“She is nether fish nor flesh, nor good red herring.”

— John Heywood

Part I, chapter 10.
Proverbs (1546), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "She is nether fish nor flesh, nor good red herring." by John Heywood?

John Heywood 139

English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of p… 1497–1580

Related quotes

“3523. Neither Fish, nor Flesh, nor good red Herring.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

“I read there [in "certain books of the Platonists"] that God the Word was born "not of flesh nor of blood, nor of the will of man, nor the will of the flesh, but of God." But, that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"”

Aurelius Augustinus book Confessions

I found this nowhere there.
VII, 9
Confessions (c. 397)

“Nor Fame I slight, nor for her favors call;
She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.”

Alexander Pope (1688–1744) eighteenth century English poet

Source: The Temple of Fame (1711), Line 513.

“Let us cry, "All good things
Are ours, nor soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul!"”

Robert Browning Rabbi ben Ezra

Source: Dramatis Personae (1864), Rabbi Ben Ezra, Line 70.

“Flesh of thy flesh, nor yet bone of thy bone.”

Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544–1590) French writer

Second Week, Fourth Day, Book ii.
La Seconde Semaine (1584)

“She’s not for you, nor you for her; at least, not in the way you both want.”

Robert Jordan book The Eye of the World

Source: The Eye of the World

“Nature gave horns to the bull,
Hoofs gave she to the horse.
To the lion cavernous jaws,
And swiftness to the hare.
The fish taught she to swim,
The bird to cleave the air;
To man she reason gave;
Not yet was woman dowered.
What, then, to woman gave she?
The priceless gift of beauty.
Stronger than any buckler,
Than any spear more piercing.
Who hath the gift of beauty.
Nor fire nor steel shall harm her.”

Anacreon (-570–-485 BC) Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns

Odes, XXIV.
Variant: The bull by nature hath his horns, The horse his hoofs, to daunt their foes; The light-foot hare the hunter scorns; The lion's teeth his strength disclose.The fish, by swimming, 'scapes the weel; The bird, by flight, the fowler's net; With wisdom man is arm'd as steel; Poor women none of these can get. What have they then?—fair Beauty's grace, A two-edged sword, a trusty shield; No force resists a lovely face, Both fire and sword to Beauty yield.