The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (613 page)
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EARLY to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
;
a FOOL may give a wise man counsel
;
FOOLS ask questions that wise men cannot answer
;
FOOLS build houses and wise men live in them
;
where IGNORANCE is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise
;
one cannot LOVE and be wise
;
PENNY wise and pound foolish
;
a STILL tongue makes a wise head
;
a WORD to the wise is enough
.
EARLY to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
;
a FOOL may give a wise man counsel
;
FOOLS ask questions that wise men cannot answer
;
FOOLS build houses and wise men live in them
;
where IGNORANCE is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise
;
one cannot LOVE and be wise
;
PENNY wise and pound foolish
;
a STILL tongue makes a wise head
;
a WORD to the wise is enough
.
The WISH is father to the thought
1597–
8
Henry IV
,
Pt.2
IV
. v. 93
I never thought to hear you speak again.—Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought.
1783
Letter
5 Jan. in H. C. Van Schaack
Life
(1842) 321
My ‘wish is father to the thought.’
1860
Framley Parsonage
III. xiv.
The wish might be father to the thought .. but the thought was truly there.
1940
Final Edition
iii.
She spied a smallish man .. walking away from us. The wish was father to the thought. ‘Ah, there is Lord Ripon,’ she said … He turned round. It wasn't Lord Ripon at all.
1980
Birds of Air
(1987) 40
Somewhere in that area of the human mind where the wish is father to the thought activity was taking place.
1988
Washington Times
13 Jan. A 13
The wish is father to the thought, and that timeless truism fits federal judges like a glove.
wanting and havingIf WISHES were horses, beggars would ride
a1628
Proverbs in Scots
no. 140
And [if] wishes were horses pure [poor] men wald ryde.
1721
Scottish Proverbs
178
If Wishes were Horses, Beggars would ride.
1844
Nursery Rhymes of England
(ed. 4) 501
If wishes were horses, Beggars would ride; If turnips were watches, I would wear one by my side.
1912
British Weekly
18 Jan. 480
If wishes were horses Unionists would ride rapidly into office.
1959
White Elephant
xii.
I agree that she'd be an ideal wife .. but if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.
1979
McQuaid in August
vi.
The kind of thinking which always brought out the same response from my mother: if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. I had better dismount.
1992
Rather English Marriage
(1993) ix. 153
‘If wishes were horses then beggars should ride,’ he told her. ‘Don't be too sure.’
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