proverb · Traditional
Diamonds are forever.
The saying gives diamonds an everlasting duration. It uses permanence as praise rather than supplying a measured lifespan.
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What does it mean?
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.
194 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
Dine with a stranger but put aside your love for your family.
Dining with a stranger while setting aside love for family gives hospitality and closer attachment different places. The phrase put aside leaves their exact relation uncertain.
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Do not desire a woman with beautiful breasts if you have no money.
Desire for a woman described through her breasts discouraged without money connects attraction with a financial condition. The saying presents a gendered and objectifying relationship judgment.
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Do not stick your finger between husband and wife.
A finger kept from between husband and wife warns against intervening in an intimate relationship. The saying expresses caution about involvement.
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Don’t be so much in love that you can’t tell when the rain comes. – Malagasy
Love so absorbing that rain goes unnoticed gives affection an image of lost attention to surrounding conditions. The supplied wording includes a Malagasy label.
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Don’t talk about rope in the house of the hanged man.
Avoiding rope talk in the house of a hanged person connects a topic with a painful personal context. The saying asks for sensitivity to an audience’s experience.
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Even after the wound is healed, the scar remains.
A scar remaining after a wound heals gives past harm an image of continuing effects. The saying distinguishes an ended event from everything it leaves behind.
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Even small birds must have meat.
Even those who seem small or unimportant still have needs. Do not overlook someone’s basic requirements because they have little status or visibility.
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Every family has an ugly member.
Every family having an ugly member assigns a negative appearance label within a universal family claim. The saying presents a harsh comparison of belonging and looks.
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Every Jack has his Jill.
The saying imagines a suitable partner for everyone. It can offer hope about companionship, but its promise is not guaranteed, and its paired male-and-female labels should not prescribe identity, require a relationship or override anyone’s freely chosen interest.
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Everybody’s companion is nobody’s friend.
Being everyone’s companion but nobody’s friend contrasts widespread social contact with a lack of depth. The saying questions connection measured by breadth alone.
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Faint heart never won a fair lady.
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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Fancy passes beauty.
Personal liking can matter more to someone than conventional beauty. What appeals to a person need not be the thing that others rate most attractive.
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Forgiving is not forgetting.
Forgiving distinguished from forgetting separates a chosen response to a wrong from erasing its memory. The saying allows remembrance alongside release.
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Friendship is love with understanding.
The saying defines friendship as love joined with understanding. It values affection that also makes room for another person’s perspective.
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Girls dream of marriage, married women dream of love.
Girls wanting marriage and married women wanting love contrast an anticipated status with a hoped-for experience. The saying questions fulfilment expected from a relationship label.
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Great love causes great sorrow.
Great love causing great sorrow links deep attachment with the possibility of painful loss or difficulty. The saying recognises vulnerability in caring.
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Hanging and wiving go by destiny.
The saying places execution and marriage under destiny. It joins a severe event and a relationship decision through the belief that both are predetermined.
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Happy is the wooing, That is not long a-doing.
The saying praises a courtship that reaches agreement quickly. A careful reading questions whether speed actually serves the people involved.
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Happy wife, happy life.
The rhyme links a wife’s happiness with a happier shared life. It makes one partner’s wellbeing stand for the condition of the relationship.
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Harsh words and anger are often springing from affection.
Harsh words and anger said to spring from affection proposes a caring motive behind unpleasant conduct. The saying asks how outward behaviour and feelings may differ.
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He that goes far from home for a wife, either intends to cheat or will be cheated.
The saying expresses suspicion about seeking a spouse far from home. Its claim that deception must follow is a stereotype to question rather than a reliable warning.
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He that has never traveled thinks that his mother is the only good cook in the world.
Someone never travelling calling their mother the only good cook contrasts a familiar example with unexamined alternatives. The saying questions a universal judgment drawn from limited experience.
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He that longs most lacks most.
Strong longing can express a strong sense that something is missing. The paired words connect desire with a felt absence.
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