proverb · Words worth keeping
Clouds that the sun builds up darken him.
Clouds that the sun builds up darken him.
Historical period not yet established
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
What helps create an obstacle may later be obscured by it. The sun and its clouds give a vivid image of a cause losing visibility behind its own result.
What the words are saying
The saying pictures clouds associated with the sun’s activity coming between the sun and the observer. As a metaphor, it can describe a project or institution generating complications that hide its original purpose. The useful question is whether something it produced is now getting in the way. This reading is not a lesson in meteorology or proof that every setback is self-created. Other causes and changing circumstances may also matter.
Everyday example
A group introduces so many procedures to support its work that those procedures begin to obscure the actual task.
When to use it
Use it to examine a complication that grew from an undertaking’s own activity.
What it does not mean
Not every obstacle is self-created, and the image is not a scientific account of weather.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Historical period not yet established
No sufficiently supported historical placement has been established. Import and download dates are not treated as composition dates. - Recorded source
- A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases
Entry 272 · Clouds
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.
- Culture
- English