Don’t count your chickens

“Don’t count your chickens” is a short version of “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”.

A farmer hopes that every egg will hatch and grow into a chicken — but he can’t be sure. An egg is not yet a chicken. Likewise, having a job interview is not the same as getting a job offer, and leading a race doesn’t mean that you will win it.

This proverb warns us not to think that everything will work out well. We shouldn’t celebrate success until we know for certain that we have achieved it.

The popular saying comes from Aesop’s Fables, in a story about a milkmaid. She was carrying some milk, dreaming of the money she would make from it... and the eggs she would buy with the money... and the chickens that the eggs would hatch into... and the money she would sell them for... but her head was so full of plans that she spilled the milk.

Another proverb which warns us of the risks that can come between us and success is: “There’s many a slip ’twixt [between] cup and lip.”