Where They Come From, Who Said Them First, and How in Course of Time
They Have Become Changed.
Many of our common sayings, so trite and pithy, are used without the least
idea from whose mouth or pen they first originated. Probably the works of
Shakespeare furnish us with more of these familiar maxims than any other
writer, for to him we owe: "All is not gold that glitters"; "Make a virtue
of necessity"; "Screw your courage to a sticking place" (not point); "They
laugh that win"; "This is the long and short of it"; "Make assurance
double sure" (not doubly); "As merry as the day is long"; "A Daniel come
to judgment"; "Frailty, thy name is woman"; and a host of others.
Washington Irving gives us "The almighty dollar"; Thomas Norton queried
long ago, "What will Mrs. Grundy say?" while Goldsmith answers, "Ask me no
questions and I'll tell you no fibs." Charles C. Pinckney: "Millions for
defense, but not one cent for tribute." "First in war, first in peace, and
first in the heart of his fellow citizens" (not countrymen) appeared in
the resolutions presented to the House of Representatives in December,
1790, prepared by General Henry Lee.
Thomas Tusser, a writer of the sixteenth century, gives us: "It's an ill
wind turns none to good," "Better late than never," "Look ere thou leap,"
and "The stone that is rolling can gather no moss." "All cry and no wool"
is found in Butler's "Hudibras."
Dryden says: "None but the brave deserve the fair," "Men are but children
of a larger growth," and "Through thick and thin." "No pent-up Utica
contracts your powers," declared Jonathan Sewall.
"When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war."--Nathaniel Lee
(1655-1692).
"The end must justify the means" is from Matthew Prior. We are indebted to
Colley Cibber for the agreeable intelligence that "Richard is himself
again." Johnson tells us of "A good hater"; and Sir James Mackintosh, in
1791, used the phrase often attributed to John Randolph, "Wise and
masterly inactivity."
"Variety's the very spice of life," and "Not much the worse for wear,"
Cowper; "Man proposes, but God disposes," Thomas a Kempis.
Christopher Marlowe gave forth the invitation so often repeated by his
brothers in a less public way, "Love me little, love me long." Sir Edward
Coke was of the opinion that "A man's house is his castle." To Milton we
owe "The paradise of fools," "Fresh woods and pastures new," and "Peace
hath her victories no less renowned than war."
Edward Young tells us "Death loves a shining mark," "A fool at forty is
indeed a fool," but alas for his knowledge of human nature when he adds
that "Man wants but little, nor that little long"!