no pain, no gain
no pain, no gain
Only by facing, dealing with, or subjecting oneself to difficulty or hardship will one truly improve or progress. I know these training sessions are hard work, but you've got to do it if you want to be a contender for the championship. No pain, no gain! The road to becoming a doctor is long, hard, and exhausting, not to mention expensive! But no pain, no gain.
See also: gain, no
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
No pain, no gain.
Fig. If you want to improve, you must work so hard that it hurts. (Associated with sports and physical exercise.) Player: I can't do any more push-ups. My muscles hurt. Coach: No pain, no gain. Come on, everybody! Run one more lap! No pain, no gain!
See also: gain, no
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
no pain, no gain
Suffering is needed to make progress, as in I've worked for hours on those irregular French verbs, but no pain, no gain. Although this idiom is often associated with athletic coaches who urge athletes to train harder, it dates from the 1500s and was already in John Ray's proverb collection of 1670 as "Without pains, no gains."
See also: gain, no
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
no pain, no gain
People say no pain, no gain to mean that you cannot achieve anything without effort or suffering. I exercise every day. No pain, no gain.
See also: gain, no
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
no pain, no gain
suffering is necessary in order to achieve something.There has been a proverbial association between pain and gain since at least the late 16th century, and ‘No Paines, no Gaines’ was the title of a 1648 poem by Robert Herrick . The modern form, which dates from the 1980s, probably originated as a slogan used in fitness classes.
1997 American Spectator As the cliché goes, no pain, no gain. In fact, in our confessional age, you can make quite a lot of gains for very little pain.
See also: gain, no
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
nothing ventured, nothing gained
If you won’t take a chance you can’t expect to achieve anything. There are two older proverbial forms of this expression, nothing (nought) venture, nothing (nought) have, stated by Chaucer (ca. 1374), and nothing venture, nothing win, stated by William Caxton about a century later. The modern form appears in Thomas Heywood’s play Captives (1624): “I see here that nought venters, nothinge gaynes.” It has been repeated in numerous languages ever since. Another, seemingly modern form is no pain, no gain, today frequently uttered by coaches, trainers, and physical therapists. Versions of this date from the early seventeenth century—“Pain is forgotten where gain follows” appeared in several early proverb collections—and the current rhyming cliché was proverbial by the mid-nineteenth century.
See also: gain, nothing
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- no gain without pain
- nothing ventured, nothing gained
- wash (one's) hands of (someone or something)
- wash hands of
- wash one's hands of
- wash your hands of
- wash your hands of somebody/something
- wash your hands of something/someone
- for (one's) (own) sake
- for sake