Don't put all your eggs in one basket. — English proverb · Smartyfair

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

English proverb

Source not found yetWisdomAncient

In plain words

Don't risk everything you have on just one thing.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 62% sureThe sources checked so far agree on this one. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: Traced in print to Cervantes's Don Quixote (1605, Spanish; a paraphrase, not identical English wording); likely of Spanish or Italian folk origin before entering English in the 17th century.
Work: Cervantes, Don Quixote
Occasion: 1605 · Spain
Sources checked: en.wiktionary.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Traces to Don Quixote, early 1600s, citing Titelman's Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs

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