proverb · Traditional
What is worse than ill-luck?
The saying asks what could be worse than bad luck. Its question emphasises misfortune without supplying an answer or a ranked comparison.
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111 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals.
A person may say while drinking what they usually hold back. The saying contrasts restraint with a moment in which private thoughts are voiced.
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What the eye does not see the heart does not grieve for.
An event may not produce immediate sadness while a person remains unaware of it. The saying links knowledge and feeling, without claiming that unseen harm disappears or that concealment is a proper way to prevent grief.
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What the eye sees not, the heart rues not.
Something unknown may not cause the distress that learning about it would bring. The saying comments on awareness and feeling, without making ignorance protective in every case or excusing the concealment of information someone needs.
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What the heart thinketh, the tongue speaketh.
A person’s words may reveal what occupies their thoughts or feelings. Heart and tongue connect inner concerns with speech, without making every remark a complete or reliable account of what someone believes.
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When wine is in, wit is out.
The saying warns that drinking can undermine judgement and self-restraint. It contrasts the presence of wine with the loss of the clear thinking needed for a considered response.
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When wine sinks, words swim.
The saying pictures wine sinking while words swim. Its paired movement suggests drinking accompanied by speech becoming more active or less restrained.
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Who so blind as he that will not see?
Someone who refuses to consider available evidence may resist understanding more than someone who lacks information. The saying criticises deliberate avoidance, but its sight metaphor must not equate visual disability with unwillingness or ignorance.
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Who thinks to live must live to think, Else mind and body lose their link.
A considered life includes reflection as well as daily activity. The saying presents thinking as a connection between what one does and what one understands.
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Will without reason is blind.
Determination without a reasoned view of the situation may lead effort in an unsuitable direction. The saying asks for judgement alongside resolve, without treating enthusiasm as irrational or using its sight metaphor as a claim about visual disability.
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Wise men care not for what they cannot have.
A person may choose not to dwell on something genuinely unavailable. The saying values directing attention towards workable possibilities, without claiming that every limit is fixed or that disappointment should simply be dismissed.
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Wit is the lightning of the mind.
A quick insight can make an idea suddenly clear, like a flash of lightning. The saying celebrates mental brightness, without treating speed as a complete measure of understanding or making every clever remark correct.
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Woman's instinct is often truer than man's reasoning.
The saying praises women’s instinct by contrasting it with men’s reasoning. Even this favourable comparison relies on a gender stereotype, rather than evaluating a particular intuition or argument on its merits.
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Wrinkled purses make wrinkled faces.
Material strain can weigh on a person’s expression and mood. The wrinkled purse and face make the connection visible without defining everyone’s experience.
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You cannot see wood for trees.
Attention to individual details can obscure the larger situation they form together. The wood-and-trees image asks for a wider view, without making detail unimportant or implying that a broad impression is always enough.
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