Wedding and ill-wintering tame both man and beast.
Meaning: Harsh conditions and major life commitments force humans and animals alike to abandon wild independence and accept necessary discipline.
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
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- They that cannot do as they will, must do as they can. — When circumstances limit your options, pragmatism requires accepting what's achievable ra…
- If one will not, another will. — Refusing an opportunity doesn't eliminate it; someone else will eagerly seize what you re…
- Where the will is ready, the feet are light. — Motivation and eagerness make difficult journeys feel effortless and swift.
From our tongue twisters
- Red lorry, yellow lorry. — The 'l/r' alternation drill — deceptively short, yet almost impossible to say fast withou…
- How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? — A 'w/ch/ck' drill that accelerates comically — and nobody really knows the answer.
- The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. — Believed by Guinness to be among the hardest in English — 'six/sick/sheikh/sheep' blur in…