See better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness on Wiktionary
{ "etymology_text": "Often claimed to be an ancient Chinese proverb. Also often misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. Earliest known usage is a 1907 sermon by English preacher William Lonsdale Watkinson.", "head_templates": [ { "args": { "1": "en", "2": "proverb", "head": "better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness" }, "expansion": "better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness", "name": "head" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "proverb", "senses": [ { "categories": [ { "kind": "other", "name": "English entries with incorrect language header", "parents": [ "Entries with incorrect language header", "Entry maintenance" ], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "English proverbs", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Entries with translation boxes", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with 1 entry", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Pages with entries", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Finnish translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Mandarin translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Spanish translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" }, { "kind": "other", "name": "Terms with Turkish translations", "parents": [], "source": "w" } ], "glosses": [ "Even in the face of hopelessness and discontent, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response, than to complain about the situation." ], "id": "en-better_to_light_a_single_candle_than_to_curse_the_darkness-en-proverb-CBmPMlnp", "links": [ [ "in the face of", "in the face of" ], [ "hopelessness", "hopelessness" ], [ "discontent", "discontent" ], [ "worthwhile", "worthwhile" ], [ "complain", "complain" ] ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "better to light one candle than to curse the darkness" }, { "word": "better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness" }, { "word": "better to light a candle than to curse the darkness" } ], "translations": [ { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "與其詛咒黑暗,不如點燃一根蠟燭" }, { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "与其诅咒黑暗" }, { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "roman": "yǔqí zǔzhòu hēi'àn, bùrú diǎnrán yī gēn làzhú", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "不如点燃一根蜡烛" }, { "code": "fi", "lang": "Finnish", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "marjakin on poimittava maasta" }, { "code": "pt", "lang": "Portuguese", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "em vez de amaldiçoar a escuridão, é melhor acender uma vela" }, { "code": "es", "lang": "Spanish", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "es mejor encender una sola vela que maldecir a la penumbra" }, { "code": "tr", "lang": "Turkish", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "karanlığa söveceğine bir mum yak" } ] } ], "word": "better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness" }
{ "etymology_text": "Often claimed to be an ancient Chinese proverb. Also often misattributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. Earliest known usage is a 1907 sermon by English preacher William Lonsdale Watkinson.", "head_templates": [ { "args": { "1": "en", "2": "proverb", "head": "better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness" }, "expansion": "better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness", "name": "head" } ], "lang": "English", "lang_code": "en", "pos": "proverb", "senses": [ { "categories": [ "English entries with incorrect language header", "English lemmas", "English multiword terms", "English proverbs", "Entries with translation boxes", "Pages with 1 entry", "Pages with entries", "Terms with Finnish translations", "Terms with Mandarin translations", "Terms with Portuguese translations", "Terms with Spanish translations", "Terms with Turkish translations" ], "glosses": [ "Even in the face of hopelessness and discontent, it is more worthwhile to do some good, however small, in response, than to complain about the situation." ], "links": [ [ "in the face of", "in the face of" ], [ "hopelessness", "hopelessness" ], [ "discontent", "discontent" ], [ "worthwhile", "worthwhile" ], [ "complain", "complain" ] ] } ], "synonyms": [ { "word": "better to light one candle than to curse the darkness" }, { "word": "better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness" }, { "word": "better to light a candle than to curse the darkness" } ], "translations": [ { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "與其詛咒黑暗,不如點燃一根蠟燭" }, { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "与其诅咒黑暗" }, { "code": "cmn", "lang": "Chinese Mandarin", "roman": "yǔqí zǔzhòu hēi'àn, bùrú diǎnrán yī gēn làzhú", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "不如点燃一根蜡烛" }, { "code": "fi", "lang": "Finnish", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "marjakin on poimittava maasta" }, { "code": "pt", "lang": "Portuguese", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "em vez de amaldiçoar a escuridão, é melhor acender uma vela" }, { "code": "es", "lang": "Spanish", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "es mejor encender una sola vela que maldecir a la penumbra" }, { "code": "tr", "lang": "Turkish", "sense": "in bad times it is worthwhile to do good", "word": "karanlığa söveceğine bir mum yak" } ], "word": "better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness" }
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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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