English · Proverb Candidate

you only live once

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Also seen as: you only live once

Sense 1

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Alternative form of you only go around once.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Một người chỉ sống có một lần

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).

Sense 2

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

One should enjoy life and take risks, as life is short and unique.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Chúng ta chỉ sống có một lần

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: you only live one time

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

I'm going to travel the world, you only live once.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “you only live once” mean?

Alternative form of you only go around once.

Is “you only live once” formal or informal?

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