The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (254 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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HANGING and wiving go by destiny
1546
Dialogue of Proverbs
I. iii.
Weddyng is desteny, And hangyng lykewise.
1596
Merchant of Venice
II. ix. 82
The ancient saying is no heresy: Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.
1678
Hudibras
II. i. 270
If
Matrimony
and
Hanging
go By
Dest'ny
, why not
Whipping
too?
1738
Polite Conversation
I. 78
Twas her Fate; they say, Marriage and Hanging go by destiny.
1928
‘’
Red Scar
xxxvi.
Hanging and wiving go by destiny.
1951
Viking
iii.
King Alfred said that wiving and hanging go by destiny.
fate and fatalism
;
marriage
If you would be HAPPY for a week take a wife; if you would be happy for a month kill a pig; but if you would be happy all your life plant a garden
There are almost endless possibilities for variation on this theme, but marriage is generally included as one of the more ephemeral sources of content.
a
1661
Worthies
Wales 6 I say the Italian-humor, who have a merry Proverb, Let him that would be happy for a Day, go to the Barber; for a Week, marry a Wife; for a Month, buy him a New-horse; for a Year, build him a New-house; for all his Life-time, be an Honest man.
1809
Anonymiana
II. xix.
If you would live well for a week, kill a hog; if you would live well for a month, marry; if you would live well all your life, turn priest … Turning priest … alludes to the celibacy of the Romish Clergy, and has a pungent sense, as much as to say, do not marry at all.
1973
New Earth Catalog
55
If you would be happy for a week take a wife; If you would be happy for a month kill a pig; But if you would be happy all your life plant a garden.
1996
National Review
25 Nov. 6
For those of a philosophical turn of mind, I pass on something that the distinguished economist Peter Bauer said last week; ‘If you want to be happy for a day, get drunk; for a month, get married; for a lifetime, take up gardening.’
happiness

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