a man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

Someone who talks a lot but does little is unproductive

Literally: a person with many words and few actions is like an overgrown garden

Examples

He's a man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds, all talk and no action.

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “a man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds” mean?

Someone who talks a lot but does little is unproductive Literally: a person with many words and few actions is like an overgrown garden

Is “a man of words and not of deeds, is like a garden full of weeds” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.