Similar in sentiment to HALF a loaf is better than no bread. Cf. early 15th-cent. Fr. mieulx
vault aucun bien que neant, something is better than nothing.
1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. ix. D1 And by this prouerbe appereth
this o [one] thyng, That alwaie somwhat is better than nothyng. 1612 T. SHELTON tr.
Cervantes’ Don Quixote III. vii. I will weare it as I may: for something is better then
nothing. 1842 J. T. IRVING Attorney xvii. Something is better than nothing—nothing is
better than starving. 1980 Country Life 24 Apr. 1283 Mrs Smith worked out her own
charitable rules: give what can be given in kind (for something is better than nothing) but
never give money. content and discontentsomething see also if ANYTHING can go wrong, it will.My SON is my son till he gets him a wife, but my daughter’s my daughter all the days
of her life
1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 53 My son’s my son, till he hath got him a wife, But
my daughter’s my daughter all days of her life. 1863 C. READE Hard Cash I. v. ‘Oh,
mamma,’ said Julia warmly, ‘and do you think all the marriage in the world.. can make
me lukewarm to my.. mother?.. It’s a son who is a son only till he gets him a wife: but
your daughter’s your daughter, all-the-days-of her life. 1943 A. THIR-KELL Growing Up
iii. She doesn’t hear from him for months at a time now of course and then it’s only a
wire as often as not, but your son’s your son till he gets him a wife, as the saying is. 1981
Listener 27 Aug. 206 There’s a very old-fashioned sort of saying we have in the North
which goes, ‘My son is my son till he finds him a wife, but my daughter is my daughter
the rest of her life.’ children and parentsson see also CLERGYMEN’S sons always turn out badly; the DEVIL’S children have the
Devil’s luck; like FATHER, like son; the SHOEMAKER’S son always goes barefoot.
SOON ripe, soon rottenCf. L. cito maturum cito putridum, quickly ripe, quickly rotten.1393 LANGLAND Piers Plowman C. XIII. 233 And that that rathest [earliest]
rypeth, roteth most saunest. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. x. C4V In youth
she was towarde [promising] and without euill. But soone rype sone rotten. 1642 D.
ROGERS Naaman x. Some indeed.. are moved to..disdaine by their inferiours