Lesson 7 – The use of Proverbs and Adages

The use of Proverbs and Adages

1. Wrath leadeth Shame in a leash.
Shame follows on from Wrath.
What man considering the end will use himself thereto?
2. He that to his Wrath and Anger is thrall,
Over his Wit hath no power at all!
What may make a man more ashamed of himself, than to be thought a fool?
3. Idleness is the cause of Ignorance; and Ignorance the cause of Error.
4. I ye can do beter; my friends, set it forth!
If not; with me take this well in worth!

Of Wisdom, Learning, and Understanding.

1. Understanding is a light, which God poureth into Man’s soul.
2. Wisdom is the knowledge of divine things and is the head of all other Sciences.
3. Wisdom is life; and Ignorance is Death.
4. Of all the gifts of God, Wisdom is chiefest.
5. Wisdom orders the mind.
6. Wisdom teaches to do, as well as to speak.
7. To en of low degree, Wisdom is an honour; and foolishness is a shame o en of high degree.
8. Wisdom adorns Riches, and casts into shadow, poverty.
9. Wisdom is the defence of the Soul, and the mirror of Reason.
10. Prudence is the guide of all other good Virtues.

Intelligence is King of both heaven ad earth.

1. Wisdom and Justice are honourable, both to God and man.
2. Intelligence is King both of heaven and earth.
3 Wisdom is the messenger of Reason.
4. Wisdom, at the beginning, seems a great wonder.
5. Wisdom thoroughly learned, will never be forgotten.
6. Science is got by diligence; but Discretion and Wisdom cometh of God.
7. In the company of Wise Men is rest; but in the fellowship of Fools is nothing but labor.
8. A wise man ought not to sorrow for his losses; but to be careful to keep the rest of his goods.
9. A wise an is known by two points. He will not easily be angry for wrong done to him, neither is he proud, when he is praised.
10. He that seeks Wisdom finds her.
11. I wise man is known by three points In making his enemies his friends: in making the rude learned: and in reforming the evil disposed unto goodness.
12. He is wise that acknowledges his ignorance: and he is ignorant that knows not himself.
13. There is none happy, but the wise man.
14. It is better to be wise, and not to seem so; than to seem wise, and not to be so: yet men, for the most part, desire the contrary.
15. A wise man understands both the things that are above him; and those also that are beneath him. He knows the things that are above him, by the benefits which he receives thereby; and the things beneath him, by the use and profit that he has by them.

Wisdom teaches Man to know his Creator.

1. A perfect wise man mortifies his worldly desires.
2. He that desires Wisdom desires the most hight and divine estate.
3. He that finds Wisdom, finds Life; both in this world, and in the world to come.
4. It is not possible for him to be wise, that desires not to be good.
5. A young man cannot be perfectly wise, for Wisdom requires expereince.
6. A wise man ought to repute his error great; and his goodness small.
7. The wise man, and not the rich, is void of misery.
8. He shall be wise, that frequents wise men’s company.
9. It is not uncomely, for Wisdom’s sake, for a man to be in subjection, to whomsoever it be.
10. A wise man is known by silence; and a fool, by much babbling.
11. Learning makes young men sober. It comforts old men. It is riches to the poor; and it adorns the rich.
12. Much babling is a sign of small knowledge.
13. Knowledge is better in Youth than in Age.

Learning is Study’s sister.

1. The best kind of Learning is to unlearn our evils.
2. No man may refrain from doing amiss; but a wise man, by one peril, will avoid another.
3. Wisdom is a tree which springs in the heart; and bears fruit in the tongue.
4. Without study of Wisdom, the mind is sick.
5. Early rising and much watching are profitable to keep a man in health; and to increase his riches and wisdom.
6. A man without Science is like a realm without a King.
7. Science, separate from Justice and Virtue, is not Wisdom; but Subtlety.
8. Nothing becomes a wise man so uch as Temperance.
9. Of all things, the least quantity is easiest to be borne; save of Knowledge and Science: of which the more that a man hath, the better he may bear it.
10. A wise man knows what Ignorance is; because he himself, before time, hath been ignorant: but the ignorant man was never wise; and therefore he knows not what Wisdom is.
11. The true lovers of Wisdom shall see God!
12. Power and Might is in young men; but Wisdom and Prudence is in the aged.