science

God helps those who help themselves

God helps those who help themselves is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand God helps those who help themselves rather than just read about it. In short: The phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is a motto that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative and agency. The phrase originated in ancient Greece as "the gods help those who help themselves" and may originally have been proverbial.

Key takeaways

God helps those who help themselves belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reproduce the core statement of God helps those who help themselves from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is a motto that emphasizes the importance of self-initiative and agency. The phrase originated in ancient Greece as "the gods help those who help themselves" and may originally have been proverbial. It is illustrated by two of Aesop's Fables and a similar sentiment is found in ancient Greek drama. Sophocles used it in the form of "No good e'er comes of leisure purposeless; And heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act", while Euripides portrays Orestes saying, "I think that Fortune watcheth o'er our lives, surer than we. But well said: he who strives will find his gods strive for him equally." Ovid's version of the phrase is "divinity helps those who dare" (audentes deus ipse iuvat). Although it has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, the modern English wording appears earlier in Algernon Sidney's work. The phrase is often mistaken as a scriptural quote, though it is not stated in the Bible. Some Christians consider the expression contrary to the biblical message of God's grace and help for the helpless, and its denunciation of greed and selfishness. A variant of the phrase is addressed in the Quran (13:11).

Origin

Ancient Greece

The sentiment appears in several ancient Greek tragedies. Sophocles, in his Philoctetes (c. 409 BC), wrote, "No good e'er comes of leisure purposeless; And heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act." Euripides, in the fragmentary Hippolytus Veiled (before 428 BC), mentions that, "Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lends aid." In his Iphigeneia in Tauris, Orestes says, "I think that Fortune watcheth o'er our lives, surer than we. But well said: he who strives will find his gods strive for him equally." A similar version of this saying "God himself helps those who dare," better translated as "divinity helps those who dare" (audentes deus ipse iuvat), comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, 10.586. The phrase is spoken by Hippomenes when contemplating whether to enter a foot race against Atalanta for her hand in marriage. If Hippomenes were to lose, however, he would be killed. Hippomenes decides to challenge Atalanta to a race and, with the aid of Venus, Hippomenes was able to win the race. The same concept is found in the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner, first recorded by Babrius in the 1st century AD. In it, a wagon falls into a ravine, or in later versions becomes mired, but when its driver appeals to Hercules for help, he is told to get to work himself. Aesop is also credited with a similar fable about a man who calls on the goddess Athena for help when his ship is wrecked and is advised to try swimming first. It has been conjectured that both stories were created to illustrate an already existing proverb. The French author Jean de La Fontaine also adapted the first of these fables as Le chartier embourbé (Fables VI.18) and draws the moral Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera (Help yourself and Heaven will help you too). A little earlier, George Herbert had included "Help thyself, and God will help thee" in his proverb collection, Jacula Prudentum (1651). But it was the English political theorist Algernon Sidney who originated the now familiar wording, "God helps those who help themselves", apparently the first exact rendering of the phrase. Benjamin Franklin later used it in his Poor Richard's Almanack (1736) and has been widely quoted.

Hebrew Bible Several passages within the Tanakh imply a predispondence for blessing amongst those who work diligently for God, including:

Deuteronomy 28:8 – The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. Proverbs 6:10–12 – A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. Proverbs 12:11 – He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment. Proverbs 12:24 – Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor. Proverbs 13:4 – The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. Proverbs 21:31 – The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.

Talmud In Ta'anit the Mishnah states:

The Gemara explains: Rav Adda bar Ahava holds in accordance with this statement, as Rabbi Yannai said: A person should never stand in a place of danger and say: A miracle will be performed for me, and I will escape unharmed, lest a miracle is not performed for him. And if you say that a miracle will be performed for him, they will deduct it from his merits.

New Testament While the term does not appear verbatim in Christian scriptures, these passages are used to suggest an ethic of personal agency, and taking initiative:

Colossians 3:23 – Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. 1 Timothy 5:8 – If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. James 2:26 – For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Reliance upon God is strongly implied in addition to working hard. There is also a relationship to the Parable of the Faithful Servant, and the Parable of the Ten Virgins, which has a similar eschatological theme: be prepared for the day of reckoning. Conversely with agency, in other instances the Bible emphasises reliance on God and examples of Jesus serving or healing those who lacked the ability to help themselves, implying that self-reliance and reliance on God are complementary (See Mark 6:34; Mark 1:30–31; and Mark 10:46–52.)

Islamic texts A passage with similar sentiments can be found in the Quran:

Indeed Allah will not change the conditions of a population until they change what is in themselves. Surely Allah is with those who shun evil and who do good deeds Is there any reward for goodness except goodness? It has a different meaning in that it implies that help in oneself is a prerequisite for expecting the help of God. An Arab proverb and reported saying of the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a similar meaning is "Trust in God But Tie Your Camel". According to Tirmidhi, one day Muhammad noticed a Bedouin leaving his camel without tying it. He asked the Bedouin, "Why don't you tie down your camel?" The Bedouin answered, "I placed my trust in Allah." At that, Muhammad said, "Tie your camel and place your trust in Allah."

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Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with God helps those who help themselves

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what God helps those who help themselves claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to God helps those who help themselves before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about God helps those who help themselves ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of God helps those who help themselves

In research: God helps those who help themselves appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses God helps those who help themselves in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: God helps those who help themselves is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aesop's Fables, Euripides, Greek proverbs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for God helps those who help themselves outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study God helps those who help themselves in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what God helps those who help themselves means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain God helps those who help themselves out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is God helps those who help themselves in simple terms?

Why does God helps those who help themselves matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study God helps those who help themselves?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on God helps those who help themselves.