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for to mend it ill have stopped drunkard of a tree man health expense pluck
This proverb emphasises the importance of little things and the danger of neglecting the insignificant beginnings of evil. It means that if we promptly a small tear in our clothes when we first notice it, we shall prevent the tear from becoming a large hole, which will take lot of trouble, time and labour to repair. Many other illustrations of the same truth could be given.
Sometimes the seeds of the Pipal get lodged in cracks in the masonry of a building and take root and grow. When they are little plants, it is easy to them up; but if they remain, they become trees and split the building into pieces. A small hole in a canal embankment can be up with very little trouble, but if it is neglected, it will widen into a great breach, which will require much labour and to make good. As the old saying teaches, a kingdom may be lost by neglecting to replace a nail in a horse's shoe; "For want a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the horse was lost; for want of a horse, the rider was lost; want of the rider, the battle was lost: for want of the battle, the kingdom was lost. "
This lesson applies to matters of . For example, a man catches a cold and, thinking it is a small matter, neglects it. It develops into pneumonia, and he is dangerously for weeks or even dies. If he had taken the cold in time, he would have saved his life.
It can be applied, too, morals and character. No one acquires bad habits all at once. They all begin in small and innocent indulgences—for example, drunkenness or drugtaking. A begins by taking a glass of wine now and then and thinks nothing of it. But the desire and appetite for wine grow until becomes a craving, and before he knows where he is, he has become a slave to drink. As a Japanese proverb says: "First the takes a drink; then the drink takes a drink; then the drink takes the man." Inattention to details, and the neglect of small beginnings, marred many a fine career.