Hard TimesOne worth keeping
“You can't haul grain past a coiled snake in the barn door.”
Ships won't risk the Houthi-controlled waters no matter how full the hold.
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.