Meaning & Analysis
If you are capable of performing a task yourself, you should not depend on someone else to do it for you.
Insights
Autonomy and Empowerment
The proverb is a call for personal autonomy and empowerment. Taking direct responsibility for one's tasks fosters independence, reduces vulnerability to others' failures, and reinforces one's own capabilities.
Ensuring Quality and Efficiency
It functions as a principle of quality control and efficiency. Personal execution of a task eliminates the risks of miscommunication, delays, or substandard work that can arise when relying on others.
Risk Mitigation
The proverb advocates for a proactive approach to managing one's life and affairs. It suggests that depending on others introduces unnecessary risks and uncertainties, which can be avoided by taking direct action.
Principle of Accountability
It embodies a moral stance on personal accountability. The proverb encourages a mature and responsible outlook, where individuals take ownership of their duties rather than imposing them on others.
Historical Shift to Individualism
The proverb's emergence in the 16th century, evidenced by citations from Coverdale and Painter, aligns with the rise of Renaissance humanism and the Protestant work ethic, which championed individualism, personal responsibility, and a departure from feudal interdependencies.
Psychology of Empowerment
This proverb serves as a foundational principle of self-efficacy. Psychologically, it reinforces the idea that personal action builds competence and confidence, acting as an antidote to learned helplessness and the anxiety of depending on unreliable external factors.
Critique of Unchecked Delegation
While modern management emphasizes delegation, this proverb offers a timeless counterpoint, warning against abdicating responsibility for critical tasks. It implies that personal involvement is the best way to guarantee quality and alignment with one's own standards.
Cultural Cornerstone
The numerous cross-references, such as 'If you would be well served serve yourself', highlight the proverb's central role in Anglo-American cultural values, particularly its resonance with ideals of rugged individualism and entrepreneurial spirit.
Rhetorical Devices
Imperative Mood
The use of the imperative 'rely not' and the direct address 'thou' gives the proverb a commanding, instructional tone, presenting it as a direct piece of wisdom.
Antithesis
A clear opposition is drawn between 'thyself' and 'another', creating a stark choice that emphasizes the core message of self-reliance over dependency.
Archaic Diction
The archaic terms 'thou' and 'canst' lend the proverb an aura of timeless, authoritative wisdom, suggesting it has been validated over generations.
Transcription
Quotations
That whych thou cannest do conueniently thy selfe commytte it not to another.
This prouerbe old and true, a sentence of the wise: The thing do not expect, by friends for to atchieue: Which thou thyself canst doe, thy selfe for to relieve.
If thou thyselfe canst doe it, attend no other's help or hand.
(For that thou canst).
Rely not on Another, for what thou can'st do thy self.
Cross References
- B750 If you would have your business done, go; if not, send;
- B755 Who does his own business fouls not his hands;
- M84 Command your man and do it yourself;
- M195 If a man will have his business well done he must do it himself;
- M1251 He that has a mouth of his own must not say to another, Blow;
- S248 If you would be well served serve yourself.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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