How Do You "Take The Bull By The Horns"�?

This saying means that if you go up to a danger or difficulty and face it boldly, you will deal with it better than by being timid with it. It is very similar to "grasp the nettle", a very old piece of advice based on one of Aesop's Fables. Both proverbs have some literal truth, in that if you do take a bull by the horns it can't actually gore you (not while you're holding on, at least) and if you grasp a nettle firmly it can't sting.

The "bull by the horns" saying may have its roots in antiquity. In the ancient Cretan kingdom of Knossos, old friezes and pictures show athletes performing a kind of dance which involved catching a bull's horns and leaping over it. Such dances may well have been performed, and the idea that danger is best confronted – even enjoyed – is perfectly illustrated by this proverb.

You take the bull by the horns is in fact a statement used by the greeks in 1908 and was used for innaporiate times such as the above answer