- English translation
Giving birth is not what makes a woman lucky; being happy is.
- Literal wording
Not 'Oh, the luck of the one who gave birth,' but 'Oh, the luck of the one who found happiness.'
- Meaning and lesson
The saying draws a line between the event of childbirth and real good fortune. Becoming a mother does not by itself make a woman lucky; what counts is the happiness her children actually bring into her life.
A further, more tentative reading turns to marriage instead: a wife content with her husband may be counted fortunate even if she never has children. On either reading, good fortune rests on lived happiness rather than on motherhood alone. The saying concerns women specifically.
- When it is used
Fits remarks that weigh a woman's good fortune, shifting the measure away from the bare fact of having given birth toward the happiness she actually enjoys, most directly through her children and, on a less certain reading, through her marriage.
- Register
- colloquial
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Giving birth is not what makes a woman lucky; being happy is.