Idiom Origins - Enough is as good as a feast - History of Enough is as good as a feast

Enough is as good as a feast

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Origin of: Enough is as good as a feast

Enough is as good as a feast

This old English proverb, the meaning of which is self-explanatory, first appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, The Nun's Priest's Tale (1388-1400) in the from of 'Then suffisance is as good as a feast'. Although Chaucer comes close, he does merit a first citation. which, according to the OED, goes to Sir Thomas Malory in 1470 because it appears in his Le Morte d'Arthur, published by Caxton in 1485. It later appears in Thomas Heyward's English Proverbs in 1546. A shortened form, 'Enough's a feast' is attributed to Alexander Pope in 1738.