“When the iron is hot, strike.”
John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs
Part I, chapter 3.
Proverbs (1546)
Maxim 262
Sentences, The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave
“When the iron is hot, strike.”
John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs
Part I, chapter 3.
Proverbs (1546)
John Rey (1583–1645) French chemist
Art. XI. A Translation of Rey's Essays on the Calcination of Metals, &c. (1822), Essay XV. Air dimishes in weight in three ways. The balance is deceitful, the means of remedying that.
Eliezer Yudkowsky (1979) American blogger, writer, and artificial intelligence researcher
Twelve Virtues Of Rationality http://yudkowsky.net/rational/virtues <br class="br">Context: Do not flinch from experiences that might destroy your beliefs. The thought you cannot think controls you more than thoughts you speak aloud. Submit yourself to ordeals and test yourself in fire. Relinquish the emotion which rests upon a mistaken belief, and seek to feel fully that emotion which fits the facts. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is hot, and it is cool, the Way opposes your fear. If the iron approaches your face, and you believe it is cool, and it is hot, the Way opposes your calm. Evaluate your beliefs first and then arrive at your emotions. Let yourself say: “If the iron is hot, I desire to believe it is hot, and if it is cool, I desire to believe it is cool.”
“6075. When you are Anvil, hold you still;
When you are Hammer, strike your Fill.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Compare Poor Richard's Almanack (1758) : When you're an Anvil, hold you still, When you're a Hammer, strike your Fill.
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
“334. When you are an anvill, hold you still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill.”
George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
“God is an iron… and that's a hot one.”
Spider Robinson (1948) Canadian author
Author's Postscript to the story. This story is also the second chapter of his novel Mindkiller (1982) and appears as the title story in the collection God Is An Iron and Other Stories ISBN 0-7862-4162-4 · Cover art for Book http://www.spiderrobinson.com/images/GodIron.jpg <br class="br">God Is An Iron (1977)
“Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”
W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) Irish poet and playwright
“4266. Strike, while the Iron is hot.”
Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)
Horace Mann (1796–1859) American politician
As quoted in The Eclectic Magazine Vol. VII, (January - June 1868)
Variants:
The teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.
As quoted in School Arts (1935) by Art Study and Teaching Periodicals, p. 91
A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on a cold iron.
As quoted in Making Minds Less Well Educated Than Our Own (2004) by Roger C. Schank, p. 151