Quotable quotes

Thought-provoking snippets from the OED quotation files:

lessons in life...

1565 Stat. Hartlebury School Worc. in N & Q, The said School-master shall take the profits of all such cock-fights and potations [sc. drinking bouts], as are commonly used in Schools.

...divorce seventeenth-century-style...

1658 E. Leigh Philologicall Comm., After the Divorce between the Husband and the Wife, he returneth her again to her Father or other Friends, or to the place from whence he had her.

...and a creature that has seen it all before...

1799 D. Collins Acct. Eng. Colony New S. Wales (1802), The dogs found a porcupine ant-eater but could make no impression on him.