proverb · Source-linked selection
The full stomach loatheth the honeycomb, but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet.
The full stomach loatheth the honeycomb, but to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Need changes how an offer is experienced. The full stomach rejecting sweetness and the hungry one welcoming bitterness contrast abundance with urgency.
What the words are saying
The saying imagines the same appeal being judged differently according to what the person lacks. It can encourage understanding why someone values an option that another dismisses. It does not imply that people in need should accept unfair treatment or that abundance makes every person ungrateful. A useful reading asks about actual circumstances before judging a preference.
Everyday example
A group recognises why a basic resource matters greatly to someone who lacks it, even though others take it for granted.
When to use it
Use it to consider how need changes the value of an offer.
Put a useful idea into practice: try the free seven-day guide ↗
What it does not mean
Need does not remove dignity or justify offering unsafe or unfair conditions.
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 1535 · Stomach
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English