Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Why do we say "Make hay while the sun shines"?

Well-Known Expressions

Make hay while the sun shines

Meaning:

Take full advantage of an opportunity before it passes

Background:

This expression, which alludes to the drying of grass for animal feed, is first recorded in English in Alexander Barclay's Ship of Fools

Ship of Fools, originally written by the distinguished humanist Sebastian Brant in 1494 and published in German as Narrenschiff, satirizes examples of contemporary folly.  It was one of the most successful published works of its age and is often cited as one of the first "international bestsellers". Alexander Barclay adapted it into English as The Ship of Folys of the Worlde in 1509.  The work's comic woodcuts, commonly attributed to Albrecht Dürer of Nuremberg, are a key part of its popularity.  Sample illustrations can be seen at the University of Glasgow's website. The full text and illustrations are available at Project Gutenberg.

More expressions and their source

Challenge yourself with BookBrowse Wordplays

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

The good writer, the great writer, has what I have called the three S's: The power to see, to sense, and to say. ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.