God helps those who help themselves is a proverb. A proverb is a short, common saying or phrase. These common sayings are language tools that particularly give advice or share a universal truth, or impart wisdom. Synonyms for proverb include adage, aphorism, sayings, and byword, which can also be someone or something that is the best example of a group. Often, a proverb is so familiar that a speaker will only quote half of it, relying on the listener to supply the ending of the written or spoken proverb himself. Speakers of English as a second language are sometimes confused by these pithy sayings as translations from English to other languages do not carry the impact that the English phrases carry. Some common proverbs are the wise sayings better late than never, early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, haste makes waste, blood is thicker than water, and a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. One of the books of the Bible is the Book of Proverbs, which contains words and phrases that are still often quoted in the English language because they are wise. Many current proverbs are quotations taken from literature, particularly Shakespeare, as well as the Bible and other sacred writings. We will examine the meaning of the expression God helps those who help themselves, where it came from, and some examples of its use in sentences.
The proverb God helps those who help themselves means it is important to take responsibility for right action; it is important to exert some effort in a situation and not leave the outcome up to fate. God helps those who help themselves carries a connotation that God expects people to do what they can to obtain a positive outcome in any given situation. The sentiment behind the phrase God helps those who help themselves was expressed in Hippolytus written by Euripides in 428 BC: “Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lends aid.” The exact expression God helps those who help themselves was penned by the English politician, Algernon Sidney, in the 1600s.
Examples
God helps those who help themselves, have they heard that divine counsel? (The New Times)
And it is imperative that we can never concentrate on our little piece of turf and fail to realise that even God helps those who help themselves. (Malta Today)
But the saying goes, God helps those who help themselves,” Bishop Pabillo said in a special message for the 39th Anniversary of the company, adding that “Eternal Plans, with its preneed products, provides the means by which our countrymen can help themselves build a secure future.” (The Business Mirror)