A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

completely covered. 1959 Boston Herald 13 Mar. 42 Winter never rots in the sky, says

the old proverb. retribution

winter see also if CANDLEMAS day be sunny and bright, winter will have another flight;
a GREEN Yule makes a fat churchyard; the RICH man has his ice in the summer and the poor
man gets his in the winter.

wisdom see EXPERIENCE is the father of wisdom.

It is easy to be WISE after the event

Cf. c 1490 P. DE COMMYNES Mémoires (1924) I. I. xvi. Les deux ducz.. estoient saiges
après le coup (comme l’on dit des Bretons); 1596 T. DANNETT tr. Commynes’ Mémoires I.
xvi. These two Dukes were wise after the hurt received (as the common prouerbe saith) of the
Brittons.

1616 JONSON Epicœne II. iv. Away, thou strange iustifier of thy selfe, to bee wiser

then thou wert, by the euent. 1717 R. WODROW Letter 28 Sept. (1843) II. 319 Had we

not verified the proverb of being wise behind the time, we might for ever [have] been rid

of them. 1900 A. CONAN DOYLE Great Boer War xix. It is easy to be wise after the

event, but it does certainly appear that..the action at Paardeberg was as unnecessary as it

was expensive. 1977 J. PORTER Who the Heck is Sylvia? ii. ‘It’s easy enough to be wise

after the event,’ Babette pointed out sullenly. foresight and hindsight

It is a WISE child that knows its own father

1584 J. WITHALS Dict. (rev. ed.) L4 Wise sonnes they be in very deede, That

knowe their Parents who did them breede. 1589 R. GREENE Menaphon VI. 92 Wise are

the Children in these dayes that know their owne fathers, especially if they be begotten in

Dogge daies [the heat of summer], when their mothers are frantick with love. 1596

SHAKESPEARE Merchant of Venice II. ii. 69 It is a wise father that knows his own child.

1613 G. WITHER Abuses I. ii. Is’t not hence this common Prouerbe growes, ‘Tis a wise

child that his owne father knowes? 1762 GOLDSMITH Mystery Revealed 21 She called

her father John instead of Thomas ..but perhaps she was willing to verify the old proverb,

that It is a wise child that knows its own father. 1823 SCOTT Peveril III. x. I only

laughed because you said you were Sir Geoffrey’s son. But no matter—’tis a wise child

that knows his own father. 1983 R. DAVIES High Spirits 119 It’s a wise child that knows

its own father. How wise does a child have to be to know its own great-great-grandfather?

children and parents