On Candlemas day throw candle and candle-stick away.
Meaning: After winter's darkest stretch passes, discard what sustained you through scarcity; abundance returns.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Be captain of your own ship. — Assume responsibility for directing your life's course rather than passively accepting ot…
- Don't run away with more than you can carry. — Greed beyond capacity leads to dropping everything and gaining nothing.
- Tis easy to build castles in the air. — Imagination costs nothing, but translating dreams into reality requires effort and resour…
- Rolling in cash he can't use, like a cat in a corn-bin. — Abundance becomes worthless when it's fundamentally unsuited to one's nature or needs.
- The cat is hungry when a crust contents her. — Extreme hunger makes even the poorest sustenance—a mere crust—seem like a satisfying meal.
- The cat sees not the mouse ever. — A predator blinded by complacency allows its prey to escape unnoticed.
From our tongue twisters
- Un beau ver vert dans un verre vert verra un ver vert. — Ver (worm), vert (green), and verre (glass) are near-homophones — distinguishing them at…
- Didon dîna, dit-on, du dos d'un dodu dindon dont le dodu dos dodine. — A 'd' / 'din' / 'dod' avalanche that seems designed to jam the tongue in third gear.
- Zehn zahme Ziegen ziehen zehn Zentner Zucker zum Zoo. — A sustained 'z' / 'ts' drill — every word starts with the same affricate.