They complain wrongfully of the sea, who twice suffer shipwreck.
Meaning: Repeated misfortune from the same cause reveals poor judgment rather than bad luck.
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 Challenge
- He that will not be counselled cannot be helped. — Resistance to advice ensures problems persist; help requires receptiveness to guidance.
- He covers me with his wings, and bites me with his bill. — A protector may simultaneously harm you through the very closeness required to defend you.
- A crooked tree will have a crooked shadow. — Flawed character inevitably produces flawed outcomes, just as a tree's deformity cannot c…
- Daylight will peep through a small hole. — Light finds its way through the tiniest opening, so truth and hope cannot be completely s…
- There are none so deaf as those who will not hear. — Willful ignorance is more impenetrable than physical deafness; people reject truth they r…
- Out of debt, out of danger. — Freedom from financial obligations eliminates the vulnerability that creditors and desper…