good work ain't cheap, cheap work ain't good

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Meaning · English

Synonym of buy cheap, buy twice and if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

tương tự như mua rẻ thì mua hai lần và trả lương thấp thì nhận được kết quả thấp

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English
Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Common questions

What does “good work ain't cheap, cheap work ain't good” mean?

Synonym of buy cheap, buy twice and if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

Is “good work ain't cheap, cheap work ain't good” formal or informal?

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