Dictionary of Proverbs

This title is revised by Martin Manser and Stephen Curtis. Compiled fromG.L. Apperson's original and painstaking research of nearly three thousandworks dating as far back as the twelfth century and earlier, and built uponthe foundations of the great "Oxford English Dictionary", the "Dictionaryof Proverbs" traces the origins and history of English proverbs andproverbial phrases. The original author has avoided the purely aphoristicand moral, which have little claim to proverbial use, and has codifiedthis notoriously verbal rather than literary form in a way which earnedthe gratitude of the compilers of the "Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs". Theproverbs are grouped alphabetically and by subject, with copiouscross-references throughout, rendering the dictionary as great a joy toconsult as it is to browse through.This new edition includes over 500 newentries covering new examples, such as "The customer is always right","There's no such thing as a free lunch", "If it ain't broke, don't fixit", "Life is too short to stuff a mushroom", and "The family that praystogether, stays together".