God helps those who help themselves

English

Alternative forms

• God helps them that help themselves
• heaven helps those who help themselves
• the Lord helps those who help themselves

Etymology

First appearing in English (in this form) in 1698, in Algernon Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government. Translation of a maxim found in Ancient Greek and Roman literature; equivalent proverbs are found in many languages, such as Hungarian and Italian.

Proverb

God helps those who help themselves

1. Good fortune or providential aid comes to those who make an effort to accomplish things.

Translations

good fortune comes to those who make an effort to accomplish things

• Arabic: اعقِلْها وتَوكَّلْ
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 天道酬勤 (zh) (tiāndào chóuqín), 自助者天助 (zìzhùzhě tiānzhù)

• Czech: pomoz si sám a Bůh ti pomůže
• Finnish: Jumala auttaa niitä, jotka auttavat itse itseään
• French: aide-toi, le ciel t’aidera (fr)
• German: hilf dir selbst, dann hilft dir Gott
• Hungarian: segíts magadon, s az Isten is megsegít (hu)
• Italian: aiutati che Dio t'aiuta, aiutati che il ciel t'aiuta
• Japanese: 天は自ら助ける者を助く (ten wa mizukara tasukeru mono o tasuku)
• Korean: 자구다복(自求多福) (jagudabok), 하늘은 스스로 돕는 자를 돕는다 (ko) (haneur-eun seuseuro domneun ja-reul domneunda)
• Portuguese: Deus ajuda quem se ajuda
• Romanian: Dumnezeu te ajută, dacă te ajuți singur; ajută-te și Dumnezeu te va ajuta.
• Russian: на бо́га наде́йся, а сам не плоша́й (na bóga nadéjsja, a sam ne plošáj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко се сам чува и Бог га чува

  Roman: ko se sam čuva i Bog ga čuva

• Spanish: ayúdate que Dios te ayudará, a Dios rogando y con el mazo dando (es)
• Swedish: hjälp dig själv så hjälper dig gud
• Thai: ตนเป็นที่พึ่งแห่งตน

See also

• God works in mysterious ways

Further reading

• God helps those who help themselves on Wikipedia.Wikipedia