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
Personal examples spreading like seeds in wind give conduct an influence beyond its immediate setting. The saying asks what others may learn or repeat from an action.
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Writing can be a tool for developing and working through ideas. The plough image presents thought as something cultivated through effort, without claiming that writing is the only way to think or contribute.
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The saying gives perseverance greater achievements than strength. It values sustained effort more highly than power alone.
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Repeated, attentive practice can improve a skill. Progress usually depends on learning from mistakes and refining your approach, rather than simply repeating the same action many times.
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Prejudice springing from ignorance connects an unfair judgment with missing understanding. The saying values learning as a possible response to bias.
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The wording connects preventing a defect with avoiding success. Its unexpected relation is preserved as an unresolved statement rather than replaced with a familiar improvement maxim.
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Proverbs can supply memorable words for recurring situations in everyday life. Calling them texts suggests short passages people use as starting points for reflection.
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Reading stories said never to achieve wisdom dismisses one route to understanding. The saying contrasts narrative engagement with an unstated alternative source of insight.
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Recognising major mistakes as a road to wisdom values acknowledgment as a beginning of learning. The saying gives self-examination a developmental role.
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Continuing a search can make earlier effort useful when something worthwhile is found. The saying encourages persistence, without guaranteeing success or making it wrong to stop an unproductive search.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
An ability may become less ready to use when it receives little practice. The sharpened-edge image encourages suitable engagement, without making inactivity proof of laziness or claiming that every skill declines in the same way.
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The saying gives victory to slow, steady progress. It favours sustained attention over relying on bursts of speed alone.
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A smart person understanding from one hint values quick recognition from little instruction. The saying gives concise communication an admired result.
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Walking through woods without seeing trees contrasts being present with noticing what surrounds one. The saying questions inattention despite proximity.
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Speaking described as natural and silence as understanding gives restraint an image of considered judgment. The saying values a pause before expression.
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Speculation assigned to the ignorant criticises claims that go beyond what is known. The saying favours supported understanding over confident conjecture.
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The saying grows tall oaks from little acorns. It encourages attention to the possible value of a modest beginning.
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Teachers opening a door and learners entering picture guidance alongside participation. The saying distinguishes making learning available from the learner’s engagement with it.
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Teaching young people as engraving stone gives early learning an image of durability. The saying values impressions that may last beyond the lesson.
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The saying contrasts being told, shown and involved through forgetting, remembering and understanding. It values participation in learning.
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Deeply established habits can seem inseparable from a person. The bone-and-flesh image emphasises persistence, but its word never overstates the point: early patterns can be questioned and changed, and they do not prove an unalterable inherited character.
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An unhelpful practice can be picked up quickly through example or convenience. The saying encourages attention to what is being learned, without claiming that harmful habits are inevitable or that a person cannot change.
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The obvious said not to need explanation gives apparent clarity priority over elaboration. The saying favours leaving an already understood point unstated.
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Resources without guidance or responsibility can create opportunities for careless choices. The saying warns about indulgence while making an overly broad claim about youth.
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