Diligence is a good patrimony.
Diligence is a good patrimony.
Meaning in plain English
Steady effort can provide a lasting resource, much as an inheritance supplies something to build on. The proverb praises diligence as useful capital, without claiming that hard work removes unequal opportunities or guarantees material success.
Example
A trainee keeps careful notes while learning to repair bicycles, and later uses that organised working habit when learning a different repair process.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
Patrimony refers to something received as an inheritance. The proverb treats diligence as a resource that a person can carry into their work, rather than something useful only when money or property has been handed down. Its emphasis is on the habits built through sustained attention: learning a process, completing a task and remaining willing to practise. Those habits can support later efforts even when the particular task changes. The comparison should not make poverty evidence of laziness or ignore the resources that work itself requires. It values a durable capacity for effort without pretending that effort determines every outcome.
When to use it
Use it to recognise sustained effort as a resource that can support future learning or work.
Keep in mind
Effort needs opportunity and support; the saying does not guarantee wealth or justify blaming people for disadvantage.
Edsverb editorial interpretation · agent reviewed · 2026-10-05. This explains the saying; it does not establish its historical origin.
- Source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 423 · Diligence
Read the original context ↗ - Attribution confidence
- traditional · historical anthology
Preserved as printed; independently unverified. - Historical coordinate
- Undated
No reliable date supplied by the collection. - Rights & edition
- Public domain (United States)
Translations and rights may differ elsewhere.
Provenance and licences ↗