ProverbChallengeAmerican origin1902

If you can't beat them, join them

Meaning: If you can't win against something, align with it.

Origin: An American saying, especially in politics: when a rival cannot be defeated, become their ally. A version appears in an Iowa farm paper in 1902, and Senator James E. Watson listed it among his favorite maxims in The Atlantic Monthly in 1932.

Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Russian, and Turkish

  • French: Il faut hurler avec les loups (literally: One must howl with the wolves)
  • Spanish: Si no puedes con tu enemigo, únete a él (literally: If you can't beat your enemy, join them)
  • Japanese: 長い物には巻かれろ (Nagai mono ni wa makarero) (literally: Wrap yourself around long things)
  • German: Mit den Wölfen muss man heulen (literally: With the wolves one must howl)
  • Russian: С волками жить — по-волчьи выть (S volkami zhit' — po-volch'i vyt') (literally: Live with wolves, howl like a wolf)
  • Turkish: Bükemediğin eli öp, başına koy (literally: Kiss the hand you can't bend, and raise it to your head)

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