Riches are like muck, which stink in a heap, but spread abroad make the earth fruitful.
Meaning: Wealth hoarded breeds corruption and waste, but distributed widely benefits entire communities through productive growth.
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
- Better ride on an ass that carries me than a horse that throws me. — Practical utility and reliability matter more than prestige or impressive appearances.
- Follow the river and you'll get to the sea. — Persistence along an established path naturally leads to your destination, even without k…
- A bird can roost upon but one branch. — Individual focus and commitment matter more than scattered efforts across multiple simult…
- A rotten apple injures its companions. — Corruption spreads through proximity; one person's moral decay threatens the integrity of…
- A rugged stone grows smooth from hand to hand. — Repeated human contact and use gradually refine even the roughest nature into something p…
- There is no rule without an exception. — Absolute rules inevitably encounter situations where their strict application breaks down…
From our untranslatable words
- Dietrologia — The conviction that the official account is never the real one — that some hidden motive…
- Attaccabottoni — The person who corners you and holds you in an endless, tedious story you cannot politely…
- Menefreghista — Someone who has made not caring into an entire stance — indifference as a way of life.