What can’t be cured must be endured
If nothing can be done to improve the situation, we must put up with it. The proverb can be used as a retort to somebody who complains about the... Read more →
Proverbs starting with letter W
What can you expect from a hog but a grunt
This is a rhetorical question needing no reply. It means something on the lines of: 'Why are you surprised by his rude behaviour? It's all you... Read more →
Well begun is half done
If you start a thing badly it takes a long time to finish it, because the bad start seriously affects the later work. But if you make a good... Read more →
Wedlock is a padlock
This is a play on words. Wedlock is the married state, in which you are imprisoned as if by a padlock. There is no escape.
The weakest goes to the wall
To 'go to the wall' is to be thrust aside. In the battle for survival it is the weak who suffer most.
We soon believe what we desire
We soon believe what we want to believe.
We are all slaves of opinion
Here 'opinion' is 'public opinion'. Our actions are influenced by what other people may say or think about them.
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.
Water is a boon in the desert, but the drowning man curses it
In this life we either have too little of what we do want, or too much of what we don't want or can't use. The same thought is to be found in... Read more →
A watched pot never boils
When we are looking forward to something, time always seems to pass very slowly, just as it does when we are standing impatiently waiting for... Read more →