Thread: I have a doubt...

this phrase is in Spanish... How can i say "Camaron que se duerme, se lo lleva la corriente" in english?? Thanks

How about ?


Don't rest on your laurels

You snooze, you lose

I like "you snooze, you lose" because it captures the idea of if you take it easy, you'll get carried along with the tide. ("Carried along with the tide," or current, is about the only fish/ shrimp equivalent I can think of. We don't have a saying in English about a shrimp who sleeps.)

"The early bird gets the worm," and "a rolling stone gathers no moss," state the same idea, but from the opposite viewpoint of being active, rather than passive.

Another one that gets at the same idea is: "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there."

Originally Posted by vicente

A couple of others with similar meaning:

Time and tide wait for none
Time waits for no man.

To be honest I'm not exactly sure what the message is in that dicho. Is the shrimp wasting time? Missing opportunities? Drifting in life without direction?

For example, let's say you have a company. You sell widgets. If you just rest on your laurels and don't improve your widgets someone (the competition) will come along and selll improved widgets and force you out of business because their widgets will be better than yours.

Keep on your toes or you´ll be left behind