A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

GOD’s in his heaven; all’s right with the world The standard form is an expression of satisfaction (see quot. 1841), which has now largely replaced the consolatory God is where he was.

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  1530 J. PALSGRAVE L^claircissement de la Langue Frangaise 213 Neuer dispayre man, god is there as he was. 1612 T. SHELTON tr. Cervantes’ Don Quixote I. IV. iii. God is in heaven. 1678 J. RAY English Proverbs (ed. 2) 147 God is where he was. Spoken to encourage People in any distress. 1841 R. BROWNING Works (1970) 327 The snail’s on the thorn: God’s in his heaven—All’s right with the world. 1906 R. KIPLING Puck of Pook’s Hill 240 Cheer up, lad. .. God’s where He was. 1928 E. WAUGH Decline & Fall I. v. When you’ve been in the soup as often as I have, it gives you a sort of feeling that everything’s for the best, really. You know, God’s in His heaven; all’s right with the world. 1983 P. MORTIMER Handyman xv. When she heard his car draw up, on the dot of seven, it was as though she had been injected with a great feeling of calm, a reassurance that God was in his heaven and all [was] right with her world. ■ content and discontent
  

GOD tempers the wind to the shorn lamb
God mercifully ensures that misfortune does not overwhelm the weak or helpless. The phrase to temper the wind (to the shorn lamb) is also common. Cf. 1594 H. ESTIENNE Premices 47 ces termes, Dieu mesure le froid a la brebis tondue, sont les propres termes du prouerbe, these terms, God measures the cold to the shorn sheepe, are the correct terms of the proverb.

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  1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 867 To a close shorne sheep, God gives wind by measure. 1768 STERNE Sentimental Journey II. 175 How she had borne it.. she could not tell—but God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the shorn lamb. 1933 V. BRITTAIN Testament of Youth I. ii. There is an unduly optimistic proverb which declares that God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. My subsequent history was hardly to justify such naive faith in the Deity. 1996 American Spectator Mar. 56 But as Laurence Sterne was wont to remind us, the Lord tempers the wind for the shorn lamb. There were bars. ■ providence; trouble
  

God see also ALL things are possible with God; EVERY man for himself, and God for us all; MAN proposes, God disposes; MAN’S extremity is God’s opportunity; the MILLS of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; the NEARER the church, the farther from God; PROVIDENCE is always on the side of the big battalions; the ROBIN and the wren are God’s cock and hen; TAKE the goods the gods provide; TRUST in God but tie your camel; put your TRUST in God, and keep your powder dry; the VOICE of the people is the voice of God; a WHISTLING woman and a crowing hen are neither fit for God nor men; also GODS, HEAVEN.