proverb · Traditional
If you fail to practice your art, it will soon disappear.
The saying warns that an unpractised art may disappear. It emphasises continued engagement with a learned skill.
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532 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
If you regard old saws, mind, thus they say, 'Tis bad to marry in the month of May.
The saying warns against marrying in May because older sayings call it unlucky. Its appeal to inherited words is not evidence that the month harms a relationship.
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If you set your house on fire, you’ll warm up with it once.
Burning one’s own house for warmth only once contrasts immediate benefit with destroying its source. The saying warns about a gain that removes future shelter or support in the image.
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If youth knew what age will crave, It sure would strive to get and save.
Anticipating later needs can encourage preparation earlier in life. The saying imagines future wants becoming visible before resources are committed elsewhere.
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If youth knew what age would crave. It would both get and save.
Awareness of later needs can encourage preparation while circumstances allow. The saying connects youthful foresight with provision for another stage of life.
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In an orderly house all is soon ready.
An organised space or routine can make preparation easier when something is needed. Clear places and arrangements reduce the time spent searching or deciding who should do what.
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In the old of the moon, A cloudy morning bodes a fair afternoon.
The saying predicts a fair afternoon from a cloudy morning during the old phase of the moon. It combines a sky observation with a lunar condition.
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In this world, nothing is permanent except change.
Change called the only permanent thing makes an enduring pattern from impermanence itself. The saying uses a paradox to emphasise shifting conditions.
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It chanceth in an hour that comes not in seven years.
An unexpected change can happen quickly after a long period with little change. The saying expresses the uneven timing of events, not a prediction that a particular opportunity will arrive.
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It is all one a hundred years hence.
A distant perspective can make a present disagreement seem less permanent or important. The hundred-year comparison invites proportion, while it must not erase consequences for people living now or imply that nothing deserves care because time will pass.
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It is better if the catastrophe happens, better than waiting for it.
A catastrophe preferred to waiting for it gives anticipation an especially heavy burden. The saying expresses distress about an unresolved threat.
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It is better to spare at the brim than the bottom.
Begin conserving while supplies are plentiful instead of waiting until little remains. The brim and bottom contrast early care with late necessity.
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It is foolish to be regretting after.
Regretting afterward is criticised as foolish. The saying turns attention toward consideration before an action rather than dissatisfaction after it.
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It is never too late to ask what time it is.
Asking the time even when it is late suggests that taking stock remains worthwhile. The supplied reading connects this with beginning again.
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It is not enough to run; you must start on time.
Running is contrasted with starting on time. The saying suggests that effort may be ineffective if it begins too late for the aim.
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It is only idle people who can find time for everything.
The saying claims that only idle people have time for everything. It presents unlimited availability as inconsistent with being occupied.
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It is too late closing the gate after the horse has bolted.
The saying closes a gate after the horse has escaped. It criticises a preventive step taken after the event it was meant to stop.
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It never rains but it pours.
Difficulties or demands can arrive together and feel intensified by their combination. The pouring-rain exaggeration describes that experience, without proving that trouble always clusters or that another problem must follow the first.
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It takes time to build castles.
Building castles takes time in this image of a substantial undertaking. The saying asks for patience with work that has stages.
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It will not do to keep holidays before they come.
A celebration planned for later should not displace the work or preparation needed now. Anticipation is different from treating an expected occasion as already secured.
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It’s better to arrive on time than to be invited.
The wording ranks arriving on time above being invited. The supplied gloss reads it as a request not to need repeated prompting once a visit is arranged.
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It’s better to be a has-been than a never-was.
Being a has-been preferred to a never-was values a past achievement above never having attained that status. It challenges dismissing someone solely because prominence has ended.
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It’s better to tie your donkey than to go searching for it.
Tying a donkey preferred to later searching contrasts preparation with repair after something goes missing. The saying values timely attention to a foreseeable task.
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It’s no use closing the stable door, after the horse has bolted.
The saying closes a stable door after the horse has escaped. As an analogy, a preventive action arrives too late for the event it was meant to stop.
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