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 (French-language collection)
A reliable warning deserves attention, but the confidence placed in its source should not replace checking the situation. Even an experienced observer may sometimes be mistaken.
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A good driver turning within a small space pictures skill responding to tight conditions. Competence can show in adjusting a method to the room available.
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The saying calls a good example the best sermon. It favours demonstrating a value through conduct over explaining it only in speech.
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A good friend compared with a rare clover gives a valued relationship an image of welcome discovery. The saying appreciates companionship.
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An irrelevant feature of appearance should not make a capable person or useful thing seem inferior. The horse’s colour challenges a superficial judgment, while leaving relevant evidence about suitability open to examination.
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Even a capable person may benefit from a timely prompt or encouragement. The good horse and spur distinguish ability from readiness to act, without making harsh treatment or constant pressure the way to obtain good work.
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Reliable effort should not require constant pressure. The horse represents someone or something already responding well, and the spur represents repeated urging that may add strain without improving the result.
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Laughter and long sleep called the best cures give enjoyment and rest a healing image. The saying praises conditions that may be welcome in everyday life.
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The saying sets professional skill in law beside being a bad neighbour. It warns that an ability admired in one setting may be used unhelpfully in another.
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A useful principle can remain relevant beyond the occasion when it was first heard. The saying praises enduring guidance, while the word good matters: a maxim still needs to fit the circumstances rather than answer every situation automatically.
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The saying gives a good mind a kingdom. It represents understanding as a rich domain that does not depend only on material possessions.
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A good name preferred to fine perfume contrasts reputation with an appealing surface impression. The saying gives how conduct is remembered more value than a pleasing presentation.
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A reputation may take sustained conduct to establish and can be damaged quickly. The saying draws attention to the uneven pace of earning trust and losing it, without treating every accusation as proof.
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A well-grounded reputation can retain value when it is not being publicly displayed. The lustre-in-darkness image praises lasting character, without treating reputation as infallible evidence or guaranteeing that good conduct will always be recognised.
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The saying makes a good payer master of another person’s purse. It imagines reliable repayment bringing access to someone else’s resources.
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A reliable payer may inspire confidence without an additional guarantee. The saying links trust to conduct, without recommending unsecured lending or making someone’s ability to pay a measure of personal worth.
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The saying gives a good paymaster no shortage of workers. It connects reliable compensation with willingness to work for someone.
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A favourable manner or appearance can create an initial advantage before someone’s abilities are known. The comparison asks how presentation influences introductions, while leaving competence and character to be assessed through further evidence.
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The saying credits a good recorder with putting things in order. It associates a role with orderly conduct while leaving the type of recorder unstated.
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Favourable conditions and sound judgment are separate advantages. A smooth route cannot choose a destination or decide how someone travels; an easy opportunity still calls for attention and thoughtful choices.
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The saying gives a good surgeon an eagle’s eye, a lion’s heart and a lady’s hand. Its three images praise observation, courage and a gentle or careful touch.
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A person who is secure in a skill may have less need to prove it through conflict. The source’s absolute wording offers an ideal of restraint, not a guarantee about the behaviour of skilled people.
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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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The saying credits a good wife with making her husband good. It points to a partner’s influence, but can wrongly make a woman responsible for another adult’s character and choices.
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