"you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" meaning in English

See you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Head templates: {{en-proverb}} you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink
  1. Alternative form of you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
    Sense id: en-you_can_lead_a_horse_to_water,_but_you_can't_make_him_drink-en-proverb-gYS0tKeN Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English proverbs, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
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      "expansion": "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink",
      "name": "en-proverb"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "you can lead a horse to water"
        },
        {
          "word": "but you can't make it drink"
        }
      ],
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1874 October, Esther Serle Kenneth, “By a Hair’s Breadth”, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume XL (238 total), number 4 (238 overall), Boston, Mass.: Thomes & Talbot, […], page 356, column 2:",
          "text": "“Hush! hush! there is Angel on the piazza. I don’t see,” sinking into a chair, for she had been standing, “how this has come about. I thought Allen—” / “He never cared a straw for me—in that way. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Not that I would leave any stone unturned to get Allen, but it’s of no use, with that Cecile Fay’s beautiful eyes and magnificent hair under his nose every day!”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1879 January 2, “Socialistic Stupidity”, in The Cleveland Leader, number 2, Cleveland, Oh.: […] Leader Printing Company […], page 4, column 4:",
          "text": "Let the Legislature pass a law compelling the State to furnish every man with work, and what good would that do? It has been proved within the last six months that there is employment in Chicago, at fair wages, for all who want work. The State could not make them work. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Unless the State is endowed with the power of working miracles it cannot convert the lazy Socialistic loafer into an industrious citizen.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1968, the editors of Look, “[Overheard in Suburbia] Abortionist”, in Suburbia: The Good Life in Our Exploding Utopia, New York, N.Y.: Cowles Education Corporation, →LCCN, page 97:",
          "text": "Whenever we’re asked, we give them some [contraceptive] pills. We bring it up, as a matter of fact. But, of course, we’ve got no way of knowing if they use them or not. Nothing I can do about that. You know, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "Alternative form of you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
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          "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink",
          "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink#English"
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  "word": "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"
}
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    {
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          "word": "you can lead a horse to water"
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        {
          "word": "but you can't make it drink"
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        {
          "ref": "1874 October, Esther Serle Kenneth, “By a Hair’s Breadth”, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume XL (238 total), number 4 (238 overall), Boston, Mass.: Thomes & Talbot, […], page 356, column 2:",
          "text": "“Hush! hush! there is Angel on the piazza. I don’t see,” sinking into a chair, for she had been standing, “how this has come about. I thought Allen—” / “He never cared a straw for me—in that way. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Not that I would leave any stone unturned to get Allen, but it’s of no use, with that Cecile Fay’s beautiful eyes and magnificent hair under his nose every day!”",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1879 January 2, “Socialistic Stupidity”, in The Cleveland Leader, number 2, Cleveland, Oh.: […] Leader Printing Company […], page 4, column 4:",
          "text": "Let the Legislature pass a law compelling the State to furnish every man with work, and what good would that do? It has been proved within the last six months that there is employment in Chicago, at fair wages, for all who want work. The State could not make them work. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Unless the State is endowed with the power of working miracles it cannot convert the lazy Socialistic loafer into an industrious citizen.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1968, the editors of Look, “[Overheard in Suburbia] Abortionist”, in Suburbia: The Good Life in Our Exploding Utopia, New York, N.Y.: Cowles Education Corporation, →LCCN, page 97:",
          "text": "Whenever we’re asked, we give them some [contraceptive] pills. We bring it up, as a matter of fact. But, of course, we’ve got no way of knowing if they use them or not. Nothing I can do about that. You know, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."
      ],
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          "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink",
          "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink#English"
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  ],
  "word": "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"
}

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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 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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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