proverb · Traditional
Poor folk are glad of pottage.
A modest provision can be welcome when resources are limited. The pottage image recognises relief but should not lower the standard of dignity owed to anyone.
Read the explanation and example ↗Words worth understanding
What does it mean?
Start with the thought in plain English. Then examine its imagery, practical application and limitations.
2,058 selected entries have editorial explanations. An explanation is not independent authentication of an attribution. Start with the individually source-checked classics ↗
343 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
Poor folk have few kindred.
People with few resources may find that supposed family supporters are less willing to acknowledge them. The saying criticises loyalty that depends on advantage.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Possession is nine points of the law, and they say there are but ten.
The saying gives possession nine of ten imagined points in law. It exaggerates the advantage of already holding something through a near-complete numerical share.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Poverty is the mother of health.
The saying calls poverty the mother of health. It makes deprivation appear to produce wellbeing through a parental metaphor.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Pry not into other people's affairs.
Respect other people’s privacy rather than investigating a matter merely out of curiosity. The saying sets a boundary around intrusion, without forbidding relevant questions, freely offered support or appropriate attention to harm.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Put a snake in your bosom, and when it is warm it will sting you.
Helping someone who intends harm may expose the helper to betrayal. The warmed snake gives that warning a dramatic image of trust meeting a hostile response.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Put no faith in tale-bearers.
Treat a circulated accusation or story cautiously rather than accepting it without checking. The tale-bearer warning concerns unverified reporting, without making every messenger dishonest or every unwelcome report false.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
Put the belfry in the middle of the village.
Place a shared resource where the community can reasonably reach it. The central belfry represents arrangements designed for common access rather than one person’s convenience.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
Rather a single grape for me than a brace of figs for thee.
The speaker prefers a smaller benefit personally received to a larger one given elsewhere. The contrast exposes self-interest rather than establishing a fair rule of distribution.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Reconcile yourself to present trials, the future may bring worse.
The saying encourages bearing a present difficulty by imagining a worse one ahead. A careful reading keeps perspective without making future fear a reason to tolerate harm.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Remove an old tree and it will wither to death.
Abruptly disrupting an established source of stability can be harmful. The old tree’s removal supplies a warning that should remain a metaphor rather than a rule about people’s age.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Remove an old tree and it will wither.
A major change can disrupt what sustains an established arrangement. The old tree warns that moving something also means altering its support.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Rich men's spots are covered with money.
Wealth can help conceal faults or soften how others judge them. The saying questions unequal scrutiny without proving that every wealthy person has misconduct to hide.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (Spanish-language collection)
Right or wrong, God aid our purpose.
Loyalty to a purpose is declared stronger than concern about whether it is right. The appeal for divine aid exposes a partisan wish, without establishing divine approval or excusing wrongful conduct.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Self love's a mote in every man's eye.
Self-interest can interfere with a person’s judgement about themselves. The small obstruction in the eye suggests a distorted view, while leaving room for healthy self-respect and for fair criticism of an actual decision.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Set a thief to take a thief.
Experience of a wrongdoing may help someone recognise how it happens. The saying values relevant knowledge but needs limits on how that knowledge is used.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Set the saddle on the right horse.
Place responsibility or criticism where the evidence shows it belongs. The correctly saddled horse challenges blame attached to the wrong person, while allowing that several people or a shared process may contribute.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
Shear the sheep but don’t flay them.
Take a sustainable benefit without destroying what supplies it. The contrast between shearing and flaying warns against extraction that becomes ruinous or cruel.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Silence is the best ornament of a woman.
This saying presents women’s silence as desirable, reflecting a restrictive gender expectation. It should be read as an old viewpoint, not as a rule about who deserves to speak.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Simon Noland, clown, is a better style and title than Humphrey Hadland, gent.
The saying prefers Simon Noland’s lower-status title to Humphrey Hadland’s gentlemanly one. The contrasting names suggest present lack of land beside land once held, while social labels complicate the comparison.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Sit in your place, and none can make you rise.
The saying claims that remaining in one’s proper place prevents others from making one rise. It connects an accepted position with security, without defining what makes the place proper.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Slander leaves a score behind it.
A harmful false report can leave a lasting mark even after the words stop circulating. The score pictures reputational damage that is difficult to erase.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Sloth is the mother of poverty.
The saying warns that avoidable neglect can contribute to need. Calling sloth the mother of poverty exaggerates one possible cause into a general explanation.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Sluts are good enough to make slovens' pottage.
The saying treats a person disparaged as a slut as good enough to make pottage for someone disparaged as a sloven. It pairs two insults to express a reduced standard of suitability.
Read the explanation and example ↗