History Main / ProverbialWisdom

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', after a disastrous first day of Kung Fu training, Po confides in Master Oogway that he doubts he'll ever be worthy of being [[TheChosenOne the Dragon Warrior]] and should just go back to living his life as a noodle shop employee. Oogway gives Po some wisdom about not letting the pain of the past or the fear of the future stop him in the now.

* Parodied with the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' character [[OldMaster Lu-Tze]]. He noticed the large numbers of city-slickers who traveled for hundreds of miles to find wisdom at mountain monasteries, and decided to see what he could learn from ''their'' homeland. Thus he picked up his "Way of Mrs. Cosmopolite," a collection of aphorisms from a middle-class landlady such as "it never rains but it pours" that weird out his fellow monks ([[RhetoricalQuestionBlunder "a jug!"]]). On the ''other'' hand, some of those sayings - "I wasn't born yesterday," "there's no time like the present" - are remarkably similar to the wisdom of Wen the Eternally Surprised, founder of the [[TimePolice History Monks]], so who knows.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'': [[OldMaster Master Fung]] gives advice to the Dragons-in-training when they need to learn a valuable lesson, but more often than not they don't unserstand the meaning behind his phrases.

* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': the old monk from the "Lotus Temple" episode, who is initially seen as a wise yet somewhat eccentric person, always speaks in riddles and proverbs (beginning with "Ancient wisdom"). [[spoiler: Subverted, since he turns out to be EvilAllAlong.]]

* ''Literature/AlsoSprachZarathustra'' by Creator/FriedrichNietzsche is the story of a HermitGuru who gives his teachings in an extremely poetic and metaphoric way, often using {{AnimalMetaphor}}s. PlayedWith, since the ''content'' of his teachings is contrary to what one would expect from an archetypal sage or an enlightened character: for example, he glorifies the will to power, rejects traditional morality, and sharply criticizes believing in an afterlife. The contrast between the form and the content is most likely intentional, stemming from Nietzsche's hatred of religious prophets, so [[{{Deconstruction}} the "enlightened sage" archetype is probably depicted ironically]].

'''Ron''': Oh, we're rescuing the bad guy!\\

The trope used to be popular in Medieval Western culture (people often had to speak in riddles or metaphors to demonstrate their wisdom, and [[https://www.academia.edu/38027264/Riddling_and_wooing_in_Tochmarc_Ailbe_EC_version it even was a part of initiation rituals and marriage customs]]), and retained its popularity even in the sixteenth century: for instance, the English queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethI was extremely fond of proverbs and wordplay, and during her reign, the abundant usage of them was seen as a sign of wisdom and sharp wit (the whole England was "soaked in proverbs"). However, it was increasingly seen as a DiscreditedTrope in the Western world since the age of Enlightenment when the role of folklore and "folk wisdom" declined: most notably, Lord Chesterfield wrote that "a man of fashion never has recourse to proverbs and vulgar aphorisms". Nowadays the excessive use of proverbs is considered trite and cliche, typical for elderly people and those who want to seem more thoughtful than they are; likewise, using riddles and metaphors can be seen as a sign that the speaker has nothing substantial to say.

* In Myth/CelticMythology, Emer, who [[SageLoveInterest eventually became the wife]] of the legendary hero Cu Chulainn, had the reputation of both the most beautiful and the wisest woman in Ireland; the latter meant that she spoke in riddles and metaphors nobody could understand. However, she finally met her match in Cu Chulainn, and during their first meeting, he also answered to her in riddles to demonstrate it.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7140785/11/The-Little-Prince The Little Prince,]]'' a ''Literature/HarryPotter''[=/=]''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' crossover fanfic, the [[EccentricMentor eccentric]] [[BarefootSage magician]] Coriakin is depicted as the mentor of young Dumbledore and Grindewald. He delighted in giving them advice in cryptic Koan-like form.

* Lots of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfics address Luna Lovegood's ramblings as this. While in canon she's more of a CloudCuckoolander and ConspiracyTheorist, the fanfic authors often present her nonsequiturs about Nargles and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks [[MetaphoricallyTrue as metaphors for some actual things to happen]] (in the vein of Zen koans and fortune cookie predictions), making her a Seer who either [[MadOracle sees the future in a weird way]] or sees it clearly, but [[DelightingInRiddles chooses to describe it in riddles for amusement]]. However, in canon she ''did'' guess some things correctly, and many other of her weird sayings are open to interpretation, [[AscendedFanon so Luna being a Seer may still end up as part of the official canon]].

-->'''Wang:''' Conversation like television on Honeymoon; highly unnecessary.

* ''Literature/AlsoSprachZarathustra'' by Creator/FriedrichNietzsche is the story of a HermitGuru who gives his teachings in an extremely poetic and metaphoric way, often using {{AnimalMetaphor}}s. PlayedWith, since the ''content'' of his teachings is contrary to what one would expect from an archetypal sage or an enlightened character: for example, [[HardTruthAesop he glorifies the will to power, rejects the traditional morality, and sharply criticizes the belief in afterlife]]. The contrast between the form and the content is most likely intentional, stemming from Nietzsche's hatred of religious prophets, so [[{{Deconstruction}} the "enlightened sage" archetype is probably depicted ironically]].

* In Myth/CelticMythology, Emer, who [[SageLoveInterest eventually became the wife]] of the legendary hero Cu Chulainn, had the reputation of [[HollywoodNerd both the most beautiful and the wisest woman in Ireland]]; the latter meant that she spoke in riddles and metaphors nobody could understand. However, she finally met her match in Cu Chulainn, and during their first meeting, he also answered to her in riddles to demonstrate it.

[[quoteright:345:[[ComicBook/GrooTheWanderer https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i045jhiq4jhij_5.png]]]]

* Subverted with Lily’s sayings in ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert''. The protagonist and Amanda are impressed with her life philosophy at first, but they realize after she leaves that Lily’s supposed “wisdom” assumes that responsibility is absent or even bad.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7140785/11/The-Little-Prince The Little Prince]]'', a ''Literature/HarryPotter''[=/=]''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' crossover fanfic, the [[EccentricMentor eccentric]] [[BarefootSage magician]] Coriakin is depicted as the mentor of young Dumbledore and Grindewald. He delighted in giving them advice in cryptic Koan-like form.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9191051/7/The-Alchemist-and-the-Altamere The Alchemist and the Altamere]]'', Hay Lin has a penchant for quoting Chinese proverbs, and "she would always surprise people with her uncannily appropriate fortune cookie wisdom".

--->"My people have a saying: "Even the eagle must know when to sleep.""