ProverbPerseverance
Greek origin
Greek originTake time by the forelock.
Meaning: Seizing opportunities requires swift action before they slip away or pass beyond your grasp.
Origin: The Greeks pictured Opportunity, Kairos, with a long lock of hair hanging over his forehead and a bald head behind: you could seize him as he came toward you, but once he had passed there was nothing to grab. The Roman fabulist Phaedrus described Opportunity this way, Renaissance emblem books spread the picture, and English applied it to Time itself.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, and Dutch
French: Prendre l’occasion aux cheveux (literally: To take opportunity by the forelock)
Spanish: Tomar la ocasión por los cabellos (literally: To take opportunity by the hair)
Japanese: 善は急げ (Zen wa isoge) (literally: Hurry to do good)
German: Man muss die Gelegenheit beim Schopfe packen (literally: One must grab opportunity by the forelock)
Dutch: De gelegenheid bij de haren grijpen (literally: To seize opportunity by the hair)
Explore another collection: False Friends
Words that look familiar in another language but mean something else entirely.
- Sensible Actually means 'sensitive'. For sensible/level-headed, say raisonnable.
- Librairie Actually means 'bookshop'. A library is une bibliothèque.
- Constipado Actually means 'having a head cold'. Estoy constipado = I have a cold.
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