The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (566 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

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TOO many cooks spoil the broth

1575?
Life of Carew
(1857) 33
There is the proverb, the more cooks the worse potage.
1662
Principles of Building
24
When .. an undertaking hath been committed to many, it caused but confusion, and therefore it is a saying .. Too many Cooks spoils the Broth.
c
1805
Watsons
(1972) VI. 318
She professes to keep her own counsel …‘Too many Cooks spoil the Broth.’
1855
Westward Ho!
II. vii.
As Amyas sagely remarked, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth, and half-a-dozen gentlemen aboard one ship are as bad as two kings of Brentford.’
1979
Guardian
7 Nov. 6
It was a great mistake to think that administration was improved by taking on more administrators… ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth.’
1997
Times
8 Aug. 25
Too many cooks spoil the broth and at Apple there is now the equivalent of Marco Pierre White, Anton Mosimann and Nico Ladenis.

assistance
;
busybodies
;
work

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You can have TOO much of good thing

1483
Cato in Archiv
(1905) CXV. 313
To much is nouht of any maner thyng [too much of anything is nothing].
1546
Dialogue of Proverbs
II
. iv. G4
^VWell (quoth I) to muche of one thyng is not good, Leaue of this.
1611
Dict. French & English
s.v. Manger,
A man may take too much of a good thing.
1738
Polite Conversation
I
. 77
Fie, Miss! you said that once before; and, you know, Too much of one Thing is good for nothing.
1906
Charles Dickens
iv.
We believe that you can have too much of a good thing—a blasphemous belief, which at one blow wrecks all the heavens that men have hoped for.
1985
Washington Post
2 Mar. A18
A more modestly sized delegation .. might have spared Congress a certain ridicule. Mae West once said it was possible to have too much of a good thing and it was wonderful.
1995
Washington Times
25 Apr. A17
Modern liberals feel that a more tolerant society is good thing, and they are right. Yet, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

excess
;
good things

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tool

see
a BAD workman blames his tools
.

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tooth

see
the TONGUE always returns to the sore tooth
.

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BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs