Whether you boil snow or pound it, you will have but water from it.
Meaning: Effort cannot change the fundamental nature of something inherently worthless or insignificant.
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
- It is easy to bowl down hill. — Gravity assists destructive momentum, making harm effortless once negative forces align.
- A bribe will enter without knocking. — Corruption bypasses all legitimate barriers and procedures that protect institutions from…
- A burnt child dreads the fire. — Pain from past harm creates lasting caution, sometimes excessively, toward similar danger…
- Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. — Predators and opportunists inevitably congregate wherever death or decay promises easy su…
- Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves. — Small, consistent savings accumulate into substantial wealth without requiring separate e…
- A cat has nine lives, yet care will kill a cat. — Excessive worry destroys even the most resilient creature faster than physical danger eve…
From our idioms
- Biti ob živce — To be a nervous wreck.
- Nei į tvorą, nei į mietą — Neither here nor there; completely irrelevant.
- Pilstyti iš tuščio į kiaurą — To do utterly futile work.