In general it can be said that `wisdoms’ in notebooks vary from quotations from work of philosophers, writers, quotes from religious books, folk wisdoms noted then or in former days into proverbs and expressions which circulate in a language. Of course the actual statements have arisen in a social, economic, cultural and/or religious context. Especially if they are of older origin and/or from a different culture, or if they are from a context other than your own trusted context, the distance conception can be very large. For example, at the beginning of the 20th century in Europe the quotations from works of Goethe and Schiller were commonplace/common practice, also one knew all kind of Latin proverbs. The `Bildungsideaal’ then played a larger role than it does today. In the Netherlands many proverbs and expressions have arisen by our large maritime role. Therefore knowledge of the context is necessary. Moreover it must be considered that a `wisdom’ might be against an existing situation or practice, thus contains a criticism/critique. Think of a quote from the Bible “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Roughly said, to understand this statement you should at least have some knowledge of the Middle East because of that camel. Furthermore one must experience the iniquitous differences between rich and poor (in a hunter-gatherer society these differences will not be this large thus the statement will not appeal in such a way). Also one must have an idea which differences are acceptable and which not. Also it is helpful that we know that levying of taxes was leased. As a consequence the government collected a fixed amount, but the tax accumulator could squeeze out the population as much as possible as lay in his capacity. Furthermore especially a large role is played by the religious message that is that mental value should be ones priority. Indeed, material orientation holds you back from these values.

• الأمـثـال اللـبـنـانـيّـة الـحـديـثـة

• ‘Egyptian proverbs’
• ‘Some Yemeni proverbs’
• ‘Modern Lebanese Proverbs’

• A known mistake is better than an unknown truth.

• In prosperity friends are many but in need you will not find any. We always find friends surrounding us in time of prosperity but in adversity it is most difficult to find any friend for all friends vanish. ( E.: Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them. )
• ( فــي الـْـو ِســْعَ مــَـا أكــْـثــَـرْهــُـم وَفــي الـــضــِّـيــق مــَـا تــَـلــْـقــَـى مــِـنــْـهــُـم )

• Stretch your legs according to your coverlet. This is a sound advice that one should always live within his income and in no way should spend moer than he earns. One should try to adjust one’s expenditure according to his income. ( E.: Cut your coat according to your cloth. )
• ( مــِِـدْ ر ِجـْــلــَـيــْـك عــَـلــى قــَـد ْ غــَـطــَـاك )

• The absentee has his own justification. This is used to advise people not to reproach he who is absent for he may bring forth reasons of his own absence. ( E.: The absent are always in the wrong. )
• ( الــْـغــَـائــِـبْ عــُـذ ْرُه مــَـعــَـاه )
• The friend who is not available in time of adversity the foe is much better than him. We always find friends surrounding us in time of prosperity but in adversity it is most difficult to find any friend for all friends vanish. ( E.: Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them. )
• ( الــصــَّـاحــِـب الــَّـذي مــَـا يــَـلــْـتــَـقــِـي فــِـي الــشــِّـد ِّة الــعــَـد ُو خــَـيــْـر مــِـنــْـه )