Words worth understanding
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.
proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
Practical skill develops through doing the relevant work. Instruction becomes more useful when paired with repeated practice, feedback and gradually more demanding tasks.
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Ears present before horns give listening an image of priority over force or display. The saying can be read as valuing receptiveness before assertion.
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A change of surroundings or routine can bring renewed growth. The pasture image suggests that staying in one place is not always best, without promising that every change will improve things.
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The saying demands that children observe quietly without speaking. It expresses an adult preference for obedience, but a modern reading should question that demand: children need opportunities to ask, contribute and report concerns, rather than have silence treated as a virtue.
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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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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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Criticism can help refine work that someone else has made. The clothes-brushing comparison gives the critic a supporting role, without assuming every criticism improves the work or that commenting is equivalent to creating it.
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The saying first makes curiosity fatal to a cat, then makes satisfaction bring it back. Its second half answers the warning with a playful reversal.
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Repeated practice can become so familiar that it feels natural. Second nature describes that acquired ease, without proving that a habit is good, unchangeable or shared by everyone.
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Familiarity and repetition can make an activity easier to manage. The word anything exaggerates that benefit, without proving that practice removes every difficulty or that lack of ease shows insufficient effort.
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A small opening can let understanding or possibility emerge. The daylight image values a limited beginning, without promising that one clue reveals the whole situation or that every difficulty will quickly disappear.
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Steady effort can provide a lasting resource, much as an inheritance supplies something to build on. The proverb praises diligence as useful capital, without claiming that hard work removes unequal opportunities or guarantees material success.
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Dismissing apparent absurdity warned to obstruct understanding asks a reader to examine before rejecting. The saying gives unfamiliar or puzzling ideas a chance to be considered.
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The saying asks adults not to limit children’s learning to what they themselves learned. Different generations may face different knowledge and circumstances.
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Teaching forest paths to an old gorilla imagines instruction offered to someone already familiar with the setting. The saying questions advice that ignores experience.
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The instruction discourages fear of failure. It invites an attempt without treating the possibility of a poor result as a complete barrier.
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The instruction asks someone not to fear failure. It encourages approaching an attempt without letting the possibility of a setback settle the decision alone.
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Trying and failing is defended against judgment while not trying is criticised. The saying values undertaking an attempt over avoiding it.
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Speaking less because ignorance exceeds knowledge recommends restraint through a broad judgment of what a person knows. The saying questions confident expression without understanding.
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Teaching a grandmother to suck eggs pictures offering basic instruction to someone already experienced. It warns against assuming that another person needs elementary advice.
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The instruction warns against teaching a grandmother an assumed familiar task. As an analogy, it questions offering elementary advice to someone with relevant experience.
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Champions also making mistakes denies that achievement makes a person infallible. It normalises the possibility of error even in skilled performance.
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A spoon touching soup without tasting it compares proximity to wisdom with actually understanding it. The saying distinguishes being near knowledge from learning through engagement.
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