themselves

by themselves 

1. with help from no one else. Do you think they can do it by themselves? Mike and Max cannot lift the piano by themselves.

2. with no one else present; alone (of two or more people). They are sitting there by themselves. Let's sit with them. They enjoy spending the evening at home by themselves.

Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves, and Listeners never hear any good of themselves.

Prov. If you eavesdrop on people who are talking about you, chances are that you will hear them say unfavorable things about you. (This implies that you should not eavesdrop.) Child: Mommy, I heard Suzy and Lisa talking about me, and they said I was a crybaby! Mother: That just goes to show you, dear, that eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves. I knew that Mother and Dad had gone into the other room to discuss my situation, and I was tempted to put my ear to the door and listen to them, but I remembered that listeners never hear any good of themselves.

See also: any, good, hear, never

God helps them that help themselves. and God helps those who help themselves.

Prov. You cannot depend solely on divine help, but must work yourself to get what you want. You can't spend your days waiting for a good job to find you. God helps those that help themselves. If you want a better education, start studying. God helps those who help themselves.

See also: god, help, them

speak for itself and speak for themselves

[for something] not to need explaining; to have an obvious meaning. The facts speak for themselves. Tom is guilty. Your results speak for themselves. You need to work harder.

See also: itself, speak

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speak for itself/themselves

if something speaks for itself, it does not need any explanation I'm not going to talk about our business successes. I think the report speaks for itself.

See also: itself, speak