In these modern, materialistic times, being born rich may seem the best possible life, but as one writer noted, some people possess such good fortune that they could, in fact, "fall down in a sewer and find a ring." John Clarke's collected proverbs "Paroemiologia," first recorded the proverbial preference for good luck in 1639 as "Better to have good fortune that to be a rich man's child." The proverb has been quoted up to the present day, though not without some variations, as in Richard Hofstadter's "Idea" (1969): "if one is lucky enough, it is better to be lucky, than clever."

He who hesitates is lost

The English poet Joseph Addison gave the rendering of this quote in his play "Calo" (1713): "When love once pleads admission to our hearts ... The woman that deliberates is lost." Anthony Trollope repeated the sentiment in "Can You Forgive Her?" (1865) with "It has been said of a women that she who doubts is lost," and John H. Beadle's "Western Wilds" (1878) recorded the more generalized, modern wording with the line, "In Utah it is emphatically true, that he who hesitates is lost--to Mormonism."

Curiosity killed a cat

There is nothing new about the annoying tendency of some people to ask one question too many. Proverbial admonitions to the overly curious date back to ancient times, but "curiosity killed the cat" is apparently a recent invention. Of the earlier sayings St. Augustine recorded in "Confessions" (397), the story of a curious soul who wondered what God did in the eons before crating heaven and earth. "He fashioned hell for the inquisitive," came the stern reply, and proverbial sayings of more recent times have been less forgiving. The 17th-Century saying, "He that pryeth into every cloud may be struck with a thunderbolt," appeared in John Clarke's "Paroemiologia" (1639). Lord Byron in "Don Juan" (1818) condemned the curious with "I loathe that low vice curiosity." An old saw, "Care (worry) killed the cat," dated from Shakespeare's time, but the connection between a cat and curiosity was not made until a reference in 1909, "Curiosity can do more things than kill a cat."

Offense is the best defense

The American revolutionary leader, William H. Drayton recorded this saying for the first time as "It is a maxim, that it is better to attack than to receive one." George Washington explained, "Offensive operations often time, is the surest, if not only ... means of defense."

An American, William H. Drayton, recorded this: "It is a maxim, that it is better to attack than to receive one."

Dr. A.O. Goldsmith of Kennett is a retired director of the School of Journalism, Louisiana State University.