Tall oaks from little acorns grow
Meaning: Small beginnings accumulate into significant achievements through time and consistent development.
Origin: From "Lines Written for a School Declamation," by the American writer David Everett, composed in the 1790s for a small boy to recite: "Large streams from little fountains flow, / Tall oaks from little acorns grow." The couplet spread through school readers such as Caleb Bingham's The Columbian Orator.
More proverbs about Wisdom
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- The Lord helps those that help themselves — Self-directed effort attracts divine favor; passivity alone cannot substitute for persona…
- The more one learns about people, the more one likes one's pet — Familiarity with human flaws makes the unconditional loyalty of animals more precious.
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From our tongue twisters
- 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…
- Wij smachten naar achtentachtig prachtige nachten. — Five words carrying the Dutch guttural 'cht', the sound foreigners find hardest to produc…