A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1923 O. ONIONS Peace in our Time I. ii. Men had a way of omitting the names of those of whom they spoke; no names no pack-drill. 1925 S. O’CASEY Juno & Paycock II. 61 I know some as are as sweet as the blossoms that bloom in the May—oh, no names, no pack drill. 2000 P. LOVESEY Reaper iv. 47 ‘Do you know, I’ve heard of churches— no names, no pack-drill—who wait until the end of the year before stomping up.’ ■speech and silence

NO news is good news

• 
  1616 JAMES I in Loseley MSS (1836) 403 No newis is bettir then evill newis. 1640 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 3 June (1903) II. 144 I am of the Italians mind that said, ‘Nulla nuova, buona nuova’, (no news, good news). 1850 F. E. SMEDLEY Frank Fairlegh x. Arguing.. (on the ‘no news being good news’ system) that I should have heard again if anything had gone wrong, I dismissed the subject from my mind. 1974 T. SHARPE Porterhouse Blue xxi. ‘He can’t reply,’ the Senior Tutor pointed out. ‘I find that most consoling. After all no news is good news.’ 2002 Washington Post 12 Feb. C13 (Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip) ‘Sigh.. No news is good news.’ ‘I’ll say.. It means no rolled-up newspaper.’ -news
  

NO pain, no gain

• 
  1577 N. BRETON Works of Young Wit 33V They must take pain that look for any gayn. 1648 HERRICK Hesperides 298 No Paines, no Gaines. If little labour, little are our gaines: Mans fortunes are according to his paines. 1853 R. C. TRENCH On Lessons in Proverbs iv. For the most part they courageously accept the law of labour, No pains, no gains,—No sweat, no sweet, as the appointed law and condition of man’s life. 1985 Washington Post 22 May (Health Supplement) 14 Forget the coach’s rule of ‘no pain, no gain’. Today, exercise researchers are replacing it with the ‘talk rule’. 2000 M. BERMAN Twilight of American Culture i. 58 As Peter Sacks shows.., there is very little tolerance on the part of students for any real work; ‘no pain, no gain’ is not part of their emotional vocabulary. ■ wanting and having