Question

What is "The wisdom of many and the wit of one"?

Answer 1

Answer:

A proverb is wise; it belongs to many people; it is ingenious in form and idea; and it was first invented by an individual and applied by him to a particular situation. My title illustrates both the origin and the nature of a proverb. One morning at breakfast Lord John Russell, the English statesman who negotiated the treaty to put an end to the Seven Years War, is said to have defined a proverb by saying it is One man’s wit and all men’s wisdom. Popular use has shifted the order of the elements and their emphasis. A proverb is, in the first place, wisdom–what sort of wisdom we shall see later, and the element of individual invention has subordinate importance.