The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (16 page)
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APRIL showers bring forth May flowers
c1560 in
Songs & Ballads
(1860) 213
Aprell sylver showers so sweet Can make May flowers to sprynge.
1570
Husbandry
(rev. ed.) 22
Swete Aprill showers, Do spring the May flowers.
1670
English Proverbs
41
April showers bring forth May flowers.
1821
Kenilworth
III. vii.
I believe .. if showers fall in April, that we shall have flowers in May.
1846
Proverbs relating to Seasons, &c.
36
March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.
1921
Sphere
14 May 152
If there was anybody left to believe in the saying that ‘April showers bring forth May flowers’ their simple faith must have been rudely shattered by May's behaviour this year.
1984
Creative Kind of Killer
xiv.
The sky was looking more threatening than it had before … April showers. But no May flowers to follow, not in Manhattan's cement garden.
1996
Windows Magazine
May 309
As the saying goes, ‘April showers bring May flowers.’ The three major online services are ready to help you deliver the wonderful scents of spring to a loved one.
weather lore
arm
An ARMY marches on its stomach
The proverb has been attributed to both Napoleon and Frederick the Great; this figurative use of
(on one's) stomach
is unusual in English.
1904
Windsor Magazine
Jan. 268
‘An army marches on its stomach.’
‘C'est la soupe qui fait le soldat.’
These Napoleonic aphorisms have been increasingly appreciated by our War Office.
1911
Good Cheer
xxvi.
‘An army marches on its stomach,’ says the old proverb—and, of course, fights on it too.
1977
Dead-Nettle
x.
‘They say an army marches on its stomach,’ Gilbert Slack began to say. ‘You mean that Frank was a cook?’
1992
Root into Europe
ii.16
‘Didn't see service as such. Supply and demand myself. Pay and personnel. Laundry and so forth. An army marches on its stomach.’
1996
Washington Times
14 June A4
An army marches on its stomach, and you can't win a war on milk and toast.
food and drink
;
soldiers
(on one's) stomach
is unusual in English.
1904Windsor Magazine
Jan. 268
‘An army marches on its stomach.’
‘C'est la soupe qui fait le soldat.’
These Napoleonic aphorisms have been increasingly appreciated by our War Office.
1911
Good Cheer
xxvi.
‘An army marches on its stomach,’ says the old proverb—and, of course, fights on it too.
1977
Dead-Nettle
x.
‘They say an army marches on its stomach,’ Gilbert Slack began to say. ‘You mean that Frank was a cook?’
1992
Root into Europe
ii.16
‘Didn't see service as such. Supply and demand myself. Pay and personnel. Laundry and so forth. An army marches on its stomach.’
1996
Washington Times
14 June A4
An army marches on its stomach, and you can't win a war on milk and toast.
food and drink;
soldiers
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