cut your coat according to your cloth
Meaning: Live within your means.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “We can't afford a big wedding; cut your coat according to your cloth.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: A tailor can only make a coat as large as the cloth allows. The proverb is recorded in English from the 16th century, in John Heywood's collection.
Equivalents in other languages
- Arabic: على قد لحافك مد رجليك (ʿalā qadd liḥāfik midd rijlayk) — literally: Stretch your legs to the length of your blanket
More idioms — Daily Life
- a guilty conscience needs no accuser — Guilty people give themselves away.
- big deal — Said sarcastically to mean something is not important at all.
- play dumb — To pretend not to know or understand something.
- make short work of something — To deal with or finish something quickly.
- you've made your bed, now lie in it — You must accept the consequences of your own choices.
- an uphill battle — A long, difficult struggle.
More English idioms
- play into someone's hands — To act in a way that unintentionally helps an opponent.
- make a hash of something — To do something very badly.
- all hell breaks loose — Chaos and disorder suddenly erupt.
- be put out to pasture — To be retired or set aside as no longer useful.
- The last straw that broke the camel's back — The final small burden that causes a total collapse.
- To have a frog in your throat — To have difficulty speaking due to hoarseness.