Forbidden fruit is sweet.
Meaning: Desire intensifies for what we're prohibited from having, making the forbidden alluringly appealing despite its actual merit.
Origin: The image is Eve's forbidden fruit in Genesis, and the Book of Proverbs (9:17) makes the same point: "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." Things become more tempting precisely because they are not allowed.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Forced fruits fail in flavour. — Artificial acceleration of growth produces inferior results lacking the quality time natu…
- Eaten bread is soon forgotten. — Past favors fade from memory unless gratitude is cultivated and reinforced through contin…
- Friday's sail, sure to fail. — Sailors who depart on Friday face unpredictable winds and treacherous seas, making ventur…
- Frugality is an estate. — Living modestly and saving wisely accumulates wealth as surely as inheriting land.
- One flower makes no garland. — Individual efforts lack impact; collective contribution creates something meaningful and…
- Gold alone makes not prosperity. — Material wealth without other resources—health, relationships, knowledge—cannot sustain g…
From our tongue twisters
- Ząb, zupa zębowa; dąb, zupa dębowa. — Drills the nasal vowels ą and ę, which only differ from plain a and e by the nasal hum.
- Far, får får får? Nej, får får inte får, får får lamm. — får means both 'sheep' and 'gets' — seven identical-looking words carrying two different…
- Packa pappas kappsäck. — Three words, six hard k and p stops, and almost no vowel variety to rest on.