Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs Online

Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (481 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
8.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
He that would go to SEA for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime
A sailors' proverb.
1899
Shellback
viii.
Shentlemens vot goes to sea for pleasure vould go to hell for pastime.
1910
Brassbounder
xxvi.
He gave a half-laugh and muttered the old formula about ‘the man who would go to sea for pleasure, going to hell for a pastime!’
1924
Gipsy of Horn
iii.
‘He who would go to sea for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime’ is an attempt at heavy satire.
1933
Ultramarine
i.
‘What made you come to sea anyway?’ 'Search me … To amuse myself, I suppose. ‘Well, a man who'd go to sea for fun'd go to hell for a pastime … It's an old sailor expression.’
1986
Newsweek
27 Jan. 62
Just before Steven Callahan set out to sail alone from Penzance to Martinique, a Cornish seaman warned him that ‘a fella who'd go to sea for pleasure'd sure go to hell for pastime.’
idiosyncrasy
The SEA refuses no river
1614
England's Way to win Wealth
45 (
marginal note
)
The Sailors Prouerbe: The Sea and the Gallowes refuse none.
1699
Trip to New England
4
It often puts me in mind of the old Proverb,
The Sea and the Gallows refuses none
.
1850
White Jacket
II. xliii.
‘The gallows and the sea refuse nothing,’ is a very old sea saying.
1969
Tales I told my Mother
124
The sea refuses no river.
greed
BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
8.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Sorry, Bro by Bergeron, Genevieve
The Burn by Annie Oldham
London Harmony: Small Fry by Erik Schubach
Justice for Hire by Rayven T. Hill
Imaginary Enemy by Julie Gonzalez
Benjamin Ashwood by AC Cobble