Two questions are likely to spring to mind when you open a book about proverbs. The first is, “Another book about proverbs?” and the second is, “Um, so what exactly is a proverb?”
Let’s answer the second question first. A proverb is defined as ‘a piece of wisdom or advice, expressed in a short and memorable way.’ It can be anything from a quotation from the Bible (‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’) or Shakespeare (‘The course of true love never did run smooth’) to a piece of folk wisdom whose origins are lost in the mists of time (‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away’). And to go back to the first question, the point of this book is not only to explain familiar proverbs but also to see if they are still relevant today.
Many of them are relevant. There’s a world of truth in sayings, such as “Haste makes waste,” “You’re only young once,” and “Handsome is as handsome does.” There may be room for debate over the apparent contradiction of “Many hands make light work” and “Too many cooks spoil the broth,” but it’s worth remembering that each individual proverb is only one person’s take on a situation, the product of his own culture, personality, and mood at that moment in time. Part of the beauty of proverbs is that you can adopt the ones that suit your needs and ignore the others — you’re not going to end up in jail either way. If you are cautious by nature, you can take “Look before you leap” as your motto; if “He who hesitates is lost” is more your line, then that is fine, too.
So without taking any of it too seriously, here is a short quiz on the origins of familiar proverbs and my take on them. Can you match the proverbs (1 – 5) with their sources (a – e)?
1. Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched
2. Necessity is the mother of invention
3. Brevity is the soul of wit
4. You can’t make bricks without straw
5. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise
a. A piece of fifteenth-century folk wisdom
b. A fable by Aesop, written in the sixth century B.C.
c. An eighteenth-century poem about a sofa
d. The Biblical story of the Children of Israel being enslaved in Egypt
e. A quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Discover why proverbs have stood the test of time
Proverbs — those colorful time-honored truths — have become part of our everyday language. But how often do we think about their origins or meanings?
This unique collection of words to live by reveals the source of these timeworm expressions, which are as relevant today as they were when first coined generations ago.
An Apple a Day provides the fun facts behind 200 proverbs, including . . .
- The darkest hour is before the dawn.
- You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
- In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
- The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
- When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
But enough said. Sit back and enjoy the read — there’s no time like the present!
This Mom’s Review
While some sayings are easy to figure out, some I’ve been curious how they originated. While reading this book some made sense to me; with others a light bulb came on when I read the meaning behind the saying, while others did not make much sense to me. Many included in this book I’ve heard of before; many others I had not even heard of before I read the book.
It is a neat reference book for those sayings you’ll hear while out and about. You can come home and look it up. Some of the sayings included in this book originate from the Bible.
Grab a copy from any of the following stores and see which ones you truly kn0w the meaning to.
I received a copy of this book from FSB Media in exchange for my honest review.
