A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Cf. As you BAKE, so shall you brew. Medieval usage makes the connection between
brewing and drinking rather than between brewing and baking, as in the following: 1264 in C.
Brown English Lyrics of XIIIth Century (1932) 131 Let him habbe ase he brew, bale [misery]
to dryng [drink] a 1325 Cursor Mundi (EETS) 1. 2848 Nathing of that land [is not submerged],
Suilk [such] als thai brued now ha thai dronken. c 1450 Towneley Play of Second Shepherd
(EETS) 1. 501 Bot we must drynk as we brew And that is bot reson.

c 1570 T. INGELEND Disobedient Child D8V As he had brewed, that so shulde bake.

1766 COLMAN & GARRICK Clandestine Marriage I. 3 As you sow, you must reap—as

you brew, so you must bake. 1922 S. J. WEYMAN Ovington’s Bank xxiii. No, you may

go, my lad. As you ha’ brewed you may bake. action and consequence

brew see also as you BAKE, so shall you brew.

You cannot make BRICKS without straw

Nothing can be made or performed without the necessary materials. Frequently used as a
metaphorical phrase, to make bricks without straw. A (misapplied) allusion to EXODUS V. 7
(AV) Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and
gather straw for themselves. Cf. 1624 BURTON Anatomy of Melancholy (ed. 2) I. ii. (Hard
taske-masters as they [patrons] are) they take away their straw, & compell them to make their
number of bricke.

1658 T. HYDE Letter in Verney Memoirs (1904) II. xxxviii. I have made the

enclosed. It is an hard task to make bricks without straw, but I have raked together some

rubbish. 1737 in Publications of Prince Society (1911) III. 170 Let Men be never so

willing and industrious, they can’t make Brick without Straw. 1909 A. BENNETT

Literary Taste iv. You can only acquire really useful general ideas by first acquiring

particular ideas...You cannot make bricks without straw. 1995 A. G. TAYLOR Simeon’s

Bride xxxi. 208 ‘What would you have us do, sir?’ Jack asked. ‘We can’t make bricks

without straw.’ possibility and impossibility; work

Happy is the BRIDE that the sun shines on

An equivalent superstition is blessed are the DEAD that the rain rains on.

1648 HERRICK Hesperides 129 Blest is the Bride, on whom the Sun doth shine. And

thousands gladly wish You multiply, as doth a fish. 1787 F. GROSE Provincial Glossary