- English translation
Stretch your legs only as far as your quilt will cover.
- Literal wording
According to the size of your quilt, stretch out your leg.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying pictures a sleeper under a quilted cover: whoever stretches out farther than the cover reaches will leave his feet bare. A variant names a sleeping mat in place of the quilt, with the same image and lesson. Comfort comes from fitting yourself to what you own.
It is aimed at people who overstep their proper bounds, and above all at those who spend beyond their means. It urges a person to measure wants and outlays against real resources and to live within them.
- When it is used
Said as a rebuke or warning to someone whose spending, demands or ambitions outrun what they have, such as a friend planning a lavish purchase on a small income. Aimed at someone present, it can come across as pointed criticism.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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