Many go for wool and come back shorn.
Meaning: Pursuing gain from others often results in losing what you already possess through their cunning.
Origin: Recorded in English in 1599, in a book of Spanish dialogues: "You will go for wool, and return home shorn." The 1612 English translation of Don Quixote has it too. People who set out to gain something often lose what they already had.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and Japanese
- French: Tel est pris qui croyait prendre (literally: He who thought to catch is caught)
- Spanish: Ir por lana, y volver trasquilado (literally: To go for wool and come back shorn)
- Japanese: ミイラ取りがミイラになる (Miira tori ga miira ni naru) (literally: The mummy hunter becomes a mummy)
More proverbs about Human Nature
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- Child's pig, but father's bacon. — A child enjoys raising the pig, but the parent bears the real costs and consequences of i…
- Children are poor men's riches. — Offspring provide intangible wealth to those lacking material resources through love, pur…
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From our idioms
- go the whole nine yards — The entire amount; (to go) all out.
- wing it — To improvise; to do something without planning or preparation.
- wipe the slate clean — To set a situation right or erase something bad.