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
Do not put more pressure on a fragile arrangement than it can reasonably bear. The weak rope pictures limited support, without requiring someone to accept permanent weakness or avoid every demanding task.
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Helping someone who intends harm may expose the helper to betrayal. The warmed snake gives that warning a dramatic image of trust meeting a hostile response.
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Do not set more activity or conflict in motion than you can responsibly manage. The conjuring image warns about consequences, without requiring total control over others or claiming that every uncertain undertaking should be avoided.
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Careless choices made early can create later regret. The contrast between reckless youth and rueful age highlights consequences that may outlast the moment.
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The saying encourages bearing a present difficulty by imagining a worse one ahead. A careful reading keeps perspective without making future fear a reason to tolerate harm.
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Abruptly disrupting an established source of stability can be harmful. The old tree’s removal supplies a warning that should remain a metaphor rather than a rule about people’s age.
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A major change can disrupt what sustains an established arrangement. The old tree warns that moving something also means altering its support.
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Keep the most effective step for the point when it can make a useful difference. The striking image encourages judgement about timing, without endorsing violence or making delay and surprise inherently better than open cooperation.
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Possessing a large amount of something does not help if it cannot meet the need. The cat among grain highlights the difference between abundance and usefulness, without assuming that money or other resources are always useless.
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Something attractive can come with difficulties or risks that deserve attention. The rose and its thorns pair appeal with a limitation, without making enjoyment foolish or predicting that every desirable choice will cause harm.
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The saying tells someone to rub a sore eye with an elbow. The awkward instruction can be read as an indirect way of discouraging rubbing rather than a practical method.
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Friends can cause difficulty even when they mean to help. This exclamation can describe misplaced advice, interference or an awkward favour, without implying that friendship itself is dangerous or that every friend has bad intentions.
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Avoid judging a whole period from an incomplete part of it. Waiting until the year ends pictures the value of considering the full course of events.
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Be careful about becoming entangled in another person’s difficulty and suffering consequences that are not yours to take on. The hot-food image encourages judgement about involvement, rather than forbidding useful help.
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Reconsidering an initial judgement can reveal something useful that was missed. The saying values a second look, without proving that the later thought is always better or that every decision should be delayed repeatedly.
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A small resource overlooked now may be useful later. The pin and future need encourage consideration before discarding something suitable.
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Do not make commitments that depend on a result you have not secured. The hare’s skin still needing to be caught pictures counting an uncertain benefit as though it were already yours to promise.
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A capable person can exercise judgement without being told every step. The saying values competent discretion, but silence is not a substitute for explaining the purpose, essential constraints or information that the person cannot otherwise know.
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The most serious threat may come from a different direction than you expect. Familiarity with one difficulty does not remove the need to notice another that an arrangement handles less well.
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A brief experience can be pleasing without lasting long. The donkey’s gallop gives the short duration a playful image.
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A supposed shortcut can take longer when it creates problems or misses a necessary step. Judge the whole route to completion rather than only the distance saved at the beginning.
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Small or promptly addressed accounts are easier to settle than accumulated ones. Short reckonings picture the value of resolving obligations before they become tangled.
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Choosing not to speak can prevent a needless argument or careless disclosure. Consider whether words will help, while recognising that silence can also leave an important problem unaddressed.
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Spending on outward display can crowd out ordinary necessities. Fine clothing is pictured as consuming the resources that would keep the kitchen working.
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