A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

ENGLAND’S difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity

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  1856 Tribune 19 Jan. 188 Some few years ago, we followed O’Connell, and when he declared that ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity’, we threw our hats in the air. 1916 G. B. SHAW in New York Times (Mag.) 9 Apr. 2 The cry that ‘England’s Difficulty Is Ireland’s Opportunity’ is raised in the old senseless, spiteful way as a recommendation to stab England in the back when she is fighting some one else. 1969 T. PAKENHAM Year of Liberty i. Successive plantations—of Scottish Presbyterians in Ulster.. did not secure Ireland. The Catholics’ watchword remained: ‘England’s difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity.’ 1997 Times 15 Oct. 8 Britain’s difficulty became Ireland’s opportunity last night when.. Sir Denis Mahon presented three Baroque paintings originally destined for Liverpool to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. "opportunity; politics
  

England see also the CAT, the rat, and Lovell the dog, rule all England under the hog; what MANCHESTER says today, the rest of England says tomorrow; TURKEY, heresy, hops, and beer came into England all in one year.
The ENGLISH are a nation of shopkeepers
Attributed to Napoleon in B. E. O’Meara Napoleon in Exile (1822) I. 103 L’Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers. The concept of the shopkeeping nation is however earlier: 1766 J. TUCKER Letter from Merchant 46 A Shop-keeper will never get the more Custom by beating his Customers; and what is true of a Shop-keeper, is true of a Shop-keeping Nation; 1776 A. SMITH Wealth of Nations II. IV. vii. To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers.

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  1831 DISRAELI Young Duke I. xi. Hast thou brought this, too, about that ladies’ hearts should be won.. over a counter. .. We are indeed a nation of shopkeepers. 1911 Times Weekly 17 Feb. 132 Napoleon.. described the English as a nation of shopkeepers. Uttered in a sneering spirit, it embodied.. the profound truth that our prosperity is based upon our trade. 1981 R. RENDELL Put on by Cunning xiv. Americans.. are a nation of salesmen just as the English are a nation of small shopkeepers. 2002 Times 5 Jan. 25 England is indeed a nation of shopkeepers, but it has always preferred to draw these shopkeepers from among the newly Anglicised. ■ national characteristics