The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (186 page)

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, a man who flees will fight again. The present form of the saying has superseded a pithy Middle English version:
a
1250
Owl & Nightingale
(1960) 1.176 ‘Wel fight that wel flight,’ seth the wise.

1542
Erasmus' Apophthegms
II. 335
^VThat same manne, that renneth awaye, Maye again fight, an other daye.
1678
Hudibras
III. iii.
For, those that fly, may fight againe, Which he can never do that's slain.
1747
Complete Hist. Rebellion
61
The Dragoons .. thought proper .. a sudden Retreat; as knowing that, He that fights and runs away, May turn and fight another Day; But he that is in Battle slain, Will never rise to fight again.
1853
Stray Yankee
i.
I beat an immediate retreat .. having always had implicit faith in the old proverb touching ‘fighting and running away’, in the hope of ‘living to fight another day.’
1876
Sparks & Cinders
5
For be it known he kept in view That ancient adage, trite but true, That ‘He who fights and runs away, May live to fight another day.’
1981
Daily Telegraph
10 June 2 (
caption
)
He who fights and runs away .. lives to fight another day!