poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the windows’. 1894 J. LUBBOCK Use of
Life iii. It is a mean proverb that, ‘When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out of
the window’. 1968 J. N. LOCH Fringe of Blue 6 Edith’s family all believed that love flew
out of the window when poverty came in at the door. love, blighted; povertyPOVERTY is no disgrace, but it is a great inconvenience
1591 J. FLORIO Second Fruits 105 Neuer be ashamed of thy calling, for Pouertie is
no vice, though it be an inconvenience. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 278 Poortha
[poverty] is a Pain, but no Disgrace. Unless it be the Effects of Laziness, and Luxury.
1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise i. ‘Poverty’s no disgrace, but ‘tis a great inconvenience’
was a common saying among the Lark Rise people; but.. their poverty was no less than a
hampering drag upon them. povertyPOVERTY is not a crime
1591 J. FLORIO Second Fruits 105 Pouertie is no vice. 1640 G. HERBERT
Outlandish Proverbs no. 844 Poverty is no sinne. 1785 C. MACKLIN Man of World iv.
56 Her Poverty is not her crime, Sir, but her misfortune. 1839 DICKENS Nicholas
Nickleby lv. ‘Remember how poor we are.’ Mrs. Nickleby.. said through her tears that
poverty was not a crime. 1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise ii. There’s nothing the matter
with Lark Rise folks but poverty, and that’s no crime. If it was, we should likely be hung
ourselves. 1973 G. MIKES Spy who died of Boredom 50 The English say: poverty is not a
sin but something much worse. povertypoverty see also ADVERSITY makes strange bedfellows.
powder see put your TRUST in God, and keep your powder dry.
POWER corrupts
The proverb is now commonly used in allusion to quot. 1887.
1876 TROLLOPE Prime Minister IV. viii. We know that power does corrupt, and
that we cannot trust kings to have loving hearts. 1887 LD. ACTON Letter in Life &
Letters of Mandel Creighton (1904) I. xiii. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise