Where there is a will...

Posted by ESC on March 27, 2008 at 21:03:

In Reply to: Where there is a will... posted by Preethi on March 27, 2008 at 16:30:

: 'Where there is a will, there is a way.' Please give explanation

If a person really wants to do something, he or she will find a way around obstacles and do it.

"Will" meaning wish, determination, desire. See
www.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary

If a person really and truly wants to get more exercise, for example, he or she will find a way. Get up early and go to the gym. Take the children on a walk. If the person really doesn't want to exercise, he or she will make up excuses.

The phrase dates back to 1640 -- George Herbert's "Jacula Prudentusm." "To him that will, ways are not wanting." The modern version, "Where there is a will, there is a way." appeared in "New Monthly Magazine" in 1822.

Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New; by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).