Meaning & Analysis
Describes someone who is careful about small expenses (pennies) but careless or wasteful with much larger amounts (pounds), resulting in greater loss overall.
Insights
False Economy
Warns against focusing on trivial savings while neglecting major costs, suggesting that misplaced frugality can lead to greater waste.
Lack of Perspective
Highlights a failure of judgment—being meticulous in small matters but negligent in larger, more significant issues.
Shortsightedness
Emphasizes the folly of shortsighted or piecemeal thinking, in which saving in the present blinds one to future or larger losses.
Historical Usage
Attested since the late 16th century, the phrase critiqued those who boasted of thrift but whose actions resulted in greater losses—a common theme in early modern household and business management.
Satirical Tone
Frequently used satirically or reproachfully, as in Ray’s 'He spares at the spiggot and lets it out at the bung-hole,' exposing the irony of minor savings that cause major leaks elsewhere.
Universal Human Foible
Reflects a universal cognitive bias: people naturally fixate on visible or immediate savings, underestimating or ignoring hidden or future costs—a pitfall in both personal life and public policy.
Moral and Practical Lesson
The proverb serves as both a moral and practical admonition, urging holistic, farsighted management of resources rather than a piecemeal, superficial approach.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
Contrasts 'penny-wise' with 'pound-foolish,' creating a memorable and pointed opposition that clarifies the proverb’s lesson.
Alliteration
The repeated 'p' sounds lend a rhythmic and catchy quality, reinforcing the phrase’s stickiness and popular appeal.
Paradox
The juxtaposition of wisdom in small things and foolishness in large creates a striking, paradoxical image that critiques self-defeating behavior.
Transcription
Quotations
Pennie wyse pund fool.
If by couetousnesse or negligence, one withdraw from them their ordinary foode, he shall be penny wise, and pound foolish.
Some to spare a pennie loose the vse of that which cost them a pound.
(He is).
Least you be pennywise, and pound foolish.
In small matters, to be sparing and covetous, but in great matters of Concern to be lavishly profuse, and a Prodigal; which the English express by, Peny wise, and Pound foolish.
Penny wise, pound fool.
*He spares at the spiggot and lets it out at the bung-hole.
They that are curious in Subtleties, and ignorant in things of solid Knowledge, are but penny-wise and pound-foolish.
A Peny wise and a Pound foolish.
Penny wise, Pound Fool.
Cross References
- See St., no. 1799.
- S750 Spare at the spiggot and let it out at the bung-hole.
Annotations
- *Spoken when People by saving a little Cost, incur a great deal more Damage.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.