Proverb: omlets are not made without breaking eggs (antedating 1796 May)

[victor steinbok]

The phrase was attributed to Robespierre in at least one French film
(obviously of more recent vintage, but that's hardly the point).
Unfortunately, it's been long enough ago that I can't tell you which
film it was, but it does suggest that there is some lore in France
that follows this attribution. In the film, of course, the phrase is
made very sinister--Robespierre utters as he sends men to the
guillotine, in response to pleas for mercy.

But even if Robespierre did use it, it does not mean that it was
original with him (or, more specifically, appeals to humanity). On the
other hand, the timing (especially with the 1796 citation) is
suggestive.

On a different note, the phrase was also used creatively in the Sharpe
series, although I have no idea if it appeared in the original text
(either way, it's much later, of course, although the context, again,
has people dying).

VS-)

On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 12:53 PM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>
> The _Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs_ (3rd ed., 1970; 594) gives, from 1815, "On ne peut pas faire des omelettes sans casser les oeufs."  That's early enough to make one wonder whether a French proverb might lie behind the Englsih proverb.
>
> Burton Stevenson's _Home Book of Proverbs, Maxims, and Familiar Phrases_ (1948; 1230) cites "Robespierre, _Epigram_. (c. 1790)"--with no other information.
>
> --Charlie

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