A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

need see (noun) a FRIEND in need is a friend indeed; (verb) GOOD wine needs no bush; a
GUILTY conscience needs no accuser.

NEEDLES and pins, needles and pins, when a man marries, his trouble begins

1843 J. O. HALLIWELL Nursery Rhymes of England 122 Needles and pins, needles

and pins, When a man marries his trouble begins. 1876 R. D. BLACKMORE Cripps III.

214 Cripps was come to a turn of the track—for it scarcely could be called a road—and

was sadly singing to Dobbin and himself that exquisite elegiac—’Needles and pins,

needles and pins, When a man marries, his trouble begins!’ 1952 ‘J. CANNAN’ (1983)

Body in Beck vii. 165 Thank God I steered clear of females. Needles and pins, needles

and pins, when a man marries his trouble begins. Good God, where did I get that from?

2000 Washington Times 15 Nov. E12 (Herb & Jamaal comic strip) They say, ‘Needles

and pins, needles and pins, when a man marries, his troubles begin,’.. But I’ll tell ya,

among the things they say, what I’m most curious about is.. who are ‘they’? marriage

NEEDS must when the Devil drives

Needs must is used elliptically for ‘one needs must (i.e. must of necessity) go’.

c 1450 J. LYDGATE Assembly of Gods (EETS) 1. 21 Hit ys oft seyde by hem that yet

lyues He must nedys go that the deuell dryues. 1602 SHAKESPEARE All’s Well that ends

Well I. iii. 29 He must needs go that the devil drives. 1835 SOUTHEY Doctor III. lxxxiii.

Needs must go when the Devil drives. 1843 SURTEES Handley Cross III. xi. Needs must

when the devil drives!.. But I’d rather do any thing than injure that poor blue-eyed

beauty. 1978 T. SHARPE Throwback iii. I don’t want to marry the damned woman either,

but needs must when the devil drives. 2002 Times 22 Feb. 24 Applied conscientiously in

the rush hour it [the rule ‘women and children first’] would ensure that no male adult

would ever reach his office on time, if at all. Needs must when the Devil drives is a more

realistic motto for the Underground. necessity

What a NEIGHBOUR gets is not lost

Often with friend instead of neighbour.

1567 L. WAGER Mary Magdalene D4V There is nothyng lost that is done for such a

friende. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 198 It is no tint [not lost], a Friend gets. 1891

J. L. KIPLING Beast & Man viii. The public at large have reaped much of the crop sown