You may as well bid me lade the sea with a nutshell.
Meaning: Attempting impossible tasks with inadequate tools wastes effort and invites ridicule.
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 Wisdom
- An oak is not felled by one blow. — Great strength and resilience require persistent effort; single attempts cannot overcome…
- An occasion lost cannot be redeemed. — Missed opportunities vanish permanently; time's passing erases chances that won't return.
- An old cat laps as much as a young kitten. — Age doesn't diminish appetite or basic needs; elderly and young require similar sustenanc…
- As the old cock crows so crows the young. — Children naturally imitate their parents' behavior, words, and habits rather than followi…
- An old dog barks not in vain. — Experience earns credibility; when veterans finally speak, their warnings deserve serious…
- An old sack wanteth much patching. — Neglected problems compound over time, requiring increasingly costly repairs to restore w…
From our untranslatable words
- Drachenfutter — A peace-offering gift brought home to a partner after staying out too late or doing somet…
- Verschlimmbessern — To make something worse in a well-intentioned attempt to improve it.
- Sturmfrei — The liberating feeling of having the house entirely to yourself — when parents or a partn…