He built the whole house by the sweat of his brow.
by the sweat of your brow
idiomThrough hard physical labour and personal effort.
Origin
The phrase comes from God's words to Adam after the Fall, in Genesis 3:19: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground." Cast out of Eden, humanity is told that food will no longer come freely — it must be worked for.
The line marks a turn in the story from ease to toil, and it fixed an idea deep in Western thinking: that labour is the price of survival, and that bread is earned rather than given.
The modern form softened "face" to "brow" and dropped the theology, but the meaning held. To do something by the sweat of your brow is to achieve it through your own hard physical work, with no shortcuts and no one else doing it for you.
Every acre of that farm was cleared by the sweat of her brow, long before machines did the work.
They inherited nothing and borrowed less; the business exists today only by the sweat of their brow and a stubborn refusal to quit.
Genesis 1–4: the making of the world, Eden, and the first family.
- 01
forbidden fruit (idiom)
Illicit pleasure.
- 02
my brother's keeper (idiom)
Responsible for the welfare of another person — most often used when denying that responsibility.
- 03
the mark of Cain (idiom)
A visible stigma that marks someone out as guilty or disgraced.
- 04
let there be light (idiom)
A phrase marking the start of something new, or a moment of sudden clarity.
- 05
fig-leaf (word)
A small or flimsy thing used to hide something embarrassing or shameful.