Kto się z groszem nie liczy, tego bieda wyćwiczy
Listen
What it means
“Whoever doesn’t count their pennies, poverty will teach them to.” Careless handling of money leads to hardship, which then forces financial discipline the hard way.
English equivalent
A fool and his money are soon parted.
Vocabulary
- liczyć się z — to reckon with, to be careful with
- grosz — penny, small coin
- bieda — poverty, hardship
- wyćwiczyć — to train, to drill (here: to teach through hardship)
Grammar note
'Liczyć się z groszem', 'z' + instrumental: to be careful with money. 'Tego' is the genitive of 'ten', object of 'wyćwiczy'.
Intermediate
Noticed a typo, a wrong translation, or anything that doesn't look right? We'd love to fix it — just let us know via the contact page. Thank you!
More Polish proverbs
- "A stepmother, even if made of sugar, is always bitter." However kind she may be, a stepmother may …
- "For a wise head, two words are enough." A clever person needs only a short hint to understand. Long …
- "A Pole is wise after the damage is done." Poles, or people in general, often learn from mistakes …
- "The wise will accept advice; the fool will reject it with scorn." Wise people listen to advice, …