A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1977 J. AIKEN Five-Minute Marriage x. I’ve given them a polish and they’ve come up

real tip-top! Spare well and have to spend, I allus say. thrift

SPEAK as you find

1594–8 SHAKESPEARE Taming of Shrew II. i. 66 Mistake me not; I speak but as I

find. 1666 TORRIANO Italian Proverbs 294 no. 115 The English say, Let every one

speak as he finds. 1937 A. QUILLER-COUCH ‘Captain Knot’ in Qs Mystery Stories 150

‘There’s a silly proverb tells ye to speak of a man as you find him. I found Kennedy well

enough.’ 1988 H. MANTEL Eight Months on Ghazzah Street 175 Look, I don’t have any

theories. I just go issue by issue. I just speak as I find. reputation

Never SPEAK ill of the dead

Cf. Gr. speak no evil of the dead (attributed to the Spartan
ephor [civil magistrate] Chilon, 6th cent. BC); L. de mortuis nil nisi bonum, say nothing of the
dead but what is good.

1540 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Flores Sententiarum A6 Rayle not vpon him that

is deade. 1609 S. HARWARD MS (Trinity College, Cambridge) 81V Speake not evill of

the dead. 1682 W. PENN No Cross, No Crown (ed. 2) xix. Speake well of the dead. 1783

S. JOHNSON Lives of Poets (rev. ed.) IV. 381 He that has too much feeling to speak ill of

the dead.. will not hesitate.. to destroy.. the reputation.. of the living. 1945 F.

THOMPSON Lark Rise xiv. ‘Never speak ill of the dead’ was one of their maxims. 2002

K. HALL PAGE Body in Bonfire viii. 201 Faith remembered the conversation she’d

overhead. No need to speak ill of the dead. But devastating as it might be, his wife’s

death had solved a major problem for the headmaster. reputation; slander

SPEAK not of my debts unless you mean to pay them

1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 998 Speake not of my debts, unlesse

you meane to pay them. 1875 A. B. CHEALES Proverbial Folk-Lore 88 Special proverbs

supply us with some excellent admonitions. .. Dont talk of my debts unless you mean to

pay them. 1981 Times 2 Jan. 10 An old proverb recommends you not to speak of my debts

unless you mean to pay them. money; tact

SPEAK softly and carry a big stick