A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

life see also ART is long and life is short; the BEST things in life are free; a DOG is for
life..; if you would be HAPPY for a week take a wife; my SON is my son till he gets him a
wife, but my daughter’s my daughter all the days of her life; VARIETY is the spice of life.

lift see a RISING tide lifts all boats.

LIGHT come, light go

Less often heard than EASY come, easy go. Cf. late 14th-cent. Fr. [argent] legierement
vous sont venu et legierement sont perdu, [money] comes to you lightly and is lightly lost.

c 1390 CHAUCER Pardoner’s Tale 1. 781 And lightly as it comth, so wol we

spende. a 1475 J. FORTESCUE Works (1869) I. 489 For thyng that lightly cometh, lightly

goeth. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II. ix. L1 Lyght come lyght go. 1712 J.

ARBUTHNOT John Bull still in his Senses iv. A thriftless Wretch, spending the Goods

and Gear that his Fore-Fathers won with the Sweet of their Brows; light come, light go.

1861 C. READE Cloister & Hearth II. X. Our honest customers are the thieves... With

them and with their purses ‘tis lightly come, and lightly go. 1937 G. HEYER They found

Him Dead iv. He was a bad husband to her. Light come light go. getting and spending

light see also (adjective) MANY hands make light work; (verb) BETTER to light one
candle..

LIGHTING never strikes the same place twice

1857 P. H. MYERS Prisoner of Border xii. They did not hit me at all. .. Lightning

never strikes twice in the same place, nor cannon balls either, I presume. 1942 P. WILDE

Tinsley’s Bones x. The Witness: They say that lightning never strikes twice in the same

place. Mr Blodgett: It don’t because the second time the place ain’t there. 1979 M. YORK

Death in Account x. His bank had been raided the moment his back had been turned.

‘Well, lighting never strikes the same place twice. .. I expect we’ll be safe enough now.’

2001 M. DAHL Viking Claw viii. 59 ‘You gave us our disaster for the climb,’ he said.

‘Most climbs have only one disaster, so now we are good for the rest of the trip.’ ‘Like

lightning never strikes twice, eh?’ said Roobick. misfortune

LIKE breeds like