an army marches on its stomach

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

An organization's success depends on its basic needs being met

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Sự thành công của một tổ chức phụ thuộc vào việc đáp ứng nhu cầu cơ bản

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: soldiers needing food to march
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English
Sources & notes

Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “an army marches on its stomach” mean?

An organization's success depends on its basic needs being met Literally: soldiers needing food to march

Is “an army marches on its stomach” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.