Main piece:

“You don’t ask, you don’t get.”

Background:

Informant is a mother of three living in Mill Valley, California. She was raised in a family of 10 children and a single mother in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Context:

I asked the informant if she knew any proverbs, and her response was this saying that she always tells her children.

Commentary:

The informant came up with this proverb to teach her children the power of simply asking, as opposed to going through life passively. She is a firm believer that if you are polite and persistent, good things will follow. There are many proverbs containing the same general meaning, but the informant likes the streamlined effect of the repetitive nature of this saying.