The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (279 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

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HOPE for the best and prepare for the worst

1565
&
Gorboduc
I. ii.
Good is I graunt of all to hope the best, But not to liue still dreadles of the worst.
1581
Charles & Julia
D7
To hope the best, and feare the worst, (loe, such is Loouers gaines).
1706
Third Volume
337
This Maxim ought to be carest, Provide against the worst, and hope the best.
1813
Correspondence
(1893) IV. 367
To hope for the best and prepare for the worst, is a trite but a good maxim.
1836
Rattlin the Reefer
II. xxix.
The youngest of us cannot always escape—hoping, trusting, relying on the best, we should be prepared for the worst.
1929
Courts of Morning
II. vi.
‘You have the ultimate safeguard. You need not fear the worst.’ ‘I hope for the best,’ she said.
1981
Times
29 Jan. 3
Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.

foresight and hindsight

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HOPE is good breakfast but a bad supper

1661
Resuscitatio
(ed.2) 298
But, said the fisher men, we had hope then to make a better gain of it. Saith Mr. [Francis] Bacon well my Maisters, then Ile tell you; hope is a good Breakfast but it is a Bad supper.
1817
Autobiography
(1861) II. 188
He was a wise man who said Hope is a good breakfast but a bad dinner. It shall be my supper .. when all's said and done.
1986
Washington Post
27 Aug. D15
(Peanuts comic strip)
‘I hope I get better grades this year. I hope I'll be the prettiest and smartest girl in the whole class ..’ ‘“Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.”’

disappointment
;
hope and despair

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HOPE springs eternal

1732
Essay on Man
I. 95
Hope springs eternal in the human breast. Man never Is, but always To be blest.
1865
Our Mutual Friend
II. III. X.
Night after night his disappointment is acute, but hope springs eternal in the scholastic breast.
1935
Rachel Rosing
viii.
‘It was understood, wasn't it, that we could not dine together?’ ‘Oh yes-but you know how it is. Hope springs eternal and so forth.’
1977
Evil Streak
II. 67
I prepared a delicious salad and .. dry martini, his favourite drink. They say hope springs eternal.
1992
Rather English Marriage
(1993) viii. 145
Hope springs eternal—she smiled wryly-even in Tunbridge Wells.

hope and despair

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BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

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