We have a proverb in my language: “Make the jacket to the button”. I’m looking for the equivalent in English.
The meaning of the proverb is:
- A tiny part of job is already done. It turns out that the rest of the job can only be done with a significant compromise due to the way the tiny part was done. We use the proverb for the approach that the tiny part should not be reworked and the compromise should be accepted resulting a poorer outcome overall.
- A real life example: You want to build a bike path through a park. In the same time you decide to call a gardening team to maintain the plants in the park. Since the construction workers can’t work because of the gardening team you decide to build the bike path around the park instead of waiting for them to finish. You made the jacket to the button.
Answer
There is the similar proverb
cut your coat according to your cloth
The Oxford Dictionaries says this:
PHRASE
proverb
Undertake only what you have the money or ability to do and no more.
with the example
In terms of the other two options, we have to cut our coat according to our cloth.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Manngo , Answer Author : Weather Vane