A Bird In Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush

The proverb is based perhaps on the experience of a hunter.

It states a truth which is very obvious. In fact, it understates the truth for a bird, which is in our possession, is better than any number of birds in the bush. As such, it would indeed be foolish to leave the bird in our hand and run after the ones in the bush. It would only be a wild-goose chase.

In an extended sense, ‘Bird’ in the proverb stands for ‘opportunity’. ‘A bird in hand’ means what is certain or what is in our possession. ‘Two in the bush’ means what is not certain or what we may get in the future. The saying thus states that what we have now has far greater value than what we may get in future.

The popular fable of ‘The Dog with a Bone’ illustrates this maxim. Once a dog with a bone in its mouth was crossing a stream in which it saw its reflection. Unmindful of the bone in its mouth it jumped for the bone in the reflection and reached the bank empty-handed.

However, we have to admit that the proverb is too realistic and for higher achievements one has to sacrifice the immediate gains at times.

For instance, the risk a businessman has to take is very plain. His eye is more on the distant gain than on immediate profit. He seems to prefer the two birds in the bush to the one in hand. Most of the time his calculated risk pays off. In the share market too, business runs on speculation, on possible future gain. This, no doubt, involves a lot of risk.

Generally speaking, the best policy is to keep the one in hand and also strive to get the other two that are in the bush.

The proverb, ‘A bird in hand is worth two in the bush’ underscores the importance of careful judgment to a human being and the ruin that greed brings.

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• Manners Make the Man - 2
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• Manners Make the Man - 1
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• One Good Turn Deserves Another
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• spare the rod and spoil the child
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• A Clumsy Workman Blames His Tools
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• Sweet Are the Uses of Adversity
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• Rome Was Not Built In A Day
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• A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed
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• A Stitch In Time Saves Nine
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• Necessity Is the Mother of Invention
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• A Bird In Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush
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• Slow and Steady Wins the Race
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• Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth
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• Variety is The Spice of Life
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• An Idle Brain is the Devil’s Workshop
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• Work is Worship
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• Actions speak louder than words 
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• Examination a necessary evil
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• Health is Wealth
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• Experience is the best teacher.
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• All that glitters is not gold / A book cannot be judged by its cover
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• Birds of feather flock together.
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• Knowledge is power.
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• Travel broadens the mind.
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• Pride goes before a fall.
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• Strike when the iron is hot ( make hay while the sun shine )
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• A thing of beauty is a joy forever
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• A rolling stone gather no moss.
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• The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
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• Neither a borrower nor a lender be.
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• Handsome is as handsome does.
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• A little learning is a dangerous thing.
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• Impossible is a word in the dictionary of fools
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• God made the country and man made the town.
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• Charity begins at home.
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• Failures are stepping stones to success.
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• Empty vessels make the most sound.
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• Speech is the Gift of all , but thought of few.
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• Laughter is the Best medicine
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• As You Sow So Shall you Reap.
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• Nature, the best teacher
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• Pollution : The Bane of Machine Age
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• All that glitters is not gold
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• Dreamers create a world of their own
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• God help those who help themselves.
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• Practice Makes Man Perfect
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• Service to Man is Service to God
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• #2 - Handsome is as handsome does
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• Failures are stepping stones to success.
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• Charity begins at home.
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• To err is human, to forgive divine.
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• failures are stepping stones to success.
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• Slow and steady wins the race.
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• Prevention is better that cure.
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• One good turn deserves another. 
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• Procrastination is the thief of time.
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• Actions Speak Louder Than Words
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• Cut your coat according to your cloth.
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• Honesty is the best policy
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• The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Rules The World
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• Where There is a Will,there is a Way
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• No Pains, No Gains 
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• As you sow, so shall you reap.
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• Cleanliness is Next to Godliness
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