The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (66 page)

Nothing can be made or performed without the necessary materials. Frequently used as a metaphorical phrase,
to make bricks without straw
. A (misapplied) allusion to
EXODUS
v. 7 (AV) Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. Cf.
1624
BURTON
Anatomy of Melancholy
(ed. 2) I. ii. (Hard taske-masters as they [patrons] are) they take away their straw, & compell them to make their number of bricke.
1658
Letter
in
Verney Memoirs
(1904) II. xxxviii.
I have made the enclosed. It is an hard task to make bricks without straw, but I have raked together some rubbish.
1737
in
Publications of Prince Society
(1911) III. 170
Let Men be never so willing and industrious, they can't make Brick without Straw.
1883
Disarmed
I. i.
Your task from today will be to make bricks without straw.
1909
Literary Taste
iv.
You can only acquire really useful general ideas by first acquiring particular ideas …You cannot make bricks without straw.
1934
12.30 from Croydon
xxiv.
‘I never thought we had any chance,’ Heppenstall declared. ‘Can't make bricks without straw,’ Quilter pointed out cheerily.
1995
Simeon's Bride
xxxi. 208
‘What would you have us do, sir?’ Jack asked. ‘We can't make bricks without straw.’
possibility and impossibility
;
work

 
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An equivalent superstition is
blessed are the DEAD that the rain rains on
.
1648
Hesperides
129
Blest is the Bride, on whom the Sun doth shine. And thousands gladly wish You multiply, as doth a fish.
1787
Provincial Glossary
(Superstitions) 61
It is reckoned a good omen, or a sign of future happiness, if the sun shines on a couple coming out of the church after having been married …Happy is the bride that the sun shines on.
1926
‘’
Black Cabinet
xxxvi.
‘Happy's the bride that the sun shines on,’ is how the proverb goes. But where there's real true love .. there's always sunshine in a manner of speaking.
1984
Novena for Murder
181
And the weather is cooperating! ‘Blessed the bride that the sun shines on!’
blessings
;
weddings

 
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1882
Bond & Free
i.
Always a maiden [bridal attendant], never a wife.
1903
Collectanea
II. 81
Three times bridesmaid, never a bride.
1917
, , &
‘Why am I always the Bridesmaid?’ (song)
Why am I always the bridesmaid, Never the blushing bride?
1951
Old Reliable
xi.
Then they'd leave me .. and go off and buy candy and orchids for the other girls …Often a bridesmaid but never a bride.
Weddings

 
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