he's an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Everyone benefits from their own work or efforts
Literally: a cook who can't taste his own food
Examples
He's an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers, so he's making a fortune from his restaurant
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 “he's an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers” mean?
Everyone benefits from their own work or efforts Literally: a cook who can't taste his own food
Is “he's an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.