There are so many wise proverbs, and some have even found their way into common language. However, there are also many we may not agree with. I thought it'd be nice to open a topic like this. Put your proverbs here, like them or not, and elaborate!

I'll start with one I found recently:

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

Like it a lot. It obviously means that you can only fully comprehend something if you do it yourself. Watching won't get you anywhere. You can try and act like Chuck Norris (point to "Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until they give him the information he wants."), but it won't help.

"If you see a fork in the road, take it."
- Yogi Berra (not to be confused with Yogi Bear, who features picinick baskets heavily in his proverbs)

I like this quote because it shows that two paths that seem exclusive may not be as exclusive as they appear. Sometimes, there is wisdom in adopting both paths. Sometimes, the most reasonable path is the middle way. Even when it comes to propositional truth, two contradictory statements may come closer to the actuality than choosing one or the other for the sake of consistency.

This is not to say that there is no right or wrong, or that sometimes you shouldn't take the left or right branch to the exclusion of the other, but it does challenge us to think more critically about things that may seem to be mutually exclusive.

I guess when you're a catcher, you have a lot of time to think about life.

Sounds like the Ebonguard motto.

A popular one over here.

Quem fala o que quer, ouve o que não quer.

(He who says what he wants hears what he doesn't want).

In other words, don't say unpleasant things unless you're ready to hear some equally unpleasant ones back.

I don't like proverbs, save as reminders to wisdom you allready have. I find them a bad source of wisdom otherwise.

Then flame them here!

Two excellent proverbs for the modern day single person.

"Opposites Attract."

"Birds of a feather, flock together."

Hence, proverbs suck!

Technically neither one of those proverbs explicitly states that while one set (opposites/birds of a feather) attracts itself the inverse repels. So the combination of those two proverbs just says "Everyone is having an orgy, except you, because you're too busy spouting proverbs."

I prefer quotations.

Any quote from Lewis Carrol or Oscar Wilde is automatically sheer genius.

"Everything important in life can be learned by reading T-shirts."

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt to people we personally dislike. ~ Oscar Wilde

I saw it as something to do with seizing every oppertunity, no matter how small. (Fork not being a split in the road, but a litteral four pronged fork)

The quote of the day on my homepage is thus "

An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969)

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
- P. J. O'Rourke (1947 - )

How my achievements mock me!
-William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), Troilus and Cressida, Act IV

Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made.
-Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Soul of Man Under Socialism