A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

An ENGLISHMAN’s word is his bond

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  c 1500 Lancelot of Lake (STS) 1.1671 O kingis word shuld be o kingis bonde. a 1606 Nobody & Somebody C2^V Nobodies worde is as good as his bond. 1642 T. FULLER Holy State V. XIII . He hath this property of an honest man, that his word is as good as his band. 1754 RICHARDSON Grandison I. Letter ix. I am no flincher. ..The word of Sir Rowland Meredith is as good as his bond. 1841 DICKENS Old Curiosity Shop lviii. ‘Marchioness,’ said Mr. Swiveller, rising, ‘the word of a gentleman is as good as his bond —sometimes better, as in the present case.’ 1916 F. VANE Letter 14 Sept. in M. Gibbon Inglorious Soldier iii. [List of fictions underlying national conceit:] 3. That English justice is something much more superfine than any other sort of justice (owing to Public School training!) and that an Englishman’s word is his bond. 1981 A. GRAHAM-YOOLL Forgotten Colony xvi. If a verbal promise is made the native, to seal the contract, usually says palabra de ingtes,.. meaning that he will act as an Englishman, whose word is his bond. "honour; national characteristics
  

ENOUGH is as good as a feast

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  c. 1375 J. BARBOUR Bruce (EETS) XIV 363 He maid thame na gud fest, perfay [truly], And nocht-for-thi [nevertheless] yneuch had thai. c 1470 MALORY Morte d’Arthur (1967) I. 246 Inowghe is as good as a feste. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II. xi. M1 Here is enough, I am satisfied (sayde he).. For folke say, enough is as good as a feast. 1833 LAMB Elia’s Last Essays vi. That enough is as good as a feast. Not a man, woman, or child in ten miles round Guildhall, who really believes this saying. 1928 D. H. LAWRENCE Woman who rode Away 165 I’ll live with another woman but I’ll never marry another. Enough is as good as a feast. 2000 T. & R. MAGLIOZZI In Our Humble Opinion 208 And now we know from our Happiness equation that the problem is high Expectations. And who comes to the rescue? Rooster Cogburn, who else? Enough is as good as a feast. ■ content and discontent; food and drink