“You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.”

I’ve always loved this saying, maybe because it gave me a tactile metaphor for the idea of trying to be nice, rather than being pouty and mean…the difference between Charlie in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and snooty Veruca Salt.  I’ve heard variations on this saying, at least one from an Irish nun, so I have a feeling it has Celtic roots (since my mother’s grandmother, who is the one that taught this saying to my mother, was from the Emerald Isle herself). Anyone else have any variations or connections to this saying and/or cultural connections to it?