There are but few proverbial sayings that are not true, for they are all drawn from experience itself, which is the mother of all sciences. – Miguel de Cervantes

….whether your jewel was got from the mine or from an auctioneer. – Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), “Quotation and Originality,” Letters and

Quotologists encounter happy surprises, bright books by faded authors, treasures hidden under dust. – Willis Goth Regier, Quotology, 2010

Nevertheless, a maxim does not necessarily become a proverb. Many grubs never grow to butterflies; and a maxim is only a proverb in its caterpillar stage—a candidate for a wider sphere and longer flight than most are destined to attain. – “Proverbs Secular and Sacred,” The North British Review, February 1858