The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (7 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
4.42Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
ALL good things must come to an end
The addition of ‘good’ is a recent development. The earlier forms may be compared with
EVERYTHING has an end.
c
1440
Partonope of Blois
(EETS) l. 11144
Ye wote [know] wele of all thing moste be an ende.
1562
Accidence of Armoury
182
All worldly thinges haue an ende (excepte the housholde wordes, betwene man and wife).
1738
Polite Conversation
1. 85
All Things have an End, and a Pudden [a kind of sausage] has two.
1857
Puddle-ford Papers
xxiii.
All things must have an end, and the grand caravan, in time, came to its end.
1904
in
Independent Review
June 128

En route!
’ said the shrill voice of Mrs. Forman. ‘Ethel! Mr. Graham! The best of things must end.’
1924
‘’
Scar
xxv.
All good things come to an end. The feast was over.
1980
First Gravedigger
(1982) vi.
Life with you .. is nirvana itself. But all good things must come to an end.
finality
;
good things
It takes ALL sorts to make a world
1620
tr.
Cervantes' Don Quixote
II. vi.
In the world there must bee of all sorts.
1767
Letter
17 Nov. (1952) I. 194
Some Lady surely might be found .. in whose fidelity you might repose. The World, says Locke, has people of all sorts.
1844
Story of Feather
xxviii.
Click can't get off this time?.. Well, it takes all sorts to make a world.
1975
Young Pattullo
iii.
‘My father's a banker during the week and a country gent at week-ends. Takes all sorts, you know.’ ‘Takes all sorts?’ ‘To make a world.’
1993
Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast
(1997) 74
There is no nightlife … I suppose that what we have here is the working out of the adage that it takes all kinds to make a world.
idiosyncrasy
;
tolerance
;
variety
BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
4.42Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Escape From the Deep by Alex Kershaw
Aced by Bromberg, K.
A New World: Dissension by John O'Brien
Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
Lucca by Jens Christian Grondahl
¿Qué es el cine? by André Bazin
John Cheever by Donaldson, Scott;
Existence by James Frey