176Japanese proverb ことわざ
明日の百より今日の五十
あすのひゃくよりきょうのごじゅうAsu no hyaku yori kyō no gojū
“Better fifty today than a hundred tomorrow.”
The meaning
The modest certain beats the hypothetical brilliant. Tomorrow has never yet given anyone anything; today has.
At the origin
A common-sense proverb on the value of the certain present.
The characters
- 明日 asutomorrow
- の noof (link)
- 百 hyakua hundred
- より
- 今日
- の
- 五十
のParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.
In practice
Take the progress available now rather than waiting for the ideal.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 206 人の噂も七十五日 A rumor lives but seventy-five days.
- 071 明日は明日の風が吹く Tomorrow, tomorrow's wind will blow.
- 108 月日は百代の過客にして The days and months are travelers of a hundred generations.
- 231 鶏頭の十四五本もありぬべし Cockscombs — there must be fourteen, maybe fifteen.
- 232 春や昔十五万石の城下かな Spring — long ago, a proud castle town of a hundred fifty thousand koku.