A person who is always traveling and changing jobs has the advantage of having no responsibilities, but also has disadvantages such as having no permanent place to live.
![]()
That notion was known to the ancient world and Greek and Latin versions of the phrase are cited by Erasmus in the third volume of his collection of Latin proverbs – Adagia, 1508. By the early 17th century, a ‘rolling stone’ was referred to as a type of wastrel – one who would amount to nothing.