- English translation
Rather than spend everything on one splendid dress, buy both a dress and something to cover your head.
- Literal wording
Instead of making one garment for pleasure, get a garment and a head covering.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying recommends prudent household management: choose purchases that meet several necessary needs rather than lavishing all available money on a single gratifying luxury.
It favors sufficiency and sensible allocation over display. Its clothing imagery reflects historical norms that treated a garment and head covering as needs, not a universal expectation for dress.
- When it is used
Use it to advise someone to divide limited funds among essential needs instead of spending the whole amount on one expensive or showy purchase. It can apply beyond clothing whenever practical provision should take priority over extravagance.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: Rather than spend everything on one splendid dress, buy both a dress and something to cover your head.