A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

Jack see also a GOOD Jack makes a good Jill; all WORK and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
JAM tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today

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  1871 ‘L. CARROLL’ Through Looking-Glass V ‘The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday—but never jam to-day.’ ‘It must come sometimes to “jam to-day”,’ Alice objected. ‘No, it can’t,’ said the Queen. 1951 ‘J. WYNDHAM’ Day of Triffids xii. Just put the Americans into the jam-tomorrow-pie-in-the-sky department awhile. 1979 Guardian 9 June 10 The manageress of the launderette calls me darling. .. ‘Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today.’ ■ disappointment
  

jaw (rush of water): see JOUK and let the jaw go by.
jest see many a TRUE word is spoken in jest.
jewel see FAIR play’s a jewel.
Jill see a GOOD Jack makes a good Jill; every JACK has his Jill.
job see never send a BOY to do a man’s job; if a THING’S worth doing, it’s worth doing well.
join see if you can’t BEAT them, join them.
JOUK and let the jaw go by
A Scottish proverb counselling prudent or evasive action when trouble threatens. The
phrase to jouk and let the jaw go by is also found.

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  1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 189 Juck [stoop], and let the jaw [rush of water] go o’er you. That is, prudently yield to a present Torrent. 1817 SCOTT Rob Roy II. xii. Gang your ways hame, like a gude bairn—jouk and let the jaw gae by. 1927 J. BUCHAN Witch Wood xv. A man must either jouk and let the jaw go bye, as the owercome [common expression] says, or he must ride the whirlwind. ■ prudence; self-preservation
  

journey see the LONGEST journey begins with a single step.
JOVE but laughs at lovers’ perjury




C f . HESIOD frag.

124 (M-W), '^:r'

той d’opXov sthyw dnoivif-iov dvWp(bitoi(n


<• i; j. since that time he [sc. Zeus] attached no penalty for men to an oath taken in the secret works of Aphrodite; TIBULLUS Elegies III. vi. 49 periuria ridet amantum Iuppiter, Jupiter laughs at lovers’ perjuries; a 1500 in W. W. Skeat Chaucerian & Other Pieces (1897) 311 Your [lovers’] othes laste No lenger than the wordes ben ago! And god, and eke his sayntes, laughe also.

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  c 1550 tr. A. S. Piccolomini’s Lady Lucres E4^V Pacorus.. confesseth the faut asketh forgeuenes and . . ryghte well knewe he that Jupyter rather laughethe, then ta-keth angerlye the periuringe of louers. c 1595 SHAKESPEARE Romeo & JulietII. ii. 92 At lovers’ perjuries, They say Jove laughs. 1700 DRYDEN Poems (1958) IV. 1487 Love endures no Tie, And Jove but laughs at Lovers Perjury! 1922 Evening Standard 17 Oct. 5 Perjury in the Divorce Court has been openly permitted to the upper classes for many years, following the maxim..that ‘Jove but laughs at lovers’ perjury.’ 1973 I. MURDOCH Black PrinceIII. 299 Zeus, they say, mocks lovers’ oaths. "love