A penny spar'd is twice got.
[1640 G. Herbert Outlandish Proverbs no. 506]
By the same proportion that a penny saved is a penny gained, the preserver of books is a Mate for the Compiler of them.
[a 1661 T. Fuller Worthies (Hunts.) 51]
This I did to prevent expences, for‥a penny sav'd, is a penny got.
[1695 E. Ravenscroft Canterbury Guests ii. iv.]
I saved five pounds out of the brickmaker's affair. ‥It's a very good thing to save one, let me tell you: a penny saved, is a penny got!
[1853 Dickens Bleak House ix.]
I can save money this way; and believe me, laddie, nowadays‥a penny saved is a penny earned.
[1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xi.]
‘A penny saved is a penny earned, but what can I buy with it?’
[2001 Washington Post 6 Dec. C11 (Family Circus comic strip)]
Related to: thrift
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.




