Mischiefs come by the pound and go away by the ounce.

Understand the thought

Meaning in plain English

Problems can arrive quickly in large amounts yet take slow, incremental work to resolve. The unequal measures dramatise that imbalance, without predicting that every setback will be severe or that recovery has a fixed pace.

What the words are saying

The pound and ounce contrast a large arrival with a much smaller departure. The image suggests that a difficulty may be created in one moment while undoing its consequences requires many separate steps. It can acknowledge why a repair feels slower than the event that made it necessary. The quantities are rhetorical rather than measurements of harm or a timetable for recovery. Some problems can be corrected quickly, while others require help and may not be fully reversible. The useful response identifies manageable work and realistic support instead of expecting the disappearance of a problem to match the speed with which it appeared.

Everyday example

A duplicated mailing sends many incorrect invitations at once; the organiser then contacts recipients in small groups and checks each correction carefully.

When to use it

Use it to acknowledge the slower, piecemeal work that can follow a sudden problem.

Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.