
ProverbWisdom
English origin1906
What you lose on the swings you gain on the roundabouts
Meaning: Life's ups and downs balance out over time; temporary losses in one area offset by gains elsewhere.
Origin: From fairground life: a showman who owned both swings and roundabouts might lose money on one and make it back on the other. P. G. Wodehouse used it in his novel Love Among the Chickens (1906), and the poet Patrick Chalmers popularized it in his poem "Roundabouts and Swings" (1912). It has since become the British way to say that gains and losses even out.
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