You can't fight City Hall
Meaning: Entrenched bureaucratic power overwhelms individual resistance; institutional forces outmatch personal effort.
Origin: An American saying about the futility of battling government bureaucracy. By 1931 the humorist Arthur "Bugs" Baer could call it "the oldest hunk of grammar in existence," and it is often linked to the political machines of 19th-century New York.
More proverbs about Challenge
- Who hath aching teeth, hath ill tenants. — Persistent pains are like bad tenants — troublesome, unwelcome, and hard to evict.
- Adversity makes a man wise, not rich. — Hardship teaches wisdom even when it never fills your pockets.
- In vain he craves advice who will not follow it. — Asking for advice is pointless if you never intend to heed it.
- He that's afraid of wounds must not come nigh a battle. — If you fear getting hurt, stay out of the fight — risk is action's price.
- April borrows three days of March, and they are ill. — Early spring often turns wintry again, as harsh as the month just past.
- Bachelors grin, but married men laugh till their hearts ache. — A bachelor's idle grin can't match the fuller joys — and aches — of married life.
From our tongue twisters
- Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку. (Shla Sasha po shosse i sosala sushku.) — A merciless 'sh/s/ss' collision — Sasha walking, sucking, and all those sibilants.
- Карл у Клары украл кораллы, Клара у Карла украла кларнет. (Karl u Klary ukral korally, Klara u Karla ukrala klarnet.) — A 'kl/kr/r' drama — crime, countercrimes, and consonant clusters all at once.
- Корабли лавировали, лавировали, да не вылавировали. (Korabli lavirovali, lavirovali, da ne vylavirovali.) — One verb, three inflections, pure 'lav/vir' torture — the word grows with every repetitio…