proverbs run in pairs

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proverbs run in pairs

1. Every proverb seems to be contradicted by another proverb with an opposing or contradictory message, such as "too many cooks spoil the broth" and "many hands make light work."
   • 1863, Sir Richard Burton, Abeokuta and the Camaroons Mountains, volume 1, London: Tinsley, page 309:

     Moreover, all the world over, proverbs run in pairs, and pull both ways: for the most part one neutralizes, by contradiction, the other.

• Of the many forms which this expression takes, no single one appears to be particularly dominant.