"Waste Not, Want Not" Proverb Meaning, Origin & History | Poignant Proverbs
Channel: Poignant Proverbs
Date: 2021-08-27

0:00 - How to say “Waste not, want not.”
0:05 - Meaning of the proverb, “Waste not, want not.”
0:37 - Example of the proverb, “Waste not, want not.”
1:36 - Real life example of the proverb, “Waste not, want not.”
2:50 - Origin of the proverb, “Waste not, want not.”
3:45 - Advice from the proverb, “Waste not, want not.”
4:08 - Conclusion

Transcript:

“Waste not, want not.”

This proverb means that if you do not squander or misuse anything, then you’ll never lack or experience scarcity.

In other words, if you fully utilize the resources that you already have, you will not find yourself in a situation of needing what you don’t have.

People often waste a lot of what they have plenty of, only to find that one day, they don’t have much of it left or have none of it at all!

A good example of this is money. Do you ever find yourself spending a large portion of your paycheque in the days following payday?

Perhaps you go out for fancy meals, buy a bunch of things you don’t need and in general, tend to frivolously use the money that you just got.

Unfortunately, a couple weeks later, you find that not much of your paycheque remains, but there are bills to pay and food to buy. Perhaps you didn’t even save any money - nothing put aside for a rainy day and nothing for retirement!

If you live your life like this - always wasting when there is plenty - you will find that if an emergency happens or a disaster strikes, you will need or require assistance from family and friends or perhaps you’ll have to borrow money.

Another great example of the proverb, “Waste not, want not,” occurred in Cape Town, South Africa in 2018. Anthropogenic climate change and natural drought led to the city declaring a possible emergency situation dubbed “Day Zero”, a day when the municipal water would have to be turned off.

Day Zero came as close as 90 days away, but the citizens of Cape Town collectively decided to live the proverb, “Waste not, want not.” They started conserving water in extreme ways; there were competitions to not wash clothes and restaurants were encouraging patrons not to flush the toilets, among many initiatives.

Because of the extreme focus on not wasting even a drop of water, Day Zero got farther and farther away, eventually being averted altogether. The people of Cape Town had literally saved their city’s taps from running dry. Just a year on, the city’s once parched dams were found to be 80% full. Truly a victory!

The origin of this very poignant proverb can be found in text as far back as 1772, but according to the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer, appeared in a different form as early as 1576: “Willful waste makes woeful want”.

It is most probable that throughout human history, people have known that wasting is not a good thing; wasting leads to wanting and so waste should be avoided.

Though waste is a massive problem in the modern era, fuelled by industrialization and economies measured by growth, it seems that humans have always been wasteful to one extent or another.

It is up to each of us as individuals, then as communities, then as countries and then as a planet, to live the proverb, “Waste not, want not,” if we are to be good stewards of planet Earth and if we are to take care of ourselves and all the other lives on our blue marble.

So, the next time someone is not making the best use of, being extravagant or squandering resources - to the detriment of themselves and everybody else - let them know, “Waste not, want not”.

#poignantproverbs #proverbs #wisdom

References: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/cape-town-was-90-days-away-from-running-out-of-water-heres-how-it-averted-the-crisis/

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/waste+not%2C+want+not#:~:text=Wise%20use%20of%20one's%20resources,makes%20woeful%20want%20(1576).