A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

SHAKESPEARE Troilus & Cressida IV. v. 223 The end crowns all; And that old

common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it. 1820 SCOTT Abbot I. xiii. As the end

crowns the work, it also forms the rule by which it must be ultimately judged. 1870

DICKENS Edwin Drood xviii. Proof, sir, proof, must be built up stone by stone. .. As I

say, the end crowns the work. 1961 J. WEBB One for my Dame iii. That the end should

crown the work, that I had given no more lies than I had been told made no difference.

You either played it straight or you didn’t. finality

The END justifies the means

Cf. OVID Heroides ii. 85 exitus acta probat, the outcome justifies the deeds. The negative
of this is also often asserted.

1583 G. BABINGTON Exposition of Commandments 260 The ende good, doeth not

by and by make the meanes good. 1718 M. PRIOR Literary Works (1971) I. 186 The End

must justify the Means: He only Sins who Ill intends. 1941 ‘H. BAILEY’ Smiling Corpse

238 ‘The police don’t like to have their bodies moved.’.. ‘In this case the end justifies the

means.’ 2001 Washington Times 2 Aug. A16 The conservatives’ war on drugs is an

example of good intentions that have had unfortunate consequences. As often happens

with noble causes, the end justifies the means, and the means of the drug war are

inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution and our civil liberties. action and consequence

end see also (noun) ALL good things must come to an end; the DEVIL can quote Scripture
for his own ends; EVERYTHING has an end; he who WILLS the end, wills the means; (verb)
all’s WELL that ends well.

ending see a GOOD beginning makes a good ending

endured see what can’t be CURED must be endured.

The ENEMY of my enemy is my friend

1985 M. KORDA Queenie III. xiii. 347 In California, I’m an outsider. So is Wolff,

so we’re natural allies. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” as I believe the Arabs

say. 1992 MIEDER Dict. American Proverbs 181 The enemies of my enemies are my

friends. 2000 New Yorker 25 Sept. 56/1 The enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend logic..

dominates central-African politics. 2001 Spectator 24 Nov. 36 The hack right-wing

answer.. is to quote what the quoters claim to be ‘the old Arab proverb’: ‘The enemy of