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| Melt the snow with the warmth of words of kindness |
What Does It Mean?
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| It might be true ... but where does it come from? |
Is It Really A japanese Proverb?
It is popularly known in the English-speaking world as a Japanese proverb. But is it really a Japanese saying?
Actually, "One kind word can warm three winter months" is not a Japanese saying at all, there is no saying like it in Japanese, and no Japanese person would have heard of it or anything similar to it in Japanese.
Instead, it is based on a Chinese saying.
The actual Chinese saying is:
Actually, "One kind word can warm three winter months" is not a Japanese saying at all, there is no saying like it in Japanese, and no Japanese person would have heard of it or anything similar to it in Japanese.
Instead, it is based on a Chinese saying.
The actual Chinese saying is:
好言一句三冬暖，恶语伤人六月寒
which can be translated as:
"A kind word warms for three winter months, while vile talk wounds like bitter cold in June."
This sounds more rhythmic and symmetrical in the Chinese which reads more like:
kind words - winter - warm -- harsh words - summer - cold
The Origins
The Chinese saying comes from the compilation text 增廣賢文 (Zengguan xianwen) which can be translated generally as "Enlarged Writings of Worthies" being an expanded version of earlier texts such as 昔時賢文 (Xishi xianwen) or "Writings of worthies from ancient times".
There were a number of different versions of this text which was designed to be used as part of primary or elementary education to instill a solid moral grounding for those Chinese children who had access to education.
This was done by including aphorisms, proverbs, popular sayings and famous quotations, mostly focusing on daily life, social relationships, and patterns of decent behaviour.
It was written in symmetrical, rhymed pairs of sentences to be easier for children (and adults) to grasp and remember, which indicates the poetic nature of the original Chinese saying.
After many hundred years of use it became particularly popular in the late Qing period in the 1800s.
Extended Meaning
The meaning of "A kind word warms for three winter months, while vile talk wounds like bitter cold in June" extends beyond words themselves to focus on attitudes from which words emerge.
At its most basic it means that a good word can make people warm like a fire in the cold winter, while a bad word can hurt people and make them cold like snowing in summer.
Beyond this the saying also calls for a positive and good-hearted attitude which is geared towards giving positive hints or encouragement so that others can get the power to overcome difficulties and keep making progress.
Along with this, it also points to how a negative mentality and attitude, and the words which can emerge from this, can make others suffer from this negativity and become unmotivated and discouraged, retreat, and languish.
English equivalents
Some biblical equivalents include the focus on the positive possibilities of words by Solomon in Proverbs 25:11 - "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver".
This sentiment is continued in Proverbs 15:23 - "A man takes joy in a fitting reply, and how good is a timely word!"
A focus on attitude as a prelude to words can be seen in Luke 6:45 - "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."
Other relevant quotes include:
"Kind words are a creative force, a power that concurs in the building up of all that is good, and energy that showers blessings upon the world." - Lawrence G. Lovasik
"Our words should be purrs instead of hisses."- Kathrine Palmer Peterson
"Words are potent weapons for all causes, good or bad."- Manly Hall
"Words are the most powerful thing in the universe... Words are containers. They contain faith, or fear, and they produce after their kind."- Charles Capps
