proverb · Traditional
All good things come to an end.
The saying gives good things an ending. It reminds a reader that an enjoyable period may be temporary.
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411 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
All good things must come to an end.
The saying gives every good thing an ending. It reminds a reader that an enjoyable situation may be temporary.
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All play and no work, Gives Tom a ragged shirt.
Pleasure that continually displaces necessary effort can leave a practical need unmet. Tom’s ragged shirt pictures the consequence of neglected work.
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All things are in perpetual flux and fleeting.
Things continually change and pass away in the saying’s broad picture of life. It encourages awareness that a present condition need not last, without making change a guarantee of improvement or a reason to abandon commitments.
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All who have died are equal.
The saying places the dead on equal terms. It contrasts distinctions in life with a shared condition after death.
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All wish to live long, but none likes to be called old.
Wanting a long life while resisting the label old contrasts a desired future with discomfort about its description. The saying questions attitudes toward ageing.
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All's well that ends well.
A satisfactory outcome can make earlier trouble feel less important. People may judge a difficult experience more positively once its main problem has been resolved.
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An ague in the spring, Is physic for a king.
The rhyme presents a spring ague as medicine fit for a king. It gives a feverish illness a surprising positive value rather than simply treating it as misfortune.
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An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
The rhyme makes one daily apple keep a doctor away. It promotes a simple food habit through an exaggerated health promise.
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An Englishman's house is his castle.
A home is pictured as a place of personal privacy and refuge. The castle image expresses a wish for control over one’s domestic space, rather than establishing a current legal entitlement or making that security exclusive to English men.
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An imaginary illness hurts the most.
An imaginary illness hurting most gives a presumed unreal condition an extreme claim of suffering. The saying presents a judgment about perceived illness.
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An old cat laps as much as a young kitten.
Age does not necessarily remove appetite or desire. The older cat drinking as much as the kitten challenges an expectation that wanting must diminish.
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An ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.
The saying values a small amount of protection above a larger amount of cure. It prefers preventing a problem to addressing its consequences.
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Anticipate the good so that you may take pleasure in it.
Anticipating good so as to enjoy it gives expectation a role in appreciating a hoped-for event. The saying welcomes a forward-looking source of pleasure.
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Anyone who goes hungry for three days will steal.
Three days of hunger making anyone steal links deprivation with wrongdoing. The saying presents urgent need as a force acting on conduct.
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Apples don’t fall far from the tree.
The saying keeps fallen apples near their tree. In the supplied reading, it points to a resemblance between children and parents.
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As dead as a door-nail.
Completely dead or no longer active. The comparison intensifies the description; applied to a plan or activity, it means that it has ended or stopped functioning, without providing evidence that revival is impossible.
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As fit as a fiddle.
The phrase compares being fit with a fiddle. In the supplied reading, it emphatically describes feeling healthy or strong.
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As he who has health is young, so he who owes nothing is rich.
The saying compares vitality with youth and freedom from obligations with wealth. It shifts attention from labels and possessions to conditions that can make life feel less burdened, without promising that health or debt determines anyone’s worth.
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As Hungry as a Horse.
The phrase compares strong hunger with a horse. It uses an animal image to emphasise appetite rather than measure it.
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As long lives a merry heart as a sad.
Enjoying life need not be treated as less serious or worthwhile than sorrow. The saying refuses to give sadness a privileged place in how a life is valued.
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As people go their own way, destiny goes with them.
Destiny travelling with people as they follow their own paths links a life’s course with personal movement. The saying presents fate as accompanying rather than remaining somewhere else.
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As sick as a dog.
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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As sound as a nut.
The phrase uses a sound nut as an image of being intact or in good condition. It is a compact expression of confidence in the thing described.
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