Sow thin, shear thin. (Strauss, 1998 p. 1158)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Poor investment yields poor returns
Literally: planting thinly, harvesting thinly
Examples
If you sow thin, shear thin, so don't expect much from that startup.
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 “Sow thin, shear thin. (Strauss, 1998 p. 1158)” mean?
Poor investment yields poor returns Literally: planting thinly, harvesting thinly
Is “Sow thin, shear thin. (Strauss, 1998 p. 1158)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.