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Browsing Category
Proverbs
‘Blood is Thicker than Water’ – Origin, Meaning, Expansion, Significance
Origin
The proverb, ‘blood is thicker than water’, is first known to have existed in a German book in the 1180s. Here, blood is said to be ‘dicker’ (the German word for ‘thicker’) than water.
In 1670, it first appeared in its current…
‘All Roads Lead to Rome’ – Origin, Meaning, Explanation, Significance
Origin
The proverb, ‘All roads lead to Rome’, does not actually originate in the ancient Roman times. It was first written down in the 1175s by Alain de Lille.
Lille wrote, in Latin, ‘mille viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam’. This…
‘An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away’ – Origin, Meaning, Expansion, and Significance of the Proverb
Origin
This proverb, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’, is said to have originated in Wales in the 1860s.
When first used, however, this proverb had a slightly different form. It began, ‘eat an apple when going to bed’ and then…
‘God Helps Those Who Help Themselves’ – Origin, Meaning, Expansion and Significance of the Proverb
Origin
In its exact wording, the proverb ‘God helps those who help themselves’ originates with Algernon Sidney. Sidney was an English political theorist, and his words were later quoted (and made more famous) by Benjamin Franklin in the…
‘Less is more’ – Origin, Meaning and Explanation
Origin of the proverb
This proverb was coined by the poet Robert Browning. Browning wrote ‘less is more’ in his poem ‘Andrea del Sarto’, which was published in 1855.
Meaning
‘Less is more’ means that very often doing a something small…
‘Brevity is the soul of wit’- Origin, Meaning, Explanation, Importance
Origin
This proverb was coined by the playwright William Shakespeare. In his work, ‘Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ (usually dated around 1599), the courtier Polonius says in Act II ‘brevity is the soul of wit’.
Polonius’ character is that of…
‘Home is where the heart is’ – Origin, Meaning, Explanation and Importance of the Proverb
Origin
The origin of this proverb is unclear, however the first written instances of ‘home is where the heart is’ appear in the mid nineteenth century.
Perhaps the earliest of all is in a work by Joseph Neal in 1847. However, some people…
‘Practice makes perfect’ – Origin, Meaning, Expansion, and Importance
Origin of this proverb.
This is a very common proverb which dates back to the late sixteenth century. It is difficult to say who first coined the proverb as it appeared in several different books of proverbs all at the same time!
However,…
‘Let bygones be bygones’ – Origin, Meaning, Expansion and Importance
Origin of the proverb.
This proverb ‘let bygones be bygones’ first appeared in print in 1562 in a collection of proverbs compiled by the British author John Heywood.
However, as Heywood himself noted, the proverbs in his book were already…
‘Out of sight out of mind’ – Origin, Meaning, Expansion, Importance
Origin of the proverb.
‘Out of sight out of mind’ is a proverb that has existed since at least the medieval times. It was first committed to print in the works of John Heywood in the mid sixteenth century. Heywood was a collector of…