A stitch in time saves nine... How often have I alternately heeded and ignored that bit of advice, and wondered about its origin?
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| Needle and Thread (Stitch in Time) Fuji 4 x 6" Graphite and Prismacolor photo by Jay York |
Here Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) explains it all. "... verses are easier got by heart, and stick faster in the memory than prose; and because ordinary people use to be much taken with the clinking of syllables; many of our proverbs are so formed, and very often put into false rhymes; as, a stitch in time, may save nine...This little artiface, I imagine, was contrived purposely to make the sense abide the longer in the memory, by reason of its oddness and archness."
exerpt from Thomas Fuller's Gnomologia, Adagies and Proverbs, Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British by way of The Phrase Finder
