you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink
Sense 1
You can show someone how to do something, but you can't make them do it.
Có thể chỉ cho ai đó cách làm việc gì, nhưng không thể bắt họ làm
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Sense 2
You can provide someone with an opportunity, but you cannot force them to take it
Bạn có thể tạo cơ hội cho ai đó, nhưng không thể ép họ tận dụng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink” mean?
You can show someone how to do something, but you can't make them do it.
Is “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.