You cannot drive a windmill with a pair of bellows.
Meaning: Attempting small, inadequate efforts cannot generate the sustained force needed for significant mechanical or life outcomes.
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
- Tread on a worm and it will turn. — Even the meekest, most powerless creature will resist when pushed to its absolute limit o…
- Zeal without knowledge is fire without light. — Passionate effort without understanding produces only destruction and confusion, never pr…
- Angry men seldom want woe. — Anger blinds men to consequences, so they pursue destructive paths without recognizing im…
- Boys will be boys. — Youthful mischief and rowdiness stem from natural masculine energy rather than moral fail…
- Crooked logs make straight fires. — Imperfect materials can still serve their purpose effectively when properly arranged and…
- Cruelty is a devil's delight. — Inflicting pain on others reveals and feeds one's capacity for evil rather than humanity.
From our tongue twisters
- A aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha. — Contrasts the soft single r of aranha against the hard rolled rr of arranha — one letter…
- 네가 그린 기린 그림은 못 그린 기린 그림이고 내가 그린 기린 그림은 잘 그린 기린 그림이다. (Nega geurin girin geurimeun mot geurin girin geurimigo, naega geurin girin geurimeun jal geurin girin geurimida.) — geurin, girin and geurim rotate through nearly the same syllables with only the vowel mov…
- 앞 집 팥죽은 붉은 팥 풋팥죽이고, 뒷집 콩죽은 햇콩 단콩 콩죽이다. (Ap jip patjugeun bulgeun pat put-patjugigo, dwitjip kongjugeun haetkong dankong kongjugida.) — Stacks Korean's aspirated p and k against the final consonants, so every word ends where…