"why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free" meaning in English

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"
      },
      "expansion": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"
      },
      "expansion": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?",
      "name": "en-proverb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Steven Gordon, The Future of the Music Business",
          "text": "The whole idea of why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free relates to offering only a very brief sample of your music online. I have intellectual property, and I treat that intellectual property very seriously as an artist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Elina Furman, Kiss and Run",
          "text": "In the past, women who wanted to move in with a boyfriend would get a strict talking-to about a common male mentality: “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Inge Auerbacher, Highway To New York: A Lady Truck Driver Adventure, page 38",
          "text": "I can get plenty of dames, so why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free...ya know what I mean?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Do not expect somebody to make a costly commitment if it will give them nothing they do not already have; used especially as a warning against having sexual intercourse before marriage."
      ],
      "id": "en-why_buy_the_cow_when_you_can_get_the_milk_for_free-en-proverb-6ukyvKcV",
      "links": [
        [
          "costly",
          "costly"
        ],
        [
          "commitment",
          "commitment"
        ],
        [
          "sexual intercourse",
          "sexual intercourse"
        ],
        [
          "marriage",
          "marriage"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "why buy a book when you can join a library"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"
      },
      "expansion": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?"
      },
      "expansion": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?",
      "name": "en-proverb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "why buy a book when you can join a library"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2005, Steven Gordon, The Future of the Music Business",
          "text": "The whole idea of why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free relates to offering only a very brief sample of your music online. I have intellectual property, and I treat that intellectual property very seriously as an artist.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Elina Furman, Kiss and Run",
          "text": "In the past, women who wanted to move in with a boyfriend would get a strict talking-to about a common male mentality: “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Inge Auerbacher, Highway To New York: A Lady Truck Driver Adventure, page 38",
          "text": "I can get plenty of dames, so why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free...ya know what I mean?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Do not expect somebody to make a costly commitment if it will give them nothing they do not already have; used especially as a warning against having sexual intercourse before marriage."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "costly",
          "costly"
        ],
        [
          "commitment",
          "commitment"
        ],
        [
          "sexual intercourse",
          "sexual intercourse"
        ],
        [
          "marriage",
          "marriage"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free"
}