"The moon is made of a green cheese." — John Heywood, Proverbs, 1546. Variations on this sentiment were long repeated. Although some people assumed that this was a serious belief in the era before space exploration, it is more likely that Heywood was indulging in nonsense.
"Say cheese!" — said during photo-taking to encourage those posing to smile. The word "cheese" contains the phoneme /i/, a long vowel which requires the lips to be stretched in the appearance of a smile.
"Like chalk and cheese." — An expression meaning completely different.
"A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye." — Brillat-Savarin.
"How can you govern a country where there are 246 different types of cheese?" — attributed to Charles de Gaulle
"There's always free cheese in a mousetrap."
To "cut the cheese" — a euphemism for flatulence.
Cheese"Cheesy" can describe something of overblown, inauthentic quality. Example: Teenagers would describe children's shows as "cheesy."
"The Big Cheese" - an expression meaning "head honcho."
Students who travel to school by school bus (in North America) are said to "ride the cheese-wagon", a reference to the typical yellow color of a school bus.
"[Cheese can] restore an old love and ... ripen a young one" — Casanova, Histoire de ma vie, talking about blue cheeses and wine.He also confessed he was fond of cheeses which were full of worms, possibly a reference to a traditional Sardinian pecorino called casu marzu.
