all cats are gray after dark/at night
all cats are gray after dark/at night
Without sufficient knowledge one cannot distinguish between alternatives. This assertion appeared in numerous proverb collections, beginning with John Heywood’s of 1546, where it was put, “When all candels be out, all cats be grey.” A still older version, dating back some 2,000 years and stated by the Roman writers Ovid and Plutarch as well as by later writers, had it that all women are the same in the dark, a view now disputed by all but the most hardened misogynists.
See also: after, all, cat, dark, gray, night
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- teach a man to fish
- it takes a village
- village
- cat in gloves catches no mice
- a cat in gloves catches no mice
- a little knowledge is a dangerous thing
- best-laid plans go astray, the
- the best-laid plans
- the best-laid plans go astray
- the best-laid plans of mice and men