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: Use an available opportunity while it remains suitable. Time passing makes some choices harder to return to, but the saying does not require accepting every invitation or acting before enough is understood.
Meaning: Time and changing conditions continue whether or not you are ready. Some opportunities require acting within a real window instead of expecting the world to pause.
Meaning: The saying pairs timely blossom with timely ripening. It carries an appropriate beginning into an expectation of an appropriate later result.
Meaning: Practical contribution can matter when a person is not an effective speaker. The saying contrasts words with hands without making eloquence the measure of competence.
Meaning: Someone may blame their equipment to avoid recognising a weakness in their own work. Examine skill and method as well as tools when a result disappoints.
Meaning: Even a skilled person needs suitable means to do the job. Before judging their performance, consider whether the necessary tools, materials or support have actually been provided.
Meaning: Trying to secure too many things at once can prevent keeping any of them well. The grasping image cautions against overextension, without proving that every ambitious or varied undertaking is beyond a person’s capacity.
Meaning: Not everyone can hold the leading role at once. The saying can encourage respect for different contributions without treating a hierarchy as fixed or deserved.
Meaning: A useful practical skill can be a valuable resource in its own right. The ability to make, repair or provide something may support a person beyond the possessions they already hold.
Meaning: A task benefits from attention to the skills it requires. The saying favours relevant expertise but should not prevent someone learning beyond their present occupation.
Meaning: Commercial dealings may need clear terms even between friends or relatives. The saying separates a transaction’s obligations from personal closeness, without suggesting that business removes the need for fairness, care or consideration.
Meaning: Exchange can generate income. Making trade the mother of money highlights one route to material gain rather than a complete explanation of wealth.
Meaning: Knowing a little about many tasks may leave someone without deep expertise in any one. Match the breadth and depth of your skills to what the work actually needs.
Meaning: The saying treats a tradesperson’s lack of gain as a loss. It judges merely standing still as insufficient within the commercial activity it imagines.
Meaning: The saying combines trust in God with keeping gunpowder dry. It places faith beside practical preparedness instead of letting trust replace attention to the means at hand.
Meaning: Do not depend on something whose relevant support is already known to be unreliable. The broken staff pictures a failed basis for reliance, without requiring every imperfect resource to be discarded or supplying practical walking advice.
Meaning: An undertaking needs a sound basis of its own. The tub’s bottom pictures the support without which the container cannot fulfil its purpose.
Meaning: Two people thinking together may find an answer that one person misses. Different observations and checking each other’s reasoning can improve a decision.
Meaning: A person’s presence and attention have limits when commitments overlap. The saying asks for a workable arrangement, without making all delegation, remote participation or shared responsibility impossible.
Meaning: A large total consists of smaller contributions. The units image makes the importance of individual parts visible within an impressive whole.
Meaning: Make use of available practical means while trusting in divine help. The saying combines action with religious confidence rather than treating belief as a reason to do nothing.
Meaning: Usefulness can matter more than impressive appearance or scale. The saying directs attention toward what something helps people do.
Meaning: Progress toward a difficult destination may require leaving the present position. The valley and hill contrast remaining still with taking the steps the goal needs.
Meaning: Some worthwhile gains require taking a chance. Refusing every risk can prevent a success that depends on making an attempt.