“To swallow gudgeons ere they 're catch'd,
And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd.”

— Samuel Butler (poet)

Canto III, line 923
Source: Hudibras, Part II (1664)

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 "To swallow gudgeons ere they 're catch'd, And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd." by Samuel Butler (poet)?

Samuel Butler (poet) 81

poet and satirist 1612–1680

Related quotes

“1185. Count not your Chickens before they be hatch'd.”

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

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

“Men are the weak ones, luv. Didn't you know? Oh, you make a lot of noise, but its the women who are strong. Where it counts. In 'ere”

Jennifer Donnelly book The Tea Rose

Source: The Tea Rose

“People who count their chickens before they are hatched act very wisely because chickens run about so absurdly that it's impossible to count them accurately.”

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish writer and poet

Letter from Paris (May 1900)

“The most malicious god is the god of the counted chicken.”

David Mitchell book Ghostwritten

"Clear Island"
Ghostwritten (1999)

“Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”

Aesop (-620–-564 BC) ancient Greek storyteller

The Milkmaid and Her Pail.

“Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones.”

Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright

Source: Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605–1615), Part II (1615), Book III, Ch. 55.

“The plan of "counting the chickens before they are hatched" is an error of ancient date, but it does not seem to improve by age.”

P.T. Barnum (1810–1891) American showman and businessman

Ch. 10: "Let hope predominate but be not too visionary" http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/barnum/moneygetting/moneygetting_chap11.html
Art of Money Getting (1880)