proverb · Traditional
A good paymaster never wants workmen.
The saying gives a good paymaster no shortage of workers. It connects reliable compensation with willingness to work for someone.
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499 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
A good wife and health Are a man's best wealth.
A caring partnership and wellbeing can matter more than material possessions. The saying’s language of a wife as wealth needs a reading that preserves her independent dignity.
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A great dowry is a bed full of troubles.
Wealth expected through marriage can bring demands and disagreements as well as apparent advantages. The bed represents the shared relationship, asking whether attention to resources has displaced consideration of the people and their expectations.
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A heavy purse makes a light heart.
Having resources for a pressing need can bring relief. The heavy purse and light heart contrast material provision with a reduced emotional burden.
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A house well-furnished makes a woman wise.
A well-furnished house making a woman wise links material surroundings with understanding through a gendered claim. The saying assigns wisdom to a domestic condition.
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A lawyer’s opinion is worth nothing until paid for. –Hungarian
A lawyer’s opinion worth nothing before payment connects perceived value with an exchange of money. The supplied wording includes a Hungarian label.
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A light purse makes a heavy heart.
The saying contrasts a light purse with a heavy heart. It connects little money with the emotional weight of worry.
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A little good is soon spent.
A small store of something useful can be exhausted quickly. The saying draws attention to scale and the need to notice how much is available.
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A little house well fill'd, A little land well till'd, And a little wife well will'd.
The saying values a modest home and land that are well used, alongside a wife described as willing. Its praise of sufficiency includes a gendered expectation that needs critical attention.
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A man may buy gold too dear.
Even something valuable can cost more than it is worth in the circumstances. Compare the whole sacrifice with the actual benefit rather than assuming that a prized result justifies any price.
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A man must sell his ware at the rate of the market.
A seller’s preferred price is constrained by what buyers will actually accept. The saying draws attention to the conditions surrounding an exchange.
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A miserly father makes a prodigal son.
The saying contrasts a father’s restrictive saving with a son’s lavish spending. It imagines opposite attitudes across generations without proving that one necessarily causes the other.
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A nimble ninepence is better than a slow shilling.
The saying prefers a smaller sum that moves quickly to a larger sum that moves slowly. Speed of use or exchange can matter alongside nominal amount.
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A penny in my purse will bid me drink when all my friends I have will not.
Money available to use may meet an immediate want when friends cannot or will not provide it. The purse image contrasts a practical resource with reliance on others, without proving that money is more valuable than friendship.
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A penny in your pocket is a good companion.
A little money immediately available can provide practical help or reassurance. The pocket companion is a figurative image of usefulness, rather than a claim that money offers the same support as a friend.
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A penny saved is a penny earned.
The saying values a saved penny like an earned penny. It gives retaining a small amount the same rhetorical importance as gaining it.
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A penny saved is a penny got.
Money you avoid wasting remains available for another purpose. Small savings can be useful even when they seem less noticeable than earning additional income.
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A pin a day is a groat a year.
Repeated small savings can add up. The daily pin and yearly coin turn an apparently minor act into an image of accumulation over time.
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A place where flowers are priced so as to make them a luxury has yet to learn the first principles of civilization.
Flowers priced as luxury are used to question a society’s priorities. The saying values access to ordinary beauty as part of a civilised life.
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A poor man's table is soon spread.
Limited means may leave a meal simple to prepare because little is available. The saying recognises scarcity without making it a virtue or an occasion for ridicule.
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A rich man cannot afford unrest.
A rich person unable to afford unrest gives stability a cost relationship with possessions or status. The saying questions what disruption may mean for someone with much to retain.
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A rich man has no need of character.
A rich person said not to need character separates social advantage from moral conduct through a provocative claim. The saying questions what wealth may allow someone to avoid demonstrating.
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A rich man resides in heaven.
A rich person residing in heaven gives wealth an image of ease or privilege. The saying equates material position with an idealised place.
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A silver key can open an iron lock.
Money or another material incentive may overcome a barrier that appears firm. The silver key represents purchasing influence, and the iron lock represents resistance, inviting scrutiny of what opens access and whether that access is fair.
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