Soft words butter no parsnips.
Meaning: Gentle flattery alone cannot feed you; action and effort produce real, tangible results.
Origin: John Clarke's 1639 collection of proverbs has "fair words butter no parsnips." Parsnips were a staple vegetable, and they were not worth eating without butter; nice talk, the proverb says, will not put butter on them. Words are no substitute for action.
More proverbs about Communication
- Speak well of the dead. — Honoring those who've passed prevents spreading harm they can no longer defend themselves…
- Truth lies in a well. — Deep truths require effort and patience to excavate from obscurity, not quick surface obs…
- When wine sinks, words swim. — Alcohol loosens the tongue, making people speak freely or carelessly without their usual…
- Few words are best. — Silence demonstrates wisdom; excessive talk reveals ignorance and wastes others' time.
- Wranglers never want words. — Quarrelsome people exhaust themselves through constant conflict rather than resolving dis…
- The pen is mightier than the sword — Writing and ideas have more influence than violence.