| proverb |
can the leopard change his spots? you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (one cannot correct someone else's bad habits or stupid convictions, a bad man will die a bad man); what is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh; what is bred in the bone will not come out of the flesh; the wolf may lose his teeth, but never his nature; the wolf may change his coat, but not his disposition; the thief is sorry he is to be hanged, but not that he is a thief; he who is born a fool is never cured (contrast: true blue will never stain); only the grave can straighten the hunchback |
