Little birds may peck a dead lion.
Meaning: Even the weakest creatures gain power when facing something already defeated or in decline.
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
- 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…
- He liveth long that liveth well. — Living virtuously extends life's value beyond mere years; quality of conduct outlasts qua…
From our tongue twisters
- Strč prst skrz krk. — Four words, zero vowels — the most concentrated consonant cluster challenge in any Europe…
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. — The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.