proverb · Traditional
It takes two to have an argument.
The saying treats an argument as involving two participants. It points to interaction, but does not establish equal responsibility for the disagreement.
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What does it mean?
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216 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
Jests, like sweetmeats, are often sour sauce.
Something offered as amusing or pleasing can leave an unpleasant result. The sweetmeat and sour-sauce contrast warns that a joke’s enjoyable surface may differ from its effect on the people involved.
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Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
The saying gives adversaries even closer attention than friends. It values awareness of a possible opponent’s actions.
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Kindness begets kindness.
The saying makes kindness produce more kindness. It encourages considerate conduct through the possibility of a reciprocal response.
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Kindness will always conquer.
Kindness may ease hostility and invite a more cooperative response. Try consideration where it can help, while recognising that warmth does not reliably change every person or situation.
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Least said is soonest mended.
Saying less can sometimes let a minor dispute settle sooner. Restraint may prevent extra remarks from turning an awkward moment into a larger quarrel.
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Least said soonest mended.
The saying makes a matter easier to mend when less is said. It imagines restraint preventing a disagreement from being prolonged.
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Let sleeping dogs lie.
The instruction leaves sleeping dogs undisturbed. As an analogy, it advises against reopening a matter that is currently quiet.
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Little goods, little care.
Having fewer possessions can mean having fewer things to maintain or worry about. The saying highlights one possible burden of ownership.
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Live and let live.
Allow others room to live differently while seeking the same room for yourself. The saying encourages tolerance and mutual freedom, without making every choice immune from criticism or excusing conduct that harms others.
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Love conquers all.
Love can motivate people to overcome divisions or difficulties. The word “all” expresses an ideal of love’s strength, rather than a literal guarantee.
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Love thy neighbour, but pull not down thy hedge.
Care for your neighbour while keeping sensible boundaries. Goodwill and cooperation do not require giving up every distinction between your own space, needs and responsibilities and theirs.
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Lowly sit and be richly warm.
A modest position can offer comfort without the demands of display. Sitting low and being warmly provided contrast status with actual ease.
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Malice is mindful.
Resentment can keep a grievance active long after the original occasion. The saying draws attention to remembered hostility and its effects, while leaving room to distinguish malice from legitimate concern about an unresolved wrong.
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May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart.
Warmth at home, oil for a lamp and peace in the heart make a wish for shelter, useful provision and inner calm. The blessing joins material and emotional comfort.
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Mocking is catching.
Mocking behaviour can be copied or returned by others. The compact saying warns that ridicule may shape the tone of a group, without describing a literal infection or proving that one remark will produce a particular reaction.
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Never corner something meaner than you.
Cornering something meaner than oneself pictures creating a confrontation with a stronger hostile response. The saying warns against trapping a threat.
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Never fish in troubled waters.
Avoid seeking a gain in the middle of disorder or conflict when doing so may draw you into trouble or unfair conduct. This warning takes a cautious view of an opportunity another saying might celebrate.
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Never let the sun go down on your anger.
The instruction asks not to carry anger beyond sundown. It gives attention to an unresolved feeling a memorable daily limit.
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Never let the sun set on angry heart.
The saying asks that an angry heart not reach sunset unchanged. It encourages attending to anger rather than letting it carry on unexamined.
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Never make troubles of trifles.
Do not make a small matter more troublesome than its consequences justify. The saying encourages proportionate attention, while the label trifle must be examined rather than used to dismiss another person’s legitimate concern.
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Never slap a man who’s chewing tobacco.
The saying singles out striking a person who is chewing tobacco as something to avoid. Its specific scene suggests a caution framed as a joke.
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Never strike your wife, even with a flower.
A wife not to be struck even with a flower makes nonviolence absolute through an apparently gentle object. The saying rejects an excuse based on how slight an assault appears.
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Next to love, quietness.
A peaceful atmosphere can be deeply valuable alongside affection. The saying praises quietness, without requiring silence at all costs or treating disagreement and a person’s need to speak as failures of love.
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