Proverbs

The Meaning and Origin of ‘A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing’

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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the origins of a famous quotation – and its less famous source

‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.’ This line is often quoted, but it’s actually, technically, a misquotation. What’s more, the meaning of this aperçu is worth analysing more closely, because it is open to misinterpretation as well as misquotation. Let’s take a look at the origins of ‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing’ – or, more accurately, ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing’.

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The Meaning and Origin of ‘You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It’

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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the origins of perhaps the greatest cake-based proverb in the English language

I remember being flummoxed by a number of well-known proverbs when I was very young. The first time I heard ‘a stitch in time saves nine’, I remember scratching my head and thinking, ‘What? A stitch in time saves nine what? Nine lives?’

And then, perhaps because I’d spent too long reading speculative science-fiction novels, I thought ‘stitch in time’ was some elaborate operation performed upon the fabric of time, perhaps to open up a wormhole into the deep future or the past.

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The Curious Symbolism of Milk in Literature and Myth

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Milk, of course, is the primary source of nourishment for mammals, a word that is ultimately derived from ‘breast’ (as, coincidentally, is the name for the city of Manchester, because it was built on a ‘breast-like’ hill). Because of its pivotal role in providing sustenance for humans and many other animals, milk has attained a number of significant symbolic qualities. Let’s take a closer look at the symbolism of milk in literature, religion, and myth.

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The Meaning and Origin of ‘Procrastination is the Thief of Time’

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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle explores the meaning of a famous proverb – and its origins in a work of literature

‘Procrastination is the thief of time’. It’s perhaps one of the best-known proverbs in the English language, and as with most proverbs, the temptation is to ascribe it to that prolific author, ‘Anon.’ But as with another favourite axiom, ‘better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’, ‘procrastination is the thief of time’ appears to have a very decisive origin in the work of a particular writer.

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