You've made your bed...

Posted by Bob on December 05, 1999

In Reply to: You've made your bed... posted by E. on December 04, 1999

: YOU'VE MADE YOUR BED, NOW LIE IN IT -- This reminds me of a line said by Mickey Mouse, "You've buttered your bread, now sleep on it" -- mixing up the two phrases, "You've buttered your bread, now eat it" and "You've made your bed, now sleep in it." A variation of the phrase in question is "You've made your bed, now lie in it." Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman says this phrase "has been traced back to about 1590 and is related to the fifteenth century French proverb 'Comme on faict son lict, on le treuve' (As one makes one's bed, so one finds it). It was included in George Herbert's collection of proverbs in 1640 and in James Kelly's collection in 1721. It was first attested in the United States in 'Cy Whittaker's Place' by J.S. Lincoln, and is found in varying forms..."

There's also the wonderful song introduction in "Little Mary Sunshine" that goes "You made your bed a rolling stone/ and now the shoe won't fit/You had your cake and should have known/You'd have to lay in it. Yet ..."