proverb · Traditional
He who hesitates is lost.
The saying makes hesitation lead to loss. It warns that delaying a decision can allow an opportunity to pass.
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532 matching explanations
proverb · Traditional
He who is not handsome at twenty, nor strong at thirty, nor wise at forty, nor rich at fifty, will never be handsome, strong, rich, or wise.
The saying imposes fixed age deadlines for appearance, strength, wisdom and wealth. Its sweeping prediction should be questioned: these qualities are not a single timetable, and missing an age-based expectation does not determine a person’s future or worth.
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He who laughs last, laughs longest.
The saying gives the final laugh the longest duration. It values the eventual result over an earlier appearance of advantage.
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He who would have a hare for breakfast must hunt over night.
A desired result may require preparation before the moment it is wanted. The breakfast-and-hunt image connects present enjoyment with earlier work, without prescribing hunting or suggesting every outcome can be secured by planning.
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He, who lives too fast, arrives to his grave too soon.
Living too fast followed by an early grave links an intense pace with a severe imagined consequence. The saying warns about the demands of a way of life.
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He's up at five, And he will thrive.
An early start is presented as a sign of diligence and a chance to make progress. Five o’clock gives the general praise of effort a memorable concrete hour.
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Hot love is soon cold.
An intense beginning may be followed by a rapid loss of feeling. The hot-and-cold contrast warns against treating initial excitement as proof of lasting attachment, without claiming that strong affection must fade or that slower affection is superior.
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Hurrying has no blessing.
Hurrying described as without blessing gives haste a negatively valued outcome. The saying favours a pace suited to thoughtful action.
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Idle folk have the least leisure.
Having no clear task does not always feel like having usable free time. The saying’s reversal can describe aimlessness or disorganised attention, but it should not judge someone’s unseen work or imply that rest needs to be earned through productivity.
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Idle folk take the most pains.
Avoiding a manageable task can create more work later. The paradox about idle people taking pains criticises a particular pattern of avoidance, rather than proving that rest or limited capacity is a fault.
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If bees stay at home, rain will soon come.
The rhyme predicts rain when bees stay at home. It treats their apparent inactivity as a weather sign.
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If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight; If on Candlemas day it be shower and rain, Winter is gone, and will not come again.
The saying reverses the apparent meaning of Candlemas weather: sunshine foretells more winter, while showers promise its end. It is a date-based forecasting rhyme.
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If Christmas Day on a Monday be, A great winter that year you will see.
The saying predicts a severe winter when Christmas falls on a Monday. It assigns weather significance to the weekday of a calendar celebration.
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If it does not get better, depend on it, it will get worst. –Yiddish
Something not improving then certainly worsening gives an unresolved problem a prediction of decline. The supplied sentence includes a Yiddish label and unusual worst wording.
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If it is not broken, don’t fix it.
The saying discourages repairing something that is not broken. It questions changing a working arrangement without a clear reason.
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If Janiveer calends be summerly gay 'Twill be winterly weather till calends of May.
The saying takes summer-like conditions at the start of January as a sign of wintry conditions lasting into May. It predicts compensation for an unusually mild beginning.
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If spiders are many and spinning their webs, the spell will soon be very dry.
The saying predicts a dry spell from many spiders spinning webs. It makes visible activity a sign of the weather to come.
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If the ash before the oak comes out, There has been, or there will be drought.
The saying makes the ash leafing before the oak a sign of past or future drought. Its broad time window lets the same observation refer backward or forward.
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If the first of July, it be rainy weather, 'Twill rain more or less for four weeks together.
The saying claims that rain on the first of July predicts more rain over four weeks. It turns one day’s condition into a prolonged expectation.
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If the grass grow in Janiveer, It grows the worse for't all the year.
The saying claims that grass growing in January will fare worse through the rest of the year. A favourable-looking early sign is given an adverse long-term meaning.
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If the new moon holds the old moon in her lap, fair weather.
The saying pictures a new moon holding an old moon in her lap and predicts fair weather. Its embrace image describes a faint lunar disc beside a bright crescent.
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If the twenty-fourth of August be fair and clear, Then hope for a prosperous autumn that year.
The saying takes a fair, clear twenty-fourth of August as grounds for hope about the coming autumn. One day is made a sign of a much longer period.
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If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.
The saying makes chasing two rabbits end in catching neither. As an analogy, divided attention can undermine an attempt to achieve incompatible aims at once.
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If you do not spare a day to fix the door to your room, you will waste three years searching for your money but you will never find it.
A day not spent fixing a door contrasted with years of fruitless searching gives neglected upkeep an exaggerated later cost. The saying values addressing a relevant vulnerability before consequences grow.
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