This book presents a survey of popular widsom from many lands and ages, ranging from the cryptic inscrutability of the Chinese - "The one legged never stumble" - to the more prosaic caveat from Borneo - "You may plant bitter cucumber on a bed of sago and manure it with honey, water it with treacle and train it to grow sugar-cane; yet, when cooked, it will still be bitter to the taste". Over 1500 proverbs are included, arranged according to themes that vary from sea-lore to weather-lore, to birds and animals, to witches and the Devil. They are drawn from all over the world and all periods, from sources that include folk tales, traditional rhymes and such writers as Nietzsche, Mark Twain and Dickens.