Is the concept that 'the three (or bough, or branch) that does not bend with the wind gets snapped' a proverb shared across cultures?

December 4, 2004 2:51 PM

QuoteFilter: is there a well-known phrasing of the concept that 'the three (or bough, or branch) that does not bend with the wind gets snapped'? I wouldn't be surprised if it's a proverb shared across many cultures.. it doesn't have to be limited to the three/wind metaphor. Bonus points for Latin or attributable quotes.

By "it doesn't have to be limited to the three/wind metaphor" -- I meant, any quotable phrasing of 'accept change or get screwed'

posted by Firas to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

"The willow which bends to the tempest, often escapes better than the oak which resists it; and so in great calamities, it sometimes happens that light and frivolous spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a loftier"

Sir Walter Scott (Scottish novelist, poet, historian and biographer, 1771-1832)
posted by hindmost at 3:03 PM on December 4, 2004

The lyrics of Ani Difranco's Buildings and Bridges is directly on point if pan-cultural proverb = riot grrl music.

What doesn't bend, breaks
posted by pokeydonut at 3:08 PM on December 4, 2004

not exactly from the classics, but...

in smiley's people (john le carre) george smiley is referred to as "one of those flabby oak trees". can't remember the rest of the quote, but it's about being left standing when others more imposing have blown over.

(is le carre considered a serious author at all? his early stuff was pretty good, but i haven't read him for years. he had a pretty moving account of his childhood in lrb a while back, which explained a lot).
posted by andrew cooke at 3:12 PM on December 4, 2004

I've heard this principle described as wu wei, from "wu wei er wu bu wei" or "by doing nothing everything will be done." In Tao De Ching, 76, Lao Tzu says:

Human beings are
soft and supple when alive,
stiff and straight when dead.

The myriad creatures, grasses and trees are
soft and supple when alive,
dry and withered when dead.

Therefore it is said:
the rigid person is a disciple of death;
the soft, supple and delicate are lovers of life.

The army that is inflexible will not conquer;
the tree that cannot bend will snap!

The unyielding and mighty will be brought low;
the soft, supple and delicate will rise above them.

Which sounds like what you're talking about.
posted by majick at 3:52 PM on December 4, 2004

There's an old story (technically, a fable) by Jean de la Fontaine (Le chêne et le roseau, in French here) involving a reed (roseau) and an oak tree. The latter (kinda) ridicules the former because of the reed's, well, structural weakness, and offers his/its protection. The reed answers: "Je plie, et ne romps pas" ("I bend but do not break").
posted by Non Serviam at 4:21 PM on December 4, 2004

...and La Fontaine borrowed it from Aesops' "The oak and the reeds". And here's a later version by Aphthonius for those who can read ancient Greek.
posted by elgilito at 5:14 PM on December 4, 2004

There was a version of it in Kurosawa's "Ran."
posted by inksyndicate at 10:25 PM on December 4, 2004