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
The saying gives a good surgeon an eagle’s eye, a lion’s heart and a lady’s hand. Its three images praise observation, courage and a gentle or careful touch.
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A person who is secure in a skill may have less need to prove it through conflict. The source’s absolute wording offers an ideal of restraint, not a guarantee about the behaviour of skilled people.
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A caring partnership and wellbeing can matter more than material possessions. The saying’s language of a wife as wealth needs a reading that preserves her independent dignity.
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The saying credits a good wife with making her husband good. It points to a partner’s influence, but can wrongly make a woman responsible for another adult’s character and choices.
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The saying expects a good winter to lead to a good summer. It carries a favourable judgment from one season into the next without defining what good means.
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Choosing a considerate word can take no longer than choosing a hurtful one. Where either would express your point, consider the effect of the manner you use.
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Wealth expected through marriage can bring demands and disagreements as well as apparent advantages. The bed represents the shared relationship, asking whether attention to resources has displaced consideration of the people and their expectations.
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A large move can bring a large disturbance. The leap and shake ask that ambition include attention to consequences, without assuming every substantial change is reckless or should be avoided.
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A large undertaking needs conditions capable of supporting its scale. Check whether the available resources and setting fit the project before committing to its size.
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The saying connects a green winter with a full churchyard. Its grim image associates a winter condition with increased deaths without explaining the cause.
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The saying expects a fresh wound to heal soon. It links newness with a short period of recovery, without defining the wound or the conditions involved.
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The saying pictures a growing young person’s appetite as unusually large. The wolf image is humorous exaggeration rather than a standard of what every young person should eat.
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Someone who knows they acted wrongly may judge themselves before another person speaks. The saying describes inward accountability, but feelings of guilt alone do not prove wrongdoing or settle responsibility.
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A tool can be good at its intended job and unsuitable for another. Choose according to the task rather than assuming general quality makes every use appropriate.
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Having resources for a pressing need can bring relief. The heavy purse and light heart contrast material provision with a reduced emotional burden.
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Clear boundaries can help a friendship remain healthy. Some separation in space, time or responsibilities may prevent small intrusions from becoming repeated resentment.
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An impressive covering does not by itself change what is underneath. The armour and hog contrast outward equipment with underlying qualities, but the animal comparison should not be used to dehumanise or ridicule a person.
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The saying associates a hot May with a full churchyard. It makes a month’s warmth an ominous sign of deaths without providing a measured relationship.
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A long view makes present appearances seem less permanent. The shared baldness is an exaggeration about change over time, rather than a prediction of everyone’s lifespan or a criticism of losing hair.
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Pressing need can make someone use what is available more completely. The hungry horse leaving an empty manger suggests that circumstances shape consumption, without proving deprivation or making limited provision acceptable.
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A person with an unmet immediate need may be irritable. The rhyme links hunger with anger as an observation about a possible circumstance.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
The saying dismisses harm through a gendered animal comparison. Read it as an example of minimising another person’s actions, rather than evidence that such harm is harmless.
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Clear boundaries can protect a close relationship by preventing avoidable disagreement. Trust and explicit arrangements can work together instead of being treated as opposing choices.
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The effort spent pursuing a small dispute can exceed what is at stake. The two money names and the paper image direct attention to the cost of the process, not only the disputed amount.
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