High winds blow on high hills.
Meaning: Exposure and prominence invite greater adversity and scrutiny than sheltered, ordinary positions.
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 Challenge
- A hog in armour is still but a hog. — Fine clothing cannot transform base character; inner nature persists regardless of extern…
- Do not holloa till you are out of the wood. — Avoid celebrating success prematurely; dangers may persist until you've completely escape…
- The stillest humours are always the worst. — Quiet resentment festers dangerously; unexpressed anger poses greater threat than obvious…
- Hunger will break through stone walls. — Desperation drives people to overcome barriers they'd otherwise consider insurmountable.
- Idle folk take the most pains. — Lazy people create unnecessary hardship through procrastination, requiring greater effort…
- Better be idle than ill employed. — Doing nothing wisely surpasses doing something harmful or wasteful to yourself and others.
From our tongue twisters
- Setze jutges d'un jutjat mengen fetge d'un penjat. — The famous 'j / tg / tj' test for the voiced sound Spanish lacks — a true Catalan shibbol…
- גנן גידל דגן בגן, דגן גדול גדל בגן. (Ganan gidel dagan bagan, dagan gadol gadal bagan.) — A 'g / d / n' reshuffle — the same three consonants rearrange in every word.
- Barbara Ara bar Ara araba bara rabarbara. — An unbroken 'bar / ara / rab' roll built almost entirely from the same handful of syllabl…