He that would learn to pray let him go to sea.
Meaning: Facing life's uncontrollable forces reveals humanity's powerlessness and awakens genuine spiritual need.
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.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: Qui veut apprendre à prier, aille souvent sur la mer (literally: If a man would learn to pray let him go often to sea)
- Spanish: Quien no sabe rezar, que se meta en el mar (literally: He who does not know how to pray, let him go out to sea)
- Japanese: 苦しい時の神頼み (Kurushii toki no kamidanomi) (literally: Praying to the gods in times of distress)
- German: Not lehrt beten (literally: Need teaches praying)
More proverbs about Wisdom
- There's nothing agrees worse than a proud mind and a beggar's purse. — Pride blinds the poor to accepting help or lowering expectations to match their circumsta…
- Proverbs are the texts of common life. — Wisdom emerges not from theoretical abstractions but from observing patterns in ordinary…
- He that pryeth into every cloud, may be stricken with a thunder-bolt. — Excessive curiosity about dangerous or forbidden matters invites the very harm one seeks…
- Pull gently on a weak rope. — Excessive force on fragile things causes them to break; restraint and care preserve what'…
- It is easier to pull down than to build. — Destruction requires less effort, skill, and time than creating something of lasting valu…
- Let your purse be your master. — Spending wisely means letting your financial capacity, not desires, determine your purcha…
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