The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (418 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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1576
Petit Palace
34
Other times, other wayes.
1902
Samuel Richardson
iv.
Notwithstanding the favourite explanation of ‘other times, other manners’, contemporary critics of Clarissa found very much the same fault with her history as people do to-day.
1945
Lark Rise
viii.
Other days, other ways... The old country midwives did at least succeed in bringing into the world many generations of our forefathers.
1978
Human Factor
IV
. ii.
‘We used to have better funerals in Africa.’ .. ‘Oh well—other countries, other manners.’
change
;
circumstances
;
past
An OUNCE of practice is worth a pound of precept
A number of proverbs similar in form are illustrated below.
An ounce
used figuratively for ‘a small quantity’ is found in
1567
W. CECIL
Letter
in C. Read
Mr. Secretary Cecil
(1955) xxi. Marry [to be sure], an ounce of advice is more worth to be executed aforehand than in the sight of perils.
c
1576
Autobiography
(1961) 142
I ment not to be on of thoz who waith [esteems] A chip of chauns [luck] mor then A pownds wurth of witt.
1592
French Alphabet
II
. 55
An ounce of discretion, is better worth, then a pound of hardinesse [audacity].
1616
Sacrifice of Thankfulness
19
The prouerbe is true; an Ounce of Discretion, is worth a pound of Learning.
1748
Essays upon Field Husbandry
12
It used to be the Saying of an old Man, That an Ounce of Experience is better than a Pound of science.
1866
Cradock Nowell
II. ix.
Remember that rigid probity, and the strictest punctuality .. are the very soul of business, and that an ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept.
1925
Caravan
667
‘Define it [Beauty], Mr. Vaness.’ ‘An ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory.—It stands before me.’
1981
Xanadu Talisman
ix.
She said rather primly, ‘An ounce of wisdom is worth a pound of wit.’
1997
Washington Times
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure …All the old saws point up the value of heading off a problem before it reaches the pass.
example, good and bad
;
words and deeds
OUT of debt, out of danger
1639
Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina
82
Out of debt and deadly danger.
1667
Worth of Penny
(ed. 2) 8
How bold, confident, merry, lively, and ever in humour are moneyed men (for being out of debt, they are out of danger).
1710
Proverbs
132
Out of Debt out of Danger…A Man in Debt is a Slave, and can't act with Liberty.
1908
H.M.I.
xxi.
Call it ‘distributing capital expenditure over a term of years’, and even a rural dean succumbs. ‘Out of debt, out of danger,’ but ‘out of debt, out of progress.’
1977
Parting Breath
vii.
‘Well, they're important, aren't they?’ said Leeyes largely. ‘Out of debt, out of danger.’
security
;
thrift

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