A bad penny always comes back
Meaning: Undesirable people or problems have a persistent way of reappearing despite your efforts to be rid of them.
Origin: A bad penny was a clipped or counterfeit coin: anyone who received one passed it on, so it kept circulating and turning up again. "Bad penny" appears in Langland's Piers Plowman in the 14th century, and the proverb was in print by the 18th, as in Henry Fielding's work of 1742.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- A buck's a buck — Money retains equal value regardless of its source or the circumstances under which it wa…
- A cat may look at a king — Even the humblest creature possesses the right to observe or question those of highest st…
- A creaking door hangs long on its hinges — Constant complaint or noise doesn't necessarily lead to ruin; persistence can outlast exp…
- A golden key can open any door — Wealth and privilege grant access to opportunities otherwise unavailable to ordinary peop…
- All cats are gray at night — When darkness obscures differences, all things appear equal or indistinguishable.
- A miss is as good as a mile — Whether you fail narrowly or dramatically, the result remains identical—you've still miss…
From our tongue twisters
- Ząb, zupa zębowa; dąb, zupa dębowa. — Drills the nasal vowels ą and ę, which only differ from plain a and e by the nasal hum.
- Far, får får får? Nej, får får inte får, får får lamm. — får means both 'sheep' and 'gets' — seven identical-looking words carrying two different…
- Packa pappas kappsäck. — Three words, six hard k and p stops, and almost no vowel variety to rest on.