A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1897 ‘S. GRAND’ Beth Book xvi. If mountains can be moved by faith, you can surely move your own legs! 1933 J. BETJEMAN Ghastly Good Taste iii. As faith can move mountains, so nothing was impossible to Holy Church. 1948 B. STEVENSON Home Book of Proverbs (rev. ed.) 745 Faith will move mountains. 1980 C. FREMLIN With no Crying xix. Faith moves mountains, they say: and Hope lights up our darkness. ■ faith

FALL down seven times, get up eight
Japanese proverb

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  1997 New York Times 24 Aug. (online) ‘I always told him, “Fall down seven times, get up eight,”’ said John Kim, the bridegroom’s father. ‘That’s a martial arts motto.’ 2006 R. PAGE on www.russpage.net 10 Apr. I saw a Dwayne Wade commercial this morning that showed him falling down on the basketball court numerous times. Seven times to be exact. Toward the end of the commercial, it shows him lying face down on the court as he lifts up his head and smiles before standing up. The final line says something like ‘Fall down seven times. Get up eight.’ It seems very motivational. ■ perseverance
  

fall see (noun) hasty CLIMBERS have sudden falls; PRIDE goes before a fall; (verb) the APPLE never falls far from the tree; BETWEEN two stools one falls to the ground; the BIGGER they are, the harder they fall; when the BLIND lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch; the BREAD never falls but on its buttered side; a REED before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall; if the SKY falls we shall catch larks; when THIEVES fall out, honest men come by their own; as a TREE falls, so shall it lie; UNITED we stand, divided we fall.
fame see COMMON fame is seldom to blame.
FAMILIARITY breeds contempt
Cf. ST. AUGUSTINE Scala Paradisi 8 (Migne 40, col. 1001) vulgare proverbium est, quod nimia familiaritas parit contemptum, it is a common proverb, that too much familiarity breeds contempt.

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  с 1386 CHAUCER Tale of Melibee 1. 1685 Men seyn that ‘over-greet hoomlynesse [familiarity] engendreth dispreisynge’. 1539 R. TAVERNER Garden of WisdomII. 4^vHys specyall frendes counsailled him to beware, least his ouermuche familiaritie myght breade him contempte. 1654 T. FULLER Comment on Ruth 176 With base and sordid natures familiarity breeds contempt. 1869 TROLLOPE He knew He was Right II. lvi. Perhaps, if I heard Tennyson talking every day, I shouldn’t read Tennyson. Familiarity does breed contempt. 1928 D. H. LAWRENCE Phoenix II (1968) 598 We say.. Familiarity breeds contempt. .. That is only partly true. It has taken some races of men thousands of years to become contemptuous of the moon. 2002 Washington Times 12 Jan. All What’s that saying about familiarity breeding contempt? By now, [Daniel] Snyder doesn’t seem to think much of any of them. ■familiarity