Let the world slide, let the world go;
A fig for care, and a fig for woe!
If I can’t pay, why I can owe,
And death makes equal the high and low.John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
“Be Merry Friends”
Quotations by:
Heywood, John
Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 2 (1546)
And while I at length debate and beate the bush,
There shall steppe in other men and catch the burdes.John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 3 (1546)
(Source)
When the skie falth we shall have Larkes.
[When the sky falls, we shall have larks.]
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 4 (1546)
(Source)
The neer to the church, the further from God.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 9 (1546)
(Source)
It hurteth not the toung to give faire words.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 9 (1546)
(Source)
By hooke or crooke.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1546)
(Source)
The phrase most likely derives from English tenant rights to gather firewood "by hook or by crook" -- as much loose timber as could be pulled down from branches by a (shepherd's) crook, or cut with from underbrush by a (pruning) billhook. The phrase first appears in the 14th Century.
But he was at home there, he might speake his will,
Every cocke is proud on his owne dunghill.John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1546)
(Source)
Nought venter nought have.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 1, ch. 11 (1564)
(Source)
More commonly rendered, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."
Some things that provoke yong men to wed in haste,
Show after wedding that haste maketh waste.John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 2 (1546)
(Source)
Many hands make light warke.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 5 (1546)
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Would yee both eat your cake, and have your cake?
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 9 (1546)
(Source)
Who is so deafe, or so blynde, as is hee,
That wilfully will nother heare nor see?[Who is so deaf, or so blind, as is he,
That willfully will neither hear nor see?]John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 9 (1546)
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Enough is as good as a feast.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 11 (1546)
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This hitteth the naile on the hed.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 11 (1546)
(Source)
Love me, love my dog.
John Heywood (1497?-1580?) English playwright and epigrammist
Proverbes, Part 2, ch. 9 (1546)
(Source)
Earlier noted as a common proverb by Bernard of Clairvaux in the 11th Century: "Qui me amat, amet et canem meum [Who loves me will love my dog also] in his First Sermon on the Feast of St Michael.