No, “charity begins at home” is not in the Bible. It is an English proverb from the 1380s. The closest verse, 1 Timothy 5, puts home first – and then says why.
0
0
Who Said “Be Kind, for Everyone You Meet Is Fighting a Hard Battle”? Not Plato
Not Plato, and not Philo. “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle” goes back to a Scottish minister’s Christmas message in 1897, and his first word wasn’t “kind”.
0
0
“A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins With a Single Step”: It Starts Where You Stand
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – but the Chinese has no step in it, and the oldest copies describe a climb. What the line really says.
0
0
Is “Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child” in the Bible?
“Spare the rod, spoil the child” is not in the Bible. The rhyme comes from a 1664 comic poem. The real verse, Proverbs 13:24, says something different – and it turns on love.
0
0
“Christ Has No Body Now but Yours”: Not Teresa of Avila
There is no evidence Teresa of Avila wrote it. The prayer grew from an 1888 London sermon by Mark Guy Pearse and an 1892 opening line by Quaker Sarah Eliza Rowntree.
0
0
“I Think, Therefore I Am”: What Descartes Was Really Saying
Descartes reached “I think, therefore I am” at the bottom of an attempt to doubt everything – and the question he asked right after it is the part almost nobody quotes.
0
0
Is “Pride Comes Before a Fall” in the Bible? Almost
Not word for word, but close. “Pride comes before a fall” shortens Proverbs 16:18 (KJV): “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
0
0
Who Said “The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil”?
The line is not in Edmund Burke’s writings. It grew from Burke’s 1770 call for good men to “associate” and Mill’s 1867 speech, and got Burke’s name in 1920.
0
0
“This Too Shall Pass”: The Ring Was Made for Good Days Too
This too shall pass meaning: the old ring story was meant to humble the happy as much as comfort the sad – and Lincoln, who told it in 1859, argued with it.
0
0
Is “The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways” in the Bible?
No – “the Lord works in mysterious ways” is not a Bible verse. It is a line from a 1770s English hymn, and the famous story behind that hymn is doubted too.