Meanings
- alternativeAlternative form of you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Whenever we’re asked, we give them some [contraceptive] pills. We bring it up, as a matter of fact. But, of course, we’ve got no way of knowing if they use them or not. Nothing I can do about that. You know, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
1968, the editors of Look, “[Overheard in Suburbia] Abortionist”, in Suburbia: The Good Life in Our Exploding Utopia, New York, N.Y.: Cowles Education Corporation, →LCCN, page 972 more examples
“Hush! hush! there is Angel on the piazza. I don’t see,” sinking into a chair, for she had been standing, “how this has come about. I thought Allen—” / “He never cared a straw for me—in that way. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Not that I would leave any stone unturned to get Allen, but it’s of no use, with that Cecile Fay’s beautiful eyes and magnificent hair under his nose every day!”
1874 October, Esther Serle Kenneth, “By a Hair’s Breadth”, in Ballou’s Monthly Magazine, volume XL (238 total), number 4 (238 overall), Boston, Mass.: Thomes & Talbot, […], page 356, column 2Let the Legislature pass a law compelling the State to furnish every man with work, and what good would that do? It has been proved within the last six months that there is employment in Chicago, at fair wages, for all who want work. The State could not make them work. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Unless the State is endowed with the power of working miracles it cannot convert the lazy Socialistic loafer into an industrious citizen.
1879 January 2, “Socialistic Stupidity”, in The Cleveland Leader, number 2, Cleveland, Oh.: […] Leader Printing Company […], page 4, column 4
Cite this entry
you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/you%20can%20lead%20a%20horse%20to%20water%2C%20but%20you%20can't%20make%20him%20drink
“you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/you%20can%20lead%20a%20horse%20to%20water%2C%20but%20you%20can't%20make%20him%20drink. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/you%20can%20lead%20a%20horse%20to%20water%2C%20but%20you%20can't%20make%20him%20drink.
Source: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.