ProverbMorality
English origin17th c.
English origin17th c.Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Meaning: Don't risk everything on one venture.
Origin: A warning against staking everything on a single venture — drop the basket and every egg breaks. The idea was probably Spanish or Italian, appears in English translations of Don Quixote, and was established in English in the 17th century. Mark Twain turned it on its head in Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894): "Put all your eggs in the one basket and — WATCH THAT BASKET."
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
French: Il ne faut pas mettre tous ses œufs dans le même panier (literally: One must not put all one's eggs in the same basket)
Spanish: No pongas todos los huevos en la misma canasta (literally: Don't put all eggs in the same basket)
Japanese: 卵は一つのかごに盛るな (Tamago wa hitotsu no kago ni moru na) (literally: Don't heap your eggs in one basket)
German: Man soll nicht alle Eier in einen Korb legen (literally: One should not put all the eggs in one basket)
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