Death is deaf and hears no denial.
Meaning: Mortality cannot be negotiated with or postponed, regardless of protests or refusal to accept it.
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
- In the deepest water is the best fishing. — Seeking worthwhile rewards requires venturing into difficult, risky, or challenging circu…
- A life spent worthily should be measured by deeds--not years. — Meaningful living accrues through consequential actions, rendering chronological age irre…
- Hanging and wiving go by destiny. — Marriage and execution are equally inevitable forces beyond individual control or choice.
- St. Bartholomew brings the cold dew. — Summer's end arrives when this saint's feast day comes, marking autumn's approach and coo…
- Young men may die, old men must. — Mortality is inevitable for all, but youth's false sense of invulnerability obscures this…
- After dinner sit awhile, after supper walk a mile. — Digestion benefits from rest after heavy meals and movement after light ones.
From our idioms
- bad blood — Persistent hostility or deep resentment between people.
- pull teeth — To accomplish something with great difficulty, requiring much effort and persistence.
- cut a rug — To dance with energy and style, particularly in early twentieth-century jazz or swing sty…