Truth.

Meaning: The saying makes a greater truth a greater libel. Its provocative contrast suggests that an accurate accusation may be felt as especially damaging by its subject.

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: The phrase accuses someone of telling falsehoods readily and repeatedly. It is an emphatic criticism, not evidence that every statement by that person is false.

Meaning: A person who secretly listens to others may hear unwelcome comments about themselves. The saying warns about eavesdropping and its consequences, without making overheard remarks reliable evidence or blaming someone for accidentally hearing hurtful speech.

Meaning: Someone’s visible direction or stated intention may differ from what their actions achieve. Compare the actual course with the impression being given before relying on that impression.

Meaning: Strong affection can sometimes be difficult to put into words. The saying notices a possible gap between feeling and expression, but silence is not proof of love, and difficulty speaking should not replace attention to someone’s need for clear communication.

Meaning: Poor-quality goods can find buyers when buyers overlook their faults. The saying criticises an unexamined purchase but risks blaming people who have been misled.

Meaning: Honesty gives skilled work a dependable basis by making its claims and dealings trustworthy. The saying values truthful conduct alongside ability, rather than promising that honesty alone supplies every skill or always earns a reward.

Meaning: An uncertain outcome can fail to happen as well as happen. The saying balances hope with the alternative possibility, without claiming that the two outcomes are equally likely or that uncertainty makes preparation pointless.

Meaning: The saying puts Cry you mercy beside a question about who killed the speaker’s cat. A courteous or apologetic opening is immediately followed by a serious complaint.

Meaning: The speaker claims to see as far into a millstone as the picker. The comparison presents equal insight into something whose interior is not readily visible.

Meaning: A misunderstood account can become false information as it is repeated. Clarify what was meant and what is actually known before treating a confusing report as a settled fact.

Meaning: Polite words are easy to offer, but they have little value when unsupported by considerate conduct. Look beyond courteous speech to how someone actually treats others.

Meaning: Someone may offer an incidental excuse to cover a mistake. The musician’s supposed crumb illustrates avoiding an admission, without making every interruption dishonest or allowing an observer to infer deception from a pause alone.

Meaning: The people described are notably silent. The comparison uses the ordinary impression of a fish as a picture of saying nothing.

Meaning: A well-grounded reputation can retain value when it is not being publicly displayed. The lustre-in-darkness image praises lasting character, without treating reputation as infallible evidence or guaranteeing that good conduct will always be recognised.

Meaning: Reputation can feel inseparable from a person’s place in the world. Losing a good name is described with the intensity of losing life itself.

Meaning: Silence can feel reassuring when bad developments would normally be reported. The saying offers that hopeful reading, but no message by itself does not prove that all is well or replace an expected check-in.

Meaning: The saying grants a nurse’s speech a special privilege. It presents a role as allowing talk that might otherwise be restrained, without defining the occasion or subject.

Meaning: Traditional sayings can preserve observations that remain useful to examine. The proverb praises inherited wisdom, while an old saying’s age alone does not establish its truth or make it suitable for every situation.

Meaning: The saying claims the last person to pay avoids paying twice. It makes delay sound protective, though the wording supplies no actual arrangement that guarantees this result.

Meaning: An assurance costs little when the speaker has no intention of fulfilling it. The promised-payment image asks whether words are backed by genuine commitment, without treating every delay or unfulfilled promise as deliberate deception.

Meaning: Someone who appears successful may persuade an uncertain listener more easily. The saying points to the influence of favourable circumstances on credibility.

Meaning: Straightforward, honest treatment is something to value. The jewel praises clarity in dealings, without making bluntness a virtue or requiring someone to disclose private information unrelated to the matter at hand.