A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

grass see also when ELEPHANTS fight, it is the grass that suffers.
grease see the SQUEAKING wheel gets the grease.
A GREAT book is a great evil
Cf. CALLIMACHUS Fragments 465 (Pfeiffer) the great book is equal to a great evil.

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  1628 BURTON Anatomy of Melancholy (ed. 3) 7 Oftentimes it falls out.. a great Booke is a great mischiefe. 1711 ADDISON Spectator 23 July We do not expect to meet with any thing in a bulky Volume. .. A great Book is a great Evil. 1933 Oxford English Dictionary (Preface) p. vii. If there is any truth in the old Greek maxim that a large book is a great evil, English dictionaries have been steadily growing worse ever since their
  

inception more than three centuries ago. "brevity and long-windedness
GREAT minds think alike
Used ironically. Both verb and noun have changed in the course of this proverb’s history, the earliest instance of the present form thus far discovered being quot. 1898. Jump used absolutely in the sense of ‘agree completely’ or ‘coincide’ is now archaic.

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  1618 D. BELCHIER Hans Beer-Pot D1 Though he made that verse, Those words were made before. .. Good wits doe iumpe. 1761 STERNE Tristram Shandy III. ix. Great wits jump: for the moment Dr. Slop cast his eyes upon his bag.. the very same thought occurred. 1889 A. JAMES Journal 1 Dec. (1964) 61 As great minds jump this proves.. that my Mind is Great! 1898 C. G. ROBERTSON Voces Academicae 24 Curious how great minds think alike. My pupil wrote me the same explanation about his non­appearance. .. 1922 Punch 27 Dec. 601 Lord Riddell considers that Mr. H. G. Wells is one of the world’s greatest minds. Great minds, as the saying is, think alike. 2002 Washington Times 28 May C9 (Bottomliners cartoon) ‘Great minds think alike—that’s why we’re never in agreement.’ "coincidence; harmony and disharmony