why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free

proverb

Do not expect somebody to make a costly commitment if it will give them nothing they do not already have; used especially as a warning against having sexual intercourse before marriage (or conversely, as encouragement against getting married).

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Meanings

proverbwhy buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?
  1. Do not expect somebody to make a costly commitment if it will give them nothing they do not already have; used especially as a warning against having sexual intercourse before marriage (or conversely, as encouragement against getting married).

    I can get plenty of dames, so why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free...ya know what I mean?

    2008, Inge Auerbacher, Highway To New York: A Lady Truck Driver Adventure, page 38
    2 more examples

    The whole idea of why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free relates to offering only a very brief sample of your music online. I have intellectual property, and I treat that intellectual property very seriously as an artist.

    2005, Steven Gordon, The Future of the Music Business

    In the past, women who wanted to move in with a boyfriend would get a strict talking-to about a common male mentality: “Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”

    2007, Elina Furman, Kiss and Run
Cite this entry
APA

why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/why%20buy%20the%20cow%20when%20you%20can%20get%20the%20milk%20for%20free

MLA

“why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/why%20buy%20the%20cow%20when%20you%20can%20get%20the%20milk%20for%20free. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/why%20buy%20the%20cow%20when%20you%20can%20get%20the%20milk%20for%20free.

Source: why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.