If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, let Mahomet go to the mountain.
Meaning: When obstacles won't move, adapt your approach rather than exhaust yourself demanding change.
Origin: From Francis Bacon's essay "Of Boldness" (1625). Bacon tells a story — European, not from Islamic tradition — of Mahomet promising to call a hill to him; when it did not move, he said undaunted, "If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill." Bacon was mocking the brazen confidence of the bold, but the saying now means adapting when circumstances will not.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and German
- French: Si la montagne ne vient pas à Mahomet, Mahomet va à la montagne (literally: If the mountain does not come to Mahomet, Mahomet goes to the mountain)
- Spanish: Si no va el otero á Mahoma, vaya Mahoma al otero (literally: If the mountain will not go to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain)
- German: Wenn der Berg nicht zum Propheten kommt, muss der Prophet zum Berg kommen (literally: If the mountain does not come to the prophet, the prophet must come to the mountain)
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