Words worth understanding
Start with the thought in plain English. Then explore the imagery, a practical example, when to use it, and what the saying does not mean.
4,000 entries with editorial explanations. The wider collection also contains entries still awaiting an individual interpretation.
proverb · Traditional
A steady, gentle approach can carry a task further than impatient effort. The saying values sustainable progress, without making slowness a virtue in itself or claiming that every situation calls for the same pace.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying denies that fair words butter cabbage. It contrasts pleasing speech with the practical contribution a task needs.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Pleasant words cannot replace the practical help or work a situation requires. Promises and praise matter most when they are followed by a useful contribution.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Kind or pleasing words cannot replace the practical help needed to meet a real need. Check whether reassurance is accompanied by the action the situation requires.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying affirms that farmers are people too. It asks that an occupational label not obscure the person behind it.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Something properly secured is more likely to remain available when it is needed. The binding-and-finding rhyme encourages taking care over an arrangement, while it does not promise perfect security or supply instructions for tying, restraint or storage.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Criticism becomes more useful when it helps correct the problem. If you point out a fault, consider whether you can contribute a remedy rather than stopping at blame.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying prefers many deeds with few words. It gives action greater emphasis than talking about intended action.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying pictures a fiddler’s reward as food, drink and money. It combines sustenance and payment in a compact account of what the performer receives.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Fifty lemons a load for one but perfume for fifty transform a burden through distribution. The saying pictures a task becoming more manageable when many share it.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying contrasts a finite failure with an infinite capacity to venture. In this qualified reading, one unsuccessful outcome need not exhaust every possible attempt.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Something powerful can be useful when kept within appropriate bounds and destructive when it controls the situation. Consider both its value and the consequences of losing control over it.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
People are attended to in the order they arrive or apply. This describes one allocation rule, whose fairness depends on access, urgency and the purpose of the service.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying encourages developing the qualities needed for an aspiration rather than relying on wanting it. It should not imply that basic care, dignity or fair opportunities must be earned through achievement.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying gives being first an advantage described as being best dressed. In the supplied reading, early arrival or action can secure a preferred position.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying makes the first step the hardest. It emphasises the difficulty of beginning an unfamiliar undertaking.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The instruction puts thinking before action. It asks a decision to be considered before its consequences are set in motion.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
People may avoid a place where the conditions make interference difficult. The boiling pot represents an active obstacle to those who would settle there.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
A poorly checked calculation or expectation may leave an arrangement short of what it needs. The saying criticises careless reckoning, without making every shortage proof of foolishness or personal fault.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
A later participant may benefit from work or expense already borne by someone else. Building and buying contrast creating an asset with acquiring the completed result.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
A poorly considered arrangement can create difficulty even for someone competent. The stools-and-stumbling image directs attention to avoidable obstacles, without making intelligence a guarantee against mistakes or an excuse to insult others.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Careless decisions can create complications that others must patiently resolve. Value the work of untangling a problem, and notice what caused it.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying portrays people labelled lazy as treating every occasion as party time. It criticises pleasure sought in place of responsibility.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
A small missing part can have consequences beyond its immediate size when other things depend on it. The nail, shoe, horse and rider form a chain of dependence, without proving that every small defect produces a disaster.
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