Many go out for wool and come home shorn

Many seek to better themselves or make themselves rich, but end by losing what they already have.

You will goe for wooll, and returne home shorne.
[1599 J. Minsheu Dialogues in Spanish 61]

To wander through the world‥without once considering how many there goe to seeke for wooll, that returne againe shorne themselues.
[1612 T. Shelton tr. Cervantes' Don Quixote i. vii.]

Many go out for wooll and come home shorn.
[1678 J. Ray English Proverbs (ed. 2) 220]

There's a proverb about going out after wool, and coming home shorn.
[1858 S. A. Hammett Piney Woods Tavern xxiii.]

Some go [to Ascot] intent on repairing the ravages of Epsom or Newmarket; and in this speculative section not a few‥who go for wool come away shorn.
[1910 G. W. E. Russell Sketches & Snapshots 315]

One always comes back tired from holidays. ‘Go for wool and come back—?’ ‘Shaved—no, cropped.’ ‘Sheared. Yes.’
[1981 N. Freeling One Damn Thing after Another iii.]

Related to: ambition; misfortune; poverty

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.