Despite being surrounded by something, you cannot benefit from it.
This saying was coined by Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
It is often misquoted as "Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink"
More expressions and their source
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The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
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