A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

a 1547 E. HALL Chronicle (1548) Hen. VI 92V A prouerbe.. saith, a dead man doth

no harme: Sir John Mortimer.. was attainted [convicted] of treason and put to execucion.

1655 T. FULLER Church Hist. Britain IX. iv. The dead did not bite; and, being dispatch’d

out of the way, are forgotten. 1883 R. L. STEVENSON Treasure Island xi. ‘What are we

to do with ’em anyway?.. Cut ’em down like that much pork?’.. ‘Dead men don’t bite,’

says he. 1902 A. LANG Hist. Scotland II. xii. The story that Gray ‘whispered in

Elizabeth’s ear, The dead don’t bite’, is found in Camden. 1957 L. REVELL See Rome &

Die xvi. A dead man cannot bite, as it says somewhere in Plutarch. Pompey’s murderers,

I think. Anyhow, that was the way their minds worked then. revenge

DEAD men tell no tales

Cf. 1560 T. BECON Works II. 97 He that hath his body loden with meat and drinke is no
more mete to prai vnto god then a dead man is to tel a tale.

1664 J. WILSON Andronicus Comnenius I. iv. ‘Twere best To knock ‘um i’ th’ head.

.. The dead can tell no tales. 1702 G. FARQUHAR Inconstant v. 76 Ay, ay, Dead Men tell

no Tales. 1850 C. KINGSLEY Alton Locke I. iv. Where are the stories of those who have..

ended in desperation?.. Dead men tell no tales. 2001 S. KENDRICK Night Watch iv. 159

Dead men tell no tales. But their bodies sometimes do. revenge; speech and silence

Blessed are the DEAD that the rain rains on

A similar belief is happy is the BRIDE that the sun shines on.

1607 Puritan I. i. If, Blessed bee the coarse [corpse] the raine raynes vpon, he had it,

powring downe. 1787 F. GROSE Provincial Glossary (Superstitions) 61 It is.. esteemed a

good sign if it rains whilst a corpse is burying:.. Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on.

1925 F. S. FITZGERALD Great Gatsby 210 I could only remember, without resentment,

that Daisy hadn’t sent a message or a flower. Dimly I heard someone murmur, ‘Blessed

are the dead that the rain falls on.’ blessings; death

dead see also the only GOOD Indian is a dead Indian; it’s ILL waiting for dead men’s
shoes; a LIVE dog is better than a dead lion; never SPEAK ill of the dead; STONE-dead hath
no fellow; THREE may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.