proverb · Words worth keeping
I know by my own pot how the others boil.
I know by my own pot how the others boil.
In print by 1857 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Experience of your own situation can help you imagine another person’s circumstances. Treat that analogy as a starting point for questions rather than proof of sameness.
What the words are saying
The speaker recognises how other pots may boil because they have watched their own. The domestic comparison values practical experience as a way to understand a situation that is not entirely visible. It can encourage sympathy or help identify useful questions. Yet another pot may contain different food, receive different heat or have a different purpose. Likewise, another person’s circumstances may differ materially from yours. The proverb works best when experience opens a conversation, not when it closes one by insisting that everyone must have the same needs or reactions.
Everyday example
Someone who has moved house asks a friend what help would be useful instead of assuming the friend faces the same difficulties they did.
When to use it
Use it to turn personal experience into an informed question.
What it does not mean
Analogy is not evidence of identical circumstances. Listen when another person explains a difference.
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 (French-language collection)
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1857 AD · industrial
In print by 1857: recorded in A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857) (1857 AD)
Printed page 28; French section, paragraph 548; source wording: Je sais à mon pot comment les autres bouillent.
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.