if wishes were horses

1. If one could readily have what one wanted, life would be easy. For example, Wendy would love a brand-new car for her sixteenth birthday but—if wishes were horses. This expression is a shortening of If wishes were horses, beggars would ride, first recorded about 1628 in a collection of Scottish proverbs.

Example Sentences

She also penned adult novels Save Johanna! in 1981 and If Wishes Were Horses in 1994.

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“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride,” the proverb insists, but it makes no allowance for the beggar’s riding skills or the horse’s compliance.

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Scottish musician Kris Drever won folk singer of the year and also song of the year for If Wishes Were Horses, the title track of his third solo album.

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"I wish that politicians ties/Would tighten up when they tell lies," goes one couplet on If Wishes Were Horses.

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In addition to “Shoeless Joe,” Mr. Kinsella wrote other novels in that genre, including “The Iowa Baseball Confederacy,” “Magic Time,” “If Wishes Were Horses” and “Butterfly Winter.”

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