An assertion that human failings, such as dishonesty and foolishness, are contagious. Cf. L. qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent, they who lie with dogs will rise with fleas.
Chi va dormir con i cani, si leua con i pulici. He that goeth to bedde wyth Dogges, aryseth with fleas.
[1573 J. Sanforde Garden of Pleasure 103V]
Hee that lies with the dogs, riseth with fleas.
[1640 G. Herbert Outlandish Proverbs no. 343]
He that sleeps with Dogs, must rise with Fleas. If you keep Company with base and unworthy Fellows, you will get some Ill by them.
[1721 J. Kelly Scottish Proverbs 129]
To this great truth, a Universe agrees, ‘He who lies down with dogs, will rise with fleas’.
[1791 ‘P. Pindar’ Rights of Kings 32]
If you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas, and that's the fruits of travelling with a fool.
[1842 C. J. Lever Jack Hinton xxii.]
I have few genial feelings towards the Sunday Times, and it is possible that I was thinking of its editor when I wrote‥of the danger that those who lie with dogs will rise with fleas.
[1991 Spectator 9 Nov. 8]
[W]e do well to bear in mind three axioms so hoary that their essential truth may no longer be adequately grasped. The first is ‘He who lies down with dogs rises with fleas.’
[1996 Washington Post 26 Feb. B2]
Related to: associates
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs. Copyright © 1982, 1992, 1998, 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
