"Actions speak louder than words,"
"Different strokes for different folks,"
"A friend in need is a friend indeed,"
Where do such nuggets of wisdom come from? Phrases such as these have weaved there way into our collective memory; in a sense, they embody the values we hold in common. In this book, I map the diverse streams which have flowed together into the rich traditions of popular wisdom and "common sense."

Excerpts:
Origin of 'Honesty is the best policy'

Origin of 'Do to others as you would have them do to you'

Origin of 'Money can't buy happiness'

Origin of 'Money is the root of all evil'

Table of Contents


Who Said It First?

Absence makes the heart grow fonder - 26 B.C.E.; womanizing Roman poet Sextus Propertius, to his favorite mistress each time he returned to her forgiving arms.

Ignorance is bliss - 1742; English poet Thomas Gray, sole survivor of 12 children of a violent and abusive father. He thought it best not to know one’s future.

No pain, no gain - 1589; English poet Robert Herrick, who also advised young males to “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.”

Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today - 800 B.C.E.; Greek poet Hesiod. Procrastination is an age-old problem.

Don’t cry over spilled milk - 1659; Anglo-Welsh essayist James Howell. So true in an era when people milked cows for a drink.

Let the buyer beware - 1750 B.C.E.; from the Code of Hammurabi, the oldest set of human laws and retail advice.

Truth is stranger than fiction - 1823; from Lord Byron’s Don Juan, and truer today in the era of political and celebrity scandals.

Give the patient hope, even when death seems at hand - Ambroise Pare (1510-1590), French physician and “father of surgery.” Hope heals, he taught.

The first step is the hardest - Sir Thomas More (1477-1535), English statesman, led to the beheading block and executed for refusing to accept Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. He also said "A drowning man will clutch at straws."

Don’t hit a man when he’s down - 1551; Thomas Cranmer, beleaguered Archbishop of Canterbury, burned at the stake for promoting Protestantism by Catholic Mary I.

The customer is always right - The motto of Philadelphia retail merchant John Wanamaker (1838-1922), founder of one of America’s first department stores.



Back