It is one thing to flourish and another to fight.
Meaning: Thriving requires different skills than defending oneself; prosperity and conflict demand separate strategies.
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
- What God will, no frost can kill. — Divine purpose transcends natural destruction; what's meant to survive will endure despit…
- Touch a galled horse, and he will wince. — Inflicting pain on someone already wounded guarantees a sharp, defensive reaction.
- When God wills, all winds bring rain. — Divine providence operates beyond human understanding; circumstances we cannot control ma…
- Grasp no more than thy hand will hold. — Overreaching beyond your capacity leads to losing everything you might have secured.
- A great dowry is a bed full of troubles. — Excessive wealth given in marriage creates domestic conflict rather than harmony or secur…
- Green wood makes a hot fire. — Unseasoned effort burns intensely but wastefully, consuming energy without producing last…
From our idioms
- perder la chaveta — To go crazy; to lose one's grip on sanity or self-control.
- de Pascuas a Ramos — Once in a blue moon; extremely rarely or at great intervals.
- con lo puesto — With nothing but the clothes on one's back; in a state of complete destitution.