IdiomAnimals
German
Germankeine zehn Pferde
Meaning: nothing could force or move one; obstinate refusal or immovable determination.
Literally: Not ten horses
Example: “Keine zehn Pferde bringen mich noch mal in dieses Restaurant.” — Not for all the tea in China would I go back to that restaurant.
English equivalent: Not for all the tea in China
Equivalents in other languages
English: not for all the tea in China
Origin: Horses are the standard measure of pulling power, so not even ten of them could drag the speaker somewhere: keine zehn Pferde bringen mich dahin. English says "wild horses couldn't drag me there." Suggestions linking the phrase to execution by quartering, where horses tore the condemned apart, have no source behind them.
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- Was du nicht willst, dass man dir tu, das füg auch keinem andern zu Don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you.
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