Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1883 — SAYINGS, [ARTICLE]

SAYINGS,

An* JT*e SaUt Them First, Many of our common sayings, bo trite and pithy, are used 'without the least idea from whose month or pen they first originated. Perhaps the works of Shakspeare famish as 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 the sticking plaoe” (not point), “They laugh that win," “This is the short and long of it,” “Comparisons are odious,” “As merry as the day is long," “A Daniel oome to judgment,” “Frailty, thy name is woman,” and a host of others. Washington Irving gives us “The Almighty Dollar, ” Thomas Morton queried long ago, “What will Mrs. Grundy say ?” while Goldsmith answers, “Ask me no questions and M tell you no fibs.” Charles Pickney gives us “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute.” “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow-citizens” (not countrymen), appeared in the resolutions presented to the House of Representatives in December, 1790, prepared by Gen. Henry Lee. From the same we cull “Make assurance doubly sure,” “Christmas comes but once a year,” “Count their chickens ere they are hatched,”’ and “Look before you leap.” Thomas Tasser, a writer of the sixteenth century, gives us, “It’s an ill wind turns no 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.” “When Greeks join Greeks then was the tug of war,” Nathamal Lee, 1692. “Of two evils I have chosen the least, ” and “The end must justify the means, ” are 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 Macintosh in 1791, 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 gftve forth the invitation so often repeated by his brothers in *a less public way, “Love me little, love me long.” Edward Coke *yas of the opinion that “A man’s house is his castle.” To Milton we owe “The paradise of fools,” “A wilderness of sweets” and “Moping melancholy and moonstruck madness.” Edward Young tells us, “Death loves a shining mark,” “A fool at 40 is a fool indeed.” From Bacon comes “Knowledge is power, and Thomas Southerne reminds us that “Pity’s akin to love.” Dean Swift thought that “Bread is the staff of life.” Campbell found that “Coming events cast their shadows before,” and “’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.” “A thing of beauty is a joy forever,” is from Keats. Franklin said, “God helps those who help themselves and Lawrence Sterne comforts with the thought, “God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. ”