A glance at the summer issue of The American Scholar: Examining the nature of proverbsBert O. States, professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of California at Santa Barbara, guides ...

Recognizing the art of proverbs means understanding the rhythm of life itself — capturing moments of wit and wisdom that resonate across time, reminding us of our shared humanity.

There’s a reference book called the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, which is how I know that it was some five-and-a-half centuries ago that a book first declared, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” ...