LORD CHESTERFIELD’S MAXIM: “Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.” Lord Chesterfield (Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield; 1694-1773) British statesman and diplomat One of the…
Category: Proverbial Sayings
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”
In 1897, two of the most famous residents of Hartford, Connecticut were Mark Twain and his friend and fellow writer Charles Dudley Warner, who was then editor of the local…
“Everybody loves a lover” (as Shakespeare never said)…
On July 21, 1958, a week after being released, Doris Day’s recording of the song “Everybody Loves a Lover” entered the Billboard Top 40. The 45 RPM single, issued by…
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”
In many books of quotations and on thousands of websites H.L. Mencken is credited with the famous quote “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.”…
“No man is a hero to his valet” – the backstory on a famous proverb and misquote…
Charlotte Aïssé (1693-1733) was quite a celebrity in France in the early 18th Century — part heroine, part sex symbol, part intellectual. As a child, her father’s palace was raided…
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.” (A little knowledge, too, but that’s a misquote.)
Most people have heard the old line of poetry: “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” It became a proverbial saying that has been — and is still is —…
“Spare the rod and spoil the child”
It’s not surprising that many people think the quote “Spare the rod and spoil the child” comes from the Bible. There are at least five verses in the Bible’s Book…
The backstory on “Snug as a bug in a rug.” (Spoiler Alert: Ben Franklin didn’t actually coin it.)
In 1771, Ben Franklin’s common-law wife, Deborah Read Franklin shipped a live gift to young Georgiana Shipley, the daughter of British friends in London. It was an American gray squirrel…
The day Leo Durocher said “Nice guys finish last.” (Or something like that.)
The famous sports quote “Nice guys finish last” has long been attributed to legendary baseball player and manager Leo Durocher. But for decades there has been a debate about whether…
“Nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
One of the most famous quotations by Benjamin Franklin is: “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” (Commonly heard as “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.”) The source of…