An empty purse fills the face with wrinkles.
Meaning: Poverty's hardships and anxieties visibly age a person through stress and deprivation.
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 Challenge
- If you must have an evil, choose a little one. — Small harms wisely accepted spare you from greater suffering later.
- That which is evil is soon learnt. — Evil habits spread faster than good ones because humans naturally gravitate toward the ea…
- The evil wound is cured, but not the evil name. — Damage to reputation proves harder to repair than physical harm, as public memory outlast…
- Of evil grain no good seed can come. — Corrupt foundations yield only corrupt results; moral degradation cannot produce virtue.
- Of two evils choose the lesser. — When facing unavoidable harm, select the option causing minimum damage rather than suffer…
- If a man once fall, all will tread on him. — Misfortune invites exploitation; those already disadvantaged face renewed abuse from othe…
From our untranslatable words
- Menefreghista — Someone who has made not caring into an entire stance — indifference as a way of life.
- Apericena — The evening drink whose accompanying buffet is generous enough to replace dinner altogeth…
- Dugnad — Unpaid work done together for the common good — neighbours painting the building, parents…