Hard TimesOne worth keeping
“They've gone and put a golden lock on the pasture gate.”
Japan raised the permanent residency fee by 20 times.
In the same vein
All Hard Times →A tough job that only gets done one painful foot at a time.
Fend for yourself, because nobody's coming to feed you.
Can't take from someone what they simply don't have.
Life alternates between hitting and being hit.
Everything's going wrong in both directions at once.
Fix it, stretch it, or learn to live with the hole.