Better ride on an ass that carries me than a horse that throws me.
Meaning: Practical utility and reliability matter more than prestige or impressive appearances.
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
- Follow the river and you'll get to the sea. — Persistence along an established path naturally leads to your destination, even without k…
- A bird can roost upon but one branch. — Individual focus and commitment matter more than scattered efforts across multiple simult…
- A rotten apple injures its companions. — Corruption spreads through proximity; one person's moral decay threatens the integrity of…
- A rugged stone grows smooth from hand to hand. — Repeated human contact and use gradually refine even the roughest nature into something p…
- There is no rule without an exception. — Absolute rules inevitably encounter situations where their strict application breaks down…
- He that runs fastest gets the prize. — Swift action and competitive urgency often secure advantages before slower competitors ca…
From our idioms
- cut someone to the quick — To hurt or wound someone deeply.
- damn someone with faint praise — To criticize in such a way that one appears to be praising when in fact one is condemning…
- dawn on someone — To realize something that was perhaps already apparent to others.