"Get thy spindle and thy distaff ready, and God will send the flax."

A popular phrase speaks of "An owl in an ivy-bush," which perhaps was
originally meant to denote the union of wisdom with conviviality,
equivalent to "Be merry and wise." Formerly an ivy-bush was a common
tavern sign, and gave rise to the familiar proverb, "Good wine needs no
bush," this plant having been selected probably from having been sacred
to Bacchus.

According to an old proverb respecting the camomile, we are told that
"the more it is trodden the more it will spread," an allusion to which
is made by Falstaff in "I Henry IV." (Act ii. sc. 4):--

"For though the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it
grows; yet youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it wears."

There are many proverbs associated with the oak. Referring to its
growth, we are told that "The willow will buy a horse before the oak
will pay for a saddle," the allusion being, of course, to the different
rates at which trees grow. That occasionally some trifling event may
have the most momentous issues is thus exemplified:--

"The smallest axe may fell the largest oak;"

Although, on the other hand, it is said that:--

"An oak is not felled at one chop."

A further variation of the same idea tells us how:--