“562. When the tree is fallen all goe with their hatchet.”
Jacula Prudentum (1651)
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George Herbert216
Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest 1593–1633Related quotes
“He had fallen out of the ugly tree, and hit every branch.”
Lee Child book The Affair
Source: The Affair
“No man, the proverb says, will hesitate
To gather firewood from a fallen tree.”
Ludovico Ariosto book Orlando Furioso
Canto XXXVII, stanza 106 (tr. B. Reynolds)
Orlando Furioso (1532)
“A little careful pushing, and they’ll bury the hatchet all right—in each other.”
Poul Anderson book Brain Wave
Source: Brain Wave (1954), Chapter 9 (p. 76)
“A man who cannot climb a tree will boast of never having fallen out of one.”
Ludwig Klages (1872–1956) German psychologist and philosopher
Source: Rhythmen und Runen (1944), p. 466
“I’m sure we can communicate. I speak fluent hatchet.”
Scott Lynch The Lies of Locke Lamora
Source: The Lies of Locke Lamora (2006), Chapter 10 “Teeth Lessons” section 2 (p. 457)
“I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet.”
George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States
The earliest source of this quote was a famous anecdote in The Life of George Washington, with Curious Anecdotes Laudable to Himself and Exemplary to his Countrymen (1806) by Parson Weems, which is not considered a credible source, and many incidents recounted in the work are now considered to have sprung entirely from Weems’ imagination. This derives from an anecdote of Washington, as a young boy, confessing to his father Augustine Washington that it was he who had cut a cherished cherry tree.
Variant:Father, I cannot tell a lie, I cut the tree.
Misattributed, Spurious attributions
“I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet.”
Mason Weems (1759–1825) fictionalizing biographer of George Washington
Portrayed as the words of the young George Washington, confessing to have damaged a cherry tree in Life of Washington (1800)