Friendship.

Meaning: Look for what is good in other people while examining what you can improve in yourself. This can balance a habit of excusing yourself and criticising everyone else.

Meaning: The saying dismisses routine talk about changing weather as an easy substitute for substance. Its insult should not be mistaken for a fair judgment of every casual conversation.

Meaning: A person or event is warmly welcomed as a pleasing arrival. May flowers give the welcome an image of freshness and delight.

Meaning: A sincere welcome can contribute more to an enjoyable visit than an impressive offering. Calling welcome the best dish values inclusion and warmth, while leaving room for the practical needs that make participation possible.

Meaning: The saying voices a bleak view in which daily hardship seems to explain crying at birth. It expresses a mood rather than proving that life is only suffering.

Meaning: A caring partnership and wellbeing can matter more than material possessions. The saying’s language of a wife as wealth needs a reading that preserves her independent dignity.

Meaning: The saying praises a valued spouse through the language of a prize. A careful reading recognises mutual care without treating a partner as an object won.

Meaning: Give someone credit for a genuine intention when they could not complete the act. The saying favours a charitable reading of willingness, without making good intentions equivalent to fulfilled responsibilities or repaired harm.

Meaning: A task or opportunity may attract someone else when one person declines. The saying recognises differing willingness without erasing a person’s right to refuse.

Meaning: The saying portrays wine as changing sides, beginning as a friend and becoming an enemy. Pleasure is contrasted with a later unwanted consequence.

Meaning: Wishing does not turn an unmet need into a resource. Imaginary butter-cakes make the saying’s contrast between hope and actual provision tangible.

Meaning: A hurtful statement can cause deep distress, sometimes felt more sharply than a physical injury. The comparison asks people to take emotional harm seriously rather than treating words as weightless.

Meaning: Kind or pleasing words cannot replace the practical help needed to meet a real need. Check whether reassurance is accompanied by the action the situation requires.

Meaning: A refusal by one person need not end the search for a willing participant. The saying recognises differences in interest rather than a right to compel agreement.

Meaning: The saying offers hope that a severe difficulty will improve. Its confidence that the worst must turn better is reassurance rather than a reliable prediction.

Meaning: Each participant pays an agreed share rather than relying on one person to cover everyone. The regional label belongs to the saying and is not evidence of a universal local custom.

Meaning: Taking some initiative can make cooperation easier for friends. The saying values active participation, but its approval-based wording should not imply that a person must be self-sufficient or useful to deserve friendship and support.