A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

friends that it is better to give than to receive. 2001 Washington Times 2 July B9 (Herb &

Jamaal comic strip)’Herb, you know the old saying: “It is more blessed to give than to

receive.” ‘ ‘What, presents?’ ‘No, advice.’ giving and receiving

BETTER to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all

1700 CONGREVE Way of World II. i. Say what you will, ‘tis better to be left, than

never to have lov’d. 1812 G. CRABBE Tales xiv. Better to love amiss than nothing to

have lov’d. 1850 TENNYSON In Memoriam xxvii. 44 ‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all. 1953 B. PYM Jane & Prudence i. One wondered if it was

really better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, when poor Prudence

seemed to have lost so many times. 2002 Times 2 15 Oct. 9 That cliché, it is better to

have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, applies to me. love, blighted

BETTER to light one candle than to curse the darkness

The motto of the American Christopher Society (founded 1945), said by the society to
derive from ‘an ancient Chinese proverb’.

1962 Adlai Stevenson in New York Times 8 Nov. 34 She [Eleanor Roosevelt] would

rather light a candle than curse the darkness, and her glow has warmed the world. 2000

Straits Times (online ed.) 26 Aug. He is certainly one who believes it is better to light a

candle than to curse the darkness. 2002 Spectator 12 Jan. 26 A fortnight ago, protesters..

wound their way on a candlelit walk through deep snow from the forest up into the

citadel. ‘There is an English saying,’ one of them.. told me. ‘It is better to light a candle

than to curse the darkness.’ action and inaction

BETTER to live one day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep

Recorded as the view of Tipu Sahib c 1750–99, sultan of Mysore in India; see quot. 1800.

1800 A. BEATSON View of Origin and Conduct of War with Tippoo Sultaun x. 153

‘In this world I would rather live two days like a tiger, than two hundred years like a

sheep.’ 1997 Daily Telegraph (online ed.) 8 Mar. The title of Anne Haverty’s novel [One

Day as a Tiger] derives from an old Tibetan proverb: ‘It is better to have lived one day as

a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep. action and inaction; boldness