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 proverb
Inner purpose can motivate more effectively than repeated outside pressure. The spur in the head stands for a reason someone understands or accepts, while the spurs at the heels represent urging imposed by others.
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The saying halves a trouble when it is shared. It gives talking or receiving support a concrete image of reducing a burden.
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Chosen solitude can contain rich thought rather than an absence of company. The paradox values a person’s engagement with reflection, while distinguishing welcome time alone from loneliness that someone does not want.
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The saying compares women’s minds with changeable winter wind, presenting them as unreliable or inconsistent. This is a sexist generalisation, not evidence about the judgement of a particular woman.
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The saying asks for the heart to be guarded because actions flow from it. It presents inward commitments as influential in conduct.
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Distance may weaken a mild attachment while making an intense one feel stronger. The contrast between cooling and inflaming describes different possible responses to absence, rather than a dependable rule for measuring love or deciding how relationships should work.
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The instruction asks for a calm, relaxed attitude. It encourages a composed approach to a situation without describing a particular way to achieve it.
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The saying makes everything grow with time except grief. It offers an image of sorrow becoming less rather than increasing.
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Angry time counted as lost happy time contrasts two emotional experiences. The saying places a cost on dwelling in anger.
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Ambition and revenge are given an unending appetite. The saying suggests that either pursuit may keep demanding more rather than reaching satisfaction.
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The saying gives an elephant a memory that never fails. It uses an animal image to praise exceptionally strong recollection.
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Financial worry can show in a person’s expression. The empty purse pictures a shortage of resources, and wrinkles give the strain a visible form.
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An unoccupied mind is pictured as a place where harmful ideas may develop. The saying warns about misdirected attention, but it should not turn rest, unemployment or a lack of visible activity into evidence of wrongdoing or deficient character.
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Long-established habits can be difficult to change. The saying states this too absolutely: it does not show that older people are incapable of learning or that every new attempt will fail.
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A small amount of useful information may help more than a large amount of reassurance. Comfort matters, but it should not replace facts that let someone understand or address the situation.
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The saying pictures a bud choosing to blossom when staying closed becomes more painful than opening. It compares change with remaining in a constricted state.
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The saying praises allowing anger to pass rather than keeping a grievance alive. Its moral judgement is too simple: lasting anger does not by itself show that someone lacks good character.
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The saying contrasts an Argus-like watcher at home with a mole abroad. It pictures someone sharply observant in familiar surroundings but much less perceptive elsewhere.
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The phrase compares being fit with a fiddle. In the supplied reading, it emphatically describes feeling healthy or strong.
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The expression describes a striking resemblance between two things or people. Its pea comparison emphasises similarity, without establishing that the pair is identical in every respect or has the same history, character or needs.
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The phrase compares being very sick with a dog. It gives illness or upset an emphatic expression in the supplied reading.
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What someone finds beautiful depends partly on the person looking. Different viewers can respond differently to the same face, object or place.
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The phrase imagines beer as a pair of goggles. It humorously describes attraction being perceived differently while someone has been drinking.
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The saying values having experienced love, even when lost, above never having loved. It gives a past connection worth despite the pain of its ending.
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