness, the editor having managed to gather in over 80,000. Another excellent compilation is that of Dr. Wilhelm Körte.