proverb · Words worth keeping
Cut your coat according to the cloth.
Cut your coat according to the cloth.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying sizes a coat to the cloth available. As an analogy, shape an undertaking around the resources actually at hand.
What the words are saying
The limited material gives proportion a practical image. A useful application considers scope and means without blaming people for lacking resources or prescribing a financial plan. Additional support or a different aim may also be worth considering rather than assuming the present limit can never change.
Everyday example
A group adjusts a project’s scope to available capacity while checking whether support could fill a gap.
When to use it
Use it to discuss scope and means with constraints made explicit.
What it does not mean
No financial strategy or judgment of a person’s worth from their resources 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
- 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
- Contributor-provided proverb reference
Supplied reference A; unit 513; PDF page 75
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.