a leopard cannot change its spots
English
Etymology
Ultimately from Jeremiah 13:23 of the King James Bible.[1]
Proverb
a leopard cannot change its spots
- One cannot change one's own nature.
- 1597, William Shakespeare, Richard II Act i, Scene 1 (First Folio):
- King. Lyons make Leopards tame.
Mowbray. Yea but not change his spots.
- King. Lyons make Leopards tame.
- 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Jeremiah 13:23:
- Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
- 1820, Walter Scott, chapter 32, in Ivanhoe:
- End now all unkindness. Let us put the Jew to ransom, since the leopard will not change his spots, and a Jew he will continue to be.
- 1918, Johnston McCulley, Thubway Tham's Inthane Moment:
- The leopard cannot change his spots, old boy.
- 1597, William Shakespeare, Richard II Act i, Scene 1 (First Folio):
Antonyms
- once an Eagle, always an Eagle
See also
- what's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh
Translations
one cannot change one's own nature
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References
- Bible (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, 1611, Jeremiah 13:23: “Can the Ethiopian change his skinne? or the leopard his spots?”.
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