A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

(Marcin) #1

wise see also EARLY to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise; a
FOOL may give a wise man counsel; FOOLS ask questions that wise men cannot answer;
FOOLS build houses and wise men live in them; where IGNORANCE is bliss, ‘tis folly to be
wise; one cannot LOVE and be wise; PENNY wise and pound foolish; a STILL tongue makes a
wise head; a WORD to the wise is enough.


The WISH is father to the thought

1597–8 SHAKESPEARE Henry IV, Pt. 2 IV. v. 93 I never thought to hear you speak
again.—Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought. 1783 P. VAN SCHAACK Letter 5
Jan. in H. C. Van Schaack Life (1842) 321 My ‘wish is father to the thought’. 1860
TROLLOPE Framley Parsonage III. xiv. The wish might be father to the thought..but the
thought was truly there. 1940 E. F. BENSON Final Edition iii. She spied a smallish
man..walking away from us. The wish was father to the thought. ‘Ah, there is Lord
Ripon,’ she said. .. He turned round. It wasn’t Lord Ripon at all. 1980 A. T. ELLIS Birds
of Air (1983) 40 Somewhere in that area of the human mind where the wish is father to
the thought activity was taking place. 1988 Washington Times 13 Jan. A 13 The wish is
father to the thought, and that timeless truism fits federal judges like a glove. wanting
and having

If WISHES were horses, beggars would ride

a 1628 J. CARMICHAELL Proverbs in Scots no. 140 And [if] wishes were horses
pure [poor] men wald ryde. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 178 If Wishes were Horses,
Beggars would ride. 1844 J. O. HALLIWELL Nursery Rhymes of England (ed. 4) 501 If
wishes were horses, Beggars would ride; If turnips were watches, I would wear one by my
side. 1912 British Weekly 18 Jan. 480 If wishes were horses Unionists would ride rapidly
into office. 1992 A. LAMBERT Rather English Marriage (1993) ix. 153 ‘If wishes were
horses then beggars should ride,’ he told her. ‘Don’t be too sure.’ 2002 Washington Times
14 Aug. B5 Not only do I remember my mother quoting the same phrase to me, she had
another one: ‘If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.’ Both are from a bygone
generation that held no truck with the ‘if only’ and ‘I wish’ mentality. wanting and
having

wit see BREVITY is the soul of wit; when the WINE is in, the wit is out.

wiving see HANGING and wiving go by destiny.
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