Venture not all in one ship.
Meaning: Spreading your resources across multiple ventures protects you from total loss when disaster strikes one endeavor.
Origin: The merchant's version of "don't put all your eggs in one basket." Shakespeare's Antonio, in The Merchant of Venice, reassures his friends that his fortune is safe for exactly this reason: "My ventures are not in one bottom trusted" — a bottom being a ship.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Vice is nourished by being concealed. — Secrecy allows wrongdoing to grow unchecked, while exposure and accountability naturally…
- The sweetest wine makes the sharpest vinegar. — Excellence corrupted becomes more destructive than mediocrity ever could.
- The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it. — Deprivation reveals true value; we recognize importance only through loss or scarcity.
- For want of a nail the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe the horse is lost; for want of a horse the rider is lost. — Small negligences compound catastrophically; ignoring minor problems cascades into comple…
- He that is warm thinks all are so. — The comfortable forget others suffer deprivation and misjudge universal experience by the…
- He that hath a head of wax must not walk in the sun. — Those with fragile vulnerabilities should avoid situations that expose or exploit their w…
From our compliments & insults
- Schlaumeier — A smart aleck or know-it-all.
- 石頭 (Ishiatama) — A stubborn, inflexible person who won't budge.
- Tu as du chien — You have a certain irresistible magnetism — a je-ne-sais-quoi that draws people in.