Proverbs and their meanings.

Meaning: Skilled work normally takes learning and practice. A beginner’s first attempt should not be judged as though they already have the experience and support of a practised worker.

Meaning: A partnership shaped by unequal social power may become a relationship of command. The saying warns that a supposed advantage can carry a loss of equality.

Meaning: Someone directly invested in a task may notice what others overlook. The exaggerated comparison praises personal attention but also exposes distrust of delegated work.

Meaning: Honesty gives skilled work a dependable basis by making its claims and dealings trustworthy. The saying values truthful conduct alongside ability, rather than promising that honesty alone supplies every skill or always earns a reward.

Meaning: Two competing authorities or commitments can make dependable service difficult. The saying asks whether their demands can be reconciled, before someone promises to satisfy both as though no conflict exists.

Meaning: Regular, informed attention from the person responsible can help a task or resource receive proper care. The owner watching the horse points to oversight, rather than a claim that surveillance alone improves things.

Meaning: Careful attention to how work is organised can matter more than personally performing every task. A responsible supervisor helps by noticing problems, clarifying expectations and supporting people who do the work.

Meaning: Marriage can be shaped by material considerations as well as affection. The saying highlights that influence while overstating it as the whole matter.

Meaning: An uncertain outcome can fail to happen as well as happen. The saying balances hope with the alternative possibility, without claiming that the two outcomes are equally likely or that uncertainty makes preparation pointless.

Meaning: The saying links March wind and April rain with a beautiful May. It gives early weather a role in preparing a pleasing later season.

Meaning: The saying expects a cold May to be followed by plenty of corn and hay. The short rhyme makes an uncomfortable condition a promise of provision.

Meaning: A task with little material to deal with may be finished quickly. The thin meadow pictures a small amount of work, suggesting that speed of completion should be considered alongside the task’s size and substance.

Meaning: A fair amount can make an exchange satisfactory to those involved. Good measure connects accuracy and generosity with a happier arrangement.

Meaning: The standard you apply to others may also be applied to you. Measuring becomes an image for fairness, judgment and reciprocal treatment.

Meaning: Check the important details before taking an action that is difficult to reverse. A small amount of preparation can prevent an avoidable mistake, without requiring endless checking.

Meaning: Someone may assess your situation using their own standards or experience. Check whether that measure fits what is being judged instead of assuming that their reference point is universal.

Meaning: The saying links much meat with many maladies. It turns an abundance of food into an equally abundant burden of illness.

Meaning: Generous provision matters, but considerate treatment can matter still more. The meal and manners contrast asks how people are welcomed and respected, rather than judging hospitality only by what is served.

Meaning: Avoid turning a choice into two extremes when a reasonable middle course exists. Rejecting elaborate presentation does not require abandoning ordinary care.

Meaning: The saying claims that medlars become good only when rotten. In the checked horticultural context, their later softening offers a qualified reading of the apparent reversal.

Meaning: The saying attributes ripe medlars to time and straw. It makes waiting and a named material partners in bringing a fruit to a later stage.

Meaning: You can still make a useful improvement after delay or a mistake. Regret about the past need not prevent changing what remains within your control.

Meaning: Shared improvement can begin with each person addressing something they can change. The saying stresses individual contribution, while overstating matters if it assumes every wider problem can be solved through isolated self-correction.

Meaning: A difficult situation may improve with time. The rhyme expresses hope that the current problem is not the final state of things.