A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

I

ice see the RICH man has his ice in the summer and the poor man gets his in the winter.

An IDLE brain is the Devil’s workshop

Recent US usage appears to conflate this proverb with the DEVIL finds work for idle hands
to do (see quot. 2001).

a 1602 W. PERKINS Works (1603) 906 The idle bodie and the idle braine is the

shoppe [workshop] of the deuill. 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia no. 3053 Idle Brains are

the Devil’s Workhouses. 1855 H. G. BOHN Hand-Book of Proverbs 311 An idle brain is

the devil’s workshop. 1859 S. SMILES Self-Help viii. Steady employment.. keeps one out

of mischief, for truly an idle brain is the devil’s workshop. 1930 E. D. BIGGERS Charlie

Chan Carries On xxii. Tell him to be [a] good boy and study hard. An idle brain is the

devil’s workshop. 1988 C. G. HART Design for Murder ix. ‘Idle minds are the devil’s

workshop.’ She lifted the watch.. and stared at it accusingly. ‘Five minutes after eight. Is

no one else here?’ 2001 Washington Times 3 Sept. A12 Young people need to learn to

work. Their parents must not let them be idle all summer for, as they say, idle hands are

the devil’s workshop. idleness; wrongdoers

IDLE people have the least leisure

The corollary of the BUSIEST men have the most leisure.

1678 J. RAY English Proverbs (ed. 2) 161 Idle folks have the most labour. 1853

SURTEES Sponge’s Sporting Tour lvii. ‘Got a great deal to do’, retorted Jog, who, like

all thoroughly idle men, was always dreadfully busy. 1855 H. G. BOHN Hand-Book of

Proverbs 414 Idle folks have the least leisure. 1908 Spectator 10 Oct. 535 The difference

between leisureliness and laziness runs parallel with that between quickness and haste.

‘Idle people’, says the proverb, ‘have the least leisure.’ efficiency and inefficiency;

idleness

idle see also as good be an ADDLED egg as an idle bird; the DEVIL finds work for idle
hands to do; it is idle to SWALLOW the cow and choke on the tail.