The collection / 38,988 fragments
Explore passages mentioning justice, just. Topic suggestions use transparent word matching, not scholarly classification. Reviewed editorial meanings may also connect entries to this topic; those assignments are labelled separately from word matching.
Meaning: People who have comparable faults should be careful about attacking others for theirs. The glass-house image warns against careless accusation and invites self-examination, without making accountability depend on a critic being perfect.
Editorial context: This links women’s appearance with supposed domestic neglect. Appearance is not evidence of neglect, and household duties need not be assigned by gender.
Meaning: The saying accuses women who attend to their appearance of neglecting domestic responsibilities. It treats looking in a mirror and caring for a household as competing duties assigned to women.
Meaning: People sometimes object strongly to a minor fault while accepting a much larger one. Check whether your standards are proportionate and consistently applied.
Meaning: Money may overcome a barrier that is supposed to keep something secure. The lock and gold warn about financial influence or corruption, without proving that every person or safeguard can be bought.
Editorial context: This makes women’s reputation depend on confinement and constant work. Freedom and rest are not signs of dishonesty.
Meaning: This verse makes women’s good reputation depend on staying at home and working constantly. It expresses a restrictive ideal of obedience and domestic labour, not a fair measure of honesty or worth.
Meaning: A large or conspicuous target is easier to notice and aim at. Figuratively, prominence can attract attention or criticism, without proving that the criticism is justified or that visibility must be avoided.
Meaning: A prominent role depends on other people and the relationships around it. The saying questions the idea of greatness as wholly self-sufficient, without treating social ranks as fixed or calling less visible people less valuable.
Meaning: The saying rationalises a greater wrongdoing when punishment is imagined to be the same. The sheep and lamb expose a dangerous escalation in the speaker’s reasoning.
Meaning: Those who initiate a task may differ from those who obtain its result or recognition. The small and large dogs invite attention to complementary contributions and unequal rewards, without making either contribution automatically more valuable.
Meaning: Once something has fallen, people may hurry to exploit its weakened position. The felled-tree image can expose opportunism after a setback, but it should not make that response inevitable or excuse treating a vulnerable person as material to take advantage of.
Editorial context: This gendered image divides visible authority from indirect influence. It does not establish how women and men naturally make decisions.
Meaning: The saying portrays men as the visible authority and women as influencing that authority indirectly. It contrasts a formal position with influence while relying on a fixed picture of gender roles.
Meaning: A weak or minimal barrier may be easy to pass. The low hedge emphasises the limits of a boundary, without requiring stronger restrictions whenever people can cross or treating every crossing as misconduct.
Meaning: The saying declares a household unhappy when the hen is louder than the cock. Its animal image can express a gendered objection to a woman having greater authority.
Meaning: The saying gives one knock to the hoop and another to the barrel. Its balanced image can suggest alternating attention between two related sides rather than striking only one.
Meaning: An irrelevant feature of appearance should not make a capable person or useful thing seem inferior. The horse’s colour challenges a superficial judgment, while leaving relevant evidence about suitability open to examination.
Meaning: The saying gives hunger the power to make hard bones seem like sweet beans. Need changes the imagined value of something ordinarily unappealing.
Meaning: Pressing need can make someone use what is available more completely. The hungry horse leaving an empty manger suggests that circumstances shape consumption, without proving deprivation or making limited provision acceptable.
Meaning: A pressing need can make another person’s work seem too slow. The hungry diner judging the cook points to impatience shaping an assessment, without dismissing legitimate delay or blaming someone for being hungry.
Editorial context: This assigns wisdom and gentleness by marital gender. Both qualities can be expected of every participant.
Meaning: The saying assigns wisdom to the husband and gentleness to the wife as complementary ideals. It is a gendered allocation of virtues, not evidence that either quality belongs only to one partner.
Meaning: The saying warns that neglecting available work can contribute to material difficulty. Its absolute link between inactivity and poverty is too narrow to explain people’s circumstances.
Meaning: Even someone regarded unfavourably may deserve some recognition or kindness. The bone represents a modest good that should not be withheld without thought.
Meaning: The saying warns that benefits obtained through wrongdoing can bring trouble rather than lasting advantage. It is a moral warning, not proof that misconduct is always punished or that prosperity demonstrates honesty.
Meaning: A small concession can encourage someone to ask for much more. Make the scope of an agreement clear without assuming that every request for additional help shows bad intentions.
Meaning: Human worth is not measured by physical height. The saying uses a religious image to reject an outward yardstick, but it should not replace that yardstick with another demand that people demonstrate their value through size, ability, status or impressive performance.