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 (French-language collection)
People often recommend the cause they already favour. Consider their commitments and interests when evaluating enthusiastic advice rather than treating it as neutral by default.
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People may blame the age or circumstances around them to avoid examining their own mistakes. Consider what was within your control as well as external influences.
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People commonly believe their own claim is justified. Confidence on both sides of a dispute is a reason to examine evidence, not a way to decide who is right.
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A person’s faults are not reliably visible in their face or first appearance. Judgement needs relevant behaviour and evidence rather than guesses based on looks.
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Each course of action may bring some difficulty. The puddle makes an obstacle seem part of the journey, encouraging realistic expectations without claiming that every problem is unavoidable or worth enduring.
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People selling or making something tend to praise it. Treat their description as one perspective and look for relevant evidence before deciding its quality or suitability.
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An arrangement that suits one person may not suit another. Judge the fit to the individual or task instead of assuming one successful solution works everywhere.
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Each participant is directed toward their own allotted provision. The trough image can express order but needs scrutiny if it is used to exclude someone unfairly.
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An undertaking needs a sound basis of its own. The tub’s bottom pictures the support without which the container cannot fulfil its purpose.
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When a task is vaguely assigned to everyone, each person may assume someone else will do it. Shared responsibility works better when the next action and its owner are clear.
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The saying combines a reminder that things finish with a playful double meaning of “end.” Its joke lightens the observation rather than providing a precise rule about how every experience concludes.
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Something useful or welcome can be better suited to one occasion than another. The saying values timing and context, while its broad wording should not imply that every action becomes good merely by choosing a moment for it.
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Use can cause wear that needs attention. The saying warns about deterioration while overlooking ways that use can also improve skill, familiarity or value.
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Something obtained through wrongdoing may be used or lost just as carelessly. The saying links a bad beginning with an unhappy result, without proving that every dishonest gain receives a matching punishment.
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Harm can result from carelessness as well as deliberate cruelty. Good intentions do not remove the need to consider what an action may do to others.
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What people see you do can teach more powerfully than what you tell them to do. Let your conduct support your instructions rather than expecting words alone to establish a useful habit.
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When a task is within your own capacity, waiting for another person may needlessly delay it. The saying encourages taking an available step without making assistance or cooperation signs of weakness.
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Learning through your own mistakes can be costly, yet people often take a lesson seriously only after experiencing its consequences. Consider whether you could learn earlier from advice or another person’s experience.
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The saying sharply criticises people who ignore guidance and learn only after a mistake affects them. Take relevant warnings seriously instead of requiring every lesson to arrive through your own setback.
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An extreme condition or approach may be difficult to sustain. Consider whether an intense position has a workable future, while avoiding the assumption that every extreme situation will soon end by itself.
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The saying encourages courage in seeking a hoped-for relationship, but frames a woman as a prize to win. A constructive reading values honest initiative while rejecting conquest: another person’s consent, interest and freedom to decline remain essential.
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Praise so weak or qualified that it seems reluctant can convey criticism. The saying notices the message around the compliment, without proving that every brief or reserved acknowledgement is intended to disparage.
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The rhyme assigns faults to appearance, colour and stature. It is a sequence of stereotypes rather than evidence that visible characteristics determine character.
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The saying uses lawyers going to heaven as an image for proceeding gently or slowly. Its comparison has a possible satirical edge, while the exact tone is not supplied.
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