Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-04
FAMILIAR QUOTATIONS.M5
Disputed Questions of Authorship
Settled

| StlIleu.
Many familiar quotations are, in the ma
jority of cases, ascribed to false sources,
and we find the happy thoughts of gifted
authors slipping readily from our tongue,
but have only confused idea, if any, Of
win Sc wit We are borrowing. How many
Of the eager questiOners who have been met
with, @Ask me no questions and I'll tell
you no lies" know that the tantalizing re-
| spOnSe is a direct quotation from Gold
smith? To him We are also indebted for
''TheSe little things are greattO little men,"
And in GOldsmitlfs "Hermit" we find
'.Man wants but little here below, nor
wants that little long, but earlier than
that Doctor Young had said in his might
Thoughts "AIan wants but little, nor
that little long" '.All that glitters is not
gold," is from Shakespeare.
n question arose at a small party as to the
origin of line familiar to nearly every one
present, "What shadows we are, what
shadows we pursue," and after great di-
verSity of opinion and considerable search
it was found that not one Of the company
had given the true source. Ii is from a
speech of Edmund Burke, delivered at Bris-
tol on declining the poll in 17S0.
/ Pope is commonly and unjustly credited
with the authorship of the popular quota
tiOn: ImmodeSt words admit Of no defence,
for want of decancy is want Of sense" IL
may be found in Lord ROscOmmon's essay
on Translated Verse; which is also the
the source of '1ChOOSe an author as YOU
choose a friend"
Daniel Defoe is quoted as the author of
the proyerb, 'GOd no sooner builds
church than the devil puts up a chapel"
Defoe wrote poem, one verse Of which
was as follows:
Whenever God eTects a house Of prayer,
The devil is sure TO build chapel therei
And twill be found, upon examination,
The latter has the largest congregation"
But in writing this, Defoe only versifed
a well known proverb Of his day.
Burton. in his Anatomy of Melancholy,
saws: "Where God hath a temple the devil
will have a chapel and Herbert in his
Jacula Prudentum, expresses the. same
idea.
''Though the mills Of God grind slowly,
yet they grind exceedingly SMALL" may be
found among LOngfellOw's Poetical AphOr
iSms, and is a translation from Frederick
Won Logan, a writer Of the seventeenth
century. From POpe's rich stories Of
thought we gather many pOular maxims.
''Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a
straw" Whatever is, is right;" '.Order is
Heavens first law" "HOnOT and shame
from no condition riSe;H s.An honest mans
the noblest work Of God" may all be
found in POpe'S Essay on man. In his
Essay on Criticism, "a little learning is
a dangerous thing s.TO err is human, to
forgive divine" Fools rush in where
angels fear to tread;" "Your ease in
writing comes from art, not chance-as
those move easiest who have learned to
dance The well-knOwn line "Well should
YOU practice who so well can preach
occurs IN his Wife of Bath. There Is an
Italian prOveTb used in the extravaganza Of
aattery expressive Of this idea:
'.when nature made thee she broke the mould"
Byron uses it in the closing lines Of his
melody ON the death Of Sheridan:
.sSighing that nature formed but one such man,
And broke the die in moulding Sheridan"
The source of the common saying. Con |
sistency, thou art a jewell has puzzled |
many a scholar, and whether or not the |
authority may be relied upon |
as the starting point, or as only using a |
borrowed idea. cannot assert. In bal |
lad entitled, Jolly RObyn ROughhead,'
published in 1864, in a little volume of |
English and Scotch ballads, the poet be- |
walls the extravaganza in dress, which he |
the grand enOrmity of his day, |
and makes RObyn address his wife as fol- |
lows:
:. .Tush tush; nv laSsie! such thoughts resigne,
Comparisons are cruel,
Fine dresses suit 10 frames as fine,
COnsistencie's jewell"
Il 4, =
but a means unto an end and, '-All-up-
hill work when we would do, all down.
hill when we suffer- are quotations from
BailyIs @Festus.'
For some time there was a considerable
perplexity as to the origin of the familiar
line: Though lost TO sight, to memory |
dear" but it has been finally settled that it
originated with Ruthven Jenkyns, and was
first published in the GreeHlrich Magazine
Tor mariners in 11Ol.
"Through thick and thin" ''NOne but
he brave deserve the fair" and death and
leath's half-brOtheT, Sleep are from Dry
len.
"'Tis distance lends enchantment to the
7iew,n and ''Like angels visits, few and
ar between" are from c ampbelfs ''PleaS-
lres of Hope"
In a collection old songs, published in the
sixteenth century, we find, ''The darkest
lOur is Just before the dawn" To those
,Teat store houses Of wise sayings, Shaks-
)eare's works, the following owe their OTi-
,in: .'Double, double toll and trouble"
'Brevity is the soul of wit" "Curses not
Oud, but deep" "Make assurance dOubly
ure,- 1--WE shall not look upon his like
gain" and so many others that we find it
dangerous, with our limited space, to even
make a commencement.
But while we owe large debt Of gratitude
o Shakespeare, he usurps the credit of many
,ood things which Others have written; the
inc, "a fellow-feeling makes one won
lrous kind" being for instance. This was
written by Garrick, in the occasional pro-
ogue spoken by him on leaving the stage.
Scripture is often misquoted as Shakespeare,
md rice rersa, probably because Shakes
,eare was indebted to Scripture for many |
f his illustrations, and in reading his
works we are frequently reminded Of the
Bible. not so much by decided imitation
f style as by an elevation of thought and
implicitly of speech not found elsewhere.
1.-THE good die first, and they whose
earts are as dry as summer dust burn %
be socket is from WOrdsWOrth's ''Excur-
ion." Blessings brighten as they take
light" from Young's "Night Thoughts"
God made the country and man made
he town." from COwper's Task" which
also the source Of "The cup that cheers
ut not inebriates," and the olt-quOted line,
Not much the worse for wear"
Congrieve, in his play of "The Old
bachelor, 'lgives "Married in haste, we may
,pent at leisure;;" and ''Music hath charms
} sooth a savage breast" is by the same
uthor, and occurs in his ''MOrning Bride"
"Where ignorance is bliss, It's folly to
e wise" is IN Grays 'Ode on EtOn Col
.ce. "Chrismas comes but once year"
nd sIt is an i'll wind that blows nobody
nv good were written by Thomas TusSer
l 1850. ssStraws show which way the
ind blows" by James Cheatham, and
Out of sight, out of mind" by Lord
rookie =