beggars can't be choosers

English

Phrase

beggars can’t be choosers

1. (proverb) When resources are limited, one must accept even substandard gifts.

Related terms

• don't look a gift horse in the mouth

Translations

when resources are limited, one must accept even substandard gifts

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 飢不擇食 (cmn), 饥不择食 (cmn) (jībùzéshí)

• Finnish: köyhällä ei ole varaa nirsoilla (fi)
• French: à cheval donné, on ne regarde pas la denture (fr)
• German: in der Not schmeckt jedes Brot (de)
• Hungarian: éhes ember nem válogat (hu)
• Icelandic: vandfýsni hæfir ekki snauðum (is), (figurative) hafa skal það sem hendi er næst (is)

• Italian: a caval donato non si guarda in bocca (it)
• Malay:

  Rumi: bersyukur dengan yang ada (ms)

  Jawi: برشکور دڠن يڠ اد (ms)

• Portuguese: a cavalo dado não se olha os dentes
• Russian: бедняки не выбирают (ru) (bednjakí ne vybirájut) 
• Slovene: v sili še hudič muhe žre (sl)
• Spanish: a caballo regalado no le mires el diente (es)

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, ISBN 0-679-44554-4, p. 22.