Almost was never hanged.
Meaning: Narrow escapes from danger don't count as actual survival until the threat completely passes.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Perseverance
- Well begun is half done. — Starting with proper preparation and intention dramatically increases your likelihood of…
- Borrowed garments never fit well. — Relying on others' solutions or resources inevitably misaligns with your unique circumsta…
- Never quit certainty for hope. — Abandoning what you reliably have for uncertain future prospects invites unnecessary loss.
- Who never climbed, never fell. — Avoiding risk entirely guarantees safety but also prevents growth, achievement, and the v…
- Diligence is a good patrimony. — Hard work and industrious habits, inherited or cultivated early, provide more lasting wea…
- Envy never enriched any man. — Coveting others' possessions diverts energy from productive work that builds genuine weal…
From our compliments & insults
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be incurably lazy.
- Tête de linotte — A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.
- Courir sur le haricot — To get badly on someone's nerves.