The collection / 2,056 fragments
Traditional sayings from a documented English collection, with reviewed meanings for an expanding editorial selection.
Editorial context: This gendered image divides visible authority from indirect influence. It does not establish how women and men naturally make decisions.
Meaning: The saying portrays men as the visible authority and women as influencing that authority indirectly. It contrasts a formal position with influence while relying on a fixed picture of gender roles.
Meaning: An accessory is unnecessary when the underlying purpose it serves is absent. The head and hat create a blunt comparison that asks whether attention to an outer addition has overlooked the basic thing it is meant to support.
Meaning: A modest position with meaningful independence may be preferable to a subordinate place in a more prestigious setting. The head and tail contrast asks what influence and responsibility a role offers, rather than ranking people by status.
Meaning: The saying makes an aching head worsen the whole body’s condition. As an explicit analogy, difficulty in one part of a connected undertaking may affect the rest.
Meaning: Harm may be caused more quickly than it can be repaired. The saying encourages care before an action, while recognising that recovery or restored trust can require time without following one fixed timetable.
Meaning: The saying assigns healing to God while giving the physician the thanks. It separates an ultimate cause imagined through faith from the person visibly credited.
Meaning: Well-being is valued above possessions in this comparison. The proverb asks what makes resources worth having, without claiming that illness reduces a person’s worth or that money has no role in meeting practical needs.
Meaning: A person’s words may reveal what occupies their thoughts or feelings. Heart and tongue connect inner concerns with speech, without making every remark a complete or reliable account of what someone believes.
Meaning: People can care for one another while disagreeing in thought or judgement. A difference of opinion need not erase shared affection, respect or purpose.
Meaning: People may choose the easiest place to cross a boundary. The lowest hedge draws attention to an arrangement’s weak or convenient point, without establishing that crossing is wrong or that the people doing it are dishonest.
Meaning: A weak or minimal barrier may be easy to pass. The low hedge emphasises the limits of a boundary, without requiring stronger restrictions whenever people can cross or treating every crossing as misconduct.
Meaning: Clear boundaries can help a friendship remain healthy. Some separation in space, time or responsibilities may prevent small intrusions from becoming repeated resentment.
Meaning: People or activity can be noticed in places that appear sheltered, and speech can travel beyond its intended audience. The eyes-and-ears image cautions against assuming surroundings make an action or conversation completely private.
Meaning: Careful attention can help work proceed successfully. The saying praises taking heed before acting, while its confident promise should not be read as a guarantee that preparation prevents every difficulty.
Meaning: Leaving a confrontation can sometimes serve better than trying to overcome it by force. Heels represent getting away and hands represent fighting or struggling, without determining what any particular emergency requires.
Meaning: The saying declares a household unhappy when the hen is louder than the cock. Its animal image can express a gendered objection to a woman having greater authority.
Meaning: The saying compares love with a cough as something that may make itself noticeable. It suggests that feelings can show through conduct, but appearances do not prove affection, and neither love nor illness should be inferred confidently from this comparison.
Meaning: The saying urges full disclosure to a minister, physician and lawyer. It gives three trusted roles a shared expectation of being told relevant truths.
Meaning: A position that offers advantages can also expose someone to serious consequences. Precipices around a high place warn against overlooking its dangerous edges, rather than treating prominence as proof of security.
Meaning: A conspicuous position can receive pressure from several directions. The hills exposed to wind picture the demands that visibility may attract, without proving that prominence must cause a fall or that every request deserves an immediate response.
Meaning: A person has direct access to experiences and intentions that others may not see. That perspective deserves attention, while self-knowledge can still be incomplete and benefit from honest reflection or feedback.
Meaning: Judgement that helps others should also be considered in one’s own choices. The saying questions advice disconnected from the adviser’s conduct, without making personal advantage the only purpose of wisdom.
Meaning: 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.
Meaning: A person who begins behind others may still obtain the desired result. The trailing-dog image leaves room for changed circumstances and a later opportunity, without guaranteeing a reversal or making preparation and timely action irrelevant.