"(With) a grain of salt," in modern English, is an idiom which means to view something with skepticism, or to not take it literally.
Read more about Grain Of Salt: History, In Other Languages
Famous quotes containing the words grain of, grain and/or salt:
“The laying of fish on the embers,
the taste of the fish,
the feel of the texture of bread,
the round and the half-loaf,
the grain of a petal,
the rain-bow and the rain.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“With a grain of salt.”
—Pliny The Elder (23–79)
“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 5:13.
From the Sermon on the Mount.