Word.ws English Dictionary

if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen

if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen proverb: if you cannot handle the pressure, you should not remain in a position where you have to deal with it.

Proverb

if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen

  1. If you cannot handle the pressure, you should not remain in a position where you have to deal with it.

Origin of if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen

Attributed to Harry S. Truman, coined in a newspaper in July 1942.

Questions about if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen

What does if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen mean?
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen means if you cannot handle the pressure, you should not remain in a position where you have to deal with it.
What part of speech is if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen?
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen is a proverb.

Words near if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen in the dictionary

  1. if you can't beat them, join them
  2. if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull
  3. if you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, blind them with bullshit
  4. if you can't do the time, don't do the crime
  5. if you can't lick them, join them
  6. if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen
  7. if you don't ask, you don't get
  8. if you don't mind me saying
  9. if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging
  10. if you fly with the crows, you get shot with the crows
  11. if you go far enough left, you get your guns back

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/if_you_can%27t_stand_the_heat%2C_get_out_of_the_kitchen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.