proverb · Source-linked selection
Agues come on horseback, but go away on foot.
Agues come on horseback, but go away on foot.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying pictures agues arriving on horseback and departing on foot. It contrasts a rapid onset with a slower imagined recovery through two ways of travelling.
What the words are saying
Horseback and foot give the illness different speeds without a numerical timescale. As an explicit analogy, trouble may arise faster than it can be resolved. The older fever term does not establish a particular diagnosis here, and the verse cannot predict recovery. Its useful image distinguishes the beginning of a difficulty from the work or time needed afterward.
Everyday example
A team recognises that an error occurred quickly but that repairing its effects will take several steps.
When to use it
Use it as a stated analogy about unequal speeds of onset and resolution.
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What it does not mean
The verse is not a diagnosis, prognosis or universal recovery pattern.
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 19 · Agues
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English