Character.

Meaning: The saying imagines laws as responses to dishonest or harmful conduct. It assigns their purpose to restraining rogues rather than explaining every function of law.

Meaning: Extreme reluctance to part with something is pictured as refusing even a request that would harm an enemy. The knife makes the refusal comically absolute.

Meaning: A lie may travel less securely than its teller expects because evidence can expose it. The short-wing image warns about the limits of deception, without promising that every lie will be discovered quickly or automatically.

Meaning: A generous person looks for ways to act generously. Devising suggests that kindness can involve deliberate planning, rather than only an impulsive gift.

Meaning: Freedom without regard for consequences or shared responsibilities can undermine a situation. The saying warns about excess rather than defining every legitimate limit.

Meaning: One false account can require further falsehoods to keep it believable. Address the original inaccuracy rather than building an increasingly complicated explanation around it.

Meaning: A child may resemble a parent in conduct or interests. The saying notices a family likeness, while its short form should not make resemblance inevitable, limit anyone’s choices or explain a person solely through their family.

Meaning: Physical size is not a dependable measure of someone’s courage, generosity or depth of character. The proverb challenges that shortcut, without claiming that smaller people necessarily have greater virtues or ranking people by their bodies.

Meaning: A narrow or easily offended outlook may turn resentful quickly. The souring drink gives a sharp image to a change from good humour to bitterness.

Meaning: A period of careless or wrongful living can have consequences that last longer than the period itself. One year and seven years create an exaggerated contrast in duration.

Meaning: A life can be valued for how it is lived as well as for its duration. Living well gives the idea of a long life an ethical or qualitative meaning.

Meaning: Affection can reveal whether admirable principles are carried into everyday treatment of another person. Love is compared with a test of virtue, while leaving room to judge character through conduct beyond a close relationship as well.

Meaning: The saying gives the devil’s children a corresponding kind of luck. It connects a morally charged identity with fortune without explaining whether that fortune is favourable or ill.

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: Resentment can keep a grievance active long after the original occasion. The saying draws attention to remembered hostility and its effects, while leaving room to distinguish malice from legitimate concern about an unresolved wrong.

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: 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: A person’s example can influence the conduct of someone working alongside or under them. The master and man reflect a hierarchical setting, encouraging attention to leadership without proving that another person’s behaviour is simply a copy.

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

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: 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.