Willful waste makes woeful want. (Wolfgang, 1992 p. 925)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Wasting things intentionally can lead to regrettable scarcity
Literally: intentional waste causes sad lack
Examples
Her reckless spending habits proved that willful waste makes woeful want
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 “Willful waste makes woeful want. (Wolfgang, 1992 p. 925)” mean?
Wasting things intentionally can lead to regrettable scarcity Literally: intentional waste causes sad lack
Is “Willful waste makes woeful want. (Wolfgang, 1992 p. 925)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.