We've found 38 phrases for WISE (0.116 seconds):

a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down »    An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant when a pleasant aspect is deliberately introduced.1999, Eli Yassif, The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253335833, page 372,One is known as the "sweetening parable," that is to say a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Thus, when the aim is to preach to the people, to guide them along the "bitter," arduous path of upholding burdensome precepts and prohibitions, a tale can lighten the load, make the "medicine" easier "to swallow."2001, Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir, Little, Brown, ISBN 0316736368, page 319,It put some fun into the tedious business of preparing for a presidential debate. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, right?2004, John Hoover, How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive... Without Killing Your Boss, Career Press, ISBN 1564147045, page 11,If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a barrel of laughs can wash down the big pills you might need to swallow.

bad penny »    A person or thing which is unpleasant, disreputable, or otherwise unwanted, especially one which repeatedly appears at inopportune times.

booze can »    A nightclub or bar, especially one which operates illegally or is otherwise disreputable.

box the compass »    To know, and be able to recite the 32 points and quarter points of the magnetic compass from North, both clockwise and anticlockwise.

break down »    To become unstable, mentally or otherwise.

by the same token »    For a similar reason; in a similar manner; similarly; likewise; along the same lines.

class clown »    A student who frequently makes jokes or pokes fun; a wiseacre.

cradle robber »    A person who marries or becomes romantically involved with someone who is much younger or who employs or otherwise engages a young person for a purpose inappropriate for his or her age.

cross the aisle »    To vote, unite, or otherwise co-operate with members of another political party in order to achieve governmental or political action.

discretion is the better part of valour »    It is often wise to refrain from seemingly brave speech or action.1597

don't be penny wise and pound foolish »    Don't be careful when it comes to spending small amounts of money, but careless when spending much larger amounts.Don't focus on minutiae and lose sight of the big picture; don't obsess over tiny inconsequential efficiencies while glaring inefficiencies are going on elsewhere.

dry out »    To have excess water evaporate or be otherwise removed.

early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise »    platitude from Benjamin Franklin under the pseudonym Poor Richard.

forewarned is forearmed »    Advance awareness of a situation, especially a risky one, prepares one to deal with it.1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash, ch. 4:[W]hatever a young gentleman of that age says to you, he says to many other ladies; but your experience is not equal to your sense; so profit by mine . . . forewarned is forearmed.1885, G. A. Henty, Saint George for England, ch. 4:Sometimes, they say, it is wiser to remain in ignorance; at other times forewarned is forearmed.circa 1903, Lucy Maud Montgomery, "Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind":"Well, Miss Maxwell, I think it only fair to tell you that you may have trouble with those boys when they do come. Forewarned is forearmed, you know."

give as good as one gets »    To behave toward others in a manner resembling or commensurate with their behavior towards oneself, especially in a situation where one is insulted or otherwise ill-treated.

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