many a little makes a mickle
Preserved but no longer current.
Little and often fills the purse. See LITTLE. Many men, many minds, i.e. as many opinions as there are persons to give them; an adaptation of Terence's Quot homines tot sententia (Phormio, II, iv, 14).
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #39937 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “many a little makes a mickle” mean?
Little and often fills the purse. See LITTLE. Many men, many minds, i.e. as many opinions as there are persons to give them; an adaptation of Terence's Quot homines tot sententia (Phormio, II, iv, 14).
Is “many a little makes a mickle” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.