Neither praise nor dispraise thyself, thine actions serve the turn.
Meaning: Your deeds speak louder than self-promotion or self-deprecation; let accomplishments prove your worth.
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
- Old praise dies, unless you feed it. — Reputation requires constant reinforcement; past accomplishments fade without continued e…
- Prate is but prate; 'tis money buys land. — Mere talk accomplishes nothing; only concrete wealth and resources achieve real, lasting…
- He that would learn to pray let him go to sea. — Facing life's uncontrollable forces reveals humanity's powerlessness and awakens genuine…
- There's nothing agrees worse than a proud mind and a beggar's purse. — Pride blinds the poor to accepting help or lowering expectations to match their circumsta…
- Proverbs are the texts of common life. — Wisdom emerges not from theoretical abstractions but from observing patterns in ordinary…
- He that pryeth into every cloud, may be stricken with a thunder-bolt. — Excessive curiosity about dangerous or forbidden matters invites the very harm one seeks…
From our untranslatable words
- Mono no aware — A bittersweet awareness of impermanence — the gentle sadness and appreciation that arise…
- Ikigai — The thing that makes you want to get out of bed — the intersection of what you love, what…
- Ma — The meaningful negative space between things — a deliberate pause in music, an empty room…