proverb · Words worth keeping
If you set your house on fire, you’ll warm up with it once.
If you set your house on fire, you’ll warm up with it once.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Burning one’s own house for warmth only once contrasts immediate benefit with destroying its source. The saying warns about a gain that removes future shelter or support in the image.
What the words are saying
The scene is an analogy, not a fire-making instruction or prediction about a real dwelling. A useful application examines what a short-term solution consumes and whether another approach is available. Constrained choices need support rather than easy blame.
Everyday example
A team considers whether an immediate saving would remove the resource needed to continue useful work.
When to use it
Use it to discuss short-term gain and longer-term cost.
What it does not mean
No fire procedure or universal blame for a constrained tradeoff is established.
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
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 447; PDF page 43; collection label: Middle East
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Middle East