Lifelong habits or inherited characteristics cannot be concealed (cf. BLOOD will tell). The
form and emphasis of the proverb have been altered in recent years by the omission of a
negative. Cf. medieval L. osse radicatum raro de carne recedit, that which is rooted in the
bone rarely comes out from the flesh.
c 1470 MALORY Morte d’Arthur (1947) I. 550 Sir Launcelot smyled and seyde,
Harde hit ys to take oute off the fleysshe that ys bredde in the bone. 1546 J. HEYWOOD
Dialogue of Proverbs II. viii. K2 This prouerbe prophecied many yeres agone, It will not
out of the fleshe, thats bred in the bone. 1603 J. FLORIO tr. Montaigne’s Essays III. xiii.
They are effects of custome and vse: and what is bred in the bone will never out of the
flesh. 1832 J. P. KENNEDY Swallow Barn III. v. What is bred in the bone—you know the
proverb. a 1957 L. I. WILDER First Four Years (1971) iv. We’ll always be farmers, for
what is bred in the bone will come out in the flesh. 1981 B. HEALEY Last Ferry iv.
There’s bad blood there. .. What’s bred in the bone comes out in the flesh. family;
habit; human naturebred see also YORKSHIRE born and Yorkshire bred, strong in the arm and weak in the
head.
breed see FAMILIARITY breeds contempt; LIKE breeds like.BREVITY is the soul of witIn quot. 1600–1 soul of wit should be understood as ‘essence of wisdom’; wit is now
commonly understood in its modern sense, the ‘(power of giving sudden intellectual pleasure
by) the unexpected, quick, and humorous combining or contrasting of ideas or expressions’
(COD).
1600–1 SHAKESPEARE Hamlet II. ii. 90 Since brevity is the soul of wit.. I will be
brief. 1833 M. SCOTT Tom Cringle’s Log II. v. Brevity is the soul of wit,—ahem. 1946
D. WELCH Maiden Voyage x. I will not repeat myself, since brevity is the soul of wit.
1996 Washington Post 8 Sept. C5 Clinton is Southern and given to garrulousness while
brevity, as they say, is the soul of wit. brevity and long-windednessAs you BREW, so shall you bake