"A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush" Proverb Meaning, Origin & History | Poignant Proverbs
Channel: Poignant Proverbs
Date: 2021-09-19

0:00 - How to say “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
0:05 - Meaning of the proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
0:43 - Real life example of the proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
1:58 - Origin of the proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
2:36 - Advice from the proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
2:48 - Conclusion

Transcript:

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

This proverb means that a sure thing is better than something which you’re not too confident about.

In other words, it is better to accept less if it is guaranteed, rather than try for more that is not assured.

People are often not satisfied with what they already have and constantly seek out something better or larger in quantity.

Unfortunately, this greed for more or better things leads people to risk what they do have in order to try getting what they don’t have.

A good example of this is when searching for an apartment to live in in a new city.

Perhaps you and your partner have looked at a bunch of apartments and feel like one of them suits your needs and is a reasonable price. You could sign the rental agreement today and start moving in as early as a few days from now.

However, you and your partner don’t just want a satisfactory place to live in, you want the perfect place! So, you continue your hunt for apartments and eventually find out that the best one was the one you had considered earlier.

Unfortunately, when you contact the landlord about that apartment, you find out that it was rented out while you were busy looking for the “perfect” one. Obviously, someone else out there understands the proverb, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

With this experience under your belt, you and your partner decide to pounce upon the next satisfactory apartment; you decide not to let “two in the bush” distract you from your “one in the hand”.

The origin of this poignant proverb is not entirely clear, but its early form appears in John Capgrave’s book, “The Life of St Katharine of Alexandria”, in 1450: "It is more sekyr a byrd in your fest, Than to haue three in the sky a‐boue."

This proverb is not unique to English, however; similar proverbs can be found in many other languages and date from hundreds, if not thousands of years ago.

It is up to you, then, to decide that you will not allow the pursuit of “something better” to cause you to lose “something great” that you already have!

So, the next time you or someone else is tempted to risk what you have in order to gain something more, remember that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

#poignantproverbs #proverbs #wisdom

References: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-bird-in-the-hand.html