the be-all and end-all

the best or most important thing Professional tennis was never the be-all and end-all for me.

the be-all and end-all

the most important thing

Usage notes: This phrase comes from the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

(often + of ) It would be wrong to see Manhattan as the be-all and end-all of the financial world. We all agreed that winning was not the be-all and end-all.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Ghassan	-	Arabic
Ozzie	AHZ-ee	English
Kasey	KAY-see	English
Morta	-	Lithuanian
Susilo	-	Indonesian, Javanese
Cecilia	sə-SEE-lee-ə (English), sə-SEEL-yə (English), che-CHEE-lyah (Italian), the-THEE-lyah (Spanish), se-SEE-lyah (Latin American Spanish), se-SEEL-yah (Danish, Norwegian), SE-see-lee-ah (Finnish)	English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, German