"Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger ‘n you think” is sometimes described as a Texas proverb or an old-time cowboy proverb, but there is no evidence that this was used in the old west. The saying first appeared in Don’t Squat with Your Spurs On!: A Cowboy’s Guide to Life (1992), by Texas Bix Bender.
Google Books
Don’t Squat with Your Spurs On!:
A Cowboy’s Guide to Life
By Texas Bix Bender
Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith
1992
Pg. 34:
Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger ‘n you think.
Twitter
Mike Miller
@LibertarianMike
Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger than you think. #quote
12:34 PM - 31 Dec 10
Bryan Patterson’s Faithworks
Posted on June 20, 2013
Cowboy Wisdom
(..)
12. Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger than you think.
Twitter
A True Cowboy
@ATrue_Cowboy
Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your mouth is probably a whole lot bigger than you think.
#CowboyWisdom
9:57 PM - 20 Oct 12
Twitter
CommonManTwit
@CommonManTwit
A mouthful!: There is a Texas proverb which says, “Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew. Your ... http://bit.ly/14HYVyD
8:29 AM - 24 May 13
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.