The collection / 847 fragments
Explore passages mentioning wisdom, wise. Topic suggestions use transparent word matching, not scholarly classification. Editorial meanings and lexical matches are discovery aids, not independent authentication of a quotation.
Meaning: A difficulty affecting a neighbour may also require attention to your own situation. The nearby-fire image encourages awareness of connected risks, without making self-protection an excuse to ignore someone else’s need for help.
Meaning: Avoid adopting an untested change merely for novelty or retaining an old approach after it no longer serves. Judge the evidence and purpose rather than making timing itself the rule.
Meaning: Even a highly respected or capable person can make a mistake. The nodding image makes room for lapses without dismissing the person’s wider achievement or making every error unimportant.
Meaning: Even thoughtful people can enjoy occasional playfulness. Taking judgement seriously does not require every moment to be solemn, provided the humour suits the people and circumstances involved.
Meaning: Sound judgement can include choosing which matters deserve attention. The saying values proportion and restraint, without advising people to ignore important evidence, responsibility or harm.
Meaning: The task is presented as far beyond the means supplied for it. Emptying the sea with a nutshell makes the mismatch vivid, without proving that every demanding request is impossible or that nothing useful can be done.
Meaning: Some opportunities depend on a moment that cannot be recreated once it has passed. The saying draws attention to timing, while its absolute wording should not rule out repair, another opportunity or a changed way to meet the same purpose.
Meaning: A worthwhile offer deserves consideration instead of automatic dismissal. The word good carries the judgement the saying depends on, so an attractive proposal still needs to fit someone’s circumstances and respect their freedom to decline.
Meaning: An experienced person’s warning may deserve attention. The older dog’s bark is pictured as having a reason rather than being mere noise.
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: Some worthwhile changes involve unavoidable costs or disruption. Reaching an aim may require accepting a limited sacrifice rather than expecting every benefit without loss.
Meaning: Careful work at the first attempt can prevent the need to do it again. The saying values a sound result, without promising that good work never needs review or making every later revision evidence of an earlier failure.
Meaning: Dependence on a single way out can leave someone with few options when that route is blocked. The mouse’s one hole pictures vulnerability, without making every arrangement require many alternatives or promising that a backup will always help.
Meaning: An excessive amount of one thing can crowd out what else is needed or reduce its usefulness. The saying warns against imbalance, while its absolute ending should not turn every large quantity into something worthless.
Meaning: Not every opportunity disappears immediately. Check whether there is genuinely time to consider a choice rather than assuming that urgency is an unavoidable condition of every useful offer.
Meaning: People differ in the judgement they bring to a situation. The wordplay contrasts wise with otherwise, without providing a fair way to divide everyone permanently into two kinds of person.
Meaning: Competing for something can tempt a person to act before judging whether the next commitment is worthwhile. The saying favours a pause before outbidding, without prescribing a purchase strategy or making every competitive response unwise.
Meaning: Someone usually considered less capable may sometimes do better than an expert. The saying challenges complacency about relative ability, without treating one comparison as a complete measure of either person.
Meaning: The saying presents pain as payment for harmful pleasures. Its wage metaphor makes an unwanted consequence appear to follow an earlier indulgence.
Meaning: The saying recommends looking at painting and fighting from a distance. It gives two different activities one instruction to stand apart.
Meaning: The saying imagines a partridge with a woodcock’s thigh as the best bird. It constructs an ideal by combining selected features of two creatures.
Meaning: Repairing an existing arrangement may support continued use, while a larger new undertaking may create pressures that force a move. The contrast questions whether novelty is worth its cost.
Meaning: Do not offer something valuable where it will be neither understood nor appreciated. Pearls and swine create an intentionally sharp contrast between value and reception.
Meaning: The size of a task or stock should fit the capacity available to handle it. The pedlar’s small pack pictures a manageable load.