The proverb 'Festina lente' (make haste slowly) pairs two opposed impulses to show that effective action combines urgency with restraint: speed kept in check by deliberation, and caution kept moving by drive. The value lies precisely in holding the contradiction rather than resolving it to one side.
The adage 'Amicorum communia omnia' (between friends all is common) asserts that genuine friendship abolishes the separate ownership of goods, treating shared property as the practical test and definition of the bond. Erasmus places this maxim first, treating communal sharing as the root principle from which other proverbs about fellowship extend.
A proverb is defined as a saying marked by shrewd observation and a certain novelty of expression, carrying authority not from any single author but from long popular use. Its brevity is a feature: it packs widely tested experience into a memorable, portable form that can be deployed in argument or counsel.
Everyday sayings often preserve a forgotten story, custom, or observation that explains their shape, so treating a familiar phrase as a puzzle to be traced back reveals the concrete situation that coined it. Understanding the source ('to a drawn bow,' 'the Sardonic laugh') restores both the precise meaning and the correct occasions for using it.