We have all been the victims of proverbial wisdom, especially when we were young. A large part of the job of parenting is to bombard one’s unfortunate offspring with warnings and advice in the form of easily remembered clichés posing as absolute truths. They come from everywhere although, in this country, a lot of them are the work of Ben Franklin and Dale Carnegie, and have an economic flavor: Early to bed, early to rise; A penny saved is a penny earned; Nothing succeeds like success; When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade; Do the hard jobs first, the easy jobs will take care of themselves. Such proverbs fall on you like a brick with a stunning rather than an encouraging effect. Well, yes, you feel like saying. Wait a minute, let’s think about this. But it’s too late. Once a proverb has been uttered it has done its deadly work. Thinking is no longer possible, or allowed. Proverbs are thought by some to contain the essence of wisdom. Wisdom comes from experience. Experience comes