English · Proverb Attested

sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Also seen as: some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Sometimes you win and sometimes you are defeated; everybody has successes and failures.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Đôi khi thắng đôi khi thua, mọi người đều có thành công và thất bại

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used American English

Sources & notes

Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).

Common questions

What does “sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you” mean?

Sometimes you win and sometimes you are defeated; everybody has successes and failures.

Is “sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you” formal or informal?

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

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