Work.

Meaning: Waiting without taking a necessary step may leave a need unmet. The sleeping fox’s empty mouth pictures the difference between wanting a result and doing something that could help obtain it.

Meaning: Beginning a task without an important implement can make the intended result difficult to obtain. The gathering image asks what preparation is needed before setting out.

Meaning: A harvest is of little use if there is no suitable way to collect and carry it. The proverb connects an intended gain with the practical arrangements needed to receive it.

Meaning: Good service can itself make a case for recognition or a fair return. The proverb values what someone contributes without making silent work a substitute for an explicit agreement.

Meaning: A small demand can become substantial when it continues for a long time. Assess the duration and repetition of a burden, not only how light one instance appears.

Meaning: A good driver turning within a small space pictures skill responding to tight conditions. Competence can show in adjusting a method to the room available.

Meaning: Doing nothing can resemble being asleep even when a person is awake. The saying challenges disengagement, but it does not make rest, recovery or quiet thought equivalent to neglect.

Meaning: Clever speech may attract a quick reaction, while effective action answers a problem more quietly. The contrast asks what has been accomplished as well as how engagingly someone has talked.

Meaning: Having a worthwhile cause does not automatically provide the effort, organisation or support needed to advance it. Recognise the cause’s merits while also asking what practical help is missing.

Meaning: Using your body in place of a suitable tool can impose a needless cost. Choose an appropriate method instead of proving determination through avoidable strain.

Meaning: Shared work benefits when people attend to their own responsibilities. Clear roles can prevent essential tasks being neglected while everyone interferes with someone else’s job.

Meaning: An intention or announcement can be far from its fulfilment. Judge a commitment by the steps needed and the action taken, not by words alone.

Meaning: Beginning at the wrong point can make a task unnecessarily difficult. Understand the sequence and dependencies before putting effort into an inconvenient starting place.

Meaning: Practical skill develops through doing the relevant work. Instruction becomes more useful when paired with repeated practice, feedback and gradually more demanding tasks.

Meaning: A small undertaking can produce valuable results. Assess the quality and usefulness of its output rather than assuming that a larger scale is always better.

Meaning: Poor preparation can spoil what is put into a process. Attend to the condition of the container, tools or information before expecting a sound result.

Meaning: Expecting a complete reward without effort or arrangement is wishful thinking. The ready-roasted birds exaggerate the hope that every necessary step will happen by itself.

Meaning: People doing a community’s work need a means of support. The altar represents the activity through which the priest serves and receives a livelihood.