Riches are but the baggage of fortune.
Meaning: Wealth is a burden that fortune carries, not a permanent possession you truly own.
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 Human Nature
- 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.
- Being born in a stable does not make a man a horse. — Humble origins cannot determine one's ultimate character or potential; circumstance of bi…
- The subjects' love is the king's lifeguard. — A monarch's security depends ultimately on their people's loyalty and goodwill rather tha…
- A poor man's table is soon spread. — A meager meal requires less preparation than a lavish feast.
- A man may dig his grave with his teeth. — Indulgence in food and drink ultimately destroys one's health and shortens one's lifespan.
From our tongue twisters
- Packa pappas kappsäck. — Three words, six hard k and p stops, and almost no vowel variety to rest on.
- Flyg, fula fluga, flyg! Och den fula flugan flög. — An 'fl' cluster repeated through three different vowels — y, u and ö, all of them front r…
- De koetsier poetst de postkoets met postkoetspoets. — Turns on the gap between the Dutch 'oe' and 'o', with a run of 'ts' and 'p' stops layered…