The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (343 page)

The idea is present in 1738 SWIFT
Polite Conversation
III. 213 Well, Miss, you'll have a sad Husband, you have such good Luck at Cards.
1866
Society
II. ii.
‘I'm always lucky at cards!’ .. ‘Yes, I know an old proverb about that …Lucky at play, unlucky in—.’
a
1871
—
Play
(1889) III. ii.
Unlucky in love, lucky at cards.
1941
Trap for Bellamy
iv.
‘Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.’.. I'm going to find out if the proverb's true. What are they playing tonight?
1981
Oxford Mail
29 Aug. 5
Arthur and Hilda Cover have defied the old proverb by being lucky at cards and lucky in love.
love
;
luck

 
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see also
it is BETTER to be born lucky than rich
;
THIRD time lucky
.

 
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see
there's no such thing as a FREE lunch
.

 
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The proverb is sometimes attributed to Robert MacGregor of Campbell (‘Rob Roy’: 1671–1734), highland freebooter. Other names are used as well as MacGregor. The idea is explained in the two following quots:
1580
LYLY
Euphues & his England
II. 39 When .. Agesilaus sonne was set at the lower end of the table, and one cast it in his teeth as a shame, he answered: this is the vpper end where I sit;
1732
T. FULLER
Gnomologia
no. 4362 That is the upper End, where the chief Person sits.
1837
American Scholar
19
Wherever Macdonald [the head of the Macdonald clan] sits, there is the head of the table. Linnaeus makes botany the most alluring of studies and wins it from the farmer and the herb-woman.
1903
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
viii.
If wherever the MacGregor sat was the head of the table, so .. wherever Rebecca stood was the centre of the stage.
1918
Leaves in Wind
197
There are .. people who carry the centre of the stage with them… ‘Where O'Flaherty sits is the head of the table’.
1940
Bones of Napoleon
69
Like Macdonald—where Lord Innes sat was the head of the table.
1980
Times
12 May 15
(letter from His Honour Judge MacGregor)
Sir, Where MacGregor sits is the head of the table.
honour
;
pride

 
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