proverb · Words worth keeping
Hunger makes hard bones sweet beans.
Hunger makes hard bones sweet beans.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
The saying gives hunger the power to make hard bones seem like sweet beans. Need changes the imagined value of something ordinarily unappealing.
What the words are saying
The contrast exaggerates how welcome a small provision may become when someone lacks enough. A humane reading recognises the pressure of need without praising deprivation or claiming that a person should be content with inadequate help. As a wider analogy, circumstances can change what a person regards as valuable.
Everyday example
A community offers adequate assistance rather than assuming that a person in difficulty must be grateful for any token gesture.
When to use it
Use it to discuss value under the pressure of need.
What it does not mean
The image does not justify deprivation or establish what anyone should accept.
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 823 · Hunger
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English