Proverb: time is money (antedating exact phrase 1719 May 18)

[Randy Alexander]

On Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 4:17 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Remember that time is money.
>
> That is the classic advice offered by Benjamin Franklin in 1748. OED
> (DRAFT REVISION Mar. 2010) has the phrase "time is money" under:
> money, n. P3. Proverbs. f. The first cite given is the wonderful and
> historically resonant Franklin quote. Here is an instance of the exact
> phrase "time is money" with the appropriate meaning dated 1719 May 18.
>
> Citation: 1719 May 18, The Free-Thinker, Page 128 (GN Page 119),
> Number 121, London.
>
> I remember to have heard of a notable Woman, who was thoroughly
> sensible of the intrinsick Value of Time: Her Husband was a
> Shoe-maker, and an excellent Crafts-man; but never minded how the
> Minutes passed. In vain did his Wife inculcate to him, That Time is
> Money: He had too much Wit to apprehend her; and he cursed the
> Parish-Clock, every Night; which at last brought him to his Ruin;
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=zWFJAAAAMAAJ&q=%22is+money%22#v=snippet&
>
> The proverb has a long history but the earlier cites I have found in
> references are stated somewhat differently. The online Oxford
> Dictionary of Proverbs gives two cites before Franklin's. The first
> cite is a version from Classical Greece "the most costly outlay is
> time" attributed to Antiphon. The second cite is from 1572 Discourse
> upon Usury, "They saye tyme is precious."
>
> Above is the earliest cite I found with the phrase "time is money".

Here it is in Chinese from the year 895:

http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/117648824.html?si=1

yi2 = one
cun4 = bit
guang1yin1 = time
yi1 = one
cun4 = bit
jin1 = gold

A bit of time (is like) a bit of gold.

--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China
Blogs:
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