take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves proverb: if one takes care of little things one at a time, they can add up to big things.
Proverb
take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
- If one takes care of little things one at a time, they can add up to big things.
- Old Mr. Lowndes, the famous Secretary of the Treasury, ‥used to say‥Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.1750, Chesterfield, letter 5 Feb. (1932) IV. 1500
- It is these little things that matter, Pickering. Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves is as true of personal habits as of money.1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act II, page 132
Synonyms of take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
- a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step
- many a mickle makes a muckle
- every little helps
Antonyms
- don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish
Forms of take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
| alternative form | take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves |
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Questions about take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
- What does take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves mean?
- Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves means if one takes care of little things one at a time, they can add up to big things.
- What part of speech is take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves?
- Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves is a proverb.
Words near take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.oga.
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