The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (116 page)

Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs Online

Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

6.06Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

revenge

Back
-

New Search

DEAD men tell no tales

Cf.
1560
T. BECON
Works
II. 97 He that hath his body loden with meat and drinke is no more mete to prai vnto god then a dead man is to tel a tale.

1664
Andronicus Comnenius
I. iv.
'Twere best To knock 'um i' th' head … The dead can tell no tales.
1702
Inconstant
V. 76 Ay, ay,
Dead Men tell no Tales.
1850
Alton Locke
I. iv.
Where are the stories of those who have .. ended in desperation?.. Dead men tell no tales.
1979
Love & Land Beyond
viii.
Dead men told no tales, and the living were not always over-communicative.
1996
Washington Times
2 July A4
Dead men not only tell no tales, they don't dispute tales, either.

revenge
;
speech and silence

Back
-

New Search

Blessed are the DEAD that the rain rains on

A similar belief is
happy is the BRIDE that the sun shines on
.

1607
Puritan
I. i.
If, Blessed bee the coarse [corpse] the raine raynes vpon, he had it, powring downe.
1787
Provincial Glossary
(Superstitions) 61
It is .. esteemed a good sign if it rains whilst a corpse is burying: .. Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on.
1925
Great Gatsby
210
I could only remember, without resentment, that Daisy hadn't sent a message or a flower. Dimly I heard someone murmur, ‘Blessed are the dead that the rain falls on.’

blessings
;
death

Back
-

New Search

dead