James Howell (c.1593–1666) was an Anglo-Welsh historian and writer who is, in many ways, a representative figure of his age.
Born probably in Abernant, Carmarthenshire, Wales, Howell studied at Oxford. He traveled abroad on business and entered parliament (1627) for Richmond, Yorkshire. He was a Royalist spy (1632–42,) and during the Civil War, was imprisoned by parliament (1642–50.) At the Restoration (1660,) he became Historiographer Royal, a post created for him.
As well as translations from Italian, French, and Spanish, and works on history, politics, and philosophy, Howell wrote Instructions for Forraine Travell (1642,) a supplement to Randle Cotgrave’s French-English dictionary, and the witty Epistolae Ho-Elianae; or Familiar Letters (4 vols., 1645–55.)
Howell’s Proverbs in English, Italian, French, and Spanish (1659) and Paroimiographia (1659) contains the first mention of the proverb “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” though the spirit of the adage had been expressed previously.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by James Howell
Appetite is better than surfeit.
—James Howell
Burn not thy fingers to snuff another man’s candle.
—James Howell
He can hardly be a true friend to another, who is an enemy to himself.
—James Howell
Topics: Friendship
Happy is he that grows wise by other men’s harms.
—James Howell
A hungry man is an angry man.
—James Howell
He that hath once got the fame of an early riser, may sleep till noon.
—James Howell
To whom thy secret thou dost tell, to him thy freedom thou dost sell.
—James Howell
Owe money at Easter and Lent will seem short to thee.
—James Howell
He falls in the pit he digs for others.
—James Howell
He that hath money in his purse cannot want a head for his shoulders.
—James Howell
Topics: Money
Sometimes an ill favored bitch gnaws a good chord.
—James Howell
The creditor hath a better memory than the debtor.
—James Howell
Topics: Debt
The Devil turns his back to a door that is shut.
—James Howell
There’s fence against all things except death.
—James Howell
Easter so longed for is gone in a day.
—James Howell
Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it.
—James Howell
Neither go to a wedding nor a christening unbid.
—James Howell
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Thomas Carlyle Scottish Historian, Essayist
James Truslow Adams American Historian
Daniel J. Boorstin American Historian
Margaret Truman American Singer
Winston Churchill British Head of State
Bertrand A. Russell British Philosopher, Mathematician
Henry David Thoreau American Philosopher
Theodore Roosevelt American Head of State
Plutarch Greek Biographer
Washington Irving American Author