Cf. [Aeschylus Fragments 395] ϕίλɛῖ δέ ṯῷ κάμνονṯί συσρɛύδɛίν θɛός, God likes to assist the man who toils; early 15th-cent. Fr. aidez uous, Dieu uos aidera, help yourself, God will help you.
Dii facientes adiuuant. The goddes do helpe the doers.
[1545 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus' Adages (ed. 2) 57]
Shipmen cal to God for helpe, and God will helpe them, but so not withstandying, if they helpe them selfes.
[1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason S1V]
Help thy self, and God will help thee.
[1668 R. B. Adagia Scotica 21]
God helps them that help themselves.
[1736 B. Franklin Poor Richard's Almanack (June)]
God does not promise us each and all that‥the ravens shall come to feed us: as the proverb most truly says, He helps them that help themselves.
[1892 H. P. Liddon Sermons on Some Words of Christ iii.]
A widow of eighty-nine‥had hit an intruder over the head with the family Bible and sent him flying. ‘The Lord helps those who help themselves!’ she'd declared, cackling with triumph in front of the cameras.
[1990 C. Fremlin Listening in Dusk xxvii.]
And what does the future hold? He quotes his grandmother: ‘The Lord helps those who help themselves’.
[2002 Spectator 19 Jan. 33]
Related to: providence; self-help
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
