The Early Bird Catches the Worm

I've been thinking about this phrase.

*According to http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/127000.html...



Meaning
Success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort.

Origin
This is first recorded in John Ray's A collection of English proverbs 1670, 1678: "The early bird catcheth the worm."

Clearly, the title of the work indicates that this was considered proverbial even in the 17th century.


*According to http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_early_bird_gets_the_worm...

Proverb
Whoever arrives first has the best chance of success; some opportunities are only available to the first competitors.

Both definitions of this common saying indicate that it's advantageous to get up and get going, the earlier the better. I would imagine that most people consider it a good thing to be 'the early bird.'

But has anyone ever thought about it from the worm's perspective? Sure, the early BIRD gets the worm. But the early WORM gets eaten!

Another perfect example of why we should all sleep in once in awhile.