A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

nothynge can be tourned into nought. 1605–6 SHAKESPEARE King Lear I. i. 89 Nothing

will come of nothing. Speak again. 1818 SCOTT Heart of Midlothian I. i. You are to give

me all your business. .. If you have none, the learned gentleman here knows nothing can

come of nothing. 1946 E. R. CURTIS Lady Sarah Lennox iv. ‘What did you think of it?’

‘Nothing, Sir.’ ‘Nothing comes of nothing!’ the King exclaimed impatiently. 1998 T.

DALRYMPLE Life at Bottom (2001) 233 Well, as King Lear said, nothing comes of

nothing: and the journalist’s hatred of the police was unlikely to have sprung completely

at random and fully informed from his consciousness. reciprocity

NOTHING for nothing

a 1704 T. BROWN Works (1707) I. 131 Thou know’st the proverb, nothing due for

nought. 1800 M. EDGEWORTH Castle Rackrent 167 Nothing for nothing, or I’m under a

mistake with you, Jason. 1858 G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE Interpreter xxv. Sir Harry..

recollected the old-established principle of himself and his clique, ‘Nothing for nothing,

and very little for a halfpenny.’ 1908 A. MACLAREN Ezekiel 172 The last touch in the

picture is meanness, which turned everything into money... Is not ‘nothing for nothing’

an approved maxim to-day? 1981 N. FREELING One Damn Thing after Another iv. Their

heart’s not in it. Nothing for nothing and not much for sixpence. reciprocity

NOTHING is certain but death and taxes

1726 DEFOE Hist. Devil II. vi. Not the Man in the Moon, .. not the Inspiration of

Mother Shipton, or the Miracles of Dr. Faustus, Things as certain as Death and Taxes, can

be more firmly believ’d. 1789 B. FRANKLIN Letter 13 Nov. in Writings (1907) X. 69 In

this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. 1939 L. I. WILDER

By Shores of Silver Lake xxv. Everything’s more or less a gamble... Nothing is certain but

death and taxes. 2001 Washington Times 20 Dec. C10 In 1789, Benjamin Franklin said,

‘In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.’ Well, there is one way to avoid

capital-gains taxes on investments—hold them until you die. certainty and uncertainty

NOTHING is certain but the unforeseen

Similar to the UNEXPECTED always happens.

1886 J. A. FROUDE Oceana vii. There is a proverb that ‘nothing is certain but the

unforeseen,’ and in fact few things turn out as we expect them. 1905 A. MACLA-REN

Gospel according to St. Matthew I. 322 There is nothing certain to happen, says the

proverb, but the unforeseen. Tomorrow will have its cares. certainty and uncertainty;