Enough is as good as a feast.
Meaning: Contentment with sufficiency brings the same satisfaction as abundance without the excess.
Origin: Chaucer's The Nun's Priest's Tale already has sufficiency as good as a feast, Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (c. 1470) has a version, and John Heywood's 1546 collection gives the exact wording "Enough is as good as a feast." It is a rebuke to greed: more than enough adds nothing.
More proverbs about Morality
- A bad excuse is better than none at all. — Offering some explanation, however flawed, preserves dignity better than silent admission…
- A single fact is worth a ship-load of argument. — Concrete evidence settles disputes more effectively than prolonged debate or rhetoric alo…
- Fair and softly go far in a day. — Steady, moderate effort sustains progress better than rushed, forceful action that exhaus…
- A fair face may hide a foul heart. — Physical beauty deceives; assess character through actions and behavior, not appearance a…
- As good to be out of the world as out of the fashion. — Social irrelevance destroys one's sense of existence as thoroughly as physical death.
- Tis good fish if it were but caught. — Potential alone means nothing without the effort and skill required to seize actual oppor…
From our tongue twisters
- Pablito clavó un clavito, ¿qué clavito clavó Pablito? — A bouncy drill on the 'cl' cluster.
- Un chasseur sachant chasser doit savoir chasser sans son chien. — The classic French 'ch' / 's' tangler.
- Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal. — A relentless run on the 'tr' sound.