The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (552 page)

Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs Online

Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
10.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
THOUGHT is free
c
1390
Confessio Amantis
V
. 4485
I have herd seid that thoght is fre.
1601
Twelfth Night
I
. iii 64
fair lady, do you think you have fools in hand?—Now, sir, thought is free.
1874
Malcolm
II. xvii.
‘How do you come to think of such things?’ ‘Thought's free, my lord.’
opinions
THREATENED men live long
Cf. early 14th-cent. Fr.
le[s] menaciez encore vivent
, threatened men live long.
1534
in M. St. C. Byrne
Lisle Letters
II. ii.
Ther es a nolde sayeng thretend men lyue long.
c
1555
in
Ballads of Elizabethan Period
(1912) 69
It is a true prouerbe: the threatned man lyues long.
1607
Fair Maid of Exchange
II. 68
Threatened men live long.
1655
Church Hist. Britain
VIII
. iii.
Gardiner .. vowed .. to stop the sending of all supplies unto them … But threatned folke live long.
1865
Haunted London
ii.
Temple Bar was doomed to destruction by the City as early as 1790 … ‘Threatened men live long.’ .. Temple Bar still stands.
1930
Murder at Vicarage
iv.
Archer .. is vowing vengeance against me, I hear. Impudent scoundrel. Threatened men live long, as the saying goes.
1980
Hunters & Hunted
i.
The threat was an old one; and, the proverb ran, threatened men live long.
mortality
;
peril

Other books

The Governor's Lady by Inman, Robert
Vanilla Vices by Jessica Beck
Talking in Bed by Antonya Nelson
Jane Two by Sean Patrick Flanery
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Murder Among the OWLS by Bill Crider
A Million Miles Away by Avery,Lara
The Race by Patterson, Richard North