Painterly coin suspended between two cupped hands above scattered autumn leaves.

Original artwork, not a still

Proverbes

John Heywood

Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

A modest thing you already hold is worth more than a larger number of possibilities that remain out of reach. The proverb counsels valuing certainty over speculation, since ten birds in the wood may never be caught while the one in the hand is secure.

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