A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

NO pain, no gain

1577 N. BRETON Works of Young Wit 33 V They must take pain that look for any

gayn. 1648 HERRICK Hesperides 298 No Paines, no Gaines. If little labour, little are our

gaines: Mans fortunes are according to his paines. 1853 R. C. TRENCH On Lessons in

Proverbs iv. For the most part they courageously accept the law of labour, No pains, no

gains,—No sweat, no sweet, as the appointed law and condition of man’s life. 1985

Washington Post 22 May (Health Supplement) 14 Forget the coach’s rule of ‘no pain, no

gain’. Today, exercise researchers are replacing it with the ‘talk rule’. 2000 M. BERMAN

Twilight of American Culture i. 58 As Peter Sacks shows.., there is very little tolerance on

the part of students for any real work; ‘no pain, no gain’ is not part of their emotional

vocabulary. wanting and having

NO penny, no paternoster

1528 W. TYNDALE Obedience of Christian Man fo. lxxxiiV After the commune

sayenge, no peny no Pater noster. 1648 HERRICK Hesperides 302 Who..Can’t send for a

gift A Pig to the Priest for a Roster [roast], Shall heare his Clarke say, .. No pennie, no

Pater Noster. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 259 No Penny, no Pater Noster. 1925 J. I.

C. CLARKE My Life ix. If the churchly motto ‘No penny, no Paternoster’ was true, how

could a church.. stay downtown when its congregation was moving north. 1940 D.

TEILHET Broken Face Murders ii. No penny, no paternoster. I neither pay the piper nor

do I dance. just deserts

no see also HALF a loaf is better than no bread; there’s no great LOSS without some gain;
there’s no PLACE like home; if there were no RECEIVERS, there would be no thieves; there
is no ROYAL road to learning; SEE no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil; SHROUDS have no
pockets; no SMOKE without fire; TIME and tide wait for no man; no TIME like the present.

nobody see EVERYBODY’S business is nobody’s business; it’s an ILL wind that blows
nobody any good.

A NOD’s as good as a wink to a blind horse

A fanciful assertion, often abbreviated as in quot. 1822, that the slightest hint is enough to
convey one’s meaning in the case.