The collection / 2,056 fragments
Traditional sayings from a documented English collection, with reviewed meanings for an expanding editorial selection.
Meaning: Support can become easy to find after the important work has already been done. The christening image contrasts late willingness to take a role with the help needed earlier, without making every late offer worthless.
Meaning: The saying expresses belief that divine will can make different circumstances serve the same outcome. Rain from every wind pictures that religious confidence.
Meaning: Even something valuable can cost more than it is worth in the circumstances. Compare the whole sacrifice with the actual benefit rather than assuming that a prized result justifies any price.
Meaning: Money by itself does not constitute a fully flourishing life. Other conditions can matter, while having sufficient material resources remains a real and legitimate need.
Meaning: Money can open many worldly doors, but the saying denies it the same power over Heaven. It contrasts material influence with spiritual worth, rather than describing a purchase that guarantees access everywhere.
Meaning: Money may overcome a barrier that is supposed to keep something secure. The lock and gold warn about financial influence or corruption, without proving that every person or safeguard can be bought.
Meaning: Expectations need to take difficult circumstances into account. The golden life and iron age contrast warns against expecting ease from an unhelpful setting, without making hardship inevitable or discouraging efforts to improve it.
Meaning: The prospect of wealth can distract people from relevant facts or objections. The saying warns about distorted judgement, without proving that every person will ignore evidence when money is involved.
Meaning: Follow through on the good you propose, and do not make every helpful act an occasion for self-praise. Let concern lead to useful conduct rather than only to declarations about your intentions.
Meaning: Good work and quick completion can be difficult to combine when the task needs care. The saying asks whether speed is compromising the result, without making slow work automatically good or prompt work automatically careless.
Meaning: An unwelcome experience can sharpen appreciation of something better. The proverb describes learning through contrast, without making suffering necessary for understanding or giving those who have suffered an automatic authority over everyone else.
Meaning: An acceptable option can still be surpassed by a better one. The saying encourages comparison beyond mere adequacy, while leaving room for the costs of change and the practical value of something already good enough.
Meaning: Companions drawn mainly by generous food or entertainment may leave when those benefits stop. The saying questions a friendship dependent on hospitality, without making attendance or a host’s spending a reliable measure of affection.
Meaning: Choosing a considerate word can take no longer than choosing a hurtful one. Where either would express your point, consider the effect of the manner you use.
Meaning: Useful advice can still help after the ideal moment has passed. Consider what can improve now instead of dismissing guidance solely because it arrived late.
Meaning: A dependable friend treats your reputation with care even when you are not there. Loyalty includes refusing unfair gossip rather than offering kindness only in your presence.
Meaning: Plenty may encourage careless use, while scarcity can encourage caution about what is available. The harvest comparison describes possible changes in behaviour, without proving that either condition determines someone’s character or that hardship is desirable.
Meaning: A useful principle can remain relevant beyond the occasion when it was first heard. The saying praises enduring guidance, while the word good matters: a maxim still needs to fit the circumstances rather than answer every situation automatically.
Meaning: Do not keep adding resources to a failing course merely because you have already spent some. Judge the next commitment by what it can achieve now, rather than by a wish to justify the past.
Editorial context: This makes women’s reputation depend on confinement and constant work. Freedom and rest are not signs of dishonesty.
Meaning: This verse makes women’s good reputation depend on staying at home and working constantly. It expresses a restrictive ideal of obedience and domestic labour, not a fair measure of honesty or worth.
Meaning: Failing to ask for something that is due or needed can mean not receiving it. The saying encourages a clear request instead of relying on silent expectation.
Meaning: The saying connects divine help with human action. It can encourage participation in a hoped-for result, but it should not make faith a guarantee of success or imply that people who need assistance have failed to use their hands well enough.
Meaning: The saying expresses enthusiasm for something valued, as though more of it must always be welcome. Its exaggeration should be tested: even a good activity or resource can become excessive, poorly timed or unsuitable in a larger amount.
Meaning: Helping others is presented as worthwhile even without an immediate reward. The saying encourages generosity, but its promise of never losing is too broad if it denies the real effort, limits or risks involved in a favour.