if wishes were horses, beggars would ride
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Wishes alone are not enough to achieve something
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Khát vọng một mình là không đủ để đạt được điều gì
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a world where wishes could be used as horses for transportation
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 “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride” mean?
Wishes alone are not enough to achieve something Literally: a world where wishes could be used as horses for transportation
Is “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.