A person born with a silver spoon (in their mouth) is a person born into wealth—a member of a wealthy family. In modern times, this is often said as a criticism. It implies that a person did not earn their money and privilege, and is said enviously. Such a person, we assume, was spoiled, meaning that […]

This saying means that you can give good opportunities and resources to people, but you cannot make them use those opportunities to their advantage. People must act for themselves to take advantage of things they are given. For example, you can place a child in a classroom but you cannot make them pay attention to […]

This phrase is really around the clock, but we often say ‘round the clock instead. Some similar phrases are ‘round the world and ‘round and ‘round (we go). (A)round the clock means “24 hours per day.” This phrase is often used to describe work or business: We worked ‘round the clock to finish the report on time. This store […]

Don’t (Never) count your chickens before they hatch is a kind of proverb, and it is advice worth remembering; it means “do not make firm plans for something that might not actually happen, or don’t make assumptions about anything that doesn’t hasn’t happened yet.” Many of the oldest proverbs in English are warnings beginning with don’t […]

This wonderful saying was created by the great English poet Alexander Pope in 1711, and it means that “fools do not hesitate to go where wiser people fear to walk.” It is ironic wisdom—partly an insult to fools, but also partly an ironic comment on the positive side of fools. The phrase hints that fools may […]