Learn English – Are there English equivalents to a Japanese old saying, “Be the mouth of cock rather than remaining as the tail of ox”

expressionsproverbs

Every time I hear about the success story of entrepreneurs such as IT business, not to mention Apple, Microsoft, and Soft Bank founders, an old Japanese saying, 鶏口となるとも牛後となる勿れ‐“(Choose to) be the mouth of a cock rather than ending up as the tail of an ox,” comes to my mind.

I understand this maxim was imported from Chinese saying, “寧為鶏口、勿為牛後 – ning wei ji kou wu nju hou” (If I quote wrong, please correct) which has the exactly same meaning.

The mouth of a cock and the tail of an ox are compared to the leader or owner of small company / organization (with a big prospect for growing up as a big company in the end) and just common office workers of big companies.

Are there any equivalent English sayings that encourage someone who is ambitious enough to start up his / her own company or challenging new business by spinning out from their old organization?

Best Answer

The following comes to mind:

Better to be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond.

Although for 鶏口となるも牛後となるなかれ, http://kotowaza-allguide.com/ke/keikoutonarumo.html gives the following, which I personally had never heard:

Better be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion.

Better be first in a village than second at Rome.

Related Topic