- English translation
Trying to keep someone constantly satisfied will exhaust you.
- Literal wording
With the one you keep accommodating, you wear yourself out over him.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying warns that continually accommodating a demanding person can become exhausting. When someone must keep yielding to another’s wishes, the effort may become a burden with no easy end.
It recognizes that tact and compromise have limits: some expectations cannot always be met. It does not condemn ordinary kindness or reasonable compromise, but cautions against making another person’s approval the governing aim.
- When it is used
Use it when someone is worn down by repeatedly placating a difficult person, especially where constant agreement is expected. It may advise setting limits rather than trying to satisfy every demand.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
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