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: Something that permits no repair may be difficult to keep useful. The sack-and-patching image values room for correction, without making every proposed change good or blaming someone for a limit they cannot alter.
Meaning: A result depends on what was put into its source. The sack pictures a store that cannot supply something it never contained.
Editorial context: The original import mistakenly kept part of the heading and omitted this rhyme. The words now follow source entry 1382; the existing ID and URL are preserved. Its calendar instruction is historical lore, not verified planting guidance.
Meaning: The rhyme recommends sowing oats and barley on St. David’s day. It ties a named calendar occasion to a specific agricultural task.
Meaning: Keep the demands of an undertaking within what can support them. Sail and ship represent ambition and capacity, encouraging a suitable balance rather than assuming that larger plans are always unwise.
Meaning: The means chosen may lack a quality the task requires. Sand made into rope pictures that mismatch, without proving that an unfamiliar method cannot work or that every limitation calls for abandoning the purpose.
Meaning: Avoiding an unnecessary loss can preserve resources just as acquiring more can increase what is available. The saying treats careful retention as a form of gain.
Meaning: Saving at one small point is ineffective if resources are escaping much faster elsewhere. Look for the larger source of waste instead of relying on a visible but minor economy.
Meaning: Preserving a useful resource can leave it available when needed. The saying highlights retention as one contributor to what a person or group has.
Meaning: Build a basic skill before attempting its more demanding form. Learning the foundations can make an ambitious next step more reliable and easier to understand.
Meaning: Good words are valuable, but doing the promised or useful thing gives them practical substance. The wordplay between say well and do well favours follow-through, without making thoughtful speech useless.
Meaning: The saying makes one scabbed sheep infect the whole flock. As an explicit analogy, a problem in one part of a group is imagined to spread through the rest.
Meaning: Different roles require different tools and responsibilities. The sceptre and ladle contrast ruling with everyday provision instead of making one task interchangeable with the other.
Meaning: Learning confined to books can leave a person poorly prepared for a practical situation. The saying’s insult should be replaced by a fair question about application.
Meaning: Continuing a search can make earlier effort useful when something worthwhile is found. The saying encourages persistence, without guaranteeing success or making it wrong to stop an unproductive search.
Meaning: Taking action yourself can give you responsibility for its result. The compact pairing connects personal effort with what is obtained.
Meaning: The saying asks for gentle September wind until fruit is stored. The request connects a vulnerable final stage with a wish for favourable conditions.
Meaning: The quality of support can shape how well a leader carries out a role. The saying recognises a relationship between leadership and the people doing its supporting work.
Meaning: An approach that works against the nature of a task can make it unnecessarily difficult. Shaving against the wool pictures resistance created by the chosen method.
Meaning: People may readily join an attack or criticism while few accept the effort of following through. Consider who will take responsibility for the costs and practical work behind a forceful response.
Meaning: Attend to the work that supports your livelihood. The shop is pictured as returning care through its ability to sustain the person who maintains it.
Meaning: A supposed shortcut can take longer when it creates problems or misses a necessary step. Judge the whole route to completion rather than only the distance saved at the beginning.
Meaning: The saying demands that a capable person contribute even when unwilling. The bird’s song makes the demand vivid but does not establish a right to force performance.
Meaning: An unsuccessful effort can seem no better than doing nothing. The saying voices that discouragement, while inviting a closer look at what an attempt may still teach.
Meaning: The saying argues that paid work should not be called slavery. A critical reading distinguishes compensation from the freedom and fair conditions that a worker also needs.