The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (610 page)

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Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

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You can't WIN them all
See also the preceding entry.
1953
Long Good-bye
xxiv.
Wade took him by the shoulder and spun him round. ‘Take it easy, Doc. You can't win them all.’
1962
Girl, Gold Watch & Everything
vii.
‘Well, hell,’ she said wistfully. ‘You can't win' em all.’
1984
Harm's Way
xviii.
‘The finger being found on the footpath was just bad luck on the murderer's part.’ ‘You can't win them all,’ said Crosby ambiguously.
1994
Mr. Donaghue Investigates
(1997) xxiv. 189
‘This case .. might well turn out, as I said, to be my first defeat.’ ‘Ah well,’ said Carl Petersen .., ‘you can't win ' em all.’
winners and losers
When the WIND is in the east, 'tis neither good for man nor beast
1600
Treasury of Similies
750
The East wind is accounted neither good for man or beast.
1609
MS
(Trinity College, Cambridge) 86
The wind East is neither good for man nor beast.
1659
Proverbs
(English) 19
When the wind is in the east it is good for neither man nor beast.
1670
English Proverbs
41
When the wind's in the East, It's neither good for man nor beast… The East-wind with us is commonly very sharp, because it comes off the Continent.
1825
Every-Day Book
I. 670
When the wind's in the east, It's neither good for man nor beast.
1929
Room with Iron Shutters
xx.
‘When the wind is in the East .. 'Tis neither good for man nor beast.’ Has it ever occurred to you .. to relate the incidence of crime to meteorological conditions?
weather lore

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