The collection / 8,152 fragments
Explore passages mentioning wisdom, wise. 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: Someone considering a purchase should examine what is being offered rather than rely only on its appeal. The saying encourages informed questions, while leaving sellers responsible for honest descriptions and avoiding blame when deception or unequal information prevents a fair choice.
Meaning: A person accepting an item may need to examine it more carefully than the person offering it. Do not assume the giver’s or seller’s knowledge makes your own questions unnecessary.
Meaning: You cannot use up a benefit and still keep it available. Some desirable outcomes conflict, so a decision requires accepting what you give up.
Meaning: Easy conditions can make a task seem simpler than it is. The calm sea allows anyone to appear capable at the helm, cautioning against judging skill solely by an occasion that required little adjustment.
Meaning: The saying advises keeping half the straw and hay at Candlemas. It makes a calendar point a check on whether provisions remain for later use.
Meaning: The saying imagines Candlemas as the point when candles can be put aside. Throwing away the candle and holder exaggerates a sense of reduced need for them.
Meaning: Being able to arrange the conditions of a contest is different from being able to take part skilfully. Packing the cards points to manipulating the setup, which should not be mistaken for ability demonstrated in fair play.
Meaning: Worrying about a difficulty does not by itself resolve it. In this reading, care means troubled concern rather than helpful attention; the saying distinguishes distress from a remedy without dismissing feelings or treating action as an easy answer to every problem.
Meaning: Attention to small amounts can contribute to a larger total over time. The saying encourages care with ordinary resources, but small savings alone cannot guarantee prosperity or solve a shortage of income.
Meaning: Taking on more than you can manage may leave the whole undertaking insecure. The carrying image encourages matching commitments to capacity, while recognising that assistance, tools or a different arrangement can change what is manageable.
Meaning: Providing something where it is already plentiful may be redundant or poorly matched to the need. The familiar comparison questions the usefulness of an addition, without establishing present conditions in Newcastle or making every surplus worthless.
Meaning: Possessing a large amount of something does not help if it cannot meet the need. The cat among grain highlights the difference between abundance and usefulness, without assuming that money or other resources are always useless.
Meaning: An arrangement should serve the purpose for which it is maintained. The cats-and-mice image questions keeping more than is useful, without reducing people or living creatures to a measure of productivity.
Meaning: An apparently relaxed adversary may still have intentions you cannot see. The cat and mouse image warns against treating an outward gesture as complete evidence of another person’s plans.
Meaning: Your own mistakes can teach caution, but another person’s experience may offer the same lesson without the same cost. Listen for relevant lessons before repeating an avoidable error.
Meaning: The saying humorously contrasts ordinary uncertainty with obligations and limits that people cannot simply wish away. Death and taxes form its emphatic pair, rather than a complete account of what is certain or a rule about any person’s tax liability.
Meaning: Be cautious about giving up something dependable for an uncertain expectation. Consider what is actually secured and what is only hoped for before treating a possible improvement as an available replacement.
Meaning: Experience can help a person recognise an unconvincing lure. The speaker claims they have seen enough to avoid being taken in by this particular trick.
Meaning: Two things may be very different despite being put together in a comparison. Chalk and cheese give the difference a vivid form, encouraging attention to relevant distinctions without deciding that comparison is always useless.
Meaning: Pay attention to the opportunity or interest that matters most to your purpose. The advice favors practical focus, while leaving open whether pursuing that advantage is fair or worth its costs.
Meaning: The saying mocks abandoning something dependable for an uncertain possibility without a sound reason. Its musical image puts the chooser among fools, but uncertainty alone does not make a choice foolish; the point is to examine what justifies the change.
Meaning: Do not treat an expected benefit as if you already have it. Plans should allow for the possibility that an uncertain result will not arrive.
Meaning: A greater height can make a fall more consequential. The climbing image warns about the exposure that may accompany ambition, without proving that seeking responsibility or achievement is wrong or that failure is inevitable.
Meaning: Avoiding an attempt can also avoid the particular failure associated with it. The climbing image may explain caution or criticise inaction, depending on context; it does not decide whether the risk is worth taking.