proverb · Source-linked selection
A man's best fortune or his worst is his wife.
A man's best fortune or his worst is his wife.
Historical period not yet established
Editorial context: This makes a wife responsible for a man’s whole fortune. A partner is not the complete explanation of another adult’s life.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying makes a man’s wife the source of his greatest good or bad fortune. It recognises the importance of a partnership while placing excessive responsibility for his whole life on her.
What the words are saying
The wife is set between the man’s best and worst fortune, making the relationship appear decisive for how his life turns out. The contrast acknowledges that a close partnership can matter greatly, but the wording assigns the whole favourable or unfavourable outcome to one person. It can encourage idealisation or blame instead of examining both partners’ conduct and their circumstances. An editorial interpretation should separate the importance of a relationship from the claim that a wife determines another adult’s entire fate. Consider mutual responsibility and particular effects rather than treating a partner as a prize, a disaster or the complete explanation of a life.
Everyday example
A reader discussing the saying distinguishes the support offered by a partner from the many other choices and circumstances that shaped the person’s opportunities.
When to use it
Use it to discuss how a relationship is praised or blamed as though it determines someone’s whole fortune.
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What it does not mean
A partner is not responsible for another adult’s entire life, and the person should not be reduced to a good or bad possession.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 1761 · Wife
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English