Let every vat stand upon its own bottom. (William Bullein)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Everyone should be self-sufficient and responsible for themselves
Literally: vats standing on their own bottoms
Examples
The entrepreneur believed that let every vat stand upon its own bottom, so she didn't invest in other companies
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 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “Let every vat stand upon its own bottom. (William Bullein)” mean?
Everyone should be self-sufficient and responsible for themselves Literally: vats standing on their own bottoms
Is “Let every vat stand upon its own bottom. (William Bullein)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.