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
Bread and water preferred to cake with trouble contrasts a simple option with an attractive but burdensome one. The saying values peace beyond luxury.
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Bribery making both parties happy describes immediate satisfaction within an improper exchange. The saying draws attention to the participants’ apparent shared benefit.
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The saying compares business opportunities with buses that keep arriving. It offers reassurance through an expectation of another chance.
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Use resources thoughtfully while trusting in divine provision. The saying combines practical care with religious confidence rather than establishing a promised financial return.
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The saying calls cash king. It gives immediately available money a position of priority or power through a royal metaphor.
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The saying evokes a scramble in which people take whatever they can secure. Its repeated catch gives the contest a hurried, opportunistic character.
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The saying makes a cheap purchase costly over time. It distinguishes the initial price from the expense of keeping or replacing something.
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Cheap things denied goodness and good things denied cheapness equate price with quality. The saying warns against an appealing low cost.
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A child may appear to own something while an adult ultimately controls its use or benefit. The pig-and-bacon contrast exposes the difference between a nominal gift and practical ownership.
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Children are presented as a form of wealth that cannot be measured in money. The saying values family relationships amid limited resources, but it should not romanticise poverty, impose parenthood or treat children as possessions or compensation for hardship.
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Children’s dependence can change form as they grow: the image moves from being physically nurtured to drawing on family resources.
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Do not treat an expected benefit as if you already have it. Plans should allow for the possibility that an uncertain result will not arrive.
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Courage that cannot be bought at an inn contrasts resolve with something available for purchase. It questions obtaining courage as a commodity.
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Wanting more does not by itself produce a worthwhile gain. Desire must not be mistaken for the work or judgment needed to obtain something.
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People owed something may remember an obligation more keenly than those who must meet it. Do not assume that your forgetfulness means the other person has forgotten too.
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The saying sizes a coat to the cloth available. As an analogy, shape an undertaking around the resources actually at hand.
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Plan your spending or ambitions to fit the resources actually available. Adjusting the scope of a project can be wiser than committing to something you cannot presently sustain.
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Owing money can make hardship feel especially restrictive because future resources are already committed. The saying emphasises the burden of obligation.
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The saying gives diamonds an everlasting duration. It uses permanence as praise rather than supplying a measured lifespan.
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An orange shared without losing its good taste pictures generosity compatible with enjoyment. The saying asks whether a benefit can be enjoyed together.
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Inspect what you are agreeing to acquire before committing. An unseen or poorly understood offer may turn out to be different from what you expected.
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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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A debtor driven away and becoming hostile links rejection with a possible change in a strained relationship. The saying asks how an obligation is handled socially.
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Do not make accumulating wealth so dominant that you deny yourself a worthwhile life now. Saving has a purpose, and that purpose can be lost if resources are never allowed to support living.
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