Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1857-05-29
FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS.

Z
From "Things not Generally Known" By D. A. Wells
There are many phrases and quotations which ART
as familiar in our mouths as household words,
whose origin is either unknown or nisconceiyed, ano
without encroaching upon the sphere of the work.
devoted to this purpose, We may mention few OF
them:
There Is death in the pot" is from the Bible, 2
Kings. iy. ~. Lovely and pleasant in their lives
and in death they were not divided" is spoken OF
Saul and Jonathan, Samuel, i. %. "A man after
his own heart" Samuel xiii, "a. "The apple, Of
his eye" Deut., xix. 81. "a etill small voice" |
Kings, xix. II. ESCAPED with the skin of my
teeth" Job, XIX. 90 THAT mine adversary had
written book" Job. xxi. 25. spreading himself
like green bay tree, Psalm, XVII. 80. Hanged
our hsrps upon the Willows" Psalm, cIx1yii. O.
"Riches make mot take, as it is often 9uosd) them:
selves wings" Proverbs, xiii. 5, Heap Goals of
FIRE upon bis head" Ibid, XIV o. mo new thing
under the sum-" Ecclesiastss /. 9. ..Of making ma
king books there is no end" Ibid, Xii. II. peace,
peace. when there ia no peace" lmads famous by
Patrick Hsnry.l Jeremiah, viii IL. My name
ia LEGION" Mark, v. g. ITO kick against the
pricks," Acts, *. S. make virtue of necessi.
ty," Shskspeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona. "All
that clusters is not gold" usually quoted "Al is not
gold that glitters," Merchant OF Venice. "Screw
your courage to the sticking place mot ponl Mac
beth. make assurance d,Aoiy sure Ibid "Hang
out your banners on the outward mot outerl walls,
Ibid "keep the word of promise to our mot hel
ear but break it to our hope, Ibid ut ia an l~ind
that turns good usually quoted it is an ILL
wind that blows no one any good Thomas Tasser,
$780, christmas comes but once year. Ibid
Look ere thou lesp," Ibid; and Look before you
you leap" Hudibrss, commonly quoted, LOOK
before you leap" "Out Of mind as soon as out OF
sight, usually quoted "Out Of sight, out OF mind,
Lord Brooke. "What though the field be lost, all 10
not lost" Milton. Awake arise or be for ever fallen,
Ibid. Necessity, The tyrant's plea" Ibid. "ihst
old man eloquent" Ibid. Peace hath Der victories,
Ibid. Though this may be play to you us
cry and no WOOL" mot little wool.l Hud:orss
Count their chickens ere tnot oeore) they re- natch
ed" Ibid. Through thick and thin," Dryden -
when Greeks joined Creeks, then was the tug OF
war" usually quoted 'When Greek meets Greek
then comes the tug of war" Nathaniel Lee, 1872
"Of two evils, have choss the least" Prior. "Rich.
ard is himself again. Colly Cibbsr. Classic grouud
Addison "As clear as whistle, Byron 1903. "A
good hstsr, Johnsonisns "A fellow feeling makes
NorvaI," John Home, 1908 "Ask me NO questions,
and I'll tell you no fb.," Goldsmith. "Not much
the worse for wear" mot none the worse,) Cowptr.
"What will Mrs. Grundy say" Thomas Morton: NO
pent up Utica contracts your powers. iona. NJ Sc
we'll Hath given hostages TO tortune, Bacon
His tGod's) image cut in ebony, Thomas Fuller
wise and mastery inactivity Macintosh, IN l79l,
though generally attributed 10 Randolph" First war;
first in peace, and first in the hearts OF his elIowcIt
zens," mot countrymen,l resolutions presented to
House of Representatives, Dec, 1892 prepared by
Gen. Henry Lee Millions for defence, but not one cent
for tribute" Charles G. Pinckney. "The Almighty
Dollar" Washington Irving. "As good as play"
King Charles, when in Parliament, attending the dis
cussOn Of Lord Ross's divorce bill. Selling Bar
GAIN" ia in Loves Labor Lost. "Fast and loose"
Ibid. pumping man." Orwsy's Venics Preserved.
"Go suacks," Popes prologue to Sstires. I'm the
wrong box" Fox's Martyrs ITO lamm in the sense
Of to heal" King and no King, by beaumont and
Fletcher. The hackneyed newspaper Latin quota.
ton, "rempora mutantur, ct mutamus in Ills
is not found in any classic or Latin author. The
nearest approach to il wac COMMA mutantur, &c,
and this is found in Borbonius German writer OF
the middle ages.
Smelling Of the lamp" ia to be found in Plutarch,
and is there attributed TO Pythess. "A little bird
told me-" comes from Ecnlesiasties, 90 "or bird
OF the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath
wings shall tell the matter"
"Hs that fights and runs Always.
Muy live to light another day"
These lines, usually ascribed to Hudbras, are really
much older. They are TO be found 10 book pub.
lshed IN 1856. The same idea is, however, expressed
in couplet published in 1912, while one OF the few
fragments Of Menander the Greek writer, that have
been preserved, embodes the same idea in q single
line. The oouplet in Hudbras lie:
"For those that fly may hgh, again,
Which he can never do that slain
There's good time coming" IL an expression
used by Sir Walter Scott in Rob Roy and has doubt
less for long time been familiar saying in Scot
land.
ErIpnh r9!o Jntnen, sceptrum9he tyTdnha' was
ne upon Franklin, written by Iurgot, the minister
of Louis XVI. 1t is however, merely modifca
ton of line by Cardinal Polignao, Eripuitque Jo0i
fnl,nen, Pheboqne sogitas which in turn was taken
from line of Marcus Manilus, who says Of Epcurus
Eripuitque J0ui tulrnsn p,resYue I0nanti.
Vor Popuii, Vor Del. The origin OF this familiar
phrase i, not known but it is quoted as proverb by
William of Malmesbury, who lived in the early part
of the twelfth century.
Ultima ratio rsgnm. This motto was engraved on
the French canon by order OF Louis XIV.
"Whstlng girls and Growing hens
Always TO some bad end
In one of the curious Chinese books recently trans
lated and published in Paris this proverb occurs in
Substantially the same words. II is also an nunc-
ton of the Chinese priesthood, and carefully OBJ
served household custom, to kill Immediately every
hen that crows, al preventive against the mstor.
tune which the circumstance is supposed to Indicate
The same practice prevails throughout many por-
tions of the United States.