Meaning & Analysis
The proverb recommends seeking the services of an experienced (old) physician and an energetic (young) lawyer, implying these are the optimal choices for each profession.
Insights
Value of Experience
An old physician symbolizes accumulated wisdom and practical knowledge, crucial in medicine where discernment is honed over years of practice.
Energy and Ambition
A young lawyer represents enthusiasm, drive, and availability—qualities especially advantageous in legal affairs where persistence and energy can make a decisive difference.
Specialization of Virtues
Metaphorically, the proverb suggests that different fields require different virtues: in medicine, prudence and experience; in law, vigor and commitment.
Historical Professional Stereotypes
The distinction reflects enduring stereotypes about professions: age is seen as an asset for physicians, whose judgment and skills grow with years, while youth is viewed as beneficial for lawyers, who are presumed to be more zealous and available.
Cultural Resonance and Parallels
Similar sayings appear across Europe—such as 'A young barber and an old physician'—suggesting a wide cultural consensus on the relationship between age and professional suitability.
Cautionary Note
The proverb also serves as a veiled warning: trusting a young physician may be risky (as in 'A young physician fattens the churchyard'), and an old lawyer may lack the motivation or time to vigorously defend a case.
Psychological Assumptions
Implicitly, it recognizes psychological truths about trust: people tend to associate age with reliability in healing, and youth with advocacy and effort in contested arenas.
Rhetorical Devices
Elliptical Construction
The proverb omits verbs and connectors, creating a pithy, memorable phrase that invites interpretation and elaboration.
Antithesis
Juxtaposes 'old' and 'young,' emphasizing contrast and enhancing the proverb’s instructive impact.
Parallelism
The balanced structure (adjective + profession) lends the proverb rhythmic clarity and aids memorability.
Transcription
Quotations
Commonly Physicians like beer are best when they are old, and Lawyers like bread when they are young and new.
Make use of a young Chyrurgeon, but an old Physitian.
An old Physician, a young Lawyer.
Cross References
Annotations
- An old Physician because of his experience; a young Lawyer, because he . . will have leisure enough to attend your business.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.