It's usually said with "flies" rather than "bees". You catch more flies with honey than vinegar is a well-known English proverb. The literal meaning being tha

It's usually said with "flies" rather than "bees". You catch more flies with honey than vinegar is a well-known English proverb. The literal meaning being that you have flies in your home, you will have better success catching them with honey than with vinegar. The broader meaning is that in life, you will have more success if you go about things with sweetness than with acidity. (Though I've heard that--despite the proverb--vinegar actually does work better than honey at catching fruit flies.)