The Proverbs

Proverbs have been well defined thus “short sentences found on long experience”. They are brief yet striking form of wisdom which can be anonymous or created by famous people. One of the proverbs I find most useful in life is the one of Thomas Fuller – a British writer: “A stitch in time saves nine”. Since the proverb has its origin in sewing, it can be literally understood that: if your clothes seam comes loose, refastening it with one stitch now will save you from having to make nine more stitches tomorrow when the seam has loosened even more. In this manner, this proverb warns us against neglecting small faults or imperfections which may results in big troubles. The longer you wait, the more opportunity the problem has to become bigger, resulting in much more effort to fix.

Therefore, there should be a little preventive maintenance in the first place in order to eliminate the need for major repairs later. There are some proverbs similar to this, such as: “Prevention is better than cure” (Dutch proverb) or “A penny saved is a penny earned” (British proverb). This proverb also has the same meaning as the one in Vietnamese “phòng bệnh hơn chữa bệnh”, which teaches us: instead of having to spend much money curing a disease, you should prevent it by keeping fit and staying healthy since the beginning. In the real life, we can experience many situations demonstrating this rule. For instance, a small crack in a dam may lead to a breach in it, then the flooding of the area around; a tiny ink spot on the sleeve may spread and ruin your beautiful shirts if you don’t wash it soon enough. Another example is the automobile brakes. When you first hear the brake pads squeaking, you should have them changed immediately at the minimal cost.

If you wait until the pads completely broke down, you can possibly harm the rotors, costing much more to repair. In the same way, if a student neglects his or her studies at first, it will probably lead to the lack of basic knowledge and bad exam results in the future, and it takes much effort to rebuild his or her basis. In conclusion, this proverb educates us about the value of time and prevention, and that small things make big differences so we should always do our work conscientiously and carefully. It is a truly precious lesson for everyone to keep in mind the whole life.