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• Make hay while the sun shines
  Make hay while the sun shines

  Take advantage of favorable circumstances; they may not last.
• make hay while the sun shines
  make hay while the sun shines

  Take advantage of favorable circumstances, as in Car sales have finally improved so we're making hay while the sun shines. This expression alludes to optimum dry weather for cutting grass. [Early 1500s]

Make hay while the sun shines

Cultural  

1. Take advantage of favorable circumstances; they may not last.

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make hay while the sun shines Idioms  

1. Take advantage of favorable circumstances, as in Car sales have finally improved so we're making hay while the sun shines. This expression alludes to optimum dry weather for cutting grass. [Early 1500s]

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Example Sentences

That matters because successful investors make hay while the sun shines.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

They say you should make hay while the sun shines, and farmers have been doing just that.

From BBC • Jul. 15, 2025

Yet companies in this ballooning market might be advised to make hay while the sun shines.

From Reuters • Oct. 11, 2022

The old saying is - make hay while the sun shines.

From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2018

No, no, let us make hay while the sun shines, and spread our sails before this prosperous gale.

From The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de