uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
English
Etymology
From Henry IV, Part 2.[1]
Proverb
uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
- A person of high rank or status has more problems than those of lower rank.
- 1914, Upton Sinclair, Sylvia's Marriage:
- Such terrors as these were unguessed by me in the days of my obscurity. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, uneasy also, lies the wife of that head, and the best friend of the wife. I dismissed my stenographer, and spent ten or fifteen restless minutes until Sylvia appeared.
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See also
- it's lonely at the top
- the bigger they are, the harder they fall
- the highest branch is not the safest roost
References
- c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i], page 85, column 2:
- Then happy Lowe lye downe, / Vneaſie lyes the Head, that weares a Crowne.