Proverbs

These days, I am not finding many folks talking like Dr. Phil. He routinely uses horse sense as he dispenses advice to the poor folks seated in the shrink seats on his well-lit stage during his well-watched talk show each day. Thank goodness most of us don't gallop about using our best Texas drawl spouting Dr. Phil-isms; but, I must admit I do miss hearing proverbs.


I remember hearing my mom (one of the wisest people I'll probably ever know) and the "old folks" use them around me when I was growing up. So here's the deal, though. I am trying to decide when I started saying them aloud myself and what does it say about me?

Does using these proverbs aloud to the folks I work with, using them with my children, my husband, or in casual conversations with friends or family mean I've cross some invisible wisdom-dispensing threshold and entered into realms of wisdom with the likes of my mom and the "old folks"? Probably not, but more often I find myself saying things like:

A stitch in time saves nine.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

Haste makes waste.

Can't change a leopard's spots.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

That's a horse of a different color.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

Waste not want not.

A man can work from sun to sun but a woman's work is never done.

Don't toss the baby out with the bath water.

Precious things come in small parcels.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

My fav:

To err is human but to forgive devine!

Do you have any? 'Cause that's the best I've got...