Words worth understanding
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 ↗
proverb · Traditional
A prominent role depends on other people and the relationships around it. The saying questions the idea of greatness as wholly self-sufficient, without treating social ranks as fixed or calling less visible people less valuable.
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A large occasion can leave some participants poorly served even when others enjoy it. The banquet image asks who has been overlooked, rather than assuming that scale or a favourable overall impression proves everyone benefited.
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The saying uses racist language and treats a Black person’s skin as something washing should change. That premise is to be rejected, not turned into a lesson about human worth.
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A demand for status can conflict painfully with limited resources. The saying exposes that tension but should not be used to deny dignity to people in need.
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Devotion should not require a person to lose their life or abandon their own worth. The saying challenges an ideal of love proved by total self-destruction.
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Being bound suggests an obligation that limits what a person may choose. The saying stresses the force of commitments, but its demand for obedience must be qualified by the actual terms, fairness and circumstances rather than treated as a universal command.
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Work done during an available season can help provide for a harder one. The contrast between heat and frost stresses timing but oversimplifies why needs may go unmet.
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Those who shape plans can gain power over those who carry them out. The saying draws attention to a division of authority, while oversimplifying the thinking involved in practical work.
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People who have comparable faults should be careful about attacking others for theirs. The glass-house image warns against careless accusation and invites self-examination, without making accountability depend on a critic being perfect.
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The saying imagines a few women and a goose producing the noise of a market. It mocks women’s conversation through an animal comparison, rather than establishing that women are unusually talkative.
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Harmful conduct may eventually meet an unwelcome consequence. The evil day expresses an expectation of accountability, without proving that punishment always arrives or that people who suffer must have done wrong.
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Give people the recognition appropriate to their position or contribution. The historical language describes rank, while a modern reading can ask whether acknowledgement is accurate, respectful and fairly assigned.
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The saying permits courtship for younger men while condemning it for older men. A critical reading questions age as a substitute for assessing consent and conduct.
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A difficulty affecting one person today may affect someone else later. The saying invites fellow feeling rather than confidence that another person’s trouble is safely distant.
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Freedom without regard for consequences or shared responsibilities can undermine a situation. The saying warns about excess rather than defining every legitimate limit.
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Exchange can generate income. Making trade the mother of money highlights one route to material gain rather than a complete explanation of wealth.
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Commercial dealings may need clear terms even between friends or relatives. The saying separates a transaction’s obligations from personal closeness, without suggesting that business removes the need for fairness, care or consideration.
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Even someone with little power may resist when pushed or harmed. The turning worm challenges the assumption that vulnerability means endless submission.
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Quiet appearances can conceal what an observer has not understood. The still water and silent person warn against treating lack of visible disturbance as complete knowledge.
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Responding to a wrong with another wrong does not make the first one fair or repair it. Accountability should address the harm without repeating it.
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Someone intent on taking advantage may use a weak excuse to justify it. The wolf’s pretext disguises a desire already directed toward the sheep.
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Harmful conduct can continue more easily when hidden from appropriate scrutiny. The nourishment image suggests concealment sustaining a problem.
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An undertaking that promises excitement or satisfaction can also bring serious trouble. The three examples question an account that notices only pleasure.
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Not everyone can hold the leading role at once. The saying can encourage respect for different contributions without treating a hierarchy as fixed or deserved.
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