The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (527 page)

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STRAWS tell which way the wind blows
The phrase ‘a straw in the wind,’ a sign of the prevailing opinion, action, etc., is also found.
a
1654
Table-Talk
(1689) 31
Take a straw and throw it up into the Air, you shall see by that which way the Wind is… More solid things do not shew the Complexion of the times so well, as Ballads and Libels.
1799
Porcupine's Works
(1801) X. 161
‘Straws’ (to make use of Callender's old hackneyed proverb).. ‘served to show which way the wind blows.’
1927
Ranch on Beaver
vii.
As straws tell which way the wind blows .. this day's work gives us a clean line on these company cattle.
1968
Shoplifter
vii.
You must remember that I was present at the contretemps which occurred at your house two days ago. Straws show which way the wind blows, Mrs. Pride!
hints
;
omens
A STREAM cannot rise above its source
1663
Adventures of Five Hours
(Prologue),
He would be ever w'you, but wants force; The Stream will rise no higher than the Source.
1732
Gnomologia
no. 4771
The Stream can never rise above the Spring-head.
1905
Hill
84
Clever chap … But one is reminded that a stream can't rise higher than its source.
1921
Pilgrim
125
It is held that a stream cannot rise above its source; but .. [a] river may have many tributaries, and one of them may change the character of what we call the main stream.
1952
Hidden Stream
iv.
Because after all the stream doesn't rise higher than its source, and God, however we conceive him, must be higher in the scale of being than anything he has created.
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