Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
Why contradictory proverbs can both survive
Opposite proverbs survive because each one compresses a different case and hides its limit.
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From the opening
Pairs such as look before you leap and he who hesitates is lost give opposite counsel and both stay in circulation. Each proverb compresses a real recurring case, and neither one prints the boundary that would tell you which case you are in. The opening covers each saying hides its own limit, caution and haste both have scenes, and absence and out of sight.
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Inside
- Each saying hides its own limit
- Caution and haste both have scenes
- Absence and out of sight
- Collections record use, not a code
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Contradictory pairs in traditional proverb collections
- Look before you leap against he who hesitates is lost