I can never fathom the mystery of proverbs

I have always thought of thoughts or proverbs to be the ultimate words embedded in the literary world. In any argument if you throw any time tested proverb, your argument instantaneously becomes stronger. People tend to accept it, as it has been passed down from centuries.

Have you ever wondered why there are contradictory proverbs. People have different views and opinions about the same things, like some people are in favour of - "the more the merrier", and some others favour "too many cooks spoil the broth". Some might say "Good things come in small packages" and others say "the bigger the better". While silence can be golden, its said that only squeaky wheels gets the grease.

My take on this rather unusual phenomenon is to not take things very seriously. As situation changes, the same proverb wont fit anymore. And you might need an exact opposite of the proverb for another situation.

There are some proverbs that are so long that till the time they get spoken ,I can have my forty winks of the day . For example, "do unto others what you would like them do unto you "or "A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly "or he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon. And then there are some which are just three words, like " tit for tat" ," ignorance is bliss or "fit as a fiddle".

The thing is long or short, I am not complaining as I love proverbs. I like to use a lot of them too. I think it is a short cut way to show that you are learned and well read. In long conversations ,if you dont have much to say, just nod and try to throw an appropriate proverb. And you will be just fine.

Some people say proverbs are general observations or common sense. And some say it can be an attitude towards a particular situation. I think that even if we cant fully comprehend the enigma of them we should use them, more often than not, for merely being cool.

Comments

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