Short, punchy, interesting, full of depth, meaning and leaving a taste for more. No, unfortunately I am not discussing my evening dram of whisky. I am describing the essence of proverbs.
Proverbs state the most obvious phrases, but for some reason, we acknowledge them as though we had never thought about it. Did they originate from the Book of Proverbs in the Bible? And why do different races have their own proverbs?
I like proverbs. When I read proverbs, there is an addiction to look at more. I spent part the summer reading about proverbs and the origination. I started with the Bible; a familiar text from the age of seven. King Solomon, who was the tenth son of King David and the second son of Bathsheba, was responsible for writing most of the Proverbs. They are often referred to as the “Proverbs of Solomon” as he accounts for possibly 29 of the 31 chapters.
A proverb is defined as a statement of general truth or advice. Hebrew and Greek translations refer to proverbs as “parallel” or “similar to.” It is thought that the book of Proverbs was written and compiled sometime between the 10th and 6th centuries B.C.
Proverbs are living words that we can draw new life and wisdom from at any point in our life. Even if you have read Proverbs one hundred times, we can always draw something new from this living word. As we progress ourselves in wisdom and connection with God, old things become new again. In our current time, there is an even deeper need for this content. Infidelity, materialism, laziness, and self-sufficiency run rampant. We have reality tv shows that promote having different partners in the same week, news about murders over theft, social media campaigns for getting rich quick schemes, and efforts to remove God from our lives entirely.
In Africa, proverbs date way back. It was a form of education. I came across an author, Mokitimi, who remarked that many proverbs act as catalysts of knowledge, wisdom, philosophy, ethics and morals. Proverbs were used mostly orally. It can be referred to as the “social mode of communication” in oral societies “not only reflective of life but part of life.”
Proverbs encourage a curiosity about their meanings. Proverbs communicate in a symbolic way, which is not direct or literal. Proverbs conceal and reveal information and often leave one with a question that one has to answer oneself. Proverbs function metaphorically in the same way that visual communication design does.
Mokitimi points out that, to correct behaviour, a child can be sent off with a proverb to decipher in order to do some soul-searching. What a wonderful method to adopt to teach the lessons for life. Africans had proverbs to teach lessons from generation to generation. I came across this negative proverb aimed at African women:
“Never marry a woman with feet bigger than your own”
…..which warns a man not to marry a woman more intelligent than himself!
I discovered a moderate suppression of women by men expressed in Yoruba proverbs. These concerns beg the question of whether all proverbs should be used as an instructional or educational tool without an analysis of the underlying generalisations and assumptions in the society in which they are used, especially with the advent of the internet and its global reach, exasperated by modern efforts for equality, both sexual and racial.
Proverbs encourage abstract thinking and reasoning. The rich world of both African and western proverbs can be used as an educational tool which can be generative in promoting and starting a discussion about cultural differences in a multicultural environment. Proverbs have to be selected for classroom purposes because proverbs “offer wisdom but could also give contradictory advice”, as is the case with proverbs that denigrate women.
Whereas African proverbs evolved with its own history through to the apartheid, Chinese proverbs appear to have a much deeper meaning but again, geared towards lessons for life. Here are a few examples I particularly enjoyed:
- The swiftest horse can’t overtake a word once spoken
- A sharp tongue or pen can kill without a knife
- An inch of gold can’t buy an inch of time
- Teachers open the door; you enter by yourself
Certainly wise words and I found that 95% of Chinese proverbs had a deep meaning, with great advice. But even though I took the time to absorb these lessons, I realised that there are hundreds and hundreds of them, if not thousands. I began to see a pattern. It was almost like a game of ‘Countdown’ there the words in this case were shuffled around to re-write proverb with similar meaning.
There was a link between the written word and the spoken word. People have stopped reading as much as we did 20 years ago. Now, the mobile phone (smart phone) has taken over our lives, as have gone from reading to seeing and listening — the spoken word. We now listen to thousands and thousands of people telling us exactly the same proverbs that were written hundreds of years ago…but wearing bikinis or celebrities, and our eyes open as if the Word of God has been spoken for the first time. I don’t need Sadhguru telling me to wake up at 3.40am because something special / spritiual happens….I did that over a dozen times, and let me tell you what happens…nothing. The only special thing is that I see everyone else sleeping peacefully and I’m walking around the kitchen making a coffee. Perhaps he has stocks in Nescafe. He and many others like Jay Shetty have made a career telling housewives the most common and basic lessons and they watch it again and again with inspiration. We are learning nothing. We are making these crooks more wealthy. There is nothing new in someone telling you how to sleep better….take a shower before bed, don’t eat too late, and don’t have a bottle of Glenfiddich. Is that really something we did not know before?
You can barely go on a social media site without being bombarded by motivational quotes. But behind every corny line there’s a human that has lifted or crafted it — and it turns out that inspiration is a highly lucrative industry. Motivational quotes are endemic on social media, with Facebook and Instagram in particular riddled with “profound” messages, often set against a whimsical background. You know the type — those pictures of waterfalls and sunsets with sayings like “You can’t have a rainbow without the rain” that your aunt keeps sharing with comments like “So true”.
I found the Chinese proverbs by far the most interesting and broad in terms of topics. The British proverbs almost seem obsolete and superseded with quotes from actors and modern authors. Therefore, I found that British proverbs were the only ones that were still be updated and revised.
Proverbs touch on just about every aspect of life, providing a connection to truths that go beyond one person or any single moment in time. The British seem to have an answer for every occasion; If your sibling lost a job to a friend of the boss, you might say, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” If your son loses a football match, you say, “You can’t win them all.” If your friend goes through a painful breakup, you’re likely to say, “There are plenty of fish in the sea.”
However, there is a link to behaviour. It’s never your successful friends posting the inspirational quotes. It always seems that people who need guidance and inspiration during perhaps sad or turbulent times, refer to inspirational quotes or proverbs.
Perhaps proverbs have now become inspiration quotes or videos. Entrepreneurs have taken a few verbs and magnified them into 5 minute you tube videos.
The timelessness of proverbs is comforting
The ageless nature of proverbs is something that can make them even more useful than quotations. Though quotations and proverbs have a lot of overlap, there are some key differences between quoting Winston Churchill and repeating an African proverb.
With quotations, you’re trying to associate with some respected figure like Albert Einstein or Abraham Lincoln or Mark Twain. But with proverbs, you’re trying to do something more elemental and deeper than that. What makes proverbs so popular and powerful is they connect to very deep psychological roots in human beings. Proverbs become popular because people use them to connect with other people and the wisdom of the past.
In our work life, that wisdom is usually used to motivate colleagues and employees. Still, even if a proverb is truly profound and clear, that clarity can have downsides. The simplicity of proverbs can create simplicity of thought, ruling out complex solutions and ideas.
When things get tough, many people turn to a motivational quote for a bit of inspiration. Some of these pithy sayings have become celebrated parts of society’s lexicon.
I believe proverbs are obsolete, and inspiration and motivational quotes have taken over. However, alot of these are based on the principles of proverb.
What makes some turns of phrase so powerful that they become mantras for generations? Depending on whom you ask, the appeal appears to lie in a combination of good wordsmithing, motivational psychology, and a measure of self-selection.
“Humans are aspirational. We want to look up to role models and leaders and follow what they ask,” he says. “Leaders and their words–inspirational quotes–affect us on a primal level.” Words from recognized leaders in business, politics, and the arts may also hold more gravitas because of the assumption that when people are in public positions, they must be accomplished, wise, or otherwise exceptional to have achieved those positions. Those perceptions can make messages from such leaders more powerful.
Ultimately, we tend to read and share things that pull on our emotions. I leave you with a lovely and meaningful quote, which should be made into a proverb:
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” — Eleanor Roosevelt
