A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

ONE nail drives out another

Cf. ARISTOTLE Politics 1314a one nail knocks out another,
according to the proverb.

a 1250 Ancrene Wisse (1962) 206 An neil driueth ut then other. 1555 J. HEYWOOD

Two Hundred Epigrams no. 112 One nayle dryueth out an other. 1591 SHAKESPEARE

Two Gentlemen of Verona II. iv. 189 As one nail by strength drives out another, So the

remembrance of my former love Is by a newer object quite forgotten. c 1645 J. HOWELL

Familiar Letters 17 Sept. (1903) III. 87 Languages and words.. may be said to stick in the

memory like nails or pegs in a wainscot door, which used to thrust out one another

oftentimes. 1852 E. FITZGERALD Polonius cxvii. One nail drives out another. 1979 V.

CANNING Satan Sampler ix. He needed a home with a woman in it. One nail drove out

another. change

ONE size does not fit all

Earlier versions of this saying are based on the metaphor of different size shoes for
different feet; cf. 1587 J. BRIDGES Defence of Government of Church of England 86 Diverse
feete have diverse lastes. The shooe that will serve one, may wring another.

1616 B. RICH My Ladie’s Looking Glaasse 21 As every shooe is not fit for every

foote, nor every medicine to be applyed to every maladie, so every fashion, doth not befit

every person, not every colour agree with every complexion. 1712 J. KELLY Scottish

Proverbs 96 Every shoe fits not every foot. Every condition of life, every behaviour,

every speech and gesture becomes not every body; that will be decent in one, which will

be ridiculous in another. 1874 Ascott House, Buckinghamshire, UK (painted on cornice)

Every shoe fits not every foot. 2002 Times 20 Mar. 26 Yesterday Sir Howard Davies..

gave warning that there was a danger that Europe’s approach to financial markets was in

danger of trying to strap the different European markets into rigid rules that risked

damaging their international competitiveness. One size does not fit all, he said. ways

and means

ONE year’s seeding makes seven years’ weeding

On the danger of allowing weeds to grow and seed themselves: also used figuratively.

1866 Rural American 1 Dec. 354 It has been truly remarked that ‘one year’s seeding