PROVERBS

Tell me who you go with and I'll tell you who you are.

When the going gets tough the tough get going.

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1. A phrase expressing a basic truth which may be applied to common situations. 2. A striking or paradoxical assertion; an obscure saying; an enigma; a parable.

A proverb (from Latin: proverbium) is a simple and concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expresses a truth based on common sense or experience. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. Proverbs fall into the category of formulaic language.
Proverbs are often borrowed from similar languages and cultures, and sometimes come down to the present through more than one language. Both the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs across Europe. Mieder has concluded that cultures that treat the Bible as their "major spiritual book contain between three hundred and five hundred proverbs that stem from the Bible."^[1] However, almost every culture has examples of its own unique proverbs.

Paremiology

The study of proverbs is called paremiology which has a variety of uses in the study of such topics as philosophy, linguistics, and folklore. There are several types and styles of proverbs which are analyzed within Paremiology as is the use and misuse of familiar expressions which are not strictly 'proverbial' in the dictionary definition of being fixed sentences.