This proverb, however, is not quite clear when applied to this country.
"To peel a fig, so far as we are concerned," writes Mr. Hazlitt[2], "can
have no significance, except that we should not regard it as a friendly
service; but, in fact, the proverb is merely a translation from the
Spanish, and in that language and country the phrase carries a very full
meaning, as no one would probably like to eat a fig without being sure
that the fruit had not been tampered with. The whole saying is, however,
rather unintelligible. 'Peeling a peach' would be treated anywhere as a
dubious attention."

Of the many proverbs connected with thorns, there is the true one which
tells us how,

"He that goes barefoot must not plant thorns,"

The meaning of which is self-evident, and the person who lives in a
chronic state of uneasiness is said to, "sit on thorns." Then there is
the oft-quoted adage:--

"While thy shoe is on thy foot, tread upon the thorns."

On the other hand, that no position in life is exempt from trouble of
some kind is embodied in this proverb:--

"Wherever a man dwells he shall be sure to have a thorn bush
near his door,"

which Ray also explains in its literal sense, remarking that there "are
few places in England where a man can dwell, but he shall have one near
him." Then, again, thorns are commonly said to "make the greatest