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: An ability may become less ready to use when it receives little practice. The sharpened-edge image encourages suitable engagement, without making inactivity proof of laziness or claiming that every skill declines in the same way.
Meaning: The saying warns that avoidable neglect can contribute to need. Calling sloth the mother of poverty exaggerates one possible cause into a general explanation.
Meaning: A steady pace can make room for dependable progress. The saying values care over mere speed, without proving that slow work is always accurate or that a prompt response cannot be well considered.
Meaning: The saying pictures a reluctant person resisting both bedtime and getting up. Opposite transitions are delayed, so the pattern concerns unwillingness to move into the next activity.
Meaning: A modest useful result can be preferable to none at all. Appreciate what a small gain actually provides while remaining honest about whether it is enough.
Meaning: Dismissing small matters can allow trouble to accumulate. The repeated little connects minor omissions with gradual decline, while leaving room to judge which details matter rather than demanding attention to every possible imperfection.
Meaning: A measured pace can help someone proceed carefully. The saying favours steadiness, while overstating certainty if it makes slow progress a guarantee.
Meaning: Pleasant words cannot substitute for a practical contribution when one is needed. The parsnips remain unbuttered by reassurance alone, while considerate language can still support useful action.
Meaning: The saying compares soldiers in peacetime with chimneys in summer. It pictures a role appearing less needed when the condition associated with its usual use is absent.
Meaning: Describing an action can be much easier than carrying it out. Consider the effort, resources and difficulties behind a proposal before treating a simple instruction as a complete solution.
Meaning: Actions can produce consequences connected with what was done. Sowing and reaping picture a relationship between preparation and the resulting harvest.
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: Too many people directing the same task without clear roles can make the result worse. Conflicting instructions and repeated changes may matter more than the amount of effort contributed.
Meaning: Do not endanger something valuable by refusing a small necessary expense or effort. The contrast between a ship and a little tar warns against a saving that undermines the larger purpose.
Meaning: The saying makes pie depend on sport. It puts an activity before a reward or provision, without defining the kind of sport intended.
Meaning: A willing contributor may not need additional pressure. The freely moving horse warns that unnecessary urging can strain cooperation, while still allowing clear expectations, constructive feedback and attention to whether help is needed.
Meaning: An arrangement left without renewal or attention may deteriorate. The standing pool gives inactivity a visible image of accumulated neglect.
Meaning: A larger task can be approached through successive manageable stages. The ladder image values gradual progress, without promising that every sequence leads to the intended result or that a person must keep advancing without rest.
Meaning: A contribution suited to an early stage can help a task begin, while an oversized demand may overwhelm it. The sticks-and-fire contrast values fit and timing, without providing literal fire-building advice or making smallness inherently better.
Meaning: The saying proposes forcing someone into another route when they refuse the first. A critical reading asks whether the task is legitimate and whether force is justified at all.
Meaning: Do not carelessly undermine what you are trying to offer. Calling one’s own fish stinking pictures damaging speech about an undertaking one hopes others will accept.
Meaning: Dealing with a small problem early can prevent it from becoming a larger, more difficult problem later. Timely attention often saves extra work and disruption.
Meaning: The saying makes a lack of stock render gain scarcely worth a chip. It contrasts a supporting resource with a small result judged insufficient.
Meaning: A useful arrangement may need firmness joined with flexibility. The stone wall contrasts rigid contact with a softness that cannot support the structure at all.