proverb · Words worth keeping
Bread and water is better than cake and trouble.
Bread and water is better than cake and trouble.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Bread and water preferred to cake with trouble contrasts a simple option with an attractive but burdensome one. The saying values peace beyond luxury.
What the words are saying
The image is not a nutrition rule or a reason to accept inadequate essentials. A useful application compares actual needs and attached difficulties rather than assuming every pleasure brings trouble. Modesty and comfort can both be chosen without ranking a person’s worth through possessions.
Everyday example
Someone chooses a suitable simpler arrangement after considering the demands of an elaborate alternative.
When to use it
Use it as a qualified needs-and-burdens comparison, not diet guidance.
What it does not mean
No nutritional adequacy or virtue through deprivation is established.
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
Russia
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
- Contributor-provided wisdom reference (2014 AD)
Supplied reference B; unit 871; PDF page 77; collection label: Russia
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- Russia