Proverbs and their meanings.

Meaning: Favourable circumstances can sometimes matter more than possessions already held. The saying gives luck priority over a rich starting point.

Meaning: A fortunate outcome can sometimes help more than good judgement does. The saying comments on the power of chance, often wryly, without proving that preparation is useless or that success shows a person made a wise choice.

Meaning: Do not abandon a friend when they need reasonable help in a difficult situation. Dependability includes showing up when support is inconvenient, rather than only when company is enjoyable.

Meaning: The saying demands that young women remain visible while suppressing their voices. It preserves a restrictive social expectation that deserves examination, rather than offering a sound rule for whose opinions should be heard.

Meaning: A measured pace can suit work that needs time to develop. The slow-fire image values an appropriate process over haste, without establishing a brewing instruction or implying that delay is always better than timely action.

Meaning: Early promise does not guarantee later good judgment. The two ages make a contrast between how someone first appears and how they may develop.

Meaning: Human plans are contrasted with God’s final disposition of events. The saying can express religious humility about control, but it should not make preparation pointless, promise a favourable outcome or be used to dismiss another person’s loss as something they must accept without support.

Meaning: Human effort has limits; the speaker places the final outcome within God’s will. Doing what one can is distinguished from controlling everything that happens.

Meaning: Considerate conduct can affect the opportunities and relationships available to a person. The saying values how people treat others, while recognising that good manners do not guarantee success or replace competence and fair conditions.

Meaning: A demanding task can become easier when several people share the work. Help is most useful when everyone understands their contribution and the effort is sensibly divided.

Meaning: The saying contrasts weather whitening clothes with darkening the complexion of people outdoors. It ties seasonal exposure to appearance in a gendered image.

Meaning: Dry March conditions are pictured as extremely valuable. A bushel of dust worth a king’s ransom exaggerates the benefit the saying assigns to that weather.

Meaning: A seller’s preferred price is constrained by what buyers will actually accept. The saying draws attention to the conditions surrounding an exchange.

Meaning: Do not abandon a worthwhile opportunity solely because of a smaller necessary cost. The toll pictures a limited expense on the way to a larger purpose.

Meaning: Poor-quality goods can find buyers when buyers overlook their faults. The saying criticises an unexamined purchase but risks blaming people who have been misled.

Editorial context: This gendered joke compares women’s conversation with animal noise. Address actual volume or conduct fairly instead of relying on the stereotype.

Meaning: The saying imagines a few women and a goose producing the noise of a market. It mocks women’s conversation through an animal comparison, rather than establishing that women are unusually talkative.

Meaning: A harmful partnership can create repeated difficulties in daily life. The spring image makes one troubled relationship a source from which other problems flow.

Meaning: A supportive partnership can make difficulties easier to carry and pleasures richer to share. Halving and doubling give mutual support a memorable numerical image.

Meaning: The saying expresses a belief that marriage has a providential or sacred basis. It can convey reverence for a bond without proving that any particular match is destined.

Meaning: Choosing a relationship chiefly for wealth may create obligations or dependence that restrict personal choice. Selling liberty makes the material gain sound like a costly exchange.

Meaning: An important commitment made without enough thought can leave difficult consequences later. The marriage image warns about rushed agreement, without claiming that quick decisions always fail or that an unhappy commitment must be endured.

Meaning: A shared life benefits from considering practical arrangements beforehand. The house pictures a place and means for the partnership to live.

Meaning: The saying warns against marrying in May because older sayings call it unlucky. Its appeal to inherited words is not evidence that the month harms a relationship.

Meaning: Taking full responsibility before learning what a task requires can leave important gaps in judgement. The master-and-scholar comparison encourages useful guidance and feedback, while allowing independent learning and questioning advice.