From Richard Nordquist,
Your Guide to Grammar & Composition.
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Definition:

Short, pithy statement of a general truth, one that condenses common experience into memorable form. One of the progymnasmata. See also:

• What Is a Maxim?
• What Are the Progymnasmata?

Etymology:

From the Latin, "word"

Examples and Observations:

• "Here's the rule for bargains: 'Do other men, for they would do you.' That's the true business precept."
  (Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit)



• "An influence ceases when the person receiving it becomes aware of it."
  (Alain Resnais)



• "Time wounds all heels."
  (Jane Ace)



• "Try everything once except incest and folk-dancing."
  (Sir Thomas Beecham)



• "When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber."
  (Sir Winston Churchill)



• "A nose in need, deserves Puffs indeed."
  (commercial slogan for Puffs tissues)



• "A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains."
  (Dutch proverb)



• "A camel never sees its own hump."
  (African proverb)



• "Use soft words and hard arguments."
  (English proverb)



• "Work smart, not hard. That's my philosophy, boss."
  (Dr. Gregory House, "Deception," House, M.D.)



• "Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back into the same box."
  (Italian proverb)



• "One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people's minds."
  (Frank Zappa)



• "[Proverbs are] brief, memorable, and intuitively convincing formulations of socially sanctioned advice." (Paul Hernadi and Francis Steen, "The Tropical Landscape of Proverbia: A Crossdisciplinary Travelogue," Style, Spring 1999)



• "It's not the thing you fling; it's the fling itself."
  (Chris Stevens in Northern Exposure)



• "You know what they say--life throws you a gutter ball, you got to slap on the old rosin bag and step up to the line."
  (Chris Stevens in Northern Exposure)

Pronunciation: PRAHV-urb

Also Known As: adage, maxim, sententia