Explore English traditional proverbsReviewed 2026-10-01
Sense: Verified- Meaning and lesson
When an unwelcome situation cannot be changed, a person has to find a way to live with it rather than continue looking for a remedy.
The proverb urges acceptance of an unavoidable difficulty. It does not suggest abandoning a problem while workable solutions remain.
- When it is used
Use it to acknowledge a difficulty that has no practical remedy, or to encourage patience with a constraint that must be lived with. Addressed to someone in distress, it may sound dismissive rather than comforting.
- Register
- Proverbial
Compared with
- Near equivalentSomeone faces a hardship they cannot remove by their own efforts, and the question is how to bear it.Relationship review: Verified
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: What cannot be cured must be endured.