"Quotes" - The First Book Of Quotes

Quotes 53: "Wishes"

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
If turnips were watches, I'd wear one by my side.
If "if's" and "and's" were pots and pans,
There'd be no work for tinkers' hands."

... and a shorter version:

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
If turnips were bayonets, I'd wear one by my side."

It means if you want something bad enough, you have to work hard at retrieving your heart's desire.
Or...
If wishing could make things happen, then even the most destitute of people would have everything they wanted in life.

The first recognizable ancestor of the rhyme was recorded in William Camden's (1551–1623) Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britain printed in 1605, which contained the lines:
"If wishes were thrushes beggars would eat birds".

The reference to horses was first in James Carmichael's Proverbs in Scots printed in 1628, which included the lines: "And if wishes were horses, poor men would ride". The first recognizable ancestor of the rhyme was recorded in William Camden's (1551–1623) Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britain printed in 1605, which contained the lines: "If wishes were thrushes beggars would eat birds".

The reference to horses was first in James Carmichael's Proverbs in Scots printed in 1628, which included the lines: "And if wishes were horses, poor men would ride".

The first mention of beggars is in John Ray's Collection of English Proverbs in 1670, in the form "If wishes would bide, beggars would ride".

The first versions with close to today's wording was in James Kelly's Scottish Proverbs, Collected and Arranged in 1721, with the wording "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride".
The rhyme above was probably the combination of the two versions and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the 1840s. The last line was sometimes used to stop children from questioning their teachers and get to work:

"If if's and and's were pots and pans, there'd surely be dishes to do."

The quote is written anonymously.