You can lead a horse to water...

Today's Phrase

'You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink' is a proverb which means that you can give someone an opportunity but not force them to take it.


you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink

saying

used to emphasize that you can make it easy for someone to do something, but you cannot force them to do it

For example:

I gave him the email address of the person in charge of recruitment but he still didn’t contact him about the job. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.


We arranged everything for Kate: we paid for the train ticket, ordered a taxi from the station and even made a hotel booking but she still didn’t turn up to the wedding. You know what they say: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

Credit to BBC English