ఒకటొకటిగా నూరా, ఒకటేమారు నూరా?

okatokatiga nura, okatemaru nura?

Translation

One by one a hundred, or a hundred all at once?

Meaning

This proverb is used to question whether someone prefers to face troubles or tasks incrementally or all together in one go. It is often used in the context of discipline or consequences, asking if a person wants to be corrected for every small mistake or face one large punishment for everything combined.

Related Phrases

One on the outside and another on the inside

This expression is used to describe a person who is hypocritical or two-faced. It refers to someone whose outward words or behavior do not match their true internal intentions or feelings.

The fingers of one hand are not the same.

This expression is used to highlight that diversity and differences are natural. Just as the fingers on a single hand differ in size and shape, people—even within the same family or group—will have different talents, temperaments, or opinions. It is often used to counsel patience or to point out that one should not expect uniformity in human nature.

Even if a hundred crows caw, the song of one cuckoo is better.

Quality is far superior to quantity. This expression is used to emphasize that the words of one wise or talented person are more valuable than the meaningless noise of a hundred fools or mediocre people.

My husband is a dummy; it's the same whether he is there or not.

This proverb is used to describe a person who is completely useless or ineffective. It implies that their presence provides no benefit, and their absence makes no difference, much like a decorative figure or a person with no initiative.

If the disease is one thing, the medicine given is another.

This expression is used to describe a situation where the solution provided does not match the problem at hand. It refers to irrelevant actions, wrong remedies, or addressing a completely different issue instead of the actual cause of a problem.

Treating a horse and a donkey as the same.

This expression is used to describe a situation where no distinction is made between excellence and mediocrity, or between something valuable and something worthless. It highlights a lack of judgment or fairness when a person of great merit is treated the same as someone with none.

Whether a blind eye is closed or open, it is all the same.

This expression is used to describe a person or a thing that is completely useless or ineffective. It suggests that the presence or absence of certain actions/tools doesn't matter when the core functionality is missing. It is often used to refer to someone who is indifferent to what is happening around them or an effort that yields no result regardless of the approach.

Doing one thing and it becoming another

This expression is used to describe a situation where one's actions lead to an unexpected or unintended outcome, often despite good intentions. It is similar to the English phrase 'Backfiring' or 'Best-laid plans gone awry.' It describes a result that is completely different from what was originally planned.

A hundred one by one, or a hundred at once ? Said in doubt of a person's liberality, as the " hundred" promised would probably turn out to mean only one.

This proverb is used to ask whether a task should be completed incrementally over time or all in one single effort. It is often used in situations involving debt repayment, workload management, or distribution of goods, highlighting the choice between gradual progress and a sudden, overwhelming action.

One is a broken piece, and the other is a hollow husk.

This expression is used to describe two people or things that are equally useless, defective, or of poor quality. It highlights that there is no choice between them because neither has any value, often used when comparing two options that are both unsatisfactory.