"Enough" is a mighty peculiar looking word, but a good one nevertheless. It frequently shows up in older texts as "enow." I don't know how the original medieval velar fricative signified by "ough" evolved into so many different pronunciations: e.g. although, through, hiccough, plough, rough.
My favorite enough proverb dates back to the fifteenth century, and is as pertinent now as then: "enough is as good as a feast." Our moralizing ancestors knew that "the avaricious scraping together that knows no bounds" was a vice, especially because it "renders us unfeeling to the wants of others." Yes to a full belly, no to the excesses of the feast.
There's an oblique modern commentary on "enough is as good as a feast" in Maxwell Anderson/John Huston's Key Largo. The dialogue is notable and familiar, especially when we call to mind that the gangster Johnny Rocco is played by Edward G. Robinson and the war hero Frank McCloud is Humphrey Bogart.
Johnny Rocco: There's only one Johnny Rocco.
James Temple: How do you account for it?
Frank McCloud: He knows what he wants. Don't you, Rocco?
Johnny Rocco: Sure.
James Temple: What's that?
Frank McCloud: Tell him, Rocco.
Johnny Rocco: Well, I want uh …
Frank McCloud: He wants more, don't you, Rocco?
Johnny Rocco: Yeah. That's it. More. That's right! I want more!
James Temple: Will you ever get enough?
Frank McCloud: Will you, Rocco?
Johnny Rocco: Well, I never have. No, I guess I won't.
So there it is — a nice contrast between "enough" and "more". And instructive, I think, in this day and age when our one-percenters seem to want more and more, and are incapable of grasping that "enough is enough."
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