Wealth.

Meaning: Seeking property can lead someone to overlook the character of a person attached to it. Taking a fool by the hand pictures a connection chosen for its material benefit.

Meaning: People who have less at stake may find it easier to laugh at a risky situation. The saying contrasts carefree amusement with the concerns of those who could lose more.

Meaning: The saying pictures an empty leech sucking intensely. As an explicit analogy, a strong unmet demand may be imagined to increase the force of taking.

Meaning: A small store of something useful can be exhausted quickly. The saying draws attention to scale and the need to notice how much is available.

Meaning: Having fewer possessions can mean having fewer things to maintain or worry about. The saying highlights one possible burden of ownership.

Meaning: The saying values a modest home and land that are well used, alongside a wife described as willing. Its praise of sufficiency includes a gendered expectation that needs critical attention.

Meaning: The saying pictures repeated losing journeys ending in a sorrowful homecoming. Its destination, Weeping Cross, gives accumulated losses an image of regret.

Meaning: The saying imagines lovers living on love as larks live on leeks. The playful comparison questions whether affection alone can supply the practical needs of life.

Meaning: A modest position can offer comfort without the demands of display. Sitting low and being warmly provided contrast status with actual ease.

Meaning: Favourable circumstances can sometimes matter more than possessions already held. The saying gives luck priority over a rich starting point.

Meaning: Dry March conditions are pictured as extremely valuable. A bushel of dust worth a king’s ransom exaggerates the benefit the saying assigns to that weather.

Meaning: A seller’s preferred price is constrained by what buyers will actually accept. The saying draws attention to the conditions surrounding an exchange.

Meaning: Do not abandon a worthwhile opportunity solely because of a smaller necessary cost. The toll pictures a limited expense on the way to a larger purpose.

Meaning: Poor-quality goods can find buyers when buyers overlook their faults. The saying criticises an unexamined purchase but risks blaming people who have been misled.

Meaning: Choosing a relationship chiefly for wealth may create obligations or dependence that restrict personal choice. Selling liberty makes the material gain sound like a costly exchange.

Meaning: A partnership shaped by unequal social power may become a relationship of command. The saying warns that a supposed advantage can carry a loss of equality.

Meaning: Marriage can be shaped by material considerations as well as affection. The saying highlights that influence while overstating it as the whole matter.

Meaning: The saying expects a cold May to be followed by plenty of corn and hay. The short rhyme makes an uncomfortable condition a promise of provision.

Meaning: A fair amount can make an exchange satisfactory to those involved. Good measure connects accuracy and generosity with a happier arrangement.

Meaning: Access to a small benefit may be preferable to taking on the burden of maintaining its whole source. The cow and bottle of milk contrast ownership with obtaining only what is needed.

Meaning: The saying assigns good or bad outcomes to the weekday of an undertaking. Its list promises wealth, health or misfortune from timing alone.

Meaning: Obtaining money and using it well require different kinds of judgement. Consider purpose, priorities and consequences rather than assuming that earning more automatically tells you how best to spend it.

Meaning: Having money and lacking it can bring different worries. The saying recognises concerns on both sides, without claiming that they are equally severe or that material hardship is merely another form of ordinary inconvenience.

Meaning: Existing resources can make it easier to pursue opportunities that bring further resources. The saying draws attention to an advantage of starting with money, rather than promising that wealth automatically grows.