The Problem With Proverbs

While proverbs, Biblical or otherwise, tend to represent general truths that have and come with exceptions (which the Bible actually acknowledges), I do find many such proverbs troubling, such as the proverb which asserts that it is wiser or more prudent to remain silent and thought wise than to voice a thought and be known a fool.

This proverb, I believe, properly encourages carefulness with thoughts, words and actions, but if taken to the extreme, it can easily stifle dialogue that might turn constructive while actively running the risk of exposing one’s own (and others’) mistakes, foolishness and misjudgments.

I also find fault with the proverb which asserts or implies that the quietest man is (or often is) the wisest in the room.

Where this may occasionally be true, it seems in most cases that the quietest person in the room is the one with the least to contribute, or in other cases the one too socially inept to engage, too afraid of rejection, too arrogant to trouble himself, or simply not curious enough to even care.

There are simply too many proverbs and “general truths” that put forth markers of wisdom which can more easily be adopted by those feigning wisdom or claiming superiority, shielding themselves and their insecurities, and which are ultimately easier to adopt than the kind of hard-won wisdom that comes through trial and error, often at great cost and suffering, and by making mistakes and running the risk of looking like a fool.

After all, in perhaps the most important of cases, spoken wisdom can even be so upsetting and unpopular that the speaker is taken to be a fool by those less wise; and the wisest among us know to anticipate this but, nevertheless, some still have the courage to express themselves, trusting ultimately in Higher judgment and that there is a time to break silence and that, at a practical level, individuals (and societies) stand to learn important controversial lessons by the courage and conviction of those willing to assume those risks — those who don’t and can’t possibly know everything but who respect the truth enough to risk exposing their own weaknesses and ignorance, in whose absence the fools and the sophists (who are more aggressive, less restrained and less disciplined) threaten to dominate virtually every room and every conversation.

So, while (as Socrates is said to have put it) the unexamined life is not worth living, the same may be said about the one unshared and the one unspoken.

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