ProverbWisdom
Latin origin
Latin originThe grass is always greener on the other side
Meaning: What others have always seems better than what you have.
Example: “He keeps changing jobs, but the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”
Origin: The Roman poet Ovid wrote in The Art of Love that the harvest is always richer in another man's fields. The modern pastoral version appears in American print by the late 1910s, and a 1924 song by Raymond Egan and Richard Whiting, "The Grass Is Always Greener in the Other Fellow's Yard," helped spread it.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, and 4 more languages
French: L'herbe est toujours plus verte ailleurs (literally: The grass is always greener elsewhere)
Spanish: La gallina de mi vecina más huevos pone que la mía (literally: My neighbor's hen lays more eggs than mine)
Japanese: 隣の芝生は青い (Tonari no shibafu wa aoi) (literally: The neighbor's lawn is blue/green)
German: Die Kirschen in Nachbars Garten schmecken immer süßer (literally: The cherries in the neighbor's garden always taste sweeter)
Italian: L'erba del vicino è sempre più verde (literally: The neighbor's grass is always greener)
Portuguese: A galinha da minha vizinha é mais gorda do que a minha (literally: My neighbor's hen is fatter than mine)
Russian: Там хорошо, где нас нет (Tam khorosho, gde nas net) (literally: It's good wherever we aren't)
Polish: Wszędzie dobrze, gdzie nas nie ma (literally: It's good everywhere we aren't)
Chinese: 这山望着那山高 (Zhè shān wàngzhe nà shān gāo) (literally: From this mountain, that one looks higher)
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