proverb · Words worth keeping
A fat sorrow is better than a lean one.
A fat sorrow is better than a lean one.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Having resources can ease some burdens of a difficult situation. Fat and lean sorrow contrast hardship with and without material support.
What the words are saying
The saying makes two sorrows differ in the resources surrounding them. It can recognise that food, shelter or practical assistance matters even when it cannot remove the underlying sadness. The comparison should not minimise grief experienced by someone with money or turn suffering into a competition. A useful reading identifies the help resources can supply while allowing the emotional difficulty to remain real.
Everyday example
A community provides meals during a bereavement, easing daily demands without claiming to remove the loss.
When to use it
Use it to acknowledge practical support alongside a continuing sorrow.
What it does not mean
Resources do not cancel grief, and different hardships need not be ranked against one another.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 1472 · Sorrow
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English