Tis an ill guest that never drinks to his host.
Meaning: An ungrateful visitor who refuses to reciprocate hospitality shows contempt for their host's generosity.
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 Perseverance
- He who is not handsome at twenty, nor strong at thirty, nor wise at forty, nor rich at fifty, will never be handsome, strong, rich, or wise. — Life's critical windows for developing key attributes close progressively; missing them m…
- A man never surfeits of too much honesty. — Excessive truthfulness never harms one's character or relationships the way other excesse…
- Tis an ill horse will not carry his own provender. — A creature unwilling to support itself through its own labor proves fundamentally defecti…
- Wishers and woulders are never good householders. — Those who merely desire change without acting lack the discipline and responsibility need…
- A noble housekeeper needs no doors. — Trustworthy character makes locks unnecessary; integrity itself secures what matters most.
- Hunger makes hard bones sweet beans. — Desperation transforms what we'd normally reject into something we gratefully accept.
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.