words, if you please, but they break no bones. 1882 BLACKMORE Christowell III. xvi.
‘Scoundrel, after all that I have done—.’ ‘Hard words break no bones, my friend.’ 1980
G. NELSON Charity’s Child i. Soft words! They butter no parsnips. .. Would you prefer
hard ones? .. Hard words break no bones. malicehard see also OLD habits die hard.hardens see the same FIRE that melts the butter hardens the egg.harder see the BIGGER they are, the harder they fall.hare see FIRST catch your hare; if you RUN after two hares you will catch neither; you
cannot RUN with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
HASTE is from the Devil1633 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 5 Sept. (1903) II. 140 As it is a principle in
chemistry that Omnis festinatio est a Diabolo, All haste comes from Hell, so in .. any
business of State, all rashness and precipitation comes from an ill spirit. 1835 SOUTHEY
Doctor III. lxxxiii. If any of my readers should .. think that I ought to have proceeded to
the marriage without delay.. I must admonish them in the words of a Turkish saying, that
‘hurry comes from the Devil, and slow advancing from Allah.’ 1929 Times 12 Sept. 14
Listening patiently to the views..[f]or he understood the East; he knew that for an
Intelligence officer ‘haste is from the devil.’ haste; patience and impatienceMore HASTE, less speedThe original meaning of speed in this proverb is ‘quickness in the performance of some
action or operation’.
c 1350 Douce MS 52 no. 86 The more hast, the worse spede. 1546 J. HEYWOOD
Dialogue of Proverbs I. ii. A3V Moste tymes he seeth, the more haste the lesse speede.
1595 Locrine (1908) I. ii. My penne is naught; gentlemen, lend me a knife. I thinke the
more haste the worst speed. 1705 E. WARD Hudibras Redivivus I. i. A mod’rate pace is
best indeed. The greater hurry, the worse speed. 1887 BLACKMORE Spring-haven III. xi.
Some days had been spent by the leisurely Dutchman in providing fresh supplies, and the
stout bark’s favourite maxim seemed to be—’the more haste the less speed.’ 1919 S. J.