Fools always come short of their reckoning.
Meaning: Fools underestimate consequences and costs, discovering too late they lack resources for their undertakings.
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 Human Nature
- Riches are but the baggage of fortune. — Wealth is a burden that fortune carries, not a permanent possession you truly own.
- Scald not your lips in another man's pottage. — Don't suffer harm by meddling in others' affairs or accepting their risky situations as y…
- Self love's a mote in every man's eye. — Vanity blinds us to our own faults while we scrutinize others' imperfections.
- Being born in a stable does not make a man a horse. — Humble origins cannot determine one's ultimate character or potential; circumstance of bi…
- The subjects' love is the king's lifeguard. — A monarch's security depends ultimately on their people's loyalty and goodwill rather tha…
- A poor man's table is soon spread. — A meager meal requires less preparation than a lavish feast.
From our idioms
- close shave — A narrow escape.
- closed-minded — Unwilling to consider new ideas.
- come full circle — To return (figuratively) to a point where one has been before.