a leopard cannot change its spots
English
Etymology
Ultimately from Jeremiah 13:23.[1]
Proverb
a leopard cannot change its spots
- One cannot change one's own nature.
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 24, column 2:
- King. […] Lyons make Leopards tame. / Mo[wbray]. Yea, but not change his ſpots:
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 13:23, column 1:
- Can the Ethiopian change his ſkinne? or the leopard his ſpots?
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 60:
- End now all unkindness. Let us put the Jew to ransom, since the leopard will not change his spots, and a Jew he will continue to be.
- 1918, Johnston McCulley, Thubway Tham's Inthane Moment:
- The leopard cannot change his spots, old boy.
Synonyms
Translations
one cannot change one's own nature — see also what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh
|
References
- The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Jeremiah 13:23, column 1.: “Can the Ethiopian change his ſkinne? or the leopard his ſpots?”
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.