Proverb: A Friend to all, is a Friend to none.

Wed Oct 2 01:04:31 UTC 2013

JL: I appreciate your help. Thank you very much for searching EEBO.

Here is an update. Dictionary of Proverbs by George Latimer Apperson
points to "Diogenes Laertius, V i" for the Aristotle ascription. Maybe
the statement below attributed to Aristotle is supposed to be
equivalent to the modern proverb: A friend to all, is a friend to
none.

Lives of the Eminent Philosophers/Book V by Diogenes Laertius,
Section: Aristotle
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_V

[Being excerpt]
Favorinus in the second book of his Memorabilia mentions as one of his
habitual sayings that "He who has friends can have no true friend."
Further, this is found in the seventh book of the Ethics.
[End excerpt]

Apparently there is a citation in 1623 but the phrasing is different.
A Dictionary of American Proverbs claims a cite in 1623. But the
correct wording is probably given in the 1907 citation further below.

Google Books has "The Spared Houres of a Soldier in His Travels" in
"No Preview" mode which might mean it is a reprint.

Do you know of EEBO  has "The Spared Houres of a Soldier" by Wodroephe?

Title: A Dictionary of American Proverbs
Author: Wolfgang Mieder, Stewart A. Kingsbury, Kelsie B. Harder
Year: 1992
(Google Books preview)
http://books.google.com/books?id=AbJ1tVGmiTgC&q=%22to+nobody%22#v=snippet&
[Being excerpt]
A friend to all is a friend to none. Vars.:
(a) A friend to everyone is a friend to nobody.
(b) Everybody's companion is nobody's friend.
Rec. dist.: U.S., Can. 1st cit.: 1623Wodroephe , Spared Houres of
Soldier. 20c. coll.: ODEP 290,Stevenson 890:6.
[End excerpt]

Year: 1907
Title: English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Author: William Carew Hazlitt (W. Carew Hazlitt)
Publisher: Reeves and Turner, London
[Begin excerpt]
All men's friend, no man's friend. w.

Or, who hath many friends hath none at all. "Some tymes most true,
because Friends are so euill (now a Dayes), that a Thousand can scarce
affoord one good - Wodroephe, 1623.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 7:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Proverb: A Friend to all, is a Friend to none.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From the same primary year (courtesy EEBO):
>
> 1658 John Jones, trans. _Ovid's Invective or Curse against Ibis_  (Oxford:
> Ric. Davis) 119: He that is a friend to all, is a friend to none; he that
> sincerely is a friend to one, is truly a friend to himself: for a friend is
> second self. [sic]
>
> In fact, it may even be slightly earlier. Someone has altered with a pen or
> pencil the "1658" title-page date to "1657."
>
> JL
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 1, 2013 at 3:31 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
>> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Proverb: A Friend to all, is a Friend to none.
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> A book editor asked me about the saying "A friend to all is a friend
>> to none" which is dubiously attributed to Aristotle by brainyquote,
>> thinkexist, goodreads, and other websites packed with imaginative
>> data.
>>
>> Google Books seems to have cites in 1658 and 1732. Any suggestions for
>> discovering more about this saying?
>>
>> Year: 1658
>> Title: Ta diapheronta, or, Divine characters: in two parts : acutely
>> distinguishing the more secret and undiscerned differences between 1.
>> the hypocrite in his best dresse of seeming virtues and formal duties,
>> and the true Christian in his real graces and sincere obedience ...,
>> 2. the blackest weeds of ...
>> Authors: C.B. and W.G.
>> Printed for Adonir am Byfeild at the three Bibles in Corn-hill, London
>> Chapter: XXV
>> Page: 343
>>
>>
>> http://books.google.com/books?id=MtPNAAAAMAAJ&q=%22friend+to+all%22#v=snippet&
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> But he that is a friend to all men, is a friend to no man, and least
>> of all to himself. For he must promise so much, that he cannot
>> performe withall: and so breaking promise with some, he is trusted at
>> length by none.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>>
>> Year: 1732   M.DCC.XXXII
>> Title: Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty
>> Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British
>> Colected by Thomas Fuller
>> Quote Page 5
>> Printed for B. Barker, A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, London
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> A Friend to all, is a Friend to none.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Thanks for your help,
>> Garson
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
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>
>
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