| English | Russian |
| you can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink | силою не все возьмёшь (дословно: Можно отвести лошадь на водопой, но невозможно заставить её пить) |
| you can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink | можно отвести лошадь на водопой, но невозможно заставить её пить |
| you can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink | не всего можно добиться силой |
| you can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink | можно пригнать коня на водопой, но пить его не заставишь |
| you can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink | сердцу не прикажешь (The word the is frequently omitted from the proverb and lead substituted for take. 1970 J. MITFORD in Atlantic (1979) July 50 The dropout rate [for the course] must be close to 90 percent. I guess you can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make him drink. OED Alexander Demidov) |
| you can take a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink | насильно мил не будешь |
