Meaning & Analysis
If you refrain from speaking or are hesitant to voice your needs and opinions, you will fail to make progress or achieve success.
Insights
The Necessity of Self-Advocacy
The proverb serves as a powerful call for self-advocacy. It argues that personal and professional advancement is contingent upon one's willingness to articulate needs, defend positions, and ask for what one wants. Silence is equated with stagnation.
Risk and Reward in Communication
It frames communication as an essential risk that must be taken to achieve a reward. To 'speak' is to venture, potentially facing rejection or conflict, but to 'spare' speech is to guarantee failure. This aligns with the principle of 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'.
Overcoming Passivity
The proverb is a direct admonition against passivity and shyness. It reframes timidity as a self-imposed obstacle, suggesting that opportunities are lost not due to external factors but to one's own failure to act and speak out.
Socio-Economic Pragmatism
The proverb reflects a pragmatic understanding of social and economic mobility, particularly relevant in historical contexts governed by patronage and petition. It suggests that success is not passively granted but actively secured through direct requests and self-promotion, a timeless insight into the mechanics of power and opportunity.
Psychology of Assertiveness
Psychologically, the proverb targets the internal barriers of timidity and fear of rejection. It frames bashfulness not as a virtue but as a direct impediment to achievement, urging individuals to overcome internal hesitation for external gain.
Cultural Value of Proactivity
This proverb champions a cultural value of proactivity and directness. It contrasts sharply with ideologies that might favor quiet modesty or waiting for one's merits to be recognized, instead promoting a 'go-getter' ethos where opportunity must be seized through explicit communication.
Rhetorical Devices
Parallelism
The proverb is built on a symmetrical structure ('Spare to X, spare to Y'), creating a memorable and balanced phrase that clearly links cause and effect.
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'sp' sound in 'spare', 'speak', and 'speed' creates a strong phonetic link between the words, making the proverb catchy and reinforcing its message.
Brevity and Directness
The proverb uses a concise, cause-and-effect structure to deliver its message with force and clarity. Its brevity makes the advice impactful and easy to recall.
Transcription
Quotations
Who spareth to speke he spareth to spede.
Who spareth to speke, in fayth he spareth to spede.
He that spareth to speke, ofte spareth to spede.
Noght venter noght haue spare to speke spare to spede.
Who first speake first spede.
(and spare to spede).
This prouerbe admonisheth vs, to cast awaye bashfulnes, where nede constrayneth.
He that spaires to speak spaires to speed.
(and spare to speed).
(and spare to speed).
(and spare to speed).
Ill speak, ill speed.
(and spare to speed).
(The English say, Spare to).
He that spares to speak, spares to speed.
(and spare to speed).
[As in 1668 R.B.].
(and spare to speed).
Unless a Man make Interest, and importune, he will not readily come to Profit, Honour, or Advancement.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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