The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

infl uence upon events. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to Ezekiel
1:16, in which Ezekiel describes his vision: “<strong>The</strong>
appearance of the wheels and their work was like
unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one
likeness: and their appearance and their work was
as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.” “Gertrude,
truth is a very complex thing, and politics is
a very complex business. <strong>The</strong>re are wheels within
wheels. One may be under certain obligations to
people that one must pay” (Oscar Wilde, An Ideal
Husband, 1895).
when in Rome, do as the Romans do One should
conform to the manners, customs, and way of
life practiced in one’s surroundings. This piece of
proverbial advice is generally credited to Saint
Ambrose and appears in the text of his Advice to
Saint Augustine, written in a.d. 387. <strong>The</strong> legend
goes that this was the reply Ambrose gave when
approached by Augustine (in correspondence
from Milan) on the question of whether he should
fast on Saturday, as they did in Rome, or ignore
this custom, as they did in Milan. This sage saying
is often clipped to when in Rome. Equivalents in
other cultures include the advice “Never wear a
brown hat in Friesland.” I don’t like kissing total
strangers, but in this country it’s considered impolite not
to, and when in Rome we must do as the Romans do.
when the going gets tough, the tough get going
Some people only produce their best efforts when
circumstances are at their most testing. This
became well known as a favorite slogan of Joseph
P. Kennedy (1888–1969), father of U.S. president
John F. Kennedy, although it has also been credited
to American football coach Knute Rockne (1888–
1931). It enjoyed a new lease of life as a publicity
line for the 1985 movie <strong>The</strong> Jewel of the Nile.
“Although he never grew much above 5 ft 5 ins,
where there's no vision, the people perish
Bremner was always in the thick of disputes and
played according to the old motto, when the going
gets tough, the tough get going” (Stuart Cosgrove,
Hampden Babylon, 1991).
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt See
lay not up trea sures upon earth.
where’s the beef? Where is the substance in what
is being claimed? This expression was widely heard
in the 1980s when it was used by Demo cratic presidential
nominee Walter Mondale to question policies
put forward by his rival Gary Hart. Mondale in
turn had borrowed it from an advertising campaign
launched in 1984 by the Wendy International hamburger
chain, which featured an el der ly lady thus
criticizing the inadequate amount of meat in a rival
company’s products. That all sounds very well, but
where’s the beef ?
where the carcass is, there will the ea gles be gathered
People tend to gather where they see an
opportunity to obtain some benefi t for themselves.
<strong>The</strong> proverb comes from Matthew 24:28:
“For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the
ea gles be gathered together.” Sometimes the phrase
is encountered with vultures instead of ea gles. <strong>The</strong>
press had already learned the news and descended upon
the house, confi rming that “where the carcass is, there
will the ea gles be gathered.”
where there’s no vision, the people perish People
cannot exist without having hopes and dreams to
aim for. This is a quotation from Proverbs 29:18:
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but
he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Now that their
last hope of rescue had disappeared, many gave up the
struggle to go on, for where there’s no vision, the people
perish.
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