"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride" is an English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 proverb

Proverb

A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

 and nursery rhyme

Nursery rhyme

The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...

, originating in the 16th century, which is usually used to suggest that it is useless to wish and that better results will be achieved through action. It has a Roud Folk Song Index

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

 number of 20004.

Lyrics

Common modern versions include:

If wishes were horses

Beggars would ride:

If turnips were watches

I would wear one by my side.

And if if's and an's were pots and pans,

The tinker would never work!

Origin

The first recognisable ancestor of the rhyme was recorded in William Camden

William Camden

William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...

's (1551–1623) Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine, printed in 1605, which contained the lines: "If wishes were thrushes beggers would eat birds". The reference to horses was first in James Carmichael

James Carmichael

James Carmichael was a Scottish Labour politician, the son of George Carmichael, one of the founding members of the Independent Labour Party....

's Proverbs in Scots printed in 1628, which included the lines: "And if wishes were horses, pure [poor] men wald ride". The first mention of beggars is in John Ray

John Ray

John Ray was an English naturalist, sometimes referred to as the father of English natural history. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after "having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him".He published important works on botany,...

's Collection of English Proverbs in 1670, in the form "If wishes would bide, beggers would ride". The first versions with close to the modern wording was in James Kelly's Scottish Proverbs, Collected and Arranged in 1721, with the wording "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride". The modern rhyme above was probably the combination of two of many versions and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the 1840s.

Alternatives

• The 1971 Broadway musical "Inner City," devised and directed by Tom O'Horgan
  Tom O'Horgan
  Tom O'Horgan was an American theatre and film director, composer, actor and musician. He is best known for his Broadway work as director of the hit musicals Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar...
  
   from Eve Merriam's
  Eve Merriam
  -Writing career:Merriam's first book was the 1946 Family Circle, which won the Yale Younger Poets Prize.Her book, The Inner City Mother Goose, was described as one of the most banned books of the time. It inspired a 1971 Broadway musical called Inner City and a 1982 musical production called Street...
  
  book "The Inner City Mother Goose," included a song that began: "If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride, and rich man and poor man in peace would abide." This short-lived show featured Linda Hopkins, Delores Hall, Paulette Ellen Jones and Carl Hall, among others.

• On the show Firefly, the character Jayne Cobb once said "If wishes was horses, we'd all be eating steak."

• On his 1987 CD "Wishes", Jon Butcher sings, "If wishes were horses, then dreamers would ride."