Meaning & Analysis
If a person forgoes their midday meal (dinner), they will have more food available to eat for their evening meal (supper).
Insights
Prudence and Foresight
The proverb is a lesson in prudence and foresight, advocating for the conservation of resources in the present to ensure greater abundance or security in the future.
Delayed Gratification
It champions the virtue of delayed gratification, suggesting that sacrificing immediate, smaller pleasures leads to greater rewards and satisfaction later on.
Resource Management
It functions as a practical guide to resource management, illustrating that careful conservation and planning are essential for turning scarcity into future abundance.
Sacrifice for Security
By saving for 'supper', one is actively creating a buffer against future uncertainty. The proverb underscores that present sacrifice is a direct path to future security.
Historical Meal Context
The proverb's language reflects historical meal patterns where 'dinner' was the main midday meal and 'supper' a lighter evening one. Forgoing the primary meal for a larger supper thus implies a significant, deliberate act of self-denial for future benefit.
Economic Prudence
This proverb serves as a foundational lesson in economics, illustrating the principle of saving and investment. By forgoing present consumption (dinner), one accumulates capital for greater future returns (a larger supper), a concept echoed in the cross-referenced proverb about sparing when young to spend when old.
Psychology of Self-Control
The proverb champions a future-oriented mindset, valuing discipline and foresight over immediate impulse. It encapsulates the psychological principle of delayed gratification, suggesting that self-control is a key strategy for achieving long-term security and prosperity.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The proverb uses the concrete, everyday acts of eating 'dinner' and 'supper' as metaphors for managing resources over time, making an abstract economic principle easily accessible.
Parallel Structure
The balanced 'He that saves... will have...' structure creates a clear cause-and-effect relationship, making the advice logical, persuasive, and easy to remember.
Antithesis
A clear antithesis is drawn between the immediate sacrifice (saving dinner) and the future reward (more for supper), effectively highlighting the central trade-off.
Transcription
Quotations
He that keepes his dinner hath the more to his supper; he that spares while he's young may the better spend when hee's old.
(Hee that hath saued his dinner shall).
(shall have more).
Who eats, and leaves, has another Meal good.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.