if

[west ham fan]

does anyone know the complete saying " IF IF'S AND AN'S WERE POT'S AND PAN'S THERE'D BE NO NEED FOR TINKERS, and where did it come from, as that is my saying " if only"

[Quizmonster]

It's a proverb - so it is unlikely that you will ever find out who first said it - and appears in various forms including...
"If Ifs and Ans were pots and pans
There'd be no trade for tinkers' hands."

[Lucy Thomas]

Why have you pluralised the words ifs, an(d)s, pots and pans with an apostrophe?

The apostrophe is not used to pluralise nouns.

[jezmatt]

If wishes were horses;
Then beggars would ride.
And if "ifs" and "ands"
Were pots and pans,
There'd be no work
For tinkers.