The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (321 page)

Life is not unalloyed pleasure or relaxation.
1855
Nature & Human Nature
I. ii.
‘This life ain't all beer and skittles.’ Many a time .. when I am disappointed sadly I say that saw over.
1857
Tom Brown's Schooldays
I. ii.
Life isn't all beer and skittles.
1931
Sittaford Mystery
xxvi.
‘It's an experience, isn't it?’ ‘Teach him life can't be all beer and skittles,’ said Robert Gardner maliciously.
1953
Detection Unlimited
xv.
I've got a lot of sympathy for that chap. I should say life isn't all beer and skittles for him.
1985
Beer & Skittles
iii.
‘“Life,” as the saying goes,’ he solemnly informed Persis, ‘“is not all beer and skittles.”’
life

 
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Cf. THEOCRITUS
Idyll
iv. 42
í
o
î
, there's hope among the living; CICERO
Ad Atticum
IX
. x.
dum anima est
,
spes esse dicitur
, as the saying is, while there's life there's hope; also
ECCLESIASTES
ix. 4 (see a
LIVE dog is better than a dead lion
).
1539
tr.
Erasmus' Adages
36
^V
The sycke person whyle he hath lyfe, hath hope.