Alternatives of If wishes were horses, beggars would ride

* Because of its popularity, this proverb can usually be shortened to "If wishes were horses..." The conclusion is well known enough to be assumed.
* A variant popularized by the science fiction novel, Dune, is "If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets."
* A vulgar American variation is the following: "Wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up quicker."[citation needed]
* A less common variant puts on a whimsical twist: "If wishes were fishes, beggars would fly." The implied idea is that if wishing made it so, one could ride a flying fish.
* A variant from a 1890 teacher's manual goes thus: "If wishes were butter-cakes, beggars might bite."
* The 1971 Broadway musical "Inner City," devised and directed by Tom O'Horgan from Eve Merriam's 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.[3]
* In her 1989 song "Brave and Crazy," Melissa Etheridge alters the line slightly to read, "If wishes were horses This beggar would ride."
* In the Firefly episode "Objects in Space", Jayne says "If wishes were horses we'd all be eating steak."
* In her 2008 song, Lucinda Williams alters the proverb to say "If wishes were horses, I'd have a ranch."
* In Loudon Wainwright III's 1997 song "The World": "What a wonderful world it would be, if wishes were horses, maybe."
* In Stigler and Friedland's 1962 paper "What Can Regulators Regulate? The Case of Electricity": "And if wishes were horses, one would buy stock in a harness factory." By this peculiar thing they banished they are implying that regulation is for the benefit of the regulated which falls under the public choice theory (as opposed to the public interest theory).
* In an episode of the American TV show "The Simpsons," the bartender Moe remarks, "If wishes were horses, I'd be eating wish-meat every night."
* In November 2010, Alexandrea Mellen altered the proverb to say "If wishes were horses, the horse industry would collapse."

Origin of If wishes were horses, beggars would ride

The first recognisable ancestor of the rhyme was recorded in William Camden'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".[2] The reference to horses was first in James Carmichael'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'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.

Lyrics of If wishes were horses, beggars would ride

Common modern versions include:

If wishes were horses
Beggars would ride:
If turnips were watches
I would wear one by my side.
And if ifs and ans were pots and pans,
The tinker would never work!