If a fool holds the cow by her horns, a clever man can milk her. –Yiddish

Understand the thought

Meaning in plain English

One person holding a cow while another milks it contrasts labour with the person obtaining a benefit. The supplied sentence labels the people fool and clever and adds a Yiddish label.

What the words are saying

The wording and source label are retained without an independently verified origin claim. A critical nonliteral reading examines how work and benefit are shared without endorsing exploitation or blaming the worker. The image gives no animal-handling method or reason to judge worth by advantage gained.

Everyday example

A group checks whether benefits and burdens of a shared task are fairly distributed.

When to use it

Use it critically as a work-and-benefit image, not animal guidance.

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Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.