A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

LOVE laughs at locksmiths,
A more graphic expression of the sentiment in LOVE will find a way. Cf. 1592-3 SHAKESPEARE Venus & Adonis 1. 576 Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last.

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  1803 G. COLMAN (title) Love laughs at locksmiths: an operatic farce. 1901 F. R. STURGIS Sexual Debility in Man ix. Love is said to laugh at locksmiths, and incidentally at parental authority, and this young man was no exception. 1922 ‘D. YATES’ Jonah & Co iv. And now push off and lock the vehicle. I know Love laughs at locksmiths, but the average motor-thief’s sense of humour is less susceptible. 1998 ‘C. AIRD’ Stiff News (2000) xv. 156 [A]ll the medicines at the Manor would be kept together in one place. Under lock and key, no doubt, but every policeman learned early that love wasn’t the only thing that laughed at locksmiths. Murderers did, too. ■love
  

LOVE makes the world go round
Cf. Fr. c’est l’amour, l’amour, l’amour, Qui fait le monde A la ronde (Dumerson & Segur Chansons Nationales & Populaires de France, 1851, II. 180) it is love, love, love, that makes the world go round.

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  1865 ‘L. CARROLL’ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ix. ‘“Oh, ‘tis love, ‘tis love that makes the world go round!”’ ‘Somebody said,’ Alice whispered, ‘that it’s done by everybody minding their own business.’ 1902 ‘O. HENRY’ in Brandur Mag. 27 Sept. 4 It’s said that love makes the world go round. The announcement lacks verification. It’s the wind from the dinner horn that does it. 2002 Washington Times 14 Feb. A21 It is a well-known factoid that love makes the world go ‘round; less well-known is love’s ability to stop the planet dead flat in midspin when it ends, replacing Paris in the spring with Chicago in January. ■love
  

LOVE me little, love me long
aa 1500 in Archiv (1900) CVI. 274 Love me lytyll and longe. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II. ii. G1 Olde wise folke saie, loue me lyttle loue me long. 1629 T. ADAMS Works 813 Men cannot brooke poore friends. This inconstant Charitie is hateful as our English phrase premonisheth; Loue me Little, and Loue me Long. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 229 Love me little, love me long. A Dissuasive from shewing too much, and too sudden Kindness. 1907 Times Literary Supplement 8 Mar. 77 Mrs. Bellew is a lady who cannot love either little or long. She . . tires very quickly of the men who are irresistibly drawn to her. 1991 Washington Times 14 Feb. G3 ‘Love me a little less but longer’ is an old folk phrase. ■ constancy and inconstancy; love