The collection / 14,814 fragments
Explore passages mentioning work, labour. Topic suggestions use transparent word matching, not scholarly classification. Reviewed editorial meanings may also connect entries to this topic; those assignments are labelled separately from word matching.
Meaning: It is easy to imagine an impressive plan without providing what would make it real. Castles in the air picture ambition without foundations, asking what practical support the idea needs rather than condemning imagination itself.
Meaning: People may behave differently when the person supervising or restraining them is absent. Reduced oversight can reveal whether rules are being followed from commitment or mainly from fear of consequences.
Meaning: Even an attentive observer cannot be assumed to notice every event. The cat-and-mouse image points to limits of oversight, without proving that an unnoticed action is harmless or acceptable.
Meaning: An arrangement should serve the purpose for which it is maintained. The cats-and-mice image questions keeping more than is useful, without reducing people or living creatures to a measure of productivity.
Meaning: Wanting a benefit while refusing the effort it requires can leave the wish unfulfilled. Consider which inconveniences are genuinely necessary to obtain what you want.
Meaning: Pay attention to the opportunity or interest that matters most to your purpose. The advice favors practical focus, while leaving open whether pursuing that advantage is fair or worth its costs.
Meaning: The saying recommends turning a cheese seven times before it cools if it is to be good and kept old. A remembered count is attached to a preparation task.
Meaning: A much-discussed future occasion eventually becomes the present one. The saying notices how anticipation and repeated conversation accompany the passage of time, without suggesting that talking makes an event happen or that every expected event will arrive.
Meaning: An official’s work can depend heavily on the person who prepares and manages its records. The saying draws attention to expertise behind visible authority.
Meaning: A greater height can make a fall more consequential. The climbing image warns about the exposure that may accompany ambition, without proving that seeking responsibility or achievement is wrong or that failure is inevitable.
Meaning: Rushing towards a position or goal can leave someone unprepared for its demands. The sudden fall follows the hasty climb in the saying, warning about the method of progress rather than condemning quick advancement in every case.
Meaning: Protect what you will need afterward before taking an action that puts it at risk. Keeping clothes safe while swimming becomes an image of preparation and attention to foreseeable consequences.
Meaning: 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.
Meaning: Mending and patching stand for practical skills that keep useful things in service. The saying values the ability to meet everyday needs, rather than guaranteeing continuous employment or blaming people who cannot find work despite having skills.
Meaning: The saying imagines a shoemaker’s wife having the poorest shoes despite living close to the relevant skill. It points to nearby needs being neglected while a person attends to work for others.
Meaning: The saying places a cock’s crow before a hen’s movement. It gives a voice and a following action different roles without supplying a wider setting.
Meaning: Before attempting an unfamiliar or unpredictable task, check that the basic preparations are secure. The young colt and tightened saddle picture readiness for uncertainty.
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: Important choices about partnership and livelihood can benefit from a range of advice. Consulting all the world exaggerates the value of hearing beyond one’s own view.
Meaning: Do not treat an expected result as already secured. Plan with uncertainty in view rather than making commitments that depend entirely on an outcome that has not yet happened.
Meaning: Match an undertaking to the resources that can actually support it. Legs and coverlet picture the limits of available provision, encouraging adjustment without implying that a shortage is the person’s fault or that more support cannot be sought.
Meaning: Wanting more does not by itself produce a worthwhile gain. Desire must not be mistaken for the work or judgment needed to obtain something.
Meaning: The saying makes attention to livestock and stored grain the basis of enough provision. It names specific household resources rather than relying on a general wish for prosperity.
Meaning: The biggest option is not necessarily the best one. The comparison between a crab’s size and its desirable part challenges a choice made by scale alone, without making smallness an automatic sign of quality.