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
The saying claims that grass growing in January will fare worse through the rest of the year. A favourable-looking early sign is given an adverse long-term meaning.
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When a condition cannot be changed to suit you, consider changing your own approach instead. The mountain image encourages practical adaptation, without requiring submission to unfairness or making every obstacle something you must accommodate.
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The saying imagines a partridge with a woodcock’s thigh as the best bird. It constructs an ideal by combining selected features of two creatures.
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Knowing an outcome can make an earlier choice seem easier to judge. The saying highlights hindsight, while recognising that a first decision must often be made with incomplete information.
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Ignoring a sound reason may leave a person facing consequences that make it harder to dismiss. The personified reason warns against avoiding evidence, without proving that every unwelcome result validates someone’s earlier advice.
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The saying treats a stubborn person’s entry into danger as making their destruction inevitable. A critical reading rejects that fatalism while asking what support or boundaries are needed.
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Wishing does not turn an unmet need into a resource. Imaginary butter-cakes make the saying’s contrast between hope and actual provision tangible.
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Wishing for a result does not by itself make it happen. A hope becomes more useful when connected to practical action or realistic conditions.
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A wish alone does not supply what is needed. Turning wishes into birds makes an impossible abundance expose the gap between desire and provision.
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Do not make threats that you cannot carry out. Showing teeth without a bite pictures an empty display of force, without requiring aggression or treating a peaceful refusal as weakness.
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Respect for small resources may contribute to managing larger ones. The threepence and groat exaggerate the connection if they make one habit a test of future worth.
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When every available option has a drawback, the saying favours the one involving less harm. The qualification matters: first examine whether the choices are genuinely limited, and do not treat a lesser harm as harmless or automatically justified.
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Conduct tolerated privately may be repeated publicly. The saying warns that an informal pattern can carry into a setting where its consequences are less welcome.
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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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Trust given before a reasonable check can lead to regret. The saying encourages care while exaggerating the duration of the possible consequence.
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Taking direct responsibility can be useful when you need a task completed and cannot rely on an unclear arrangement. Sometimes acting is more effective than repeatedly waiting.
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Taking direct responsibility may help ensure that an important task is understood and completed. The saying favours personal action over merely sending someone, without proving that delegation is ineffective or that everything must be done alone.
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If a task matters to you, direct involvement can help ensure that its requirements are understood. The proverb exaggerates the weakness of sending someone else; capable delegation can work when responsibility, information and authority are clear.
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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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Easy conditions can make a task seem simpler than it is. The calm sea allows anyone to appear capable at the helm, cautioning against judging skill solely by an occasion that required little adjustment.
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After beginning a commitment, someone may decide to take it further rather than stop at a small involvement. The saying expresses determination, but the first step alone does not make a larger commitment sensible.
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Asking for advice achieves little if someone refuses to consider using it. The saying questions the purpose of the request, while leaving room to examine advice critically and reject recommendations that are unsuitable or wrong.
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Important choices about partnership and livelihood can benefit from a range of advice. Consulting all the world exaggerates the value of hearing beyond one’s own view.
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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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