faint heart never won fair lady
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: faint heart ne'er won fair lady
Meaning · English
Timid people rarely achieve their desires
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Người tâm hồn yếu ớt hiếm khi đạt được mong muốn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a cowardly suitor failing to win a woman's hand
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 “faint heart never won fair lady” mean?
Timid people rarely achieve their desires Literally: a cowardly suitor failing to win a woman's hand
Is “faint heart never won fair lady” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.