deal gently with the bird you mean to catch
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Treat someone kindly to gain their trust or cooperation
Literally: handle carefully the bird intended to be caught
Examples
The manager dealt gently with the potential investor to secure the deal
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “deal gently with the bird you mean to catch” mean?
Treat someone kindly to gain their trust or cooperation Literally: handle carefully the bird intended to be caught
Is “deal gently with the bird you mean to catch” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.