Good artists copy; great artists steal. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin knew as much, because when he wrote his famous Poor Richard\u2019s Almanack, he did not cite sources for the proverbs that peppered its pages.<\/p>\n
To many, quippy sayings like \u201cTime is money\u201d are synonymous with the Founding Father. People think Franklin thought them up. But Wolfgang Mieder, one of the world\u2019s leading proverb scholars, knows better.<\/p>\n
Mieder and a colleague traced the saying to a short, anonymous text published in a London-based newspaper, Free Thinker, in 1719. In fact, many of the sayings commonly attributed to Franklin actually come from English proverb collections, said Mieder, a professor of German and folklore at the University of Vermont.<\/p>\n
Tracking down the origins of proverbs is \u201cdetective work,\u201d he says. \u201cYou kind of feel like you\u2019re discovering things.\u201d He has researched and written about cultural wisdoms for nearly five decades and, in the process, amassed a one-of-a-kind scholarly library. It includes about 9,000 books (including 252 that Mieder has written, co-authored, or edited) and 6,500 photocopied articles and dissertations, all about proverbs. He doubts anything like it exists, anywhere.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n This lovely story about a scholar, his passion, and a life lived in an institution feels like a time warp. https:\/\/t.co\/GLXs2p4t9t<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 James K.A. Smith (@james_ka_smith) July 16, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n