"a watched pot never boils" meaning in English

See a watched pot never boils in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Head templates: {{head|en|proverb|head=a watched pot never boils}} a watched pot never boils
  1. A process appears to go more slowly if one waits for it rather than engaging in other activities. Synonyms: a watched kettle never boils, watched toast never burns, a watched pot never boils over Related terms: time flies when you're having fun Translations (a process appears to go more slowly if one waits for it): 心急吃不了熱豆腐 (Chinese Mandarin), 心急吃不了热豆腐 (xīnjí chībuliǎo rè dòufu) (Chinese Mandarin), odottavan aika on pitkä (Finnish), s’inquiéter ne fait pas avancer les choses (French), figyelt fazék sosem forr (Hungarian), il desiderio rende lunga l'attesa (Italian), czekającemu czas się dłuży (Polish), когда́ ждёшь, вре́мя тя́нется (kogdá ždjošʹ, vrémja tjánetsja) (Russian), pignata taliata nun vugghi mai [feminine] (Sicilian), quien espera, desespera (Spanish)

Alternative forms

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      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
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      "word": "il desiderio rende lunga l'attesa"
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-08-20 using wiktextract (8e41825 and f99c758). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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