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 recommends praising marriage while remaining unmarried. It separates favourable words about a way of life from choosing its commitments oneself.
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A community needs practical provision before it can sustain its larger activities. Shared ambitions depend on attending to ordinary needs such as food, facilities and daily organisation.
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Sharing a difficulty with people who understand it can reduce the feeling of being alone. Mutual recognition may ease the burden without making the underlying problem disappear.
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Admitting an earlier mistake can show that you have learned, rather than merely expose a weakness. Revising a judgment in response to better understanding is a sign of progress.
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Acknowledging a mistake can begin repairing its effect. An honest admission matters because it creates room for responsibility, though further action may still be needed.
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Careless words can create constraints for their speaker. Confining the tongue pictures restraint before a statement produces consequences that are harder to manage.
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Small efforts repeated over time can produce a substantial change. The saying values steady persistence, while leaving room to check whether the effort is effective and whether the desired result is actually achievable.
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Contentment can make what someone already has feel sufficient. The transforming-stone comparison values satisfaction, without claiming that an attitude removes deprivation or that people should stop seeking necessary improvements.
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The saying compares grain cleared by wind with a soul improved through correction. It makes separation of unwanted material an image of moral change.
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Seeking thoughtful advice can remain useful even when circumstances change. The saying values counsel as a practice, without proving that an old recommendation stays accurate or that every adviser understands the current situation.
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Plans made while drinking may be poorly considered. The saying recommends reconsidering a decision before relying on the confidence of the moment.
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Do not treat an expected benefit as if you already have it. Plans should allow for the possibility that an uncertain result will not arrive.
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Do not treat an expected result as already secured. Plan with uncertainty in view rather than making commitments that depend entirely on an outcome that has not yet happened.
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Knowing how many resources you have does not by itself protect or care for them. Measurement can support oversight, but it needs to be followed by suitable attention to what is being counted.
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Courtesy may be difficult to sustain when it is consistently met with disregard. The one-sided exchange highlights reciprocity, without requiring politeness to become a bargain or blaming someone for setting a necessary boundary.
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The saying denies courts an almanac. As a qualified analogy, it can suggest that expectations about ordinary timing do not settle what happens in a courtly or legal setting.
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Wanting something too intensely can make it harder to judge what pursuing it requires. The warning concerns desire becoming disproportionate, without condemning ordinary ambition or deciding that a particular goal is not worth seeking.
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Wanting more does not by itself produce a worthwhile gain. Desire must not be mistaken for the work or judgment needed to obtain something.
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Cowardice is pictured as avoiding being noticed, especially where a person does not want an action or refusal scrutinised. The saying can question evasiveness, but choosing privacy or feeling afraid does not by itself establish cowardice or wrongdoing.
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The saying links cowardice with cruelty, suggesting that fear may be expressed through harm to others. Its word always makes an unjustified universal claim: fear is not proof of cruelty, and harmful conduct should be assessed through actions and their effects.
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Clever manipulation may fail to deliver a lasting benefit. Craft here suggests scheming, rather than the skill of making something well.
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Clever avoidance does not turn an inaccurate account into a truthful one. Consider whether an answer addresses the substance of the question rather than merely finding words that sidestep it.
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Damaged trust or reputation may be harder to repair than to preserve. The broken glass pictures that fragility, warning about consequences without claiming that one mistake permanently destroys someone’s credibility or makes rebuilding trust impossible.
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People owed something may remember an obligation more keenly than those who must meet it. Do not assume that your forgetfulness means the other person has forgotten too.
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