A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Proverbs 112 A clean conscience is a good pillow. conscience

CONSCIENCE makes cowards of us all

Quot. 1912 is a humorous perversion of the proverb. Cf. 1594 SHAKESPEARE Richard III
I. iv. 133 Where’s thy conscience now?—I’ll not meddle with it—it makes a man a coward.

1600–1 SHAKESPEARE Hamlet III. i. 83 Conscience does make cowards of us all.

1697 VANBRUGH Provoked Wife v. 75 It mayn’t be amiss to deferr the Marriage till you

are sure they [mortgages] are paid off. .. Guilty Consciences make Men Cowards. 1912

‘SAKI’ Chronicles of Clovis 134 The English have a proverb, ‘Conscience makes

cowboys of us all.’ 1941 H. G. WELLS You can’t be too Careful viii. ‘Why doesn’t he

face it out?’.. ‘Conscience makes cowards of us all, Whittaker.’ 1976 J. S. SCOTT Poor

Old Lady’s Dead iv. There was something funny here. Bloody funny. So the inspector,

who lived, like any other policeman, with the sure knowledge that conscience doth make

cowards of us all, began to lean. conscience; cowardice

conscience see also a GUILTY conscience needs no accuser.

consent see SILENCE means consent.

CONSTANT dropping wears away a stone

Primarily used to mean that persistence will achieve a difficult or unlikely objective (but
see also quots. 1874 and 1912). Continual frequently occurs instead of constant in the US. Cf.

CHOERILUS OF SAMOS Fragments x. (Kinkel) with
persistence a drop of water hollows out the stone; TIBULLUS Elegies I. iv. 18 longa dies molli
saxa peredit aqua, length of time eats away stones with soft water.

a 1250 Ancrene Wisse (1962) 114 Lutle dropen thurleth (pierce) the flint the (that)

ofte falleth theron. c 1477 CAXTON Jason (EETS) 26 The stone is myned and holowed

by contynuell droppyng of water. 1591 SHAKESPEARE Henry VI, Pt. 3 III. ii. 50 He

plies her hard; and much rain wears the marble. 1793 T. COKE Extracts from Journals

III. ii. The Negroes of Barbadoes.. are much less prepared for the reception of genuine

religion. But constant dropping, ‘tis said, will wear out a stone. 1841 DICKENS Old

Curiosity Shop I. vii. As to Nell, constant dropping will wear away a stone, you know you

may trust me as far as she is concerned. 1874 G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE Uncle John I. vi.

Constant dropping wears away a stone; constant flirtation saps the character. 1912 D. H.