Meaning & Analysis
Unlike mountains or hills, which never physically come together, people—especially friends or acquaintances—can and do meet, sometimes unexpectedly.
Insights
Possibility of Reunion
Emphasizes the likelihood that people, even after long separation or against the odds, may cross paths again, suggesting that human connection transcends physical and situational barriers.
Flexibility of Human Nature
Contrasts the rigidity and immobility of mountains with the agency and adaptability of people, who can move, change, seek reconciliation, or pursue relationships.
Optimism and Hope
Conveys a sense of hopefulness—no matter the distance or the circumstances, friendship and human interaction remain possible, sometimes even inevitable.
Classical and Erasmusian Roots
The proverb appears in Erasmus’s 'Adagia' and classical literature, expressing a longstanding belief in the unpredictability and resilience of human relationships, in contrast to the unyielding separation of nature’s features.
Shakespearean and Literary Resonance
Shakespeare riffs on the theme in 'As You Like It,' reflecting both the improbability of some meetings and the extraordinary circumstances under which friends may encounter each other. Literary sources often invoke this proverb to explore fate, coincidence, and the social fabric.
Implied Social Commentary
The variant annotation—'Two haughty persons will seldom agree together'—points to a deeper layer: while physical mountains never meet, pride or stubbornness in people can create similar barriers to reconciliation.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
Sets up a sharp contrast between inanimate, immovable mountains and the animate, mobile nature of people, heightening the proverb’s message of human possibility.
Imagery
Uses vivid physical imagery—mountains and meeting friends—to anchor the proverb in tangible experience and make its lesson memorable.
Metaphor
Employs mountains as metaphors for obstacles, stubbornness, or separation, with meeting representing social connection and reconciliation.
Transcription
Quotations
Mons cum monte non miscetur.
Hylles do neuer mete, but acquayntaunce dothe often.
It is sene often that men mete now and than, but so do hylles neuer.
It is an olde saying, that mountains and hills neuer meet, But I see that men shall meet, though they doo not seek.
Men may meete though mountaines cannot.
Men may meit bot montaines may not.
Two men may often meet, but mountaines neuer.
Two mountaines can neuer meete, but two friends may oft meete.
(but hils and mountaines neuer).
I found the Prouerbe true, that men haue more priuiledge then mountaines in meeting.
(never greet).
(Men).
Shakespeare Citations
It is a hard matter for friends to meet; but mountains may be remov'd with earthquakes, and so encounter.
Cross References
- See DÜR., I, no. 173.
Annotations
- Two haughty persons will seldom agree together.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.