According to Merriam Webster Dictionary a proverb is “a brief popular saying that gives advice about how people should live or that expresses a belief that is generally thought to be true”. A Proverb is defined by Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English (2010) as "a well-known phrase or sentence that gives advice or says something that is generally true.”
2.3 Importance of Proverbs We use proverbs in our daily lives without even noticing; they are important and they add stylistic value into any type of text. In his book The Curiosities of Literature, Disraeli indicates the importance of proverbs in the following way:
Proverbs embrace the wide sphere of human existence, they take all the colors of life, they are often exquisite strokes of genius, they delight by their airy sarcasm or their caustic satire, the luxuriance of their humor, the playfulness of their turn, and even by the elegance of their imagery, and the tenderness of their sentiment. They give a deep insight into domestic life, and open for us the heart of man, in all the various states which he may occupy; a frequent review of proverbs should enter into our readings; and although they are no longer the ornaments of conversation, they have not ceased to be the treasuries of thought. (Disraeli …show more content…
(2) A more important reason might be that literary works are all about emotions and “proverbs pack an emotional and aesthetic punch” (Dabaghi, Pishbin and Niknasab 810).
For example, Shakespeare’s use of proverbs as templates as the following passage of King Lear II:
OSWALD: I am scarce in breath, my lord.
KENTN: O marvel, you have so bestirred your valor. You cowardly rascal, nature disclaims in thee. A tailor made thee.
CORNWALL: Thou art a strange fellow. A tailor makes a man?
B. Practical Function: Proverbs are interesting, short pieces of wisdom, concrete and easy to remember; these features and more made them usable in everyday language. Regarding the practicality of proverbs Honeck adds "the proverbs are also used for treatment for socio-psychological problems such as substance abuse, psychotherapy, tests of mental status, as a way of teaching children to think more abstractly, as an imaginary mnemonic by the elderly, as a means of assessing workers' attitudes about work and life, and even as tests of a defendant's competency to stand trial”