Wisdom.

Meaning: The person directly affected often understands the specific difficulty best. Ask about their experience before deciding what the problem is or how to fix it.

Meaning: Even apparently pleasant conditions may have an unwanted effect. The saying expresses regret that what seems favourable can still create difficulty.

Meaning: The saying dismisses routine talk about changing weather as an easy substitute for substance. Its insult should not be mistaken for a fair judgment of every casual conversation.

Meaning: A major commitment benefits from judgment and preparation. The saying makes premature marriage a severe warning, but its prediction of lifelong failure is unjustified.

Meaning: An organised setting can make ordinary preparation easier and quicker. The saying credits arrangements made beforehand, without guaranteeing speed, treating every delay as disorganisation or assigning household work to one particular person.

Meaning: The saying declares a whet no hindrance. It treats a sharpening or refreshing step as compatible with progress rather than necessarily delaying it.

Meaning: A small or appealing object can cost more than its real value to you. Consider what you give up to obtain it, rather than letting desire alone decide what is worth paying.

Meaning: Enough room can prevent strain caused by an arrangement that is too tight. The wide and narrow contrast can prompt attention to fit rather than appearance alone.

Meaning: Affection can make each partner see their own relationship as especially fortunate. The exaggerated claim of one good wife exposes the partiality of personal praise.

Meaning: The saying praises a valued spouse through the language of a prize. A careful reading recognises mutual care without treating a partner as an object won.

Meaning: Careful judgement can help someone notice a deceptive tactic before accepting it. The saying praises discernment, but its confident wording must not imply that capable people cannot be deceived or that being misled proves foolishness.

Meaning: The saying treats a stubborn person’s entry into danger as making their destruction inevitable. A critical reading rejects that fatalism while asking what support or boundaries are needed.

Meaning: Stubbornly ignoring relevant limits can bring difficulty. The saying warns about wilfulness without treating every firm decision as unreasonable.

Meaning: When a preferred course is unavailable, consider what can realistically be done. The contrast between will and can separates desire from present capacity.

Meaning: Determination without a reasoned view of the situation may lead effort in an unsuitable direction. The saying asks for judgement alongside resolve, without treating enthusiasm as irrational or using its sight metaphor as a claim about visual disability.

Meaning: Something that seems weak can still influence something stronger. The flexible willow challenges an assumption that visible strength is the only source of effect.

Meaning: A setback for some people may create an advantage for others. The effects of an event are uneven, so one person’s experience may not represent everyone’s.

Meaning: The saying treats still wind as making any weather acceptable. A careful reading questions its absolute confidence that calmness removes every difficulty.

Meaning: Occasional unexpected gains may not provide a dependable basis for ongoing needs. The windfall image questions reliance on benefits that arrive by chance.

Meaning: The means chosen need to match the scale and nature of the task. Bellows offered to drive a windmill make the mismatch conspicuous, without proving that a small contribution is always useless.

Meaning: The saying warns that drinking can undermine judgement and self-restraint. It contrasts the presence of wine with the loss of the clear thinking needed for a considered response.

Meaning: The saying portrays wine as changing sides, beginning as a friend and becoming an enemy. Pleasure is contrasted with a later unwanted consequence.

Meaning: Different signals make little difference when neither reaches the intended recipient. The horse image asks whether a message can actually be received, without making a communication barrier the recipient’s fault.

Meaning: A demanding period reveals whether earlier preparation was adequate. Winter tests what summer stored, connecting present need with prior provision.