He may well be contented who needs neither borrow nor flatter.
Meaning: Financial independence and honest self-reliance free you from degrading dependence on others' charity or approval.
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 Morality
- Call me cousin; but cozen me not. — Familiarity and kinship don't justify deception; treat relatives honestly despite closene…
- Many a good cow hath had a bad calf. — Good parentage cannot guarantee virtuous offspring; heredity alone does not determine cha…
- Of all crafts, to be an honest man is the master-craft. — Honesty requires greater skill and discipline than any technical profession.
- Crafty evasions save not the truth. — Clever dodging and indirect answers ultimately fail to conceal what is genuinely real.
- Creditors have better memories than debtors. — Those owed money recall their claims far more vividly than those owing it wish to remembe…
- The crow thinks her own bird fairest. — Parents naturally believe their children excel above all others, blinding them to objecti…
From our idioms
- wear out one's welcome — To overstay one's time as a guest until one's presence becomes unwelcome or burdensome.
- nothing short of — Absolutely; entirely; completely—nothing less than the full extent of what is stated.
- give up the ghost — To die, or to cease functioning entirely.