The proverb is also used in the phrase to change horses in mid-stream.1864 A. LINCOLN Collected Works (1953) VII. 384 I am reminded.. of a story of an
old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a companion once that ‘it was best not to swap horses
when crossing streams’. 1929 R. GRAVES Good-bye to All That xxiii. ‘If ours is the true
religion why do you not become a Catholic?’.. ‘Reverend father, we have a proverb in
England never to swap horses while crossing a stream’. 1967 RIDOUT & WITTING
English Proverbs Explained 41 Don’t change horses in midstream. .. If we think it
necessary to make changes, we must choose the right moment to make them. 1979 D.
MAY Revenger’s Comedy ix. Changing horses, love? I should look before you leap.
decision and indecisionA CHANGE is as good as a rest1890 A. CONAN DOYLE in Lippincott’s Monthly Mag. Feb. x. 198 Well, I gave my
mind a thorough rest by plunging into a chemical analysis. One of our greatest statesmen
has said that a change of work is the best rest. So it is. 1895 J. THOMAS Randigal
Rhymes 59 Change of work is as good as touchpipe [a short interval of rest]. 1903 V. S.
LEAN Collectanea III. 439 Change of work is rest. (Manx.) 1951 M. COLES Now or
Never ii. On the principle that a change of work is a rest, we redecorated the bathroom. ..
We came to the conclusion that the saying is a fallacy. 1967 O. MILLS Death enters Lists
viii. There would be no fish-bits for Whiskers.. but she could buy him some fish-pieces;
and a change was as good as a rest, she remembered. 1984 D. CANNELL Thin Woman
xiii. Me old grandpa used to say ‘a change is as good as a rest’, and at my time of life
variety don’t often come aknocking. 1994 S. SHAW Villain of Earth (1995) iv. 33 ‘No
disrespect to John Quennell, but my career’s not really advancing as it ought to, and
perhaps our relationship’s a little on the stale side. A change is as good as a rest, as they
say.’ change; recreationCHANGE the name and not the letter, change for the worse and not the betterExplained in William Henderson’s Notes on the Folk Lore of the Northern Counties of
England and the Borders (1866): ‘It is unlucky for a woman to marry a man whose surname
begins with the same letter as her own’ (p. 26).
1853 Notes & Queries 1st ser. VIII. 150 Is the following distich known in any part of
England? ‘To change the name but not the letter, Is to marry for worse, and not for
better.’ I met with it in an American book, but it was probably an importation. 1936 T. C.
H. JACOBS Appointment with Hangman ii. 18 ‘Change the name and not the letter,
change for the worse and not the better. She ought to be warned about that.’ 1950 woman