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A Picture Paints a Thousand Words
This term which means a story told by pictures as well as a vast amount of descriptive text comes from the quotation 'One picture is worth ten thousand words', Frederick R. Barnard in Printer's Ink, 8 Dec 1921 retelling a Chinese proverb. .

A Doubting Thomas
A site visitor wrote the following reguarding this idiom: This saying originated from the Bible. It is the story about when Jesus returns (after his crucifixion) and visits his disciples (Joh 20:19). All of the disciples are there except Thomas (Joh 20:24). When the others tell Thomas that they had seen Jesus he doesn't believe them and makes the comment, (Joh 20:25) "But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. Then Jesus makes a believer out of him when he returns eight days later and sees Thomas and says, (Joh 20:27) Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. (Joh 20:28) And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
This term's origin comes from the bible (Matthew 12:25). 'And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand'.

A Leopard Can't Change His Spots
When people state that they can't change who they are--their nature--they sometimes use the phrase "A leopard can't change his spots" (it's used in much the same way as "you can't teach an old dog new tricks"). The phrase about leopards is descended from the Bible, in the book of Jeremiah: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" (Jer 13:23)

Absent Without Leave
A military originated term which is often shortened to AWOL. Not present without permission is what this term has come to mean.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us
The phrase "All Your Base Are Belong to Us" is from a Japanese video game called Zero Wing. It was a bad translation that turned into a joke among gamers. It now appears on many websites having nothing to do with video games.

America
America is named after Amerigo Vespucci. Amerigo was a ship navigator and first came to the new world in 1499. He felt that Columbus had discovered a new continent instead of a new route to Asia, and wrote of this in his letters. These letters made him a celebrity and in 1507 cartographer Martin Waldseemueller created a map showing the new world as "America".

Apple of My Eye
Often daughters or sons are referred to as the "apple" of their parent's eye. This phrase originates from King David, who wrote in Psalm 17 to ask God to remember and love David as His child: "Keep me as the apple of Your eye, hide me in the shadow of Your wings." (Ps 17:8).OR This can't be the origin of "apple of my eye" because in the original hebrew it doesn't say that. Literally it is "the little man of my eye." Since it has the same idiomatic meaning, it is translated "apple of my eye" into English. "apple of my eye" doesn't come from Psalms. Sorry.