He who dares, wins
Meaning: Bold action and courage are rewarded; timidity leads to missed opportunities.
Origin: "Who Dares Wins" is the motto of Britain's Special Air Service, the special forces regiment founded by David Stirling in North Africa, who chose the motto in 1941. The thought is old — Virgil wrote that fortune favors the bold — but the regiment's wording made it famous.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: Celui qui ose, gagne (literally: He who dares, wins)
- Spanish: Quien se atreve, vence (literally: He who dares, wins)
- Japanese: 大胆な者が勝つ (Daitan na mono ga katsu) (literally: The bold one wins)
- German: Wer wagt, gewinnt (literally: He who dares, wins)
More proverbs about Challenge
- Be fearful when others are greedy — Excessive optimism in markets creates dangerous bubbles; prudent investors withdraw when…
- Danger past, God forgotten — When crisis ends, people abandon the gratitude and piety that desperation inspired.
- You can't fight City Hall — Entrenched bureaucratic power overwhelms individual resistance; institutional forces outm…
- Who hath aching teeth, hath ill tenants. — Persistent pains are like bad tenants — troublesome, unwelcome, and hard to evict.
- Adversity makes a man wise, not rich. — Hardship teaches wisdom even when it never fills your pockets.
- In vain he craves advice who will not follow it. — Asking for advice is pointless if you never intend to heed it.
From our tongue twisters
- Четыре чёрненьких чумазеньких чертёнка чертили чёрными чернилами чертёж. (Chetyre chyornenkikh chumazenkikh chertyonka chertili chyornymi chernilami chertyozh.) — Seven consecutive words built on 'ch' — Russian's ч in every stressed position with barel…
- 红鲤鱼与绿鲤鱼与驴 (Hóng lǐyú yǔ lǜ lǐyú yǔ lǘ) — lǐ, lǜ and lǘ differ only by vowel rounding and tone — nine syllables that all collapse t…
- 八百标兵奔北坡，炮兵并排北边跑。(Bābǎi biāobīng bēn běipō, pàobīng bìngpái běibian pǎo.) — A pure b-versus-p drill, separating Mandarin's unaspirated b from its aspirated p.