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the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must

the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must is the alternative form of the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

Meaning of the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

Proverb

the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must

  1. (chiefly international relations) The weak cannot resist the decisions of the strong; power, not morality, decides the outcome of any dispute.
    • Bitter is the necessity of it. It knows no law. In the world the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.1924 November, Arthur W. Wheen, “Two Masters”, in The London Mercury, volume 11, number 61, page 35

Questions about the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must

What is the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must the alternative form of?
The strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must is the alternative form of the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.

Words near the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must in the dictionary

  1. the Street
  2. the streets are paved with gold
  3. The Strip
  4. the stroke that broke the camel's back
  5. the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
  6. the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must
  7. the struggle is real
  8. the stuffing out of
  9. The Stukeleys
  10. the sun is over the yardarm
  11. the sun is setting on something

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must (page history and authors); the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must (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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