He that waits for a dead man's shoes may go long enough barefoot.
Meaning: Relying on inheritance or another's misfortune for your welfare courts poverty and hardship.
Origin: Waiting to inherit a dead person's property or position can mean waiting a very long time. John Heywood's 1546 collection has the saying.
More proverbs about Human Nature
- What one man despises, another craves. — Individual values differ so radically that one person's rejection becomes another's treas…
- Every man for himself, and God for us all. — Self-interest and communal welfare coexist; individual responsibility doesn't negate coll…
- Experience is the mistress of fools. — Fools learn only through painful mistakes, while the wise learn from others' errors befor…
- What the eye sees not, the heart rues not. — Ignorance of misfortune shields us from suffering its emotional weight.
- Love asks faith, and faith asks firmness. — Loving requires you to trust despite uncertainty, and maintaining that trust demands stea…
- When the tree falls every man runs with his hatchet. — Misfortune creates opportunity for opportunists to exploit the vulnerable.
From our idioms
- wet one's whistle — To have a drink.
- out of spoons — Exhausted of energy or resources, usually mental or emotional.
- bad apple — A person of bad character whose presence corrupts or damages others or a group.