proverb · Words worth keeping
A man may dig his grave with his teeth.
A man may dig his grave with his teeth.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying pictures someone digging his grave with his teeth. It turns eating into an extreme image of conduct that may be imagined to undermine life.
What the words are saying
Teeth replace the tool of digging, giving the warning its force. A careful interpretation can discuss a claimed harmful excess without assuming that illness or death proves someone ate wrongly. The text does not specify a food, amount or clinical mechanism. Its vivid moral warning should remain separate from nutritional advice and judgment of another person’s health.
Everyday example
A reader examines how the image makes a warning memorable without using it to blame someone for illness.
When to use it
Use it to examine a striking food-related harm metaphor.
What it does not mean
The verse is not dietary guidance or evidence that someone caused their condition.
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 1586 · Teeth
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English