Often those closest to a person don't benefit from the person's expertise
The earliest recording of this proverb is in John Heywood's 1546 book of proverbs.
A similar sentiment is found in Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy, first published in 1621: "Him that makes shoes go barefoot himself".
Other variants include "the shoemaker's son always goes barefoot" and "the cobbler's children go barefoot." Children or child is sometimes replaced with the more colloquial kids.
Alphabetical list of expressions
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At the Chinese Table
by Carolyn Phillips
Part memoir of life in Taiwan, part love story—A beautifully told account of China's cuisines with recipes.
Morningside Heights
by Joshua Henkin
A tender and big-hearted novel about love in the face of loss, from the award-winning author of The World Without You.
Together We Will Go
by J. Michael Straczynski
A novel as much about the will to live as the choice to end it.
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