Hello.

We named this site after the saying "fine words butter no parsnips," which basically means "talk is cheap." It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Here are some examples of the proverb in use. These are real quotes. If you have time to read only one, read the last one, in which a member of the Dutch royal family talks about making chicken noises.

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Faire words butter noe parsnips.

~ John Clarke, 1639 (earliest known citation)

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Soft words butter no parsnips, but they won't harden the heart of the cabbage either.

~ Irish version

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With sober proletarian instinct [the worker] insists on deeds in confirmation of words; he does not want his parsnips buttered with fine words.

~ Vladimir Lenin

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But ideas--like fine words--butter no parsnips, and the Glasgow-based team is, in its second year of operation, undergoing the creatively painful process of narrowing its output down to the manufacturable projects that are likely to make money.

~ U.K. Science Park Association

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Mathematics and physics are infinities, and butter no parsnips. In math there are no parsnips, no butter either.

~ Yale Review

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STEPHEN WESTCRAFT (contemptuously) All very well, but fine words butter no parsnips. (turns to go up R.)

MRS. PENFOLD and MISS MILBURN (laugh at WESTCRAFT) Ha, ha, ha!

~ Dialogue from the play "Black and White" by Wilkie Collins and Charles Fechter

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The phrase "fine words butter no parsnips" can not be levelled at the Cornwall Agricultural Council.

~ Steve Parsons, chairman of the Cornwall Agricultural Council

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Fair words butter no fish.

~ Variation dated to 1645

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The spirit does not dwell in concepts, but in deeds and in facts. Words butter no parsnips.

~ Carl Jung

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There is a popular saying in Vietnam: "Fine words butter no parsnips."

~ A Vietnam trade-ministry official in the Saigon Times

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Co thuc moi vuc duoc dao.

~ "Fine words butter no parsnips" in Vietnamese

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Hearts in the right place alone butter no parsnips.

~ Newsletter of the National Housewives Register, 1979

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Merely giving voice to aspirations will butter no parsnips.

~ Excerpt from a case-law report on Kulvinder Kaur v. MG Rover Group Ltd.

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Rhetoric butters no parsnips.

~ "Establishing and Maintaining a Library," University of Sydney essay

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Such knowledge butters no parsnips.

~ The Economist, "Science Is a Celebration Of The Human Spirit," 2002

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The trouble is of course, that aliens, as they say on Mars, butter no parsnips. Or anything else for that matter.

~ The Scotsman newspaper, writiing about UFO sightings in Scotland

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If you want to know how to express in German the thought that would normally prompt you to utter the axiom "Fine words butter no parsnips," the entire phrase is there for you under the entry for parsnip.

~ Reader review of a German-English dictionary on Amazon

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Last night the prime minister made a moving speech at the Shah Alam refugee camp, but fine words butter no parsnips. The chief minister stood stony faced beside him.

~ Spoken at a symposium on the breakdown of civil society in Gujarat, India

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In theory, [Tiger] Woods should be five points in the bag, but theory don't butter no parsnips.

~ Times of London sports page, 2004

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The type of religion which sings "Oh to be nothing, Only to sit at His feet," will "butter no parsnips" in our parish.

~ Rev. J. E. Thorp, "Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker," 1921

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As Sir Christopher Staughton commented, a reserving policy itself "butters no parsnips."

~ "Recent Developments in English Reinsurance Law"

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Who was the blundering idiot who said that "fine words butter no parsnips?"

~ William Thackeray, "Vanity Fair"

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The expression "fair (or fine) words butter no parsnips" dates back at least to the seventeenth century and certainly plain boiled parsnips cry out for butter and black pepper. Roast parsnips are a traditional accompaniment to roast beef ... [Editor's note: hundreds of words about parsnips deleted] So how is it that this versatile vegetable is so little regarded? I leave you with this snippet of trivia--in the Middle Ages, a raw parsnip round your neck was said to ward off adders or reduce swelling in the testicles.

~ Parish bulletin of St. Albans Church, Copenhagen, 2001

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But fine words butter no parsnips, as they say (no, they really do), so you'll also find a complete "Webmaster's Toolkit" on the CD that's pasted into the back of this book.

~ Web page of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Web Page"

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I apologise again to the hon. Gentleman and especially to his constituent. From time to time, we all experience the frustration of not being able to get through on the telephone. However, overall national performance on all aspects of customer service is currently about 84 per cent. against a target of 79 per cent. However, when individuals are not getting that service in response from the Banbury office, I realise that ministerial statistics butter no parsnips--they certainly butter no Banburys.

~ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, London, 2002

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After all, as the British saying goes: "Fine words butter no parsnips." There's a Chinese equivalent, and I do not want to deprive you of it: "If you are not going to lay an egg, then don't make a noise like a chicken."

Thank you.

~ Closing words of a speech by Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, 2002

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