A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

There is always a FIRST time

Also, there’s a first time for everything.

1792 A. HAMILTON Papers (1961-) XII. 504 But there is always ‘a first time’. 1929

W. R. BURNETT Little Caesar III. vii.’I ain’t got nothing to spill. .. Did I ever do any

spilling?’ ‘There’s a first time for everything.’ 1987 ‘M. HEBDEN’ Pel among Pueblos

xvi. ‘He has no record.’ ‘Doesn’t mean a thing. There’s always a first time.’ 2001 R.

JOHANSEN Beyond Belief iii. 48 ‘You don’t think I can do it?’ ‘I think you can try.’

‘I’ve never failed yet.’ She shrugged. ‘There’s a first time for everything.’ beginnings

and endings

FIRST up, best dressed

North of England saying when clothing has to be shared between children in large and
impoverished families. Oral evidence from the Isle of Man indicates that it was certainly
current at least as early as the first half of the 20th cent.

1969 Times 23 Sept. 9 ‘It’s like first up, best dressed in this family’ Mr. F told me. A

crane slinger, he was injured at work in February 1969.. Since then he and his wife and

eight children have been living on approximately £25 a week. 1988 Sydney Morning

Herald (good living section) 6 Dec. 7 The airlines decided to change this to what is

known as ‘wholesale free-sale’, which basically means first up, best dressed. 2007 Times

Educational Supplement 8 June 32 The inability of many parents to send their children to

school in clothes that have seen the inside of a washing machine in the past six months

(teachers in more challenging schools will be familiar with the concept of ‘first up, best

dressed’) can lead to dilemmas. punctuality

first see also every DOG is allowed one bite; whom the GODS would destroy, they first
make mad; SELF-preservation is the first law of nature; if at first you don’t SUCCEED, try,
try, try again; THINK first and speak afterwards; he that will THRIVE must first ask his wife;
TRUTH is the first casualty of war.

The FISH always stinks from the head downwards

The freshness of a dead fish can be judged from the condition of its head. Thus, when the
responsible part (as the leaders of a country, etc.) is rotten, the rest will soon follow. Gr.

a fish begins to stink from the head.