Little dogs start the hare, but great ones catch it.
Meaning: Small efforts initiate opportunities, yet substantial power and persistence are required to achieve them.
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
- Sell not the hare's skin before you have caught him. — Count your gains only after securing them; premature celebration invites disappointment a…
- Haste trips up its own heels. — Rushing blindly causes you to stumble over obstacles you might have avoided through delib…
- Haste over nothing but catching fleas. — Rushing accomplishes nothing worthwhile; only frantic, undignified scrambling matches hur…
- Pull down your hat on the wind side. — Protecting yourself from hardship requires strategic positioning, not merely hoping diffi…
- Make hay while the sun shines. — Seize opportunities during favorable conditions before circumstances change and make prog…
- He that hath no head, needs no hat. — The physically disabled or disadvantaged face absurd social expectations about conforming…
From our compliments & insults
- 目に入れても痛くない (Me ni irete mo itakunai) — Said of someone you adore completely, often a child or grandchild.
- Bête comme ses pieds — Really not very bright.
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be incurably lazy.