proverb · Words worth keeping
When our daughter is married sons-in-law are plenty.
When our daughter is married sons-in-law are plenty.
In print by 1857 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Options may become plentiful after a commitment has already been made. The married daughter and arriving sons-in-law expose awkward timing, without treating marriage or people as interchangeable purchases.
What the words are saying
The potential sons-in-law appear when the daughter is already married. The contrast is between the time when a choice could be made and the time when alternatives become visible. Applied to another decision, later abundance does not necessarily help an earlier search. Consider what could reasonably have been known at the time instead of treating hindsight as a fair test of the chooser. The marriage image belongs to the source; it should not make a person’s wishes secondary or suggest that commitments must be abandoned whenever another option appears.
Everyday example
After choosing a venue, an organiser notices several new listings but evaluates the earlier decision using what was available when it was made.
When to use it
Use it to distinguish later options from the information available at a decision’s proper time.
What it does not mean
People’s wishes and commitments matter; later alternatives do not automatically prove that an earlier choice was wrong.
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 (Spanish-language collection)
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1857 AD · industrial
In print by 1857: recorded in A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857) (1857 AD)
Printed page 195; Spanish section, paragraph 4063; source wording: A hija casada salen nos yernos.
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.