Everyday expressions of uncertain origin

The following is a list of Proverbs and Everyday Expressions that are not from the Classical World.
The origin of some phrases remains uncertain, where possible, the origin of the other phrases is dated.

Everyday Expressions since 1066 CE

“A penny saved is a penny earned”: US. Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1758).
A shot in the dark: England, George Bernard Shaw (Feb. 1895)
“A whiter shade of pale”: England. Procol Harum (1967).
“Abandon hope all ye who enter here”: Italy. Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy (1320).
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely”: England. Speech in 1887 by Lord Acton, Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834-1902)
All roads lead to Rome: France. From the French Poet Alain de Lille (1175).
“An army marches on its stomach”: attributed to both Napoleon (1804-15 CE) and Frederick the Great (1740-1786 CE)
“Another string to your bow”: Archers kept a spare string in the 1500’s.
“Ballpark figure”: US. Probably American in origin, referring to an estimate of the size of the crowd at a baseball game.
“Barking up the wrong tree”: US. From America when animals were hunted by using a pack of dogs who surrounded a tree they thought the animal had climbed, only to discover that it had escaped elsewhere (early 1800’s).
Be careful what you wish for: (Uncertain)
“Beat around the bush”: A phrase that refers to the hunting of birds by beating the bushes they reside in (15th century).
“Beyond the Pale”: Meaning outside the limits of moral behaviour. The phrase may have been originally derived from meaning outside the established limits of a territory such as the Pale of Ireland (1169-1530’s), the Pale of Calais (1346-1558) or the Pale of Settlement in Russia (1791-1917).
“(Like getting) blood out of a stone”: Old English Proverb (1788).
“Camel’s nose under the tent”: Arab Proverb meaning if you let its head in, its body will follow and you will never get it out. A Metaphor meaning if you allow one little misbehaviour, bigger acts of misbehaviour will follow.
“Can’t see the wood for the trees”: England. John Heywood, Proverbs (1546) and Thomas More both use the phrase (16th century)
“Curiosity killed the cat”: Uncertain (early 20th century)
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”: US. Lorenzo Dow, Evangelist (1836).
“Death and Taxes”: ‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes’: US. Benjamin Franklin. (1789).
“Devil and the deep blue sea”: England. Derived from ‘the Devil and the Dead Sea’ by Bartholomew Robertson (1621).
“Dog’s dinner”: Uncertain (early 20th century).
Doubting Thomas: This expression refers to Thomas the Apostle, who did not believe that Jesus Christ was Resurrected until he saw him in person.
“Down in the dumps”: (1500’s)
“Every cloud has a silver lining”: England. John Milton: ‘Comus’ A mask presented at Ludlow Castle (1634).
“Fish and visitors stink after three days”: US. Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1758).
“Glass half full or half empty”: Uncertain, appeared in the 20th century but may be much older.
Hatch 'em, Match'em and Despatch 'em: Uncertain, refers to a Public Records Office.
“Glutton for Punishment”: (early 18th century CE) England, meaning a person who voluntarily accepts a difficult task.
‘Hidden in plain sight’: US. (19th century)
“Hit the sack”: US. originated in America and refers to the custom of using a sack filled with hay as a mattress (late 19th century).
“Hither and thither”: England. Medieval Old English
“Hold their feet to the fire”: From the Spanish Inquisition and Church Inquisitors who used this method of torture (1478-1834).
“Hope springs eternal”: Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man (1732)
“Hullabaloo”: England, Scotland (1762) meaning an uproar.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”: US. ‘Teacher’s Manual’ by Thomas Palmer (1840)
“In cahoots”: Southern US (early 1800’s) meaning to collude in secret.
“It’ll be curtains for you”: Popularised by the movies, but the phrase is from closing the curtains in the final act on stage in the theatre.
“Jumped out of my skin”: England. Meaning to be very frightened (20th century).
“Keep calm and carry on”: UK. British motivational catchphrase for World War II (1939)
“Kick the bucket”: many theories surround the origin of this phrase, one of the most popular being that when a person is executed by hanging from a beam, the bucket they are standing on is kicked away.
“Let sleeping dogs lie”: England. Troilus and Cressida by Geoffrey Chaucer (pub. c.1380)
Let the cat out of the bag: England. (1760).
“Like a scalded cat”: (Uncertain origin)
“Looking for a needle in a haystack”: Spain. Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes (1605-1615).
“My men have become women, and my women, men”: Herodotus 8.88.3 King Xerxes at the Battle of Salamis (480 BCE)
“Never cast a clout until May is out”: ‘Gnomologia’ by Dr Thomas Fuller (1732).
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth”: England. Proverbs, by John Heywood (1546).
“Never judge a book by its cover”: 1860 George Eliot, Mill on the Floss (1860).
“No man is an island”: from Devotions upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne (1624)
“No pain no gain”: US. Benjamin Franklin
“No taxation without representation”: US. Slogan of the American Revolution (1776)
“Nor for love or money”: (971)
“Not backward in coming forward”: England (early 1800’s)
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave”: England. Sir Walter Scott (1808).
Once in a Blue Moon: meaning extremely rare (from the 1500’s).
“Piece of cake”: US. Of uncertain origin, meaning something is easy (in print since the 1930’s)
“Play Devil’s Advocate”: English translation of the Latin phrase ‘Advocatus Diaboli’ meaning to take an opposing case for the sake of having an argument (from the 18th century).
“Poacher turned gamekeeper”: (uncertain, 14th century)
“Poke the bear”: (uncertain, 20th century)
“Pot calling the kettle black”: Translation of Don Quixote by Thomas Shelton (1620) and Jame ol Temsil collection of Persian Proverbs (1640).
Put the cart before the horse: England. (1589 )
“Raining cats and dogs”: possibly from the Ancient Greek word ‘Catadupe’ meaning a cataract on the Nile.
“Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”: US. This is a misquote attributed to Mark Twain, who actually wrote, the report of my death was an exaggeration (1897).
Revenge is a dish best served cold: France, Eugene Sue (1841)
Rome wasn't built in a day: (1190 Flanders)
“Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men”: England. Douglas Bader (1910-1982)
“Straw that broke the camel’s back”: (1836) but there are earlier references to a last feather breaking a horse’s back.
“Sudden Death”: USA Sport (1900’s)
“Sup with the Devil”: England. Chaucer, the Squire’s Tale (c.1386)
“The apple never falls far from the tree”: USA (1800’s)
“The Devil is in the detail”: Uncertain, recent, French or German.
“The face that launched a thousand ships”: England. Christopher Marlowe, Dr Faustus (c.1592)
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” from the French “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose”. France. Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Kerr (1849)
“The pen is mightier than the sword”: England. Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1839)
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions”: Origin uncertain. Published in ‘A Handbook of Proverbs’ by Henry George Bohr (England 1855)
“The year dot”: (England, 1900’s).
“There is more than one way to skin a cat”: (US, 1840’s).
“Time and tide wait for no man”: England, Geoffrey Chaucer (1400)
“To be agog”: French, ‘en gogues’ (16th century).
“To err is human, to forgive divine”: England. Alexander Pope. An essay on criticism (1711).
“To the victor belong the spoils”: US. New York Senator William L. Marcy in relation to the Election of Andrew Jackson in 1898.
“Topsy, Turvy”: a phrase meaning to turn upside down or be confused. Early 1500’s, England.
“Tomorrow is promised to no one”: USA. Walter Payton NFL Chicago Bears.
“Truer words have never been spoken”: Uncertain.
“Tweak the nose”: (c.1600)
“Two wrongs don’t make a right”: (1783)
“Under the weather”: A phrase from the age of sail possibly from when a sailor or passenger who fell ill was sent below deck to recover.
“Variety is the spice of life”: England. William Cowper ‘The Task’ (1785).
What have the Romans ever done for us? Monty Python, Life of Brian (1979)
“When pigs fly”: an ironic phrase referring to a situation that can never happen (from the 1600’s).
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”: (US. Twentieth century)
You can fool all the people some of the time: US. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).
“You pays your money and you takes your choice”: England. Punch magazine Vol X, No 16 (1846).
“You can lead a horse to water”: England. John Heywood, Proverbs (1546).
“You can’t have your cake and eat it”: England. John Heywood, Proverbs (1546).
“You can’t get blood out of a stone”: England. Vicesimus Knox, Winter Evenings (1788).
“You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”: Uncertain origin, an English Proverb by the 1500’s.
“You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs”: A French Proverb in use by the 1740’s.
Youth is wasted on the young: Attributed to George Bernard Shaw, English Playwright (1856-1950)

Everyday Expressions from Shakespeare (c.1590-1616)

All that glitters is not gold: The Merchant of Venice, Act II, Scene VII.
A Rose by any other name: Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II.
Beware the Ides of March: Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II.
“Brevity is the soul of wit”: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Scene II.
Et tu, Brute?: Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene I.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II.
“Many a true word is spoken in jest”: King Lear, and Chaucer, the Cook’s Tale (1390).
“Needs must when the Devil drives”: All’s Well that Ends Well, Act I, Scene III.
“The Game’s afoot”: Shakespeare, King Henry V, Act III, Scene I.
“The Lady doth protest too much, methinks”: Hamlet, Act III, Scene II.
“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”: Henry IV, Part II, Act III, Scene I.
“Wild goose chase”: Horse racing where riders followed the lead like geese flying, on an unpredictable course (1500’s). First recorded by Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet (1595).