When you are an anvil, hold you Still; when you are a hammer, strike your fill. 
Proverbs on a similar topic
- Make a pair.
- A man is known by his friends.
- Six of one and half a dozen of the other.
- See which way the wind is blowing.
- Jack is as good as his master.
- Like will to like.
- The house shows the owner.
- All tarred with the same brush.
- So many countries, so many customs.
- Like master, like man.
- Who keeps company with the wolf will learn to howl.
- A black hen lays a white egg.
- When at Rome do as the Romans do.
- Like question, like answer.
- A little bird is content with a little nest.
- He loves me well that makes my belly swell.
- One mule scrubs another.
Related proverbs
Similar proverbs in another language
German
-
Man muß entweder Hammer oder Amboß sein.
You have to be either a hammer or an anvil.
Czech
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Nemáš-li koně, choď pěšky.
If you don't have a horse, walk.