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
Attention directed where one slipped rather than fell gives a beginning cause priority over the final visible consequence. The saying asks how a setback started.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying advises against selling sun in July. In the supplied speculative reading, it cautions against offering something assumed already abundant.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
A donkey’s tail judged both too long and too short in a crowd portrays conflicting opinions about one change. The saying warns that pleasing every observer may be impossible.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Teaching forest paths to an old gorilla imagines instruction offered to someone already familiar with the setting. The saying questions advice that ignores experience.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Sheep manure questioned as becoming caramel rejects an appealing label for an unsuitable substance. The saying contrasts what something is with a desired transformation or presentation.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Castles built in the air picture plans without a foundation. The saying warns against treating imagined possibilities as though they were already feasible.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying warns against counting chickens before the eggs hatch. It cautions against treating an expected result as already secured.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying warns against cutting the branch one stands on. As an analogy, it questions an action that destroys the support for one’s own position.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying advises leaving a functioning thing alone instead of repairing it unnecessarily. It questions changes made without an identified problem.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The book-cover image warns against deciding a person’s or thing’s value from outward appearance alone. It asks for evidence beyond the first impression.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Windows too small for sunlight make a home closed to illumination. The saying asks for enough openness to admit light.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
A goat appointed gardener gives responsibility an image of interests that may undermine a task. The saying questions suitability for a role.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying warns against turning a molehill into a mountain. It criticises making a concern seem larger than the evidence supports.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Putting a cart before its horse pictures things arranged in an unhelpful sequence. The saying asks that prerequisites come before what depends on them.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional (French-language collection)
A label may describe what is offered without proving what is actually inside. Check relevant contents or evidence before relying on the description alone.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Speaking less because ignorance exceeds knowledge recommends restraint through a broad judgment of what a person knows. The saying questions confident expression without understanding.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
Teaching a grandmother to suck eggs pictures offering basic instruction to someone already experienced. It warns against assuming that another person needs elementary advice.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying warns against discarding a baby with bath-water. As an analogy, it asks a change to preserve what is valuable while removing what is unwanted.
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The instruction warns against kicking against the wind. As an explicit analogy, it questions an effort aimed at a force that the chosen action cannot usefully change.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The instruction warns against teaching a grandmother an assumed familiar task. As an analogy, it questions offering elementary advice to someone with relevant experience.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying puts sticking doors and drawers before rain. It interprets a change in household movement as a weather sign.
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Dreams as hopes and reality as what one plans for separate aspiration from practical preparation. The saying asks that an aim engage with actual conditions.
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A dressed stick becoming a doll gives presentation a role in turning a simple object into a represented figure. The saying connects added appearance with how something is perceived.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying borrows the drink-like-a-fish image but adds water only. It changes the familiar heavy-drinking comparison through an explicit restriction.
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