The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-02-12
5ayings, and Who First Said Them.

Many of our common sayings, so trite
and pithy, are used without the least idea
from whose mouth or pen they first origin
ated Probably the works of Shakespeare
furnish us with more of these familiar max
inns than any other writer, for to him we
owe: "All is not gold that glitters," !"
MAKE a virtue Of necessity "Screw
your courage to sticking place. mot
point, They laugh that win - "This is
the long and short of it" ''Comparisons
are odious," ''As merry as the day is long"
"a Daniel coming to Judgement Fra
ility, thy name is Woman,'' and hosts of
sthers.
Washington Irving gives US ''The Al
mighty Dollar" Thomas Norton queried
long ago What will Mrs. Grumpy says r.
while Goldsmith answers, ASK me no
questions and I'll tell you no fibs." Chss.
G. Pickney ''Millions for defence bu. not
one cent for tribute" First in war, first
in peace, and first in the hearts of his fell
low citizens" mot countrymen), appeared in
the resolutions presented to the House Of
representatives in December, 1870, prepar-
ed by Gen. Henry Lee.
From the same we GULL ''Make assur-
ance doubly sure, ''Christmas comes but
once year. Count their chickens ere
batched," and "Look before you leap"
lhsmas Tasser writer Of the sixteenth
century, gives US, Its an i'll wind turns
no good" "Better late than never"
look ere thou leap and ''The stone
that is rooling can gather no moss. 'All
'Fudibras.'
Dreden says: None but the brave de-
serve the falr," "Men are .ut children of a
larger growth, e" Through thick and thin,"
No pent up Utica contracts our power"
declared Jonathan Sewell
''When Greeks join Greek then was the
tue Of war;" Nathaniel Lee, l692.
''Of two evils | have chosen the least :"
and The end must justify the means" are
from Matthew Prior. We are indebted to
Coley Cibber for the agreeable intelligence
that Richard is himself again. Johns N
tells us Of "A good hater," and Mackin-
to,h in 1871, the phrase often attributed to
John Randolph, Wise and mastery mac
tisity."
''Variety's the spice of life,' and mot
much the worse for ware" Cowper ,''Man
Proposes, but God disposes," Thomas A.
Kempis.
Christopher Marlowe gave forth the in
itation so often repeated by his brothers
| il less public way, Love me little, love
| ion that "A mans house is his cattle !"
90 milton we owe The paradise of fools !"
"a wilderness Of sweets" and "Moping
Enelancholy and moonstruck Madness
Edward Young tells us death loves a
Shining mark. - "A fool at forty is 4 fool
indeed" but, alas, for his knowledge of
human nature when he tells us MAN wants
but little nor that little long"
From Bacon comes knowledge is power,
and Thomas Southerne reminds us that
sPity's akin to love" Dean Swift thought
tlat Bread is the staff Of life" Catr pbell
hund that Coming events cast their shad :
owS before" and '"Tis distance lends en-
tclantmenr to the view "A thing of beau
It is joy forever" is from Keats. Frank
hn said, God helps them who helps them
slyes," and Lawrence Sterne comforts us
WITH the thought, God tempers the wind
70 the shorn lamb
Even some of the ''slang' phrases of the
aly have legitimat origin. Putting
your foot in it, is certai.ly not very ell
fgant mode of ezpressi,n, but according to
tLe "Asiatc Researches" it is quite fine
POINT of law. When the title to land in Hin
stan, two holes are dug in the ground
and used to incase limb of each lawyer(D
and the one who tried first lost his clients
Isase Fancy, if you can, some of our fa-
a0us Limbs OF the law pleading in such
| manner 1t is generally the client who
puts his foot in it.
I. " hen things are in disorder they are often
stlQ TO be turned topsy turvy; this express
- Is derived from the way IN which turf
.>ed Tor fuel is placed to dry, the turf being
nhed downward and the expression then
'gtns IAN top side turfway
rlutarch, in his life of Argesileus, King of