The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (257 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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o
, deem no man happy, until he passes the end of his life without suffering grief; OVID
Metamorphoses
iii. 135
dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo .. debet
, nobody should be called blessed before his death.
1545
tr.
Erasmus' Adages
(ed. 2) 53
V
Salon aunsered kynge Cresus, that no man could be named happy, tyl he had happely and prosperouslye passed the course of his lyfe.
1565
&
Gorboduc
III. i.
Oh no man happie, till his ende be seene.
1603
tr.
Montaigne's Essays
I. xviii.
We must exspect of man the latest day, Nor e'er he die, he's happie, can we say.
1891
Times
5 Dec. 9
Call no man happy till he dies is the motto .. suggested by the career of Dom Pedro [emperor of Brazil].
1967
Hornblower & Crisis
163
‘Call no man happy until he is dead.’ .. He was seventy-two, and yet there was still time for this dream .. to change to a nightmare.
good fortune
;
happiness

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