The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (612 page)

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It is easy to be WISE after the event
Cf.
c
1490
P. DE COMMYNES
Mémoires
(1924) I.
I
. xvi.
Les deux ducz .. estoient saiges après le coup (comme l'on dit des Bretons);
1596
T. DANNETT tr.
Commynes' Mémoires
I. xvi. These two Dukes were wise after the hurt received (as the common prouerbe saith) of the Brittons.
1616
Epicœne
II
. iv.
Away, thou strange iustifier of thy selfe, to bee wiser then thou wert, by the euent.
1717
Letter
28 Sept. (1843) II. 319
Had we not verified the proverb of being wise behind the time, we might for ever [have] been rid of them.
1900
Great Boer War
xix.
It is easy to be wise after the event, but it does certainly appear that .. the action at Paardeberg was as unnecessary as it was expensive.
1977
Who the Heck is Sylvia
? ii. ‘It's easy enough to be wise after the event,’ Babette pointed out sullenly.
foresight and hindsight
It is a WISE child that knows its own father
1584
Dict
. (rev. ed). L4 Wise sonnes they be in very deede, That knowe their Parents who did them breede.
1589
Menaphon
VI. 92
Wise are the Children in these dayes that know their owne fathers, especially if they be begotten in Dogge daies [the heat of summer], when their mothers are frantick with love.
1596
Merchant of Venice
II
. ii. 69
It is a wise father that knows his own child.
1613
Abuses
I
. ii.
Is't not hence this common Prouerbe growes, 'Tis a wise child that his owne father knowes?
1762
Mystery Revealed
21
She called her father John instead of Thomas .. but perhaps she was willing to verify the old proverb, that It is a wise child that knows its own father.
1823
Peveril
III. x.
I only laughed because you said you were Sir Geoffrey's son. But no matter—'tis a wise child that knows his own father.
1967
Naked Ape
iii.
It may be a wise child that knows its own father, but it is a laughing child that knows its own mother.
1983
High Spirits
119
Its a wise child that knows its own father. How wise does a child have to be to know its own great-great-grandfather?
children and parents

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