Waste not, want not

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

While Caro “wouldn’t describe wasteful spending as a defining boomer trait,” she noted that “many boomers were raised by parents who lived through the Great Depression. That experience tends to produce strong money beliefs — sometimes in the direction of extreme thrift, and sometimes in the opposite direction. In families where scarcity was intense, the next generation can either internalize ‘waste not, want not’ or subconsciously react against it.”

From MarketWatch

"We recently had a car pull up outside our gate, dumping four black bags of empty DVD boxes even though we were open," said Lesley Reynolds, who runs the Waste Not Want Not charity warehouse in Oakdale, Caerphilly.

From BBC

The result is a relatively respectable chicken quesadilla that not only sates you in the moment, but satisfies a core value of "waste not, want not."

From Salon

The Massier family was able to survive by adopting the philosophy of “waste not, want not,” “use it up or wear it out” and “make do or do without,” she said.

From Washington Times

Controlling waste is something everyone can do to help the planet, she said, in a column called "Waste not, want not".

From BBC