The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (222 page)

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u
ú
ó
, God likes to assist the man who toils; early 15th-cent. Fr.
aidez uous
,
Dieu uos aidera
, help yourself, God will help you.
1545
tr.
Erasmus' Adages
(ed. 2) 57
Dii facients adiuuant
.
The goddes do helpe the doers.
1551
Rule of Reason
S1
V
Shipmen cal to God for helpe, and God will them, but so not withstandying, if they helpe them selfes.
1668
Adagia Scotica
21
Help thy self, and God will help thee.
1736
Poor Richard's Almanack
(June)
God helps them that help themselves.
1892
Sermons on Some Words of Christ
iii.
God does not promise us each and all that .. the ravens shall come to feed us: as the proverb most truly says, He helps them that help themselves.
1946
All King's Men
(1948) 123
Nobody ever helped a hick [an ignorant yokel] but the hick himself … It is up to you and God, and God helps those who help themselves.
1990
Listening in Dusk
xxvii.
A widow of eighty-nine .. had hit an intruder over the head with the family Bible and sent him flying. ‘The Lord helps those who help themselves!’ she'd declared, cackling with triumph in front of the cameras.
1997
Oldie
Aug. 44
The motto ‘God helps those who help themselves’ is unedifying and hardly Christian.
providence
;
self-help

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