ProverbWisdomFrench origin

Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps

Meaning: A single encouraging sign does not prove a trend.

Literally: One swallow does not make the spring

Example: “Un bon trimestre, c'est encourageant, mais une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps.” — One good quarter is encouraging, but one swallow does not make a summer.

Equivalents in English, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, and 3 more languages

  • English: One swallow does not make a summer.
  • Spanish: Una golondrina no hace verano (literally: One swallow does not make a summer)
  • German: Eine Schwalbe macht noch keinen Sommer (literally: One swallow does not yet make a summer)
  • Italian: Una rondine non fa primavera (literally: One swallow doesn't make spring)
  • Portuguese: Uma andorinha não faz a primavera (literally: One swallow doesn't make the spring)
  • Dutch: Eén zwaluw maakt nog geen zomer (literally: One swallow doesn't make a summer)
  • Russian: Одна ласточка весны не делает (Odna lastochka vesny ne delaet) (literally: One swallow doesn't make a spring)
  • Polish: Jedna jaskółka wiosny nie czyni (literally: One swallow doesn't make a spring)

Origin: The thought is in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics and reached French through Aesop's fable of the spendthrift who sold his coat at the first swallow and froze. English says one swallow does not make a summer.

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