"Timing is everything." A more appropriate modern proverb could not have better described the publication of the present volume Its research extends into proverb scholarship in fifty-five European and six non-European languages, its production requires no less than nine different fonts. No doubt, both stages of preparation have lasted a long time. The publisher gives just an inkling of the length of this labor of love by informing the readers that the manuscript "was closed in January 1990," and was slightly updated in 1994-95 before printing commenced. Like Jacob who anguished for seven years before he could marry his lovely Rachel, so did the manuscript languish in its publisher's offices and the printing plant before it saw the light of day.