The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (340 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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LOVE laughs at locksmiths
A more graphic expression of the sentiment in
LOVE will find a way
. Cf.
1592

3
SHAKESPEARE
Venus & Adonis
l. 576 Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last.
1803
(
title
)
Love laughs at locksmiths: an operatic farce.
1901
Sexual Debility in Man
ix.
Love is said to laugh at locksmiths, and incidentally at parental authority, and this young man was no exception.
1922
Jonah & Co
iv.
And now push off and lock the vehicle. I know Love laughs at locksmiths, but the average motor-thief's sense of humour is less susceptible.
1977
Parting Breath
xiii.
‘Entry ... [was] by the Yale lock on the front door. Child's play …’Sloan grunted. Love wasn't the only thing that laughed at locksmiths.
love
LOVE makes the world go round
Cf. Fr.
c'est l'amour
,
l'amour
,
l'amour
,
Qui fait le monde A la ronde
(Dumerson & Ségur
Chansons Nationales & Populaires de France
, 1851, II. 180) it is love, love, love, that makes the world go round.
1865
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
ix.
‘“Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love that makes the world go round!”’ ‘Somebody said,’ Alice whispered, ‘that it's done by everybody minding their own business’.
1902
in
Brandur Mag.
27 Sept. 4
It's said that love makes the world go round. The announcement lacks verification. It's the wind from the dinner horn that does it.
1980
Fall from Grace
ix.
A nice young man .. but gullible and romantic …Love makes the world go round.
1998
Washington Post
2 Feb. A2
Love may make the world go round, but it's the oceans that make it wobble like a top.
love
LOVE me little, love me long
a
1500
in
Archiv
(1900) CVI. 274
Love me lytyll and longe.
1546
Dialogue of Proverbs
II. ii. G1
Olde wise folke saie, loue me lyttle loue me long.
1629
Works
813
Men cannot brooke poore friends. This inconstant Charitie is hateful as our English phrase premonisheth; Loue me Little, and Loue me Long.
1721
Scottish Proverbs
229
Love me little, love me long. A Dissuasive from shewing too much, and too sudden Kindness.
1907
Times Literary Supplement
8 Mar. 77
Mrs. Bellew is a lady who cannot love either little or long. She tires very quickly of the men who are irresistibly drawn to her.
1991
Washington Times
14 Feb. G3
‘Love me a little less but longer’ is an old folk phrase.
constancy and inconstancy
;
love

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