proverb · Words worth keeping
Stretch your legs according to your coverlet.
Stretch your legs according to your coverlet.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Match an undertaking to the resources that can actually support it. Legs and coverlet picture the limits of available provision, encouraging adjustment without implying that a shortage is the person’s fault or that more support cannot be sought.
Example
A club plans a display that its present team can maintain and asks for additional volunteers before extending it to another room.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
The coverlet has a limited reach, so stretching beyond it leaves part of the person uncovered. Figuratively, a plan may exceed the time, materials or assistance available to sustain it. The saying encourages checking that relation before promising a result. Its useful reading can reduce scope, change the method or ask for additional support. It does not require accepting an unfair shortage as permanent, or imply that needing help shows bad judgement. Some goals are worthwhile precisely because they seek better provision. The image concerns making the current arrangement workable while recognising that its resources and demands may both be changed.
When to use it
Use it when the scope of a plan needs to be matched with real support.
Keep in mind
Resources can change; adjusting a plan does not mean accepting every shortage or blaming those who need help.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their 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
- Date unknown
- Culture
- English