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People in glass houses ...

Posted by ESC on June 29, 2000

In Reply to: People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. posted by Chris Berquist on June 28, 2000

: I would be surprised if the following phrase isn't in your database in one form or the other, but a cursury look was unable to find it: Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I know what it means, but I have long wondered about its origin.

PEOPLE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES - "Those who are vulnerable should not attack others. The proverb has been traced back to Geoffrey Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde' . George Herbert wrote in 1651: 'Whose house is of glass, must not throw stones at another.' This saying is first cited in the United States in 'William & Mary College Quarterly' . Twenty-six later Benjamin Franklin wrote, 'Don't throw stones at your neighbors', if your own windows are glass.' 'To live in a glass house' is used as a figure of speech referring to vulnerability." From Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

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