English · Idiom Historical

no flying without wings

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Nothing can be done without the proper means.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

không có gì có thể làm được mà không có phương tiện phù hợp

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “no flying without wings” mean?

Nothing can be done without the proper means.

Is “no flying without wings” formal or informal?

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

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