A YOUNG man married is a young man marred1589 G. PUTTENHAM Art of English Poesy III. xix. 173 The maide that soone
married is, soone marred is. 1602 SHAKESPEARE All’s Well that ends Well II. iii. 291 A
young man married is a man that’s marr’d. 1961 R. KIRK Old House of Fear i. Don’t
forget this, though, Duncan—’You can grave it on his tombstone, you can cut it on his
card: A young man married is a young man marred.’ marriage; youthYOUNG men may die, but old men must dieCf. the words of a Roman noblewoman rejecting an elderly suitor after the death of her
young husband: juvenis quidem potest cito mori; sed senex diu vivere non potest, a young man
may indeed die early, but an old man cannot live long (quoted by ST. JEROME, Letter cxxvii.
2).
1534 MORE Dialogue of Comfort (1553) II. ii. As the younge man maye happe some
time to die soone, so the olde man can never liue long. 1623 W. CAMDEN Remains
concerning Britain (ed. 3) 276 Young men may die, but old men must die. 1758 LADY
M. W. MONTAGU Letter 5 Sept. (1967) III. 174 According to the good English Proverb,
young people may die, but old must. 1863 B. I. WILEY Life of Billy Yank (1952) xii. That
is the Way of the World. The old must die and the young may die. 1970 ‘D. CRAIG’
(title) Young men may die. 1993 ‘C. AIRD’ Going Concern (1994) i. 9 Mary-Louise was
the holiday party’s language specialist and immediately said: ‘“The young die
sometimes, but the old always die.” That’s an old Breton proverb.’ death; necessity; old
ageYOUNG saint, old devilc 1400 Middle English Sermons from MS Royal 18 B xxiii (EETS) 159 Itt is a
comond prouerbe bothe of clerkes and of laye men, ‘younge seynt, old dewell’. 1552 H.
LATIMER Seventh Sermon, Lord’s Prayer in Sermons (1844-5) 431 The old proverb,
‘Young saints, old devils’.. is.. the devil’s own invention; which would have parents
negligent in bringing up their children in goodness. 1636 S. WARD Collection of
Sermons & Treatises 269 Young Saints, will prove but old Devils.. But.. such as proove
falling starres, never were ought but meteors. 1936 V. MCHUGH Caleb Catlum’s
America xxvii. Young saint, old devil.. looks to me like you been leadin’ too virtyus a
life. good and evil; human nature; youth