You don't miss the water till the well runs dry
Meaning: We overlook what sustains us until deprivation forces us to recognize its true value.
Origin: Benjamin Franklin printed a version in Poor Richard's Almanack (1746): "When the well's dry, we know the worth of water," and Thomas Fuller's Gnomologia (1732) has it earlier. It is said of anything taken for granted until it is gone.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Absence cools moderate passions, and inflames violent ones. — Distance fades mild affections but makes intense ones burn all the hotter.
- The absent are always at fault. — Those not present to defend themselves get the blame.
- Give neither advice nor salt until you are asked for it. — Offer advice only when it's asked for; unsolicited counsel is rarely welcome.
- What every one asks, what every one gives, but what very few take--advice. — Everyone seeks and gives advice, yet almost no one actually follows it.
- Two of a trade seldom agree. — Rivals in the same business rarely agree; competition breeds friction between them.
- Agues come on horseback, but go away on foot. — Sickness arrives suddenly but lingers, leaving far more slowly than it came.
From our untranslatable words
- Koselig — Warmth, intimacy and ease at once — a room, a meal or an evening can be koselig, and so c…
- Harryhandel — The day trip over the border into Sweden to buy meat, sweets and drink far cheaper than a…
- Matpakke — The plain packed lunch of open sandwiches in paper, eaten at your desk — a small national…