"Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "Don’t put all your eggs in one basket."

 

Meaning: 

Have a backup plan. Don’t risk all of your money or time in one plan.

History / Interesting Fact:

This phrase was said to be first used in the novel “Don Quixote”, where it was writ­ten “It is the part of a wise man to keep him­self to­day for to­mor­row, and not ven­ture all his eggs in one bas­ket.”

"Good Things Come To Those Who Wait."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "Good things come to those who wait."

 

Meaning: 

This is an English phrase extolling the virtue of patience.

History / Interesting Fact:

This proverb was used by Violet Fane in 1892.

Other examples:

"Good things come to those who wait." – 1984 song by Nayobe

"Good things come to those who wait." – UK advertising campaign for Guinness in the 1990’s & 2000’s

"Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover."

Meaning: 

You should not decide upon something based just on outward appearances.

History / Interesting Fact:

The origin of this proverb is fairly recent. The phrase is attributed to a 1944 edition of the African journal American Speech: “You can’t judge a book by its binding.” It was popularised even more when it appeared in the 1946 murder mystery Murder in the Glass Room by Lester Fuller and Edwin Rolfe: “You can never tell a book by its cover.”

"Familiarity Breeds Contempt."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "Familiarity Breeds Contempt."

 

Meaning: 

Long experience of someone or something can make one so aware of the faults as to be scornful.

History / Interesting Fact:

The idea is much older, but the first recorded use of this expression was in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee (c. 1386).

"A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned."

 

Meaning: 

It is as useful to save money that you already have as it is to earn more.

History / Interesting Fact:

The original form of this proverb used 'got' or 'gained' instead of 'earned'. Recorded as early as the 17th century - George Herbert's Outlandish Proverbs, circa 1633:

A penny spar'd is twice got.

The first usage of the current form of the phrase is sometimes attributed to Benjamin Franklin. That attribution is without foundation however printed examples began in the 19th century. 'A penny saved is a penny earned' was printed in an edition of the Pall Mall Magazine in September 1899.

"Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "Necessity is the mother of invention."

Meaning: 

When the need for something becomes essential, you are forced to find ways of getting or achieving it.

History / Interesting Fact:

This saying appears in the dialogue Republic, by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.

"Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder."

Saturday Proverb:

Proverb: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

Meaning: 

Different people have different ideas about what's beautiful.

History / Interesting Fact:

It is not exactly known where or how this proverb originated but it has been used in different forms since 3rd century BC when it first appeared in Greek.

The first person to use it in the form we know today (“beauty is in the eye of the beholder”) was an author called Margaret Wolfe Hungerford.