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
A wise person talking to a fool becoming one of two fools warns that an exchange can lose its useful purpose. The saying questions engagement that does not lead to understanding.
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Older people who set a poor example can undermine the lessons offered to the young. The saying connects guidance with the conduct of those giving it.
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Keeping a lesson when losing distinguishes an unsuccessful outcome from what may be learned from it. The saying encourages reflection rather than only counting the result.
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When worthwhile learning loses respect, people may have less reason or opportunity to pursue it. The saying connects recognition with the conditions that sustain knowledge.
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Listen more and speak with greater restraint. Giving other people room to explain can improve your understanding before you decide what contribution is useful.
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Wisdom compared with a baobab too large for one person to embrace makes understanding greater than an individual’s reach. The saying invites shared learning.
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The saying makes wisdom a principal aim and asks that understanding accompany every pursuit. It values learning beyond accumulation alone.
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Learning can emerge from recognising a mistake. Wisdom riding on folly’s ruins pictures improved judgment supported by an earlier failure.
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You can sometimes avoid a mistake by learning from what happened to someone else. Relevant experience need not become your own loss before you consider what it shows.
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A lesson learned at a cost may leave a strong impression. The repeated teaching image values remembered experience, without making costly mistakes necessary or claiming that their lessons are always understood.
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A lesson gained through difficulty may cost more than its benefit justifies. The saying questions praising every painful experience as useful learning, rather than denying that experience can improve judgement.
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A bear learning to dance pictures an unlikely accomplishment becoming possible with time. The saying encourages patience with learning.
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Wonder described as the beginning of wisdom gives curiosity a role in learning. The saying values an opening question rather than immediate certainty.
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Frequent wonder leading to understanding values curiosity and attentive questioning. The saying portrays insight as something that may come through an open mind.
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Writing called mother of eloquence and father of artists gives it a generative role in expression. The saying values written practice as a source of creative development.
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Lived experience can reveal things that reading alone does not. Treat practical encounters as a source of understanding while keeping room for books, evidence and the possibility that experience can mislead.
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The saying rejects age as an automatic reason to stop learning. It encourages openness to new understanding later in life.
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Pride in errors used as a test of being foolish gives an unusual contrast between making a mistake and celebrating it. The supplied sentence includes a Romanian label.
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The saying divides an elephant-sized undertaking into mouthfuls. As an analogy, a large task may be approached in manageable parts.
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The saying distinguishes leading a horse to water from making it drink. As an explicit analogy, providing an opportunity does not ensure another person takes it.
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The saying separates bringing a horse to water from making it drink. As a human analogy, offering an opportunity does not ensure it is taken.
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A horse brought to water but not made to drink distinguishes offering an opportunity from controlling its use. The saying recognises limits of influence.
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The saying imagines putting an old head on young shoulders. It warns against expecting experience that a younger person has not yet had.
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The available material may not suit the result someone wants to produce. The rough contrast between a purse and an animal’s ear points to a mismatch, rather than proving that people or materials can never change.
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