A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

ending see a GOOD beginning makes a good ending
endured see what can’t be CURED must be endured.
The ENEMY of my enemy is my friend

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  1985 M. KORDA Queenie III. xiii. 347 In California, I’m an outsider. So is Wolff, so we’re natural allies. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” as I believe the Arabs say. 1992 MIEDER Dict. American Proverbs 181 The enemies of my enemies are my friends. 2000 New Yorker 25 Sept. 56/1 The enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend logic.. dominates central-African politics. 2001 Spectator 24 Nov. 36 The hack right-wing answer.. is to quote what the quoters claim to be ‘the old Arab proverb’: ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ 2002 National Review 3 May (online ed.) Or was she [Barbie]— as conservatives insisted, taking the view that ‘the enemy of my feminist enemy is my friend’—simply good childhood fun? ■ enemies; friends
  

enemy see also the BEST is the enemy of the good; it is good to make a BRIDGE of gold to a flying enemy; the GOOD is the enemy of the best; there is no LITTLE enemy; SAVE us from our friends; if you SIT by the river for long enough, you will see the body of your enemy float by.
ENGLAND is the paradise of women, the hell of horses, and the purgatory of servants
Cf. 1558 BONAVENTURE DES PERIERS Nouvelles Recreations N1^VParis ..c’est le paradis des femmes, l’enfer des mules, et le purgatorie des soliciteurs; 1583 R. D. Mirrour of Mirth K1^VParis is a paradise for women, a hel for mens horses, and a Purgatorye for those that followe suits of Law.

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  1591 J. FLORIO Second Fruits 205 She takes her ease, and followes her busines at home. .. England is the paradise of women, the purgatory of men, and the hell of horses. 1617 F. MORYSON Itinerary III. I. iii. England.. is said to be the Hell of Horses, the Purgatory of Seruants, and the Paradice of Weomen. 1787 F. GROSE Provincial Glossary s.v. England, England is the paradise of women, hell of horses, and purgatory of servants. 1962 E. S. TURNER What Butler Saw i. An ancient proverb said that England was ‘the hell of horses, the purgatory of servants and the paradise of women’. When the eighteenth century came in, England was still the hell of horses, but there were loud complaints that it had become the paradise of servants and the purgatory of women. ■ national characteristics