A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

seen see CHILDREN should be seen and not heard.

SELF-praise is no recommendation

Cf. L. laus in proprio ore sordescit, praise in one’s own mouth is offensive.

1826 COBBETT Weekly Register 17 June 743 In general it is a good rule.. that self-

praise is no commendation. 1853 DICKENS Bleak House lv. Self-praise is no

recommendation, but I may say for myself that I am not so bad a man of business. 1967

RIDOUT & WITTING English Proverbs Explained 137 ‘I admit I didn’t score any of the

goals, but it was largely due to me that we won the game.’ ‘Self-praise is no

recommendation.’ boasting

SELF-preservation is the first law of nature

Cf. CICERO De Finibus IV. x. 25 primamque ex natura hanc habere appetitionem, ut
conservemus nosmet ipsos, by nature our first impulse is to preserve ourselves.

a 1631 DONNE Biathanatos (1646) I. ii. It is onely upon this reason, that selfe-

preservation is of Naturall Law. 1675 [MARVELL] Complete Poems (1872) I. 439 Self-

preservation, Nature’s first great Law. 1681 DRYDEN Spanish Friar IV. ii. Self-

preservation is the first of Laws:.. When Subjects are oppress’d by Kings, They justifie

Rebellion by that Law. 1821 SCOTT Pirate I. v. Triptolemus.. had a reasonable share of

that wisdom which looks towards self-preservation as the first law of nature. 1952 ‘A. A.

FAIR’ Top of Heap xvii. Loyalty is a fine thing.. but self-preservation is the first law of

nature. 1975 P. D. JAMES Black Tower vii. What it amounted to was that he’d do a great

deal for dear Maggie but that self-preservation was the first law of nature. self-

preservation

SELL in May and go away

A saying relating originally to the cycle of activity on the London Stock Exchange. May,
shortly after the start of the financial year, was a busy time, but during the following months a
bear market prevailed as trading was slack and Londoners (stockbrokers included) enjoyed
their summer breaks away from the capital. Also current in the expanded version represented
by quot. 2002, referring to the classic St. Leger horse race run at Doncaster in early
September, the traditional end of the English summer social calendar.