PROVERBS: Words to the Wise

     What is a proverb? A traditional saying or phrase that expresses a perceived truth. Proverbs often give practical advice and are based on the shared human experience. They are typically short, pithy statements that offer life advice, wisdom, or a truth. Proverbs are so common that they are often used in conversation without realizing it.

     Proverbs have a literal meaning and tend to dispense advice such as actions speak louder than words; all’s well that end’s well; a leopard never changes its spots. Proverbs can offer a shortcut for explaining or imparting information as well, as they communicate an understood and accepted message in a few well-worn and well-known words – “the early bird catches the worm.”

     Some of the earliest recorded proverbs date back to the ancient Sumerians in 2000 BCE. Nearly 700 tablets containing more than 1,000 proverbs written by Sumerian scribes were discovered by researchers. When translated, the researchers were surprised at how easy it was to understand these snippets of Sumerian wisdom, showing how proverbs reach across cultures and time. 

     Since proverbs are symbolic in nature, it’s easy to read one and be reminded of a particular memory or moment in your life when you witnessed that same teaching.

Please share some of your remembered proverbs with us via the Contact Us button?

SUBMITTED SHARES

• The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
• All that glitters is not gold. 
• A picture is worth a thousand words. 
•  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
• An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
• Better safe than sorry.
• Blood is thicker than water.
• When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
• Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
  Every cloud has a silver lining.
• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
• Necessity is the mother of invention.
• Two wrongs don’t make a right.
• The pen is mightier than the sword.
•  Birds of a feather flock together.
• Rome wasn’t built in a day.
• Time waits for no one.
• Too many cooks spoil the broth.
• When there’s smoke, there’s fire.
• If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• You can’t have your cake and eat it too.
• Cheerfulness is the very flower of health
• A rising tide lifts all boats
• If you break it, you buy it
• Get your ducks in a row
• It isn’t whether you win or lose that counts, it’s how you play the game
• If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen
• Labels are for cans, not people
• Luck is when preparation meets opportunity
• There are no small parts, only small actors
• Where there’s a will, there’s a way
• Do your best and leave the rest
• Don’t look back . You’re not going that way.
• Don’t look back . You’re not going that way.
• Hardship prepares you for extraordinary destiny.
• Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about leaning to dance in the rain.
• A stitch in time saves nine.
• Accidents happen.
• Better safe than sorry.
• When one door closes another one opens.
• One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
• Be swift to hear and slow to speak.
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
• Home is where the heart is.
• A rolling stone gather no moss.
• Better to lose the saddle than the horse.
• Necessity is the mother of invention.
• Even monkeys fall from trees.
• Ask me no questions. I’ll tell you no lies.
• Nobody is perfect.
• No news is good news.
• Failure teaches success.
• Easier said than done.
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
• A penny saved is a penny earned.
• One Good Turn deserves another.
• Discretion is the better part of valor.
• All things are difficult before they are easy.
• Health is better than wealth.
• Haste makes waste.
• Hardship prepares you for an extraordinary destiny.
• Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about leaning to dance in the rain.
• A stitch in time saves nine.
• Accidents happen.
• Better safe than sorry.
• When one door closes another one opens.
• One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
• Be swift to hear and slow to speak.
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
• Home is where the heart is.
• A rolling stone gather no moss.
• Better to lose the saddle than the horse.
• Necessity is the mother of invention.
• Even monkeys fall from trees.
• Ask me no questions. I’ll tell you no lies.
• Nobody is perfect.
• No news is good news.
• Failure teaches success.
• Easier said than done.
• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
• A penny saved is a penny earned.
• One Good Turn deserves another.
• Discretion is the better part of valor.
• All things are difficult before they are easy.
• Health is better than wealth.
• Haste makes waste.

We are overjoyed with the response to our call for sharing proverbs! Thanks so much to everyone who submitted shares.

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