A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

170 Live and let live, i.e. Do as you would be done by. Let such pennyworths as your

Tenants may live under you. 1762 SMOLLETT Sir Launcelot Greaves II. xvi. He deals

very little in physic stuff,.. whereby he can’t expect the pothecary to be his friend. You

knows, master, one must live and let live, as the saying is. 1843 SURTEES Handley Cross

II. vii. Live and let live, as the criminal said to the hangman. 1979 C. BRAND Rose in

Darkness iv. Not that Sari cared two hoots how other people conducted their private lives.

Live and let live. 2007 Times 21 Sept. 19 Too late to start quoting live and let live.. and

all the various little mantras and sermons of tolerance that stop the human race from

tearing itself apart like weasels in a sack. tolerance

If you have to LIVE in the river, it is best to be friends with the crocodile

Indian proverb.

1882 W. L. WILKINSON ‘Shells from Strange Shores’ in WRAY (ed.) Golden

Hours CLIX. 180/2 (Mar.) To be on bad terms with those under whose authority we are

placed is ‘To live in the river and be at enmity with the crocodile.’ 1990 H. SABAHI

British Policy in Persia 1918–1925 242 He repeatedly impressed upon the senior khans

that they had little choice but to cooperate with Reza Khan. To hammer home his

message, he quoted them an Indian proverb: ‘If you have to live in the river, it is best to

be friends with the crocodile.’ 2002 J. VAN DER LINDEN in M. Pacione (ed.) City 608

However bad the patrons’ image, the clients often have no other option than to consider

their patrons an unavoidable evil.. : ‘If you live in the river, it is better to stay friends

with the crocodile.’ pragmatism

If you want to LIVE and thrive, let the spider run alive

1867 Notes & Queries 3rd Ser. XI. 32 The proverb so often used in Kent: ‘He who

would wish to thrive Must let spiders run alive.’ 1903 V. S. LEAN Collectanea II. 204 He

that would thrive Must let spiders live. 1957 H. P. BECK Folklore of Maine iv. If you

want to live and thrive let the spider run alive. superstition

A LIVE dog is better than a dead lion

With allusion to ECCLESIASTES ix. 4 (AV) To him that is joined to all the living, there is
hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

c 1390 in Minor Poems of Vernon MS (EETS) 534 Better is a quick [living] and an