Lips however rosy must be fed.
Meaning: Beautiful appearances require material sustenance to survive; aesthetic appeal alone cannot sustain life.
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
- Little birds may peck a dead lion. — Even the weakest creatures gain power when facing something already defeated or in declin…
- One may see day at a little hole. — Even minimal openings to truth or knowledge suffice; darkness yields to the smallest ligh…
- Little minds, like weak liquors, are soon soured. — Petty intellects curdle quickly under pressure, while robust minds ferment into something…
- It's not how long, but how well, we live. — Quality of life matters more than its duration; meaningful living trumps mere longevity.
- The longest liver dies at last. — Everyone eventually faces mortality, regardless of how long they manage to live.
- He that lives not well one year sorrows for it seven. — Poor choices compound over time; a year of vice breeds seven years of regret and conseque…
From our idioms
- надуться как мышь на крупу (nadut'sya kak mysh' na krupu) — To become angry or offended; to sulk or huff indignantly.
- пудрить мозги (pudrit' mozgi) — To mislead someone with false or nonsensical talk; to deceive or confuse deliberately.
- один с сошкой, а семеро с ложкой (odin s soshkoy, a semero s lozhkoy) — many people live off the labor of one worker.