Exhausting thought, And hiving wisdom with each studious year.

Meaning: The saying calls Sir John Barleycorn the strongest knight. In the checked literary context, barley and its drink take the form of a powerful person.

Meaning: Do not worry more about a small loss than about a larger loss that includes it. Keep the relative importance of what is at stake in view when deciding where attention belongs.

Meaning: Worrying about a difficulty does not by itself resolve it. In this reading, care means troubled concern rather than helpful attention; the saying distinguishes distress from a remedy without dismissing feelings or treating action as an easy answer to every problem.

Meaning: The saying mocks abandoning something dependable for an uncertain possibility without a sound reason. Its musical image puts the chooser among fools, but uncertainty alone does not make a choice foolish; the point is to examine what justifies the change.