you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
You can provide someone with opportunity, but you cannot force them to take it
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Có thể cung cấp cơ hội cho ai đó, nhưng không thể ép họ sử dụng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: leading a horse to water but not forcing it to drink
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 “you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink” mean?
You can provide someone with opportunity, but you cannot force them to take it Literally: leading a horse to water but not forcing it to drink
Is “you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.