词汇 | the squeaky wheel gets the most grease |
词源 | the squeaky wheel gets the most grease. The expression is often heard as above, but what American humorist “Josh Bill- ings” (Henry Wheeler Shaw, 1818–85) said exactly in his poem “The Kicker” was: The wheel that squeaks the loudest Is the one that gets the grease. Josh Billings is also responsible for “It is better to know noth- ing than to know what ain’t so” (“Proverbs,” 1874), which, strangely enough, the German philosopher Nietzsche reiterat- ed in Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883–91), though I’m sure Nietzsche never read him: “Better know nothing than half- know many things.” |
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