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Scottish Proverbs (R)

( you might need a Scots Dictionary )

RAB Gibb's contract,--stark love and kindness.
Raggit folk and bonny folk are aye ta'en haud o'.
Spoken jocularly when a person has rent or caught his clothes upon a nail or other projection.
Raise nae mair deils than ye are able to lay.
"Raise no more spirits than you can conjure down."- German.
Rather spoil your joke than tine your friend.
Raw dads mak fat lads.
Raw leather raxes wee1.
"Raw leather will stretch."-- English.
Reavers shouldna be ruers.
Literally, robbers should not repent.
Reckless youth maks reufu' eild.
"People who live too fast when they are young will neither have it vigorous nor a comfortable old age."-- Kelly.
Reckon up your winning at your bed-stock.
Red brackens bring milk and butter.
"In October, the bracken or fern on hill pastures becomes red wihs the first frosty nights, and about that time the autumnal herbage is very rich, and productive of the good things in question."- Robert Chambers.
Red wood maks gude spindles.
"'Red wood,' the name given to the reddish or dark-coloured and more incorruptible wood found in the heart of trees."-- Jamieson.
Refer my coat and lose a sleeve.
"Rejoice, bucks," quo' Brodie, when he shot at the buryin' and thought it was a weddin'.
Remember, man, and keep in mind, a faith fu' friend is hard to find.
Remove an auld tree an' it'll wither.
Riches are got wi' pain, kept wi' care, and tint wi' grief.
Rich folk hae routh o' friends.
"Routh o' friends," that is, many of them.
Rich folk's wit rives poor folk's jaws.
Rich mixture maks gude mortar.
Ride fair and jaup nane.
"Taken from riding through a puddle, but applied to too home jesting."-- Kelly.
Right, Roger, sow's gude mutton.
A proverbial expression, meaning that a person is totally mistaken about a matter.
Right wrangs nae man.
Ripe fruit is soonest rotten.
Rise when the day daws, bed when the night fa's.
Robin, that herds on the height, can be blithe as Sir Robert the Knight.
Rome wasna built in a day.
Rot him awa' wi' ham and eggs.
Rowan-tree and red thread mak the witches tine their speed.
These particular articles were formerly supposed to have a controlling power over witches.
Royt lads may mak sober men.
To "royt" is to go about idly or dissolutely.
Rue and thyme grow baith in ae garden.
Rule youth weel, for eild will rule itsel'.
Ruse the fair day at e'en.
"Commend not a thing or a project till it has had its full effect."-- Kelly.
"It is not good praising the ford till a man be over."- English.
Ruse the ford as ye find it.
Speak only of things as your experience has found them.
Rusted wi' eild, a wee piece gate seems lang.
Literally, decayed by age, a short road seems a very long one.

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