Meaning & Analysis
Do not construct an entrance to a building that is disproportionately larger than the structure itself, as it is impractical and appears absurd.
Insights
Principle of Proportionality
This serves as a warning against beginnings that overshadow the main event. An introduction, preface, or initial effort should be proportional to the overall importance and scale of the work or project it precedes.
Critique of Ostentation
The proverb advises against pretentiousness and false appearances. A grand 'door' for a humble 'house' symbolizes a deceptive or ostentatious display that misrepresents the true nature or value of what lies within.
Prudent Resource Allocation
It functions as a practical guide for resource management, cautioning against investing excessively in preliminary stages (the 'door') at the expense of the core project (the 'house').
Rhetorical Principle
The proverb uses architectural imbalance as a metaphor for flawed rhetoric. As seen in Nicholas Breton's 17th-century quotations, it was directly applied to writing, cautioning against a long-winded introduction ('entry') for a brief work ('little house'), a principle still vital in communication.
Managing Expectations
Psychologically, the proverb warns against the folly of over-promising. A grandiose entrance creates high expectations; if the substance ('the house') is modest, the result is not admiration but disappointment and a loss of credibility.
Substance over Style
This saying champions the virtue of substance over superficiality. It critiques misplaced effort, suggesting that resources and attention should be focused on the core value of a thing, not its outward presentation.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The core of the proverb is the architectural metaphor where the 'door' represents a beginning or introduction, and the 'house' symbolizes the main substance or work.
Visual Imagery
The phrase creates a memorable and slightly absurd visual of a massive doorway on a tiny cottage, making its lesson on proportionality easy to grasp.
Imperative Mood
The proverb is structured as a command ('Make not...'), giving it a direct, didactic, and authoritative tone.
Transcription
Quotations
To make a large gate to a little Towne, were but a mockerie to a trauailer, and no praise to the builder.
And so loth to make a long entry to a little house, I will leaue to your leysures to reade.
But lest I make too great an Entry to a little House, I will shut the doore to my speech, and onely rest in some better service.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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