Worth a Thousand Words
Worth a Thousand Words
Cultural, Literary, and Political Proverb Studies
In 2014, Wolfgang Mieder published Behold the Proverbs of a People: Proverbial Wisdom in Culture, Literature, and Politics with the University Press of Mississippi. The book created an informative entry into the world of proverb scholarship, illustrating that proverbs have always been and continue to be wisdom’s international currency. Picking up where Behold the Proverbs of a People left off, this new book brings traditional proverbs into the modern era, analyzing proverbs under four headings: American proverbs, proverbs in politics, proverbs in literature, and proverbs in culture.
Within these sections, a wide array of proverbs and the topics they express are addressed and shown to still be relevant to the political and cultural landscape of today. Worth a Thousand Words discusses the global spread of American proverbs and the reliance of proverbs in politics and everyday life in America and internationally. It also examines proverbs in literature such as Don Quixote and Destined to Witness, as well as proverbs in fairy tales.
Proving the pen is mightier than the sword, Mieder’s book demonstrates the ubiquity of proverbs. By recognizing and documenting the proverbial linguistic patterns of our culture, people, and systems, Mieder shows us how creative language serves as the guideposts for a free and idealistic world for ages past and ages to come.
Wolfgang Mieder is university distinguished professor emeritus of German and folklore at University of Vermont. He has published well over one hundred books, including Behold the Proverbs of a People: Proverbial Wisdom in Culture, Literature, and Politics, published by University Press of Mississippi, and is the leading expert on proverbs in the world. He is the founding editor of Proverbium: Yearbook of International Proverb Scholarship.
Introduction
American Proverbs
1. “Think Outside the Box”
The Wisdom and Nature of American Proverbs
2. “Proverbs Are Worth a Thousand Words”
The Global Spread of American Proverbs
3. “A Friend (Not) in Need Is a Friend Indeed”
Friendship in Old, Modern, and Anti-Proverbs
4. “Freedom Is Not Given, It Is Won”
Democratic Principles in Modern American Proverbs
Proverbs in Politics
5. “Do unto Others as You Would Have Them Do unto You”
The Humanistic Value of Proverbs in Sociopolitical Discourse
6. “Freedom Is Indivisible”
John F. Kennedy’s Reliance on Proverbs
7. “Concordia Domi, Foris Pax”
Willy Brandt’s Non-German Proverbial Rhetoric
Proverbs in Literature
8. “Stringing Proverbs Together”
The Proverbial Language in Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote
9. “All Roads Lead to ‘Perverbs’”
Harry Mathews’s Selected Declarations of Dependence (1977)
10. “Black Is Beautiful”
Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi’s Proverbial Autobiography Destined to Witness (1999)
Proverbs in Culture
11. “You Have to Kiss a Lot of Frogs Before You Meet Your Handsome Prince”
From Fairy-Tale Motif to Modern Proverb
12. “The Word (and Phrase) Detective”
A Proverbial Tribute to OED Editor John A. Simpson
13. “Injustice Anywhere Is a Threat to Justice Everywhere”
From Classical to Modern Law Proverbs
Proverb Index
