Wisdom of the World's Proverbs

You don't have to excavate diamond mines or oil fields to find one of the world's greatest treasures. All you need to do is look at the world's proverbs--the "people's wisdom." Legendary Spanish writer Miguel De Cervantes described proverbs as "short sentences drawn from long experiences," and Scottish Historian Thomas Carlyle once wrote, "There is often more spiritual force in a proverb than in whole philosophical systems."

Proverbs are what the entire world has been creating for thousands and thousands of years through its thoughts, observations, insights, experiences, teachings, lessons, and writings. Here are some of these jewels of wisdom:

The unborn baby that fears criticism will never be born. (Burundi)

Every head must do its own thinking. (Liberia)

The zebra told the white horse, "I am white," and told the black horse, "I am actually black." (Namibia)

If you put a rope around your neck, many people will be glad to drag you by it. (Egypt)

The supreme excellence is not in being better than others, but in being better than your former self. (India)

A small house is enough room for a thousand friends. (Syria)

Don't be too sweet, or else you will be eaten up; but don't be too bitter, or else you will be spitted out. (Hebrew)

You can close the city gates, but you can