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 imagines a few women and a goose producing the noise of a market. It mocks women’s conversation through an animal comparison, rather than establishing that women are unusually talkative.
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Even an intense grief may change with time. The saying offers hope for easing, while its sweeping claim should not impose an outcome or deadline.
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A response that intensifies a problem will not resolve it. The oil-and-fire image warns about escalating a quarrel while claiming to calm it, without requiring silence or concession whenever someone needs to raise a legitimate concern.
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Giving a past wrong less hold over your attention can be more useful than retaliation. The saying values moving beyond resentment without requiring you to erase what happened or abandon necessary protection.
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The saying favours freeing your attention from a past wrong over answering it with further harm. Moving on can be valuable while remembering what happened and keeping appropriate boundaries.
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Frightening someone is a poor way to seek their willing approach. The hind image criticises pressure that drives the hoped-for connection away, while a constructive reading rejects the idea of catching a person and keeps their choice and boundaries central.
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Refusing to engage can prevent rude speech from controlling a conversation. Deaf ears represent a deliberate choice to withhold attention from an insult.
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The saying treats negotiation as a sign that courage is close to surrender. A critical reading questions that assumption rather than equating discussion with weakness.
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When trouble has subsided, avoid needlessly restarting it. Sleeping ill luck pictures a problem that is temporarily quiet and best left undisturbed.
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Do not needlessly revive a distress that has temporarily eased. Sleeping sorrow pictures a respite worth treating with care.
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When entering an unfamiliar place or group, learn its ordinary customs and adapt where appropriate. Respectful participation often begins with noticing how others do things.
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Music is pictured as creating harmony or a peaceful atmosphere. The saying idealises an experience rather than guaranteeing that no harm can occur around it.
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The saying pictures a sword drawn against a prince with its scabbard discarded. It presents defiance as a commitment that leaves no easy return to putting the weapon away.
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The saying condemns encouraging war through a religious image of serving evil. It urges scrutiny of rhetoric that turns violence into a cause for enthusiasm.
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Singing can offer a welcome diversion from worry. The saying celebrates that relief without establishing that a song removes every burden.
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A household may need to address problems rather than avoid every difficult conversation. The saying’s praise of chiding needs limits on how disagreement is expressed.
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The saying contrasts speech with physical harm, treating words as passing and blows as cruel. That contrast needs correction because words can also cause lasting harm.
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Cruel words can leave a lasting hurt even after the moment has passed. Think about their effect rather than assuming that speech is harmless because it leaves no visible mark.
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A person intent on continuing a quarrel can keep finding things to say. The saying questions argument sustained for its own sake, without making disagreement, persistence or a request for explanation automatically unreasonable.
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Peace with a neighbour depends partly on how both people live alongside each other. Consider the other person’s needs and boundaries rather than assuming your own intentions alone determine the relationship.
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