if you can't beat them, join them

English

Proverb

if you can't beat them, join them

1. If your adversaries are stronger than you, it is better to join the adversaries.

Translations

if your adversaries are stronger than yourself, it is better to join the adversaries

• Finnish: jos et voi voittaa heitä, liity heihin (fi)
• French: si votre adversaire est plus fort que vous, joignez-vous à lui (fr)
• German: man muss mit den Wölfen heulen (de) (one should howl with wolves)
• Norwegian: kan du ikke slå dem, bli med dem (no)
• Portuguese: se você não pode vencê-los, junte-se a eles (pt)

• Russian: не можешь побить, присоединяйся к ним (ru) (ne móžešʹ pobítʹ, prisojedinjájsja k nim) (literal), с волками жить — по-волчьи выть (ru) (s volkámi žitʹ - po-vólčʹi vytʹ) (to live amongst wolves, you should howl like a wolf)
• Spanish: si no puedes contra el enemigo, únete a él (es)

References

• Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings, 1996, ISBN 0-679-44554-4, p. 159.