A penny saved is a penny earned.

The proverb says that money you do not spend is worth exactly as much as money you work for: a saving is a form of income. It is used to justify small economies, to praise thrift or, quite as often, to tease someone for it, and it comes naturally to parents, banks and anyone counting the cost of a habit.

It is widely credited to Benjamin Franklin, and sayings in the same spirit fill Poor Richard’s Almanack, but versions of the proverb were in circulation in England before Franklin was born, with “got” or “gained” where we now say “earned”. Like most proverbs, it belongs to nobody.

The phrase has kept its force even though the penny itself has lost almost all of its. French has “un sou est un sou” for the same careful habit, and Spanish “quien guarda, halla”, whoever saves, finds. The proverb is also slightly better than true: a saved penny is not taxed, whereas an earned one is.

English proverb