Tag Archives: wisdom

The Old Goats Have the Hardest Horns

My informant is a friend and sophomore student at USC from Norway. She lived for the majority of her life in Norway before moving and living in Thailand, Dubai, and Namibia until she attended college. Having lived for over a decade in Norway, Norwegian is her primary language.

 

“De gamle bukkene har de stiveste hornene, which, this basically means eh…it directly translates into ‘the old goats have the hardest horns’. Meaning that eh…the older you get the wiser you get.”

 

Analysis: This proverb speaks to a relatively universal idea that age brings wisdom. It is widely accepted in many cultures that the older members of the community are the ones that are most respected and have the most knowledge. My informant told me that her parents used to tell her this when she was younger in instances where she was impatient, made poor decisions, or was acting “smart”.

 

Words of Wisdom

Everything in moderation.  Even moderation.

Essentially, the key to a happy life is not to over indulge, but even a lack of overindulgence must not be overindulged all the time.  My mother has given me this advice on multiple occasions.  I’m pretty sure she made it up, but I have told it to many people since I believe it to be good advice.  Primarily when I want to eat a large amount of unhealthy food.

The proverb itself is guarding against unhealthy behavior and provides insight onto the human psyche.  No one can be in control all the time.  When you try to moderate everything you do, your desires become uncontainable and will find a way of expressing themselves, often in unhealthy ways.  By making sure to moderate your moderation you are dealing with the issue of keeping your id at bay.

Wise Man Proverb

“Wise man seeks wisdom, mad man thinks he found it.”
The person who’s wise goes after something: they seek wisdom,  the mad man just talks and talks, he’s delusional, and he thinks he knows it all.  This is a very common idea that is shared by most cultures, it seeks to make people stay humble no matter the amount of knowledge they accrue.