The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (526 page)

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One STORY is good till another is told
1593
Mamillia
II. 222
One tale is alwayes good vntil another is heard.
a
1661
Worthies
(Kent) 65
One story is good till another is heard.
1769
Boston Gazette
24 Apr. 2
The proverb, however homely it may be, will be allow'd by impartial men to be just, that ‘one story is good, till another is told.’
1831
in
Edinburgh Review
Jan. 515
A theory is not proved .. because the evidence in its favour looks well at first sight … ‘One story is good till another is told!’
1922
Ulysses
121
One story good till you hear the next.
good things
;
novelty
Put a STOUT heart to a stey brae
A Scottish proverb also used as a metaphorical phrase. A
stey brae
is a ‘steep slope.’
a
1585
Cherry & Sloe
(1821) xxxvi.
So gets ay, that sets ay, Stout stomackis to the brae.
1721
Scottish Proverbs
287
Set a stout Heart to a stay Brea. Set about a difficult Business with Courage and Constancy.
1821
Annals of Parish
i.
I began a round of visitations; but oh, it was a steep brae that I had to climb, and it needed a stout heart. For I found the doors .. barred against me.
1916
Greenmantle
xii.
He .. shouted to me .. to ‘pit a stoot hert tae a stey brae.’
1937
Crazy Murder Show
v.
Like the walls of Jericho, their resistance will eventually crumble if you peg away long enough. A stout heart to a stey brae, as my Inverness grandmother used to say.
boldness
;
perservance

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