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: Use words and resources with consideration rather than spending either without a purpose. The paired restraints favour discretion and proportion, without requiring silence or withholding help that can fairly be given.
Meaning: Both speaking and remaining silent can be appropriate, depending on the situation. Judge what the moment requires instead of treating either constant speech or constant restraint as wise in itself.
Meaning: Talking at length does not guarantee clear or useful communication. Consider whether your words explain the point, answer the question and leave room for others, rather than measuring contribution by quantity.
Meaning: Courtesy can be maintained without granting trust that conduct has not earned. The speaker returns fair words while keeping a boundary, without assuming that politeness proves either friendship or deception.
Meaning: Risky attempts to recover losses can worsen damage begun by careless spending. The saying describes a harmful sequence rather than every act of speculation.
Meaning: Avoid unnecessary spending, but do not refuse an expense that a real need requires. Good judgement distinguishes a useful saving from an economy that prevents the task from being done properly.
Meaning: Use resources thoughtfully while trusting in divine provision. The saying combines practical care with religious confidence rather than establishing a promised financial return.
Meaning: The saying suggests that people who use up their resources freely may have less available to lend. Check actual capacity rather than treating spending habits as proof of someone’s generosity or character.
Meaning: The saying warns that spending beyond available means can create severe difficulty. Its fatal imagery is an exaggeration to reject, not a fate to assign to anyone in debt.
Meaning: A small transaction may reveal how someone handles a larger one. The penny and shilling invite attention to habits without making one example conclusive.
Meaning: A careless spender’s apparent economy can create greater costs. The paradox questions savings that preserve the wrong thing while undermining the larger purpose.
Meaning: Having sufficient resources can permit more choice in how they are used. The spice and meal picture an option that depends on what is available.
Meaning: Do not choose a response that harms your own interests mainly to express spite. Check whether an angry refusal or retaliatory act serves a worthwhile purpose or merely makes the situation worse for you.
Meaning: An action aimed outward can rebound on the person who performs it. Spitting against the wind pictures a self-defeating response, without proving that challenging a difficult situation is always futile or wrong.
Meaning: The saying prefers one person’s public criticism to many people’s private criticism. It contrasts the distribution of disapproval but does not establish what makes a judgment true.
Meaning: An activity may offer too little enjoyment or benefit to justify the effort and resources it requires. The candle image asks whether the occasion is worthwhile, without giving pleasure a single price or measure.
Meaning: A small initial offer may be intended to obtain a much larger benefit. The small-fish and whale contrast asks what the exchange is designed to achieve, without guaranteeing success or treating every modest offer as a trick.
Meaning: A place or association does not by itself determine what someone is. The stable and horse expose a faulty inference, without denying that surroundings can influence experience or justify a relevant question.
Meaning: The saying claims that a bad stake remains standing longest. As an explicit analogy, an unwelcome or poor thing may persist beyond what someone expects.
Meaning: An observer outside a contest may notice things its participants miss while concentrating on their own moves. The saying values a different vantage point, without making an outsider automatically better informed than those involved.
Meaning: A high position can expose someone to a greater loss when it is lost. The height and fall image invites humility about status and vulnerability.
Meaning: An arrangement left without renewal or attention may deteriorate. The standing pool gives inactivity a visible image of accumulated neglect.
Meaning: A safeguard introduced only after the loss may come too late to prevent that particular harm. The stable-door image warns about delayed precautions, while leaving room for repair and measures that protect against a future recurrence.
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.