The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (57 page)
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BLOOD will tell
Family characteristics or heredity cannot be concealed.
1850
World a Mask
IV. in
Glaucus
(1940) 38
He looked like the tiger in the Zoological, when I punch him with my stick. .. Game to the backbone—blood will tell.
1897
‘’
Beth Book
v.
Blood will tell, sir. Your gentleman's son is a match for any ragamuffin.
1914
Man upstairs & Other Stories
253
Blood will tell. Once a Pittsburgh millionaire, always a Pittsburgh millionaire.
1983
All Pretty People
xv.
The blood said: attack. .. Stern faced, he plunged. Blood will tell, in the end.
family
1850World a Mask
IV. in
Glaucus
(1940) 38
He looked like the tiger in the Zoological, when I punch him with my stick. .. Game to the backbone—blood will tell.
1897
‘’
Beth Book
v.
Blood will tell, sir. Your gentleman's son is a match for any ragamuffin.
1914
Man upstairs & Other Stories
253
Blood will tell. Once a Pittsburgh millionaire, always a Pittsburgh millionaire.
1983
All Pretty People
xv.
The blood said: attack. .. Stern faced, he plunged. Blood will tell, in the end.
family
bloom
blow
BLUE are the hills that are far away
A northern proverb comparable to
DISTANCE lends enchantment to the view
.
Green
is sometimes found instead of
blue
. Cf.
the GRASS is always greener on the other side of the fence
.
1887
Deemster
I. v.
‘What's it sayin',’ they would mutter, ‘a green hill when far away from me; bare, bare, when it is near.’
1902
Watcher by Threshold
IV. 236
‘Blue are the hills that are far away’ is an owercome [common expression] in the countryside.
1914
Spectator
6 June 955
It is the habit of the Celt to create fanciful golden ages in the past—‘Blue are the faraway hills,’ runs the Gaelic proverb.
1949
Necktie for Norman
iii. 21
It was so much like the attitude of the habitual stay-at-home. They say that ‘distant hills are always the greenest.’
absence
;
content and discontent
DISTANCE lends enchantment to the view
.
Green
is sometimes found instead of
blue
. Cf.
the GRASS is always greener on the other side of the fence
.
1887Deemster
I. v.
‘What's it sayin',’ they would mutter, ‘a green hill when far away from me; bare, bare, when it is near.’
1902
Watcher by Threshold
IV. 236
‘Blue are the hills that are far away’ is an owercome [common expression] in the countryside.
1914
Spectator
6 June 955
It is the habit of the Celt to create fanciful golden ages in the past—‘Blue are the faraway hills,’ runs the Gaelic proverb.
1949
Necktie for Norman
iii. 21
It was so much like the attitude of the habitual stay-at-home. They say that ‘distant hills are always the greenest.’
absence;
content and discontent
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