John Russell Quotes

A proverb is the wisdom of many and the wit of one.

Proverbs may not improperly be called the philosophy of the common people.

What is all wisdom save a collection of platitudes?

There is no proverb that is not true.

A proverb is good sense brought to a point.

A witty saying proves nothing.

Listen carefully to what country people call mother wit. In those homely sayings are couched the collective wisdom of generations.

Proverbs save us the trouble of thinking. What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.

A proverb is much matter distilled into few words.

There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, 'Truth is the daughter of Time.'

Maxims are the condensed good sense of nations.

Somewhere in the world there is an epigram for every dilemma.

The genius, wit, and the spirit of a nation are discovered by their proverbs.

The wise make proverbs, and fools repeat them.

A proverb is a short sentence based on long experience.

When the occasion arrives so does the proverb.

An aphorism is true where it has fixed the impression of a genuine experience.

Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced--even a proverb is no proverb to you till your life has illustrated it.

APHORISM, n. Predigested wisdom. The flabby wine-skin of his brain Yields to some pathologic strain, And voids from its unstored abysm The driblet of an aphorism. "The Mad Philosopher," 1697

There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.

ADAGE, n. Boned wisdom for weak teeth.

I like the old wisdom--puns, riddles, spells, proverbs.

Proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the sanctuary of the intuitions. That which the droning world, chained to appearances, will not allow the realist to say in his own words, it will suffer him to say in proverbs without contradiction.

A maxim is the exact and noble expression of an important and indisputable truth. Good maxims are the germs of all excellence; when firmly fixed on the memory, they nourish the will.

Curiosity killed the cat,” Fesgao remarked, his dark eyes unreadable. Aly rolled her eyes. Why did everyone say that to her? “People always forget the rest of the saying,” she complained. “‘And satisfaction brought it back.