Meanings
- alternativeAlternative form of you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
You attract more flies with honey than vinegar. You resolve more disputes with professionalism and communication than with irritability and vitriol.
2012, Karen Lacey, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Elance, Alpha Books, →ISBN, page 2442 more examples
She would call her mother in tears, and Mom would comfort and console her, then suggest that Amy simply try to be nicer to Ted: "You attract more flies with honey than vinegar," she would counsel.
1996, Henry Cloud, John Sims Townsend, The Mom Factor, Zondervan, →ISBN, page 110You may have gotten attention in high school by being the class heckler, but chances are your semi-rude behavior will not be appreciated by your classmates or your professors. Plus, as the old adage goes, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.
2009, Jessica Linnell, Off to College: Now What? a Practical Guide to Surviving and Succeeding Your First Year of College, Atlantic Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 164
Cite this entry
you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/you%20attract%20more%20flies%20with%20honey%20than%20vinegar
“you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/you%20attract%20more%20flies%20with%20honey%20than%20vinegar. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “you attract more flies with honey than vinegar,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/you%20attract%20more%20flies%20with%20honey%20than%20vinegar.
Source: you attract more flies with honey than vinegar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.