Better poor with honour than rich with shame.
Meaning: Poverty preserves your integrity and self-respect, while wealth gained dishonestly corrodes your character and social standing.
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 Wisdom
- Honour and ease are seldom bed-fellows. — Pursuing comfort and leisure inevitably requires compromising one's principles or reputat…
- Where honour ceaseth, there knowledge decreaseth. — Loss of integrity corrodes the mind's capacity to perceive and retain truth.
- He giveth one knock on the hoop, and another on the barrel. — Inconsistent effort—striking at two separate tasks prevents mastery or completion of eith…
- All are not hunters that blow the horn. — Not everyone who announces themselves possesses the skill or worthiness their proclamatio…
- A hot May makes a fat churchyard. — Warm spring weather accelerates disease spread, increasing mortality among the vulnerable…
- Better one's house too little one day, than too big all the year round. — Living modestly within means costs less in upkeep than maintaining a home beyond one's fi…
From our compliments & insults
- ¡Qué cara más dura! — You've got incredible nerve and cheek — the audacity is almost impressive.
- Es un/una pesado/a — A dreadful bore — their company feels like carrying extra weight.
- Más terco/a que una mula — Hopelessly obstinate — no argument, fact, or force of nature will shift their position.