Browse phrases beginning with:
[A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U,V][W][X,Y,Z]
No rest for the wicked
Meaning
Literal meaning - the wicked shall be tormented.
Origin
From the Bible, Isaiah 57 (King James Version):
57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
57:21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
The phrase appears in print periodically of the centuries, often with direct reference back to the biblical text. Its use in a figurative secular sense became much more common in the 1930s and it is now usually used for mild comic effect. The 1930s usage picked up after 1933 when Harold Gray used the phrase as a title for one of his highly popular Little Orphan Annie cartoons, which was syndicated in several US newspapers.
See also: the List of Proverbs.