proverb · Traditional
After Lammas corn ripens as much by night as by day.
The saying claims that after Lammas corn ripens equally by night and day. It marks a later growth stage through a calendar observance.
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861 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
All cats love fish but hate to get their paws wet.
The saying makes cats want fish while resisting wet paws. As an analogy, wanting a result can conflict with accepting what pursuing it involves.
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All growth depends upon activity.
The saying makes growth depend on activity. It emphasises participation or effort in development.
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All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
The saying links hard work with profit and mere talk with poverty. It favours carrying out an undertaking over speaking about it alone.
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All is fish that comes to his net.
Someone may treat everything that comes their way as useful to their purpose. The net makes opportunities seem readily usable, while leaving open whether that resourcefulness is considerate, appropriate or merely self-serving.
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All lay load on the willing horse.
A person willing to help may be given more and more work because others find it easy to ask them. Share responsibilities instead of making reliability a reason for overload.
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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 promises are either broken or kept.
The saying divides promises into those kept and those broken. It directs attention from making a commitment to what follows it.
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All roads lead to Rome.
The saying makes different roads converge on Rome. As an analogy, different approaches may reach the same goal.
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All things are soon prepared in a well-ordered house.
An organised setting can make ordinary preparation easier and quicker. The saying credits arrangements made beforehand, without guaranteeing speed, treating every delay as disorganisation or assigning household work to one particular person.
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All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
A life occupied entirely by work can lose enjoyment, variety and energy. Make room for rest and recreation instead of treating constant effort as the only worthwhile use of time.
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Almost was never hanged.
Coming close to an act is different from completing it. The saying draws a sharp line between almost and actually, but it should not excuse attempts, dangerous conduct or the consequences of a near miss.
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Always have two strings to your bow.
Keep an alternative available when a plan depends on something that may fail. Two strings represent a reserve option, encouraging preparation rather than confidence that one route will always remain usable.
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Always leave a little room for a mistake.
Leaving room for a mistake asks for an allowance rather than assuming perfect performance. It encourages considering uncertainty in an undertaking.
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Ambition is to the mind what termites are to wood.
Ambition compared with termites in wood pictures a pursuit consuming what contains it. The saying criticises ambition through an image of internal damage.
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An honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work.
The saying pairs honest pay with honest work. It presents fair compensation and a genuine contribution as matching responsibilities.
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An hour in the morning is worth two in the evening.
The saying values one morning hour as two evening hours. It praises earlier work through a doubled comparison.
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An idle man is the devil’s playfellow.
The saying makes an idle man the devil’s playfellow. It gives inactivity a threatening moral companion.
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An ignorant doctor is no better than a murderer.
An ignorant doctor compared with a murderer stresses the possible harm of inadequate professional knowledge. The saying gives competence a grave responsibility.
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An oak is not felled by one blow.
A substantial task may need repeated effort rather than one attempt. The oak and single blow picture the scale of the work, without guaranteeing that repetition alone will succeed or giving instructions for cutting down a tree.
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An old sack wanteth much patching.
Something long used may need repeated repair. The worn sack gives maintenance a concrete image and suggests the limits of simply patching an ageing arrangement.
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An ounce of practice is worth a pound of preaching.
A small amount of practical action can demonstrate more than extensive advice. The contrast asks speakers to connect what they recommend with what they actually do, rather than measuring usefulness by the volume of their words.
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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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Another victory like that one and we are lost. –Pyrrhus
Another victory leading to being lost contrasts winning an encounter with damage that undermines the larger purpose. The supplied wording attributes the statement to Pyrrhus.
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