A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

for himself; he plants it for posterity. 1907 W. C. HAZLITT English Proverbs 361 Plant

pears for your heirs. A proverb which no longer holds true, since pears are now made to

yield well after a few years. 1941 C. MACKENZIE Red Tapeworm xv. ‘Better to plant

them promptly,’ said Miss Quekett. ‘It’s only walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.’

children and parents

If you WANT a thing done well, do it yourself

Very similar to if you would be well SERVED, serve yourself.

1541 M. COVERDALE tr. H. Bullinger’s Christian State of Matrimony xix. If thou

wilt prospere, then loke to euery thynge thyne owne self. 1616 T. DRAXE Adages 163 If a

man will haue his business well done, he must doe it himselfe. 1858 LONGFELLOW

Poems (1960) 160 That’s what I always say; if you want a thing to be well done, You

must do it yourself. 1927 Times 14 Nov. 15 Lastly there is the illustration of the great

principle: if you want a thing done, do it yourself. 1975 ‘E. LATHEN’ By Hook or by

Crook xxi. Do you know how I got it done in the end? I went down to Annapolis myself. I

always say, if you want a thing done well, do it yourself! 1998 Times 20 Jan. 7 After

everything that’s happened, pregnancy was the last thing on my mind. .. there’s a lot to be

said for the old adage that if you want a job doing properly, do it yourself. efficiency

and inefficiency; self-help

For WANT of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for
want of a horse the man was lost

The proverb is found in a number of forms. Cf. late 15th-cent. Fr. par ung seul clou perd
on ung bon cheval, by just one nail one loses a good horse; c 1390 GOWER Confessio Amantis
v. 4785 For sparinge of a litel cost Fulofte time a man hath lost The large cote for the hod
[hood].

1629 T. ADAMS Works 714 The French-men haue a military prouerbe, The losse of

a nayle, the losse of an army. The want of a nayle looseth the shooe, the losse of shooe

troubles the horse, the horse indangereth the rider, the rider breaking his ranke molests

the company, so farre as to hazard the whole Army. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish

Proverbs no. 499 For want of a naile the shoe is lost, for want of a shoe the horse is lost,

for want of a horse the rider is lost. 1880 S. SMILES Duty x. ‘Don’t care’ was the man

who was to blame for the well-known catastrophe:—’For want of a nail the shoe was lost,

for want of a shoe the horse was lost, and for want of a horse the man was lost.’ 1925 S.

O’CASEY Juno & Paycock 1. 16 You bring your long-tailed shovel, an’ I’ll bring me

navvy [device for excavating earth]. We mighten’ want them, an’, then agen, we might: