The collection / 14,814 fragments
Explore passages mentioning work, labour. 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: Strong willingness can help someone search for a route through a difficult task. The saying celebrates resolve through exaggeration, rather than proving that determination removes every limit or that an unsuccessful person did not want the result enough.
Meaning: Effort and careful use of resources can work together towards a worthwhile result. The saying values both contribution and conservation without guaranteeing success or requiring constant work and deprivation.
Meaning: A worthwhile pause can belong to the journey rather than interrupt its purpose. The good-inn image values suitable rest or provision, without recommending a particular destination or claiming every detour is beneficial.
Meaning: Too many simultaneous undertakings can leave some without the attention they need. The cooling-irons image asks whether active commitments fit available capacity, without requiring everyone to work on only one thing at a time.
Meaning: An extremely distant destination suggests an undertaking of considerable scale. The expression can call attention to how far a task reaches, without treating the world as having a literal endpoint or promising that every journey is worth completing.
Meaning: An object that seems unnecessary now may become useful later. The seven-year claim exaggerates that possibility, rather than giving a dependable timetable or requiring someone to keep every unused possession.
Meaning: Some rewards cannot be obtained without first meeting a necessary condition. The kernel inside a nut gives a concrete image of that condition; this wording expresses the same broad idea as the archive’s other nut-and-kernel saying.
Editorial context: This places household responsibility chiefly with the wife. Recognising domestic contribution should not make it a compulsory sole duty.
Meaning: The saying presents the wife as central to the household’s functioning. It can recognise domestic contribution, while also reflecting an expectation that responsibility for the home belongs chiefly to her.
Meaning: The phrase compares something’s ease with kissing a hand. It makes a simple imagined gesture the measure of an undemanding action.
Meaning: Careless decisions can create complications that others must patiently resolve. Value the work of untangling a problem, and notice what caused it.
Meaning: A difficult problem may respond better to a well-fitted method than to a rougher attempt. The timber-and-wedge image asks how the approach works, without making smoothness a guarantee or giving practical timber-splitting instructions.
Meaning: Useful effort that produces a result is compared to making gold. Spinning gives productive work a visible image of creating value.
Meaning: Useful effort can bring an immediate sense of activity and progress, while avoidable neglect may cause trouble. The warmth image contrasts engagement with inaction.
Meaning: The saying pictures a ladle cooling a pot. It assigns a change in the contents to a small implement or action rather than to the whole vessel alone.
Meaning: A larger task can be approached through successive manageable steps. Notice progress through the sequence, without assuming that repetition alone will reach every goal.
Meaning: The saying claims that after Lammas corn ripens equally by night and day. It marks a later growth stage through a calendar observance.
Meaning: Even someone well suited to a task may welcome additional help in difficult conditions. The owl and lantern picture assistance for an apparently capable performer, without assuming a particular aid is useful or wanted in every situation.
Meaning: A small additional demand can become too much when many earlier burdens have accumulated. The final trigger may look minor without being the whole cause.
Meaning: The saying gives the final celebration to those who actually succeed. It can caution against premature boasting, but winning is not the only reason for joy, and an unsuccessful result does not remove the value of effort, participation or fair conduct.
Meaning: Trying to escape a small effort may lead to a larger one. This closely resembles the idle-folk saying and warns about an ineffective shortcut, without providing a fair label for everyone who pauses or needs help.
Meaning: A costly method can be disproportionate to the value of what it obtains. The silver shovel and lead invite a comparison between means and result, rather than assuming that any successful effort is worth its expense.
Meaning: A small unresolved problem can undermine a much larger undertaking. The leak and ship emphasise consequences that grow if ignored, without claiming that every minor fault will become disastrous or needs the same response.
Meaning: A burden may be out of proportion to the person assigned to carry it. The small-boy-and-large-fiddle image questions that mismatch, without making size a reliable measure of ability or claiming the pattern always occurs.
Meaning: The phrase praises leather as if nothing can compare with it. Its unqualified preference can illustrate how an enthusiast elevates one familiar material above alternatives.