A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

SCRATCH a Russian and you find a Tartar
The proverb is also used allusively, especially of other nationalities. Cf. Fr. grattez le Russe et vous trouverez le Tartare, scratch the Russian and you will find the Tartar (attributed to Napoleon).
□1823 J. GALLATIN Diary 2 Jan. (1914) 229 Very true the saying is, ‘Scratch the Russian and find the Tartar.’ c 1863 J. R. GREEN in Notes & Queries (1965) CCX. 348 They say, if you scratch a Russian you always find the Tartar beneath. 1899 F. A. OBER Puerto Rico xii. Scratch a Puerto Rican and you find a Spaniard underneath, so the language and home customs of Spain prevail here. 1911 Spectator 2 Dec. 964 Until a short time ago the aphorism, ‘Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar,’ was the sum of British comprehension of the Russian character. 1947 J. FLANNER in New Yorker 31 May 6 Scratch a Pole and you find a Pole, even if he is a Communist. 1967 D. BLOODWORTH Chinese Looking Glass xxxiv. Mao.. discovered many years ago that you only had to scratch a Russian Communist to find a Tatar. "human nature; national characteristics
Scripture see the DEVIL can quote Scripture for his own ends.
He that would go to SEA for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime
A sailors’ proverb.
□1899 A. J. BOYD Shellback viii. Shentlemens vot goes to sea for pleasure vould go to hell for pastime. 1910 D. W. BONE Brassbounder xxvi. He gave a half-laugh and muttered the old formula about ‘the man who would go to sea for pleasure, going to hell for a pastime!’ 1924 R. CLEMENTS Gipsy of Horn iii. ‘He who would go to sea for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime’ is an attempt at heavy satire. 1933 M. LOWRY Ultramarine i. ‘What made you come to sea anyway?’ ‘Search me. .. To amuse myself, I suppose.’ ‘Well, a man who’d go to sea for fun’d go to hell for a pastime. ..It’s an old sailor expression.’ 1986 Newsweek 27 Jan. 62 Just before Steven Callahan set out to sail alone from Penzance to Martinique, a Cornish seaman warned him that ‘a fella who’d go
to sea for pleasure’d sure go to hell for pastime.’ “idiosyncrasy