Words worth understanding
Start with the thought in plain English. Then explore the imagery, a practical example, when to use it, and what the saying does not mean.
4,000 entries with editorial explanations. The wider collection also contains entries still awaiting an individual interpretation.
proverb · Traditional
The value of a life cannot be measured only by its duration. Consider the quality, care and meaning within lived experience rather than treating a number of years as the whole achievement.
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The saying repeats that an event is not over until it ends. It cautions against treating an unfinished situation as a settled result.
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An old hen making good broth presents an older thing as capable of valued contribution. The saying questions a simple preference for youth or novelty.
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The saying makes one stone achieve two bird targets. As an analogy, a single action is pictured as serving two purposes.
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Useful information may lose much of its value when it arrives after the decision or action it was needed for. Consider timing as well as accuracy when sharing what others need to know.
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The saying claims land never lacks someone to inherit it. It pictures a valuable possession as certain to attract a successor.
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Laughter before breakfast followed by tears before supper predicts a reversal within the day. It warns that early cheer may not describe the whole day.
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The saying pictures people labelled lazy becoming active when it is time to sleep. It criticises effort that appears at an unsuitable moment.
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Learning about the future by looking at the past gives previous events a role in present understanding. The saying encourages attention to experience and patterns.
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The saying keeps learning necessary into old age. Its remaining one third makes incomplete knowledge part of a long life.
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The saying asks for tomorrow to be left until tomorrow. It discourages carrying future concerns into the present unnecessarily.
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The saying contrasts lending oneself to others with giving oneself to oneself. It encourages helping without surrendering all of one’s time, attention or agency.
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The saying starts life at forty. It offers an encouraging image of renewed possibilities at that age.
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Unpredictable life paired with eating cake first playfully gives present enjoyment priority over delay. The saying reminds a reader that plans may change.
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The saying fills a purse through small, frequent additions. It gives accumulation a gradual rather than sudden form.
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An honourable life enjoyed again through later reflection gives conduct a future memory value. The saying encourages choices one may appreciate in retrospect.
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People or matters that are absent for a long time may lose their place in everyday attention. The saying describes a risk of being overlooked, without proving that distance ends affection or that a forgotten person has less worth.
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The saying gives a long-foretold event a long duration and a short-notice event a brief one. In the supplied reading, it concerns changing weather.
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A long-awaited event may eventually arrive, making the wait feel resolved. The saying expresses anticipation or relief, without proving that patience guarantees every desired result.
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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.
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An early delay can leave later tasks competing for less time. The saying warns about a schedule’s knock-on effects, not a rule that every slow morning ruins the whole day.
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The saying treats lost time as something that cannot be found again. It emphasises the passing and non-repeatable character of an occasion.
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Love sometimes arriving after marriage allows affection to develop later than a formal union. It describes one possible sequence rather than a required one.
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Love killing time and time killing love reverse the same two subjects. The saying contrasts absorbed companionship with the possibility of affection fading.
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