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
Loud, forceful insistence may be used to cover a weak argument. The saying suggests asking what supports the claim beneath the bluster, without assuming that every emphatic speaker is concealing a lack of reason.
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Building a house or marrying is pictured leaving little in the purse. The saying directs attention to the resources a major undertaking may consume, without claiming that every such choice causes poverty.
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Continuing an effort can help bring a task to completion. The claim about not tiring is encouragement to perseverance, rather than a literal demand to avoid rest or a guarantee of success.
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The saying warns that drinking without thirst may leave someone thirsty when no drink remains. Its sequence contrasts present use with later need.
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If ordinary spending continually exceeds what comes in, having a purse does not solve the shortfall. Notice the mismatch rather than treating available storage or appearance as evidence of sufficient resources.
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A person with more resources can contribute more to a shared undertaking. The peas and pot connect what someone can put in with what they possess, rather than making equal contributions possible for everyone.
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A run of favourable outcomes can leave someone dazzled and less alert to limits. The saying questions judgment formed only under easy circumstances.
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The saying imagines birth fixing a death by hanging and ruling out death by drowning. It expresses fatalism through a stark contrast between two dangers.
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Fear may lead others to surrender more than someone is entitled to receive. The saying exposes power gained through intimidation, rather than making the excess a fair reward.
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The saying imposes fixed age deadlines for appearance, strength, wisdom and wealth. Its sweeping prediction should be questioned: these qualities are not a single timetable, and missing an age-based expectation does not determine a person’s future or worth.
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The estate is pictured as feeling the effects of prolonged absence from necessary work. The saying questions neglected responsibilities, rather than measuring character by early rising or treating sleep, illness, disability or needed rest as a moral failure.
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Deliberately making others miserable is wrong regardless of rank. The contrast between prince and peasant applies the same moral scrutiny across status.
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Choosing a relationship chiefly for wealth may create obligations or dependence that restrict personal choice. Selling liberty makes the material gain sound like a costly exchange.
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The saying warns that spending beyond available means can create severe difficulty. Its fatal imagery is an exaggeration to reject, not a fate to assign to anyone in debt.
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Actively provoking conflict can make opportunities for it easier to find. The saying warns about searching for a quarrel, without implying that people who experience trouble chose it or are responsible for harm done to them.
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Work performed deserves recognition and agreed compensation. The saying encourages a person not to treat a request for payment as shameful.
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Progress toward a difficult destination may require leaving the present position. The valley and hill contrast remaining still with taking the steps the goal needs.
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Accepting a friend’s hospitality can mean allowing for the effort and imperfections behind it. The kitchen image asks a guest to appreciate the meal without inspecting every detail of its preparation.
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A desired result may require preparation before the moment it is wanted. The breakfast-and-hunt image connects present enjoyment with earlier work, without prescribing hunting or suggesting every outcome can be secured by planning.
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Extreme reluctance to part with something is pictured as refusing even a request that would harm an enemy. The knife makes the refusal comically absolute.
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The saying imagines someone starving even in a shop full of prepared food. It exaggerates a failure to obtain or use what appears close at hand.
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A dependable friend treats your reputation with care even when you are not there. Loyalty includes refusing unfair gossip rather than offering kindness only in your presence.
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An early start is presented as a sign of diligence and a chance to make progress. Five o’clock gives the general praise of effort a memorable concrete hour.
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Well-being is valued above possessions in this comparison. The proverb asks what makes resources worth having, without claiming that illness reduces a person’s worth or that money has no role in meeting practical needs.
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