It is ill meddling with edged tools.
Meaning: Dabbling with dangerous instruments without skill or caution invites injury and regret.
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
- An empty purse fills the face with wrinkles. — Poverty's hardships and anxieties visibly age a person through stress and deprivation.
- If you must have an evil, choose a little one. — Small harms wisely accepted spare you from greater suffering later.
- That which is evil is soon learnt. — Evil habits spread faster than good ones because humans naturally gravitate toward the ea…
- The evil wound is cured, but not the evil name. — Damage to reputation proves harder to repair than physical harm, as public memory outlast…
- Of evil grain no good seed can come. — Corrupt foundations yield only corrupt results; moral degradation cannot produce virtue.
- Of two evils choose the lesser. — When facing unavoidable harm, select the option causing minimum damage rather than suffer…
From our compliments & insults
- Tu as du chien — You have a certain irresistible magnetism — a je-ne-sais-quoi that draws people in.
- Tu as la tête sur les épaules — You're grounded, sensible, and dependable — not easily swept off course.
- Tu as le vent en poupe — Everything is going your way — you're riding a wave of momentum and success.