The world would not make a race horse out of an ass (donkey).
Note: Perhaps, the most comparable English proverb is “Horses for courses.” People, like animals, have talents better suited for one thing than another. One has to accept the talents that a person has been given, and not try to make that person do something for which they are ill-suited. This should also be considered when assessing your own talents. As it was inscribed at the Delphic Oracle, “Know thyself.”
Note also: The verb in this week’s seanfhocal is in the conditional mood. Like the future tense of the indicative mood, the conditional mood is used to describe a state of being that has not occured. Therefore, the conditional form,
“Ní dhéanfadh an domhan … (The world could not …),”
is almost the same as the indicative future form,
“Ní dhéanfaidh an domhan … (The world will not …).”
Take the ‘i,’ as in indicative future, out the indicative future form and you get the conditional, at least in the second person (singular and plural) and third person singular.
