The collection / 3,980 fragments
Traditional sayings from a documented English collection, with reviewed meanings for an expanding editorial selection.
Meaning: The people you regularly spend time with may reveal something about your interests and choices. Consider how a group influences you, while avoiding judgement based on association alone.
Meaning: Having someone alongside you during a difficulty can make it easier to face. Companionship can offer reassurance and practical support even when the problem remains unsolved.
Meaning: Sharing a difficulty with people who understand it can reduce the feeling of being alone. Mutual recognition may ease the burden without making the underlying problem disappear.
Meaning: Good company can make a journey feel easier. The comparison with a horse praises the support of a cheerful companion, without claiming that conversation removes physical limits or replaces needed transport and rest.
Meaning: Having a small usable resource can be reassuring when a need arises. Calling a penny a companion praises its practical usefulness, without making money a substitute for affection, company or care.
Meaning: Repeating a harmful experience can invite reflection on what could be learned from it. The shipwreck comparison asks about a second exposure, but it unfairly assumes control if used to blame people for danger, coercion or circumstances they could not avoid.
Meaning: The saying pairs a cold complexion with good condition. It gives a favourable judgment to one described quality without explaining the criterion or setting.
Editorial context: This is a sexist claim about confidentiality. Judge a person’s conduct rather than assuming women cannot keep information private.
Meaning: The saying mocks women as unable to keep information private unless they do not know it. This is a sexist accusation about confidentiality, not a reliable judgement of any individual.
Meaning: An open acknowledgement can reduce the force of an accusation by making the relevant facts clear. It does not guarantee that criticism ends or require accepting an accusation that is untrue.
Meaning: Acknowledging a mistake can begin repairing its effect. An honest admission matters because it creates room for responsibility, though further action may still be needed.
Meaning: Acknowledging a fault openly can help someone face it and seek repair. The saying values honesty about what happened, without requiring every private matter to be disclosed or promising that confession alone resolves its consequences.
Meaning: Managing one’s own impulses or habits can be a significant achievement. Conquest pictures inward effort, encouraging self-direction without requiring harsh self-criticism, denial of legitimate needs or complete control over every feeling.
Meaning: Acting in a way one can honestly defend may provide steadiness under scrutiny. The clear conscience is pictured as a reliable advantage, without making someone’s confidence proof that their actions were fair or beyond question.
Meaning: Small efforts repeated over time can produce a substantial change. The saying values steady persistence, while leaving room to check whether the effort is effective and whether the desired result is actually achievable.
Meaning: Regret cannot restore an opportunity or resource after it has been used up. The saying warns about waiting until the consequences are complete, while leaving room for repair, support or a different next step where those remain possible.
Meaning: Contentment can make what someone already has feel sufficient. The transforming-stone comparison values satisfaction, without claiming that an attitude removes deprivation or that people should stop seeking necessary improvements.
Meaning: Appreciating what is sufficient can make ordinary life feel abundant. The continual feast pictures ongoing satisfaction, without requiring someone to accept deprivation, injustice or unmet needs as though they were adequate.
Meaning: Lacking what is needed can make contentment difficult. The saying challenges the idea that deprivation automatically brings peace of mind.
Meaning: Having enough without depending on borrowing or flattering others can feel freeing. The saying values reduced dependence, without implying that needing help makes someone less worthy or less capable of contentment.
Meaning: Immediate needs can affect how satisfied or agreeable someone feels. A full stomach stands for a need met, while fasting stands for going without.
Meaning: Being satisfied with enough can offer a kind of richness that possessions alone do not provide. The proverb values contentment without claiming that deprivation is desirable or that material needs do not matter.
Meaning: An early view of a crop may disappoint while a later view encourages hope. May and June contrast stages of development rather than one permanent verdict.
Meaning: The saying compares grain cleared by wind with a soul improved through correction. It makes separation of unwanted material an image of moral change.
Meaning: Something modest that you already have can be preferable to a grander prospect that remains uncertain. The cottage and kingdom contrast present possession with an anticipated benefit, without proving that every change or ambitious plan is unwise.