Proverbs are the wisdom of the street

We have heard quite a lot in recent years about the "wisdom of crowds" where the average opinion of a group can be surprisingly accurate.

Proverbs undergo a kind of evolution - people are making remarks and observations continually, and every now and again something that someone says or writes is picked up and repeated. Due to its wisdom and/or aptnes of phrase, over time it gains the status of a proverb.

Some of the ones we use probably go back thousands of years and have transferred from one culture to another. A proverb can gain in strength by having some poetical quality of alliteration or rhyme but this rarely translates well into another language.