It is easier to pull down than to build.
Meaning: Destruction requires less effort, skill, and time than creating something of lasting value.
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 Wisdom
- Let your purse be your master. — Spending wisely means letting your financial capacity, not desires, determine your purcha…
- He that shows his purse longs to be rid of it. — Displaying wealth openly invites theft, so the careless advertiser unconsciously desires…
- Don't quarrel with the beggar for his bone. — Arguing with someone who has nothing to lose is pointless and beneath your dignity.
- Raise no more spirits than you can conjure down. — Ambition beyond your control creates chaos you cannot contain or resolve.
- There's reason in roasting of eggs. — Even mundane tasks, properly executed, follow rational principles worth understanding.
- If there were no receivers there would be no thieves. — Demand for stolen goods creates the market incentive that drives theft itself.
From our idioms
- give someone the brush-off — To be dismissed casually and almost cruelly.
- give someone a bum steer — Bad advice or instructions.
- burn rubber — To accelerate with tires so quickly from a stopped position that the rubber tires make a…