The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (227 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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The GODS send nuts to those who have no teeth
Said of opportunities or pleasures which come too late to be enjoyed. Cf. Fr.
le pain vient à qui les dents faillent
, bread comes to those who lack teeth.
1929
American Speech
IV. 463
God gives us nuts to crack when we no longer have teeth.
1967
English Proverbs Explained
68
The gods send nuts to those who have no teeth. In this life we either have too little of what we do want, or too much of what we don't want or can't use.
1979
‘’
Some die Eloquent
xii.
‘Have you any plans for using the money?’.. ‘The nuts’, said the doctor astringently, ‘come when the teeth have gone.’
old age
;
opportunity, missed
Whom the GODS would destroy, they first make mad
Cf.
Trag. Graec. Fragm. Adesp
. 296 (Nauck)
µó

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