This is not about Mick Jagger doing another gig. No, it goes back to my gathering no moss survey. Believe it or not, as a result of that Google now seems to take normblog as a top source in the matter. Possibly as a consequence, Sue from Denver wrote to me asking if I knew the origin of the proverb. I had to confess that I didn’t. Sue did some research and wrote back to say that it goes back at least as far as Publius Syrus (42 BC).
Publius evidently knew some stuff. Along with a rolling stone gathering no moss, familiarity breeding contempt and it being a bad plan which admits of no modification, you will find amongst his maxims these which – I don’t know – I just kind of like:
Never thrust your own sickle into another’s corn.
You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.
He who has plenty of pepper will pepper his cabbage.
I’m not too sure about this, though:
The next day is never so good as the day before.
And Publius wasn’t in favour of multi-tasking:
To do two things at once is to do neither.
I don’t buy it.