25 Proverbs We Teach Our Children But Fail to Follow As Adults

Proverbs contain life-changing wisdom.

No wonder we inundate children with proverbs. Shockingly (or not shockingly), adults flout the advice we freely dish out to our children.

Do as I say, not as I do, we seem to be telling them.

Without further ado, here are 25 proverbs we teach children and the innovative ways in which we disregard them.

1. Actions Speak Louder than Words
If we followed this, we wouldn’t need to lecture our children. Ever.

2. Honesty is the Best Policy
We teach this to our children in all earnestness. Only to pick up the phone the next minute and utter one lie after another.

3. Patience is a Virtue.
Be honest — how many people you know can resist the quick buck to be in it for the long term?

4. A Journey of Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step
If everyone followed this proverb, would there be so many articles urging folks to take that first step and write their first article? 

5. An Apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away
We eschew the apple and choose a balanced diet consisting of burgers, fries and alcohol. Topped off with dessert for good luck.

6. As You Sow, So You Reap
Adults want to:

Have an affair but not get caught
Eat endless cookies and cakes but not put on weight
Skip the gym but want the six-pack
Not do the work but want the big bucks

The list is endless.

7. All Work and No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy
If we were aware of this, there wouldn’t be a surfeit of self-help material telling us to stop spending all that time at work, to spend more time with family, to take up a new hobby, yada yada.

8. Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
How many people ignore external beauty when choosing their romantic partner? If I were a betting man, I’d venture less than 1% of people look at people for who they are inside.

9. Empty vessels make the most noise.
We give our children this lesson as a part of an hour-long lecture.

10. Fortune Favors the Brave
Most of us choose the risk-free path and are content to whine about how fortune deserts us.

11. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
We do the opposite. We choose pessimism because we are scared of rejection. Preparing for the worst: The Covid-19 pandemic is enough to demonstrate how we failed to prepare for the worst.

12. It is no use crying over spilt milk.
Yet, our favorite hobby is wallowing in the past.

13. If you don’t know where you’re going, then the journey is never-ending.
How many of us know where we’re going? We’re going with the flow, content to go where our feet take us.

14. It is easier to destroy than to build.
All the wars countries wage against each other give our children the opposite lesson.

15. It’s not over until it’s over.
Yet we are all too happy to give up at the first opportunity.

16. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
#15’s sibling.

17. It is easy to criticize others work, when you are not working.
The negativity on social media tells a different story.

18. Marry in haste, repent at leisure.
Umm… How can we explain the staggering divorce rates throughout the world?

19. Never spend your money before you have it.
The credit card industry has convinced us otherwise.

20. Seize the day
We’re happy to let the days go by. Until we wake up one day and ask what happened to our life.

21. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
Yet we fall prey to the Facebook Syndrome and envy others for the perfect life they live.

22. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
We want everything free. If anyone charges money for their work, especially on the internet, we label them as daylight robbers and mercenaries.

23. Two heads are better than one.
We let our egos take the forefront and kill the possibility of working with anyone else.

24. The best things are not bought and sold.
Smartphones. Jewelry. Houses. Fine Clothing. A variety of junk we don’t need. We make it our life’s mission to buy, sell and trade the above items. And more. Much more.

25. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
We lack the muscle to own up to the first mistake and cut our losses. We invariably keep compounding the mistake by making further mistakes.

Can you think of any proverb that adults routinely flout? Let me know in the comments!

Originally published in Medium

Image Credit: Alabaster Co on Unsplash