only fools and horses work

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Only foolish people work hard

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Chỉ những người ngốc mới làm việc chăm chỉ

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: animals, like horses, work tirelessly
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 “only fools and horses work” mean?

Only foolish people work hard Literally: animals, like horses, work tirelessly

Is “only fools and horses work” formal or informal?

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