charity begins at home
Also found in: Acronyms.
charity begins at home
proverb One should help family and close friends before helping others. When are you going to get your dear sister a job at your company? Remember, charity begins at home! She seems to have forgotten that charity begins at home—she has no problem volunteering at the church but rarely visits her own mother.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
Charity begins at home.
Prov. You should take care of family and people close to you before you worry about helping others. I don't think our church should worry so much about a foreign relief fund when there are people in need right here in our city. Charity begins at home. If you really want to make the world a better place, start by being polite to your sister. Charity begins at home.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
charity begins at home
Be generous to your family before helping others. For example, She spends hours and hours on volunteer work and neglects the children, forgetting that charity begins at home . This proverb was first recorded in English, in slightly different form, in John Wycliffe's Of Prelates (c. 1380); "Charity should begin at himself."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
charity begins at home
orcharity starts at home
If you say charity begins at home or charity starts at home, you mean that you should deal with the needs of people close to you before you start to help others who are far away. Charity begins at home. There are many tasks right on campus that need volunteers as well. There are other cases in other countries but I think that charity should start at home.
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012
charity begins at home
a person's first responsibility is for the needs of their own family and friends. proverbFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
ˌcharity begins at ˈhome
(saying) people should look after their own family before they think about othersFarlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
charity begins at home
One should take care of oneself and one’s family before worrying about others. This proverb is a version of Paul’s advice to Timothy in the New Testament (Timothy 5:4), which in the King James version was translated as “But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents.” The fourteenth-century English churchman John Wycliffe wrote, ca. 1380, “Charity schuld bigyne at hem-self,” which soon became “at home,” not just in English but in numerous other languages. Later theologians suggested that charity should begin but not end at home, yet even in the twentieth century it continued to be pointed out that it often does (“Charity begins at home and usually stays there,” H. B. Thompson, Body, Boots and Britches, 1940).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer