proverb · Words worth keeping
Demand a task from a lazy person, and be ready to receive advice.
Demand a task from a lazy person, and be ready to receive advice.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
A supposedly lazy person answering a requested task with advice contrasts doing work with discussing how it might be done. The saying criticises talk that replaces an expected contribution.
Example
A team clarifies whether a contribution is practical work or useful guidance rather than assuming an offered suggestion is evasion.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
A critical reading does not infer laziness from refusal, disability or constrained capacity. Advice can be useful, and a task may need clarification or fair allocation. A useful application asks what was agreed and feasible instead of labelling someone from one response.
When to use it
Use it to examine agreed responsibilities without a fixed character label.
Keep in mind
No laziness diagnosis or duty to perform every requested task is established.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Date unknown
- Culture
- Ottoman Empire/Turkey