Proverbs are pocket‑sized IF‑statements: folk pseudocode that ships the trigger but hides the ELSE.

To find alpha: treat the proverb as true, then ask what happens in the missing branch.

1 RECIPROCITY

The sayings in this bucket assume social payoffs are maximized when inputs and outputs match.

• “Treat others as you wish to be treated.”
  • Implication: The way they treat you is the way they want to be treated by you.
  • Mirror their style. Tell stories to the storyteller. Ask the question-asker questions. Criticize the critic.
  • Warm feedback? Great. Cold recoil? You are in a non-reciprocal setting.
• “Give credit where credit is due.”
  • Implication: Undue credit is a loan. Expect to repay it.
  • When you receive unearned praise, log it as an attempted leverage hook. Bank the flattery, audit the motive, and don’t accept the IOU until verified.
• “Honesty is the best policy.”
  • Implication: Dishonesty harms somewhere. Figure out where.
  • Map the system by modeling precisely how dishonesty would destroy you. Failure points reveal where the policy actually matters.
• “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
  • Implication: If your heart’s not fonder, they weren’t absent enough.
  • Too-near absence is just muted presence. Extend the gap until longing spikes, or no-one cares anymore. Clarity either way.

Anyone who enacts one of these norms is broadcasting a personal desire. Echo to confirm; if they recoil, you’ve unmasked a performance.

2 THRESHOLDS

These proverbs embed a hidden boundary, x ≥ k, beyond which the advice reverses.

• “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”
  • Implication: A bird in the hand is worth less than three in the bush.
  • The risk‑adjusted math flips once the opportunity is big enough. Trade away the sure thing.
• “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
  • Implication: A picture is worth less than ten thousand words.
  • When a 10,000‑word technical doc costs pennies to create, store, and search, prefer text. Pictures smuggle ambiguity.
• “Look before you leap.”
  • Implication: If others are leaping, assume they looked.
  • A mass of people already leaping marks discovered value. Verify quickly, then jump while uncertainty is still cheap.
• “No pain, no gain.”
  • Implication: If there’s no gain, there should be no pain.
  • Discomfort untracked by progress is malpractice. Make sure your pain is paying you.

There is a point beyond which proverbial guidance still applies, but in reverse. Locate that point; once crossed, do the opposite.

3 SIGNALING

Here the wisdom isn’t about truth, but about the heuristics people use to guess at truth.

• “The grass is always greener on the other side.”
  • Implication: Your grass looks greener to them.
  • If outsiders envy your lawn, sell them the fertilizer. Monetize their projection.
• “Actions speak louder than words.”
  • Implication: Pay attention to unexplained actions.
  • Quiet, decisive moves can shout the loudest. Big promises with limp follow‑through are noise.
• “Slow and steady wins the race.”
  • Implication: Anyone cruising at turtle pace thinks they’re in an endurance match.
  • Either sprint early and finish before their compounding hits, or start selling gatorade to both tortoises and hares.
• “Birds of a feather flock together.”
  • Implication: Change your feathers, change your flock.
  • Change your visible signals first (clothes, jargon, writing topics) and your network will reconfigure around the new feathers
• “Those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
  • Implication: If you don’t live in a glass house, feel free to throw stones.
  • If you’ve bullet‑proofed your own reputation, stone‑throwing can be an offensive moat. Fragility is the real glass.

Play with the heuristic to change the game.

CALL FOR CONTRARIAN MAXIMS

Know a proverb that evades these buckets? Drop it in the comments. Let’s find its ELSE together.