To be able to focus or concentrate on something.
The tired old lady was not with it and couldn’t understand what I was saying.
Related Idioms
Time is the great healer
However great our grief or disappointment may be, in the course of time it will lessen. In this sense... Read more →
There is no royal road to learning
A royal road to anything is a way of attaining it without trouble or effort, since a king’s way... Read more →
A still tongue makes a wise head
You will learn more by listening to other people than by talking yourself. Read more →
Some are wise and some are otherwise
This is a play on words. It means quite simply that some people are wise and others are not. The... Read more →
Punctuality is the politeness of kings
It is very important to be punctual and it is very rude to be unpunctual. Sometimes... Read more →
Procrastination is the thief of time
To procrastinate is to delay, to put off doing something. Procrastinating – deferring things from... Read more →
Practise what you preach
Here ‘practise’ means ‘carry out in action’. The moral is: Behave in the same... Read more →
Nothing seek, nothing find
This teaches initiative. Success is not achieved without an effort. ‘He that seeketh... Read more →
No news is good news
Bad news is an urgent matter and people usually write off at once to tell their relatives or friends.... Read more →
Never put off till tomorrow what may be done today
If a thing has to be done, do it now. Remember that Procrastination is the thief of time. Read more →
Moderation in all things
Moderation means avoidance of excess. Do not go to extremes. Read more →
Men make houses, women make homes
The husband may bay, or even build, the house, but it only becomes a real home when it is made warm... Read more →
Marry in haste, and repent at leisure
You will have plenty of time to regret that you were in too much of hurry to get married, for... Read more →
Love is blind
Those in love are blind to each other’s faults. Modern-day research supports the view that the... Read more →
Live not to eat, but eat to live
This rather puritanical proverb warns us that eating should not be the main purpose of life. We... Read more →
A little learning is a dangerous thing
People with a little knowledge are often unaware of their ignorance and are consequently easily... Read more →
Light not a candle to the sun
Don’t try to throw more light on a matter that is already quite clear enough. Don’t try... Read more →
Liars should have good memories
If we always tell the truth we are unlikely to contradict ourselves; but if we resort to lies we are... Read more →
It is better to give than to take
The source of this is Acts, xx, 35: ‘I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring we... Read more →
It is a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock
No home is happy in which the husband is such weakling that it is his wife who gives all the orders. Read more →
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst
We should all be optimistic, but ready at the same time to meet trouble and difficulties whenever... Read more →
Honesty is the best policy
Here ‘policy’ means ‘course of action’. If we have to decide on a course of... Read more →
He that would have eggs must endure the cackling of hens
To enjoy one thing, you must be prepared to put up with another. Read more →
He laughs best who laughs last
You may not come off best in the end, so don’t laugh too soon. The following little incident is... Read more →
Great oaks from little acorn grow
Everything has to have a small beginning, so don’t be discouraged by your own... Read more →
A great city, a great solitude
Sometime “loneliness” is used instead of “solitude”. The saying comes to us from Greek. It... Read more →
A good husband makes a good wife
If the husband wants his wife to be respectful and loving to him, he should be respectful and loving... Read more →
Full of courtesy, full of craft
Beware of a man who is too extravagantly polite, for he is probably trying to cheat you. Read more →
Every cloud has a silver lining
A dark cloud that obscures the sun has brilliant edges – the silver lining – telling us that the... Read more →
Even Homer sometimes nods
Even the best of use are liable to make mistakes. Homer was the greatest of Greek poets. Horace, the... Read more →
Don’t speak to the man at the wheel
The driver of a car must give all his attention to his driving. If you are a passenger don’t... Read more →
Don’t put the cart before the horse
The horse pulls the cart, not the cart the horse. The proverb means that we should not get things... Read more →
Don’t pour out the dirty water before you have clean
In countries where water is in short supply it has to be carefully and sparingly used. By extension... Read more →
Don’t cry stinking fish
Here the verb ‘to cry’ means ‘to offer for sale in the street’. Barrow-boys... Read more →
Constant dripping wears away the stone
Sometimes ‘dropping’ is used instead of ‘dripping’. The lesson to be learnt... Read more →
Brevity is the soul of wit
This was already a proverb in Shakespeare s time. In his Hamlet we find the first record of it in... Read more →
Avoid a questioner, for he is also a tattler
A person who asks a lot of questions will waste no time in passing your answers on to other people,... Read more →
All lay loads on willing horse
In the days when horses were much used for carrying burdens no their backs, the animals that gave the... Read more →
Beggars must not be choosers
A person who is hungry and has no money to buy food should not complain when he is offered bread and... Read more →
The end justifies the means
This is perhaps one of the most disputed ideas of modern times. The difference between a totalitarian... Read more →
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
‘Beauty,’ the dictionary tells us, ‘is a combination of qualities, as shape,... Read more →
We are all slaves of opinion
Here ‘opinion’ is ‘public opinion’. Our actions are influenced by what other... Read more →
Fingers were made before forks
Man used his fingers for eating before forks were invented. The proverb is quoted as an excuse for... Read more →
The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach
This is good advice for wives. Keep your husband well fed and he will always love you. Read more →
Haste makes waste
The more hurry we are in, the more likely we are to drop an egg on the floor or spill the milk.... Read more →
Be just before you are generous
You have no right to be generous till you have first met the demands of justness. You should not, for... Read more →
Learn to walk before you run
Knowledge cannot be acquired all at once; it must be gained step by step. Don’t try to spell... Read more →
Eavesdroppers never hear any good of themselves
It doesn’t do to be too curious or inquisitive. The projecting edges of the roof of a house are... Read more →
Give a lie twenty-four hours’ start, and you can never overtake it
If a lie is not refuted immediately, it will pass from mouth to mouth until it is accepted as truth... Read more →
The last straw breaks the camel’s back
If you increase a camel’s burden straw by straw, eventually you will load him one straw too... Read more →
Once bitten, twice shy
If we have had an unpleasant experience, we are very anxious to avoid a repetition. ‘Mr... Read more →
Walls have ears
Be careful what you say and where you say it. There my be someone lurking on the other side of the... Read more →
Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse
Zeal is defined in The concise Oxford Dictionary as ‘earnestness or fervour in advancing a... Read more →
Patience is a virtue
It is also the art of hoping. We must be patient and not despair. Read more →
A Jack of all trades is master of none
Here ‘Jack’ is a name for a general labourer, one who does odd jobs and can turn his hand... Read more →
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
We feel more affection for our relatives and friends when we are parted from them. A proverb that... Read more →
Accidents will happen in the best-regulated families
Used by Sir Walter Scott in 1823 and still in common use in modern times, this proverb has a general... Read more →