Justice.

Meaning: Quiet appearances can conceal what an observer has not understood. The still water and silent person warn against treating lack of visible disturbance as complete knowledge.

Meaning: A secret or forbidden affection may seem especially exciting. The stolen image must not be used to romanticise contact without consent.

Meaning: Need changes how an offer is experienced. The full stomach rejecting sweetness and the hungry one welcoming bitterness contrast abundance with urgency.

Meaning: A useful arrangement may need firmness joined with flexibility. The stone wall contrasts rigid contact with a softness that cannot support the structure at all.

Meaning: An account can seem convincing until another perspective supplies information it leaves out. The saying encourages hearing more than one side, without assuming that a later story is necessarily truer or that every claim has equal weight.

Meaning: Clear shared standards can reduce disputes about what is owed or supplied. Agree how something will be assessed instead of leaving each person to assume a different measure.

Editorial context: This saying claims a repeated mistake deserves injury. That punitive viewpoint is not a justification for harm; repeated difficulty can reflect barriers or a need for support.

Meaning: Repeating a mistake can be a reason to learn from the earlier experience and change the approach. The saying’s claim that injury is deserved is punitive exaggeration, not a justification for hurting or blaming someone.

Meaning: The saying imagines exceptional reliability through a horse that never stumbles and a wife who never complains. Its standard of perfect performance and silence needs questioning.

Meaning: Public goodwill can support a ruler’s position. Calling the people’s affection a lifeguard contrasts trust with protection supplied only by force.

Meaning: New growth can draw on resources supplied by an older source. The tree image invites attention to dependence without making younger people a burden by nature.

Meaning: Bearing a temporary difficulty can sometimes lead to relief. The saying values endurance while leaving open whether tolerating the situation is actually helpful.

Meaning: Attend to the faults or responsibilities within your own reach before criticising everyone else. Self-examination can make criticism more responsible.

Meaning: A person under pressure may need to act while receiving enough support to begin. The supported swimmer pictures necessity together with limited assistance.

Meaning: The saying predicts that someone striking with a sword will be beaten with its scabbard. Aggression is answered through a related but different instrument.

Meaning: Limited means may leave a meal simple to prepare because little is available. The saying recognises scarcity without making it a virtue or an occasion for ridicule.

Meaning: Relying on someone else’s provision can leave you waiting on their timing. The borrowed table highlights dependence in an arrangement, without making receiving help shameful or assuming that independence is always possible.

Meaning: Treat a circulated accusation or story cautiously rather than accepting it without checking. The tale-bearer warning concerns unverified reporting, without making every messenger dishonest or every unwelcome report false.

Meaning: Someone who encourages another person’s wrongdoing can bear serious responsibility. The saying turns attention toward influence rather than only the final actor.

Meaning: A person may betray someone whose work helped them. The roof-thatching image makes ingratitude vivid by turning the helper’s position into a vulnerability.

Meaning: The saying gives a thief enough rope to bring about his own downfall. Its violent image presents harmful conduct as eventually exposing or defeating itself.

Meaning: Regret about being caught may differ from regret about the harm done. The saying asks what an apology or expression of sorrow is actually concerned with.

Meaning: Experience of a wrongdoing may help someone recognise how it happens. The saying values relevant knowledge but needs limits on how that knowledge is used.

Meaning: An accusation or hostile reaction does not prove that its target did anything wrong. Look for relevant evidence instead of treating suspicion as a reliable verdict.

Meaning: Those who shape plans can gain power over those who carry them out. The saying draws attention to a division of authority, while oversimplifying the thinking involved in practical work.