Re: Idle hands
Posted by Bella on May
19, 2003 In Reply to: Re: Idle hands posted by masakim
on May 19, 2003
: : : : Any ideas on the origin of... "Idle hands are the devil's
workshop?"
: : : I'm more familiar with another variant of this phrase, namely
"The Devil finds work/mischief for idle hands to do", but I don't
have any idea as to the origin either.
: : Here's a blurb I found, courtesy of Google:
: : Nothing good comes from boredom. It's said that idle hands
are the devil's workshop, an old saying dating at least as far back
as Chaucer in the twelfth century who called idle hands the devil's
tools.
: Fac et aliquid operis, ut semper te diabolus inveniat occupatum.
(St Jerome, _Letters_)
: Therefore seith Seint Jerome: "Dooth somme goode dedes that the
devel, which is oure enemy, ne fynde yow nat unocupied." (Chaucer,
_Tale of Melibee_)
: In Works of Labour or of Skill I would be busy too: For Satan
finds some mischief still for idle Hands to do. (I. Watts, _Divine
Songs for Children_, 1715)
: If the Devil finds a Man idle, he'll set him at Work. (J. Kelly,
_Scottish Proverbs_, 1721)
: If the devil catch a man idle, he'll set him at work. (T. Fuller,
_Gnomologia_, 1732)
: Idle Brains are the Devil's Workhouses. (_ibid._)
: The Turks have a proverb, which says, that _The devil tempts
all other men, but that idle men tempt the devil. (Colton, _Lacon_,
1820)
: An idle brain is the devil's workshop. (H.G. Bohn, _Hand-Book
of Proverbs_, 1855)
: "Idle hands do the Devil's work, Paul." (K. Vonnegut, _Player
Piano_, 1952)
: "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." That seems to be the attitude
among President Clinton's Pentagon appointees who recently drafted
plans to involve the military in domestic social programs.... (_Washington
Times_, May 18, 1995)
"Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground."....Meredith
Willson, "The Music Man"....
because I can't come up with anything better.....
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