Poverty makes a man acquainted with strange bed-fellows.
Meaning: Difficult circumstances force people to associate with those they'd normally avoid or reject.
Origin: A variation on Shakespeare's The Tempest, where the jester Trinculo, sheltering from a storm under the monster Caliban's cloak, says: "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows."
More proverbs about Human Nature
- Pride goes before, and shame follows after. — Arrogance blinds you to consequences until failure humbles you publicly.
- A heavy purse makes a light heart. — Wealth alleviates worries and anxiety, allowing people to experience contentment and peac…
- Fools always come short of their reckoning. — Fools underestimate consequences and costs, discovering too late they lack resources for…
- Riches are but the baggage of fortune. — Wealth is a burden that fortune carries, not a permanent possession you truly own.
- Scald not your lips in another man's pottage. — Don't suffer harm by meddling in others' affairs or accepting their risky situations as y…
- Self love's a mote in every man's eye. — Vanity blinds us to our own faults while we scrutinize others' imperfections.
From our compliments & insults
- Testa quadrata — A rigid, inflexible blockhead who refuses to see beyond their fixed ideas.
- È un mammone — An overgrown man who can't make a decision without his mother — the Italian archetype of…
- Che piagnucolone — A relentless crybaby who finds something to complain about in every situation.