don't borrow trouble

don't borrow trouble pronunciation

/dont BOR-oh TRUH-bul/

Meaning

Porch advice for when somebody is spinning out over a maybe: the truck might break down, the rain might ruin the hay, the doctor might have bad news. The point is you don't take out a loan on tomorrow's mess and haul it into today. Deal with the trouble that is actually here.

How folks use it

• “Quit fretting about what the banker might say; don't borrow trouble.”
• “That storm is still two counties over, so don't borrow trouble yet.”

Origin and etymology

American saying from the mid-1800s, often heard as the shorter form of "don't borrow trouble from tomorrow." Folks tie it to Matthew 6:34, about not worrying over tomorrow because each day has trouble enough. It stuck hard in Southern and Appalachian talk, the kind of line a Georgia daddy still cuts a worry spiral with.

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